Port Vale have got a huge FA Cup Quarter-Final - against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge - to look forward to, and our only previous Quarter-Final in the competition also took place in London, at Leyton Orient, a mere 72 years ago. The Valiants won that one 1-0, to reach the Semi-Finals.
In the Fifth Round in that 1953/54 season, Vale had defeated the cup holders Blackpool - Stanley Matthews being one of seven internationals in their team. Many football fans will have heard stories about the ‘Matthews Cup Final’ in 1953, but it’s hardly ever mentioned that the team who put them out the next season was the Vale.
Only two clubs from the Third Division were in the last eight that season, table-topping Vale from the Third Division (North), and Leyton Orient from the Third Division (South) - and they were drawn against each other at Leyton. Their ground held 30,000 in those days, and Vale were entitled to 25%, which equated to 7,500 tickets.
After season ticket holders (nowhere near as many as nowadays) and Supporters’ Club members (one ticket for every four members) had their requirements, the vast majority of the allocation went on sale at a reserve game at home to Hyde United.
An hour before the gates opened, the queue by the Lorne Street entrances stretched four deep for hundreds of yards. The club didn’t have a ticket office as such; we just sold them from inside the ground at kiosks after people had paid to go in to the reserve game.
The Leyton tickets cost 25p paddock and 15p ground, and were all snapped up on that Saturday afternoon, with hundreds of postal applications returned.
Over 100 supporters lined the platform at Stoke station to see the team off the day before the game. That evening the team saw entertainer Arthur Askey star in the West End show ‘The Love Match’.
Colin Askey, the only survivor from the Vale team that day, remembered: “The night before the game, we stayed in a top hotel in London, and all the squad went to the theatre.
"The comedian Arthur Askey was the compere, and because we had made a name for ourselves that season, he invited us all up on stage!
"When he got to my name, he hesitated for a moment and then said ‘Hello son, meet your father!’ We also went backstage and met his daughter, the actress Anthea Askey.”
Our thanks to Club Historian, Phil Sherwin, for his support as always. We'll be hoping for a similar result when we travel to the capital this weekend!
