Famous Managers – John Rudge

John Rudge (“Rudgie”)

Port Vale Manager 1983-1999

Following a playing career which included Huddersfield, Carlisle, Bristol Rovers, Torquay and Bournemouth, John joined the Vale as a coach to manager John McGrath in 1980 and was soon promoted to the position of assistant manager.

Vale achieved promotion from Division Four in the 1982/83 season and had 4 players included in the PFA Team of the Year.  However the following season started badly and McGrath was sacked in December with the Vale sitting bottom of Division Three. Rudgie took over and improved things considerably but could not prevent relegation in his first season in charge. Then after a period of consolidation in Division Four during which the squad was improved with the addition of a combination of experience and youth, the Vale were promoted back to the third tier in 1986.

Rudgie continued to develop the squad and the Vale were promoted again in 1989 beating Bristol Rovers in the play-offs to be in the second tier for the first time in 32 years.

There then followed arguably the best decade in the club’s history.  Rudgie continued to buy largely unknown players, many of which he developed and sold on for a substantial profit as the club challenged for promotion to the top tier, won the Autoglass Trophy at Wembley, enjoyed exciting League encounters with local rivals Stoke City and performed a number of FA Cup giant killing victories over top clubs.  In all he managed to generate over £5m profit for the club on player transfers alone.

John was sacked by the club in January 1999 after 19 years service.  He subsequently joined Stoke City as Director of Football where he worked with a number of different managers.  It is widely accepted that he was instrumental in helping Stoke gain promotion to and retain their place in the Premier League during the 14 years he spent there.

John was made President of Port Vale in 2019 the same year that he was inducted into the Stoke-on-Trent Sporting Hall of Fame. He was presented with the EFL award for contribution to League Football in 2021.

Rudgie’s autobiography “To Cap It All” was released in 2023 as part of the Vale Supporters’ Club fundraising for a bronze statue of him which was subsequently unveiled at Vale Park on his 80th birthday in October 2024.

Management style

Rudgie had the knack of spotting talented players, signing them cheaply, and then selling them to bigger clubs for a large profit. In addition to being an excellent judge of talent, he was a skilled negotiator.

“Every Port Vale supporter should get down on their knees and thank the Lord for John Rudge. Nineteen years of hard work, self-sacrifice and service to one football club borders on disbelief – especially in this day and age.”

Sir Alex Ferguson talking about John Rudge shortly after he was sacked by Port Vale in 1999.