Thanks – Paul Smith

It gives me great delight to thank Port Vale for Paul Smith because during my early years as an Imps fan, he was my hero. I’ve spoken many times before about him, how he influenced my hair styles, how I always wanted to meet him but never did. Last season I got to have a drink with him and a long chat about football. He’s now part of the FPA and comes to matches when he can.

It wasn’t just because he was my hero that I wanted to thank Port Vale though. His endeavour helped spur us on to the GMVC win of 1988, his 305 outings and 40 goals seriously contributed to anything we did positively in the early nineties. He eventually swapped the attacking role his favoured in his youth for a full back position and served the club with pride and dignity.

Not bad for £47,000 from the Valiants. Not bad at all.