Today’s visitors are unusual in that they are one of the few clubs who do not carry the name of the area in which they are located.  The Valiants allegedly take theirs from the venue of the inaugural meeting at 'Port Vale House' in a suburb of Stoke-on-Trent where they were formed in 1876.

The club, like GTFC, has suffered financially in recent times and this has been reflected on the pitch with the club following the Mariners into the basement division.

Last year the club reported losses of around £280,000 and supporters of the club will rightly be concerned about the long term future of the Valiants.

With the recent events at Notts County we can only hope that whatever the solution is, it involves a viable, sustainable plan involving people or organisations with at least a remote connection to Stoke on Trent and an abiding affection for what is an historic institution!

Sadly, events at Meadow Lane have reached farcical proportions and have severely damaged the reputations of the Supporters’ Trust movement.   In the summer the Notts County Trust, who had not only saved the club but had a controlling interest, handed over the club to Munto Finance whose parent company is Qadbak Investment – a Middle Eastern company alledgedly bankrolled by wealthy families.  The Trust also wrote off loans made by them to the club totalling £170,000 raised by supporters’ donations.

How a Supporters’ Trust could do this with little or no knowledge of the identities of the proposed investors defies belief.  The only reason “mysterious” Middle Eastern investors would want to invest in a basement division club, albeit the oldest club in the world, would be if they had something to gain from the arrangement.

Obviously these investors do not feel there is anything more to be gained and have put the club up for sale within months of acquiring it!

No doubt the story will run on and more information will become available about what exactly did happen.  In the meantime it is to be hoped that the promise of millions and Premiership football will not be enough to sell the soul of a football club again.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy New Year and to wish all the best to Neil Woods in his quest to turn the Mariners’ fortunes around in the next few months!

Dave Otter – GTST Spokesperson