Special Report: Port Vale

This week, rather than discuss the Premiership, I thought I'd delve into the plight of a lower league club in dire straits. Port Vale are based in the city of Stoke-on-Trent, where I also go to university. The Valiants are currently in administration for the second time in nine years. They have been unable to pay player wages recently, as well as the wages of the non-playing staff. Some may say they are on the brink of extinction after being hit with a winding-up petition by HM Revenue & Customs. However, the end of the 136-year-old club may be some way off yet if the generosity of the fans is anything to go by.

There have been stories all across the Potteries of fans donating their own money. These range from old ladies handing cheques worth hundreds of pounds to the manager, Mickey Adams, to young fans who have emptied their savings to give it to the club. Even the owner of the local Domino's franchise has got involved, donating 16 large pizzas to the club after learning the in-house caterers were no longer feeding them. And despite the rivalry between the clubs, fans of Vale's rivals Stoke City have also helped. Before a recent game between Vale and Burton Albion, two Stoke fans turned up to buy tickets, then walked off. They had never intended to watch the game, they were only looking to help a club in deep amounts of trouble in any way they could.

During the week, the university gave students the opportunity to speak with current Port Vale player Gareth Owen, and it was intriguing to learn how administration has affected the players. Owen believes that it has not affected the team's performances on the pitch, and rightly so despite their recent eight game unbeaten run ending at home to Barnet on Saturday. He also went into great depth about how it is affecting the players financially. Some have recently struggled to put petrol in their cars. It's a harsh reminder that not all footballers live the glitzy lifestyle. However, what was even more interesting was that Owen and the other Port Vale players did not know they were not going to be paid until the day before wages were due. And even worse is that it was left to manager Micky Adams to tell his players the bad news, not a member of the board. Not one of the players had any inkling beforehand that the club was in a poor financial state.

With Port Vale, we have a prime example of what is good and bad in football. The board of Port Vale were clearly trying to cover up constantly in the hope no one would ever find out how hard up they were. It's a shame they forgot that football is often an industry were secrets do not stay quiet for long. On the positive side, though, you can see the passion some of the fans have for their club, pumping in their hard earned cash during a recession to keep them afloat. This is what makes me proud to say I am a football fan when I hear stories like this. It also makes me proud to be spending my university years in what is clearly a very friendly and generous community. If only chairmen and owners were more like the fans of the clubs they run, rather than being the businessmen that they are. Maybe then will the problems of administration, which have reared their heads far too much since the turn of the year, begin to evaporate.