Port Vale has played 34 seasons in the divisions covered here since 1992/93: 6 in the Championship, 17 in League One and 11 in League Two. It has been in League One since 2025/26 (1 season), after 1 season in League Two. Its best finish was 8th in the Championship, in 1996/97. Its biggest climb took five seasons: from 18th in League Two in 2008/09 to 9th in League One in 2013/14. It has been promoted 4 times and relegated 4 times.
Port Vale
2025/26: 22nd in League One, relegated
How high can Port Vale realistically go?
Based on finishing 22nd in League One in 2025/26 and going down
About 5 in 10
Of the 67 times a club was relegated from League One between 2004/05 and 2020/21, 31 were back up within five seasons.
31 of 67 (46%); likely range 35%–57%, 44 different clubs.
| Reached the top flight within ten seasons | 1 of 48 1 of 48; range 0%–7% |
Port Vale itself: none of the last 10 seasons in the Premier League.
How do we know?
We took every season since 2004/05 in which a club finished in the same part of the same league, and followed each club forward. The figure is the share that reached each goal. Ten-year goals use finishes from 2004/05 to 2015/16, five-year goals from 2004/05 to 2020/21, so every case has had the full time to play out; results run to the end of 2025/26.
It describes what happened to clubs in this position, not a forecast for one club. A club with much more money or history than is usual for its position has better chances than the figure suggests, which is why the club's own record is shown underneath.
The likely range is a 95% interval worked out by resampling clubs rather than seasons, because the same club often appears several times. It is wide where only a few clubs have been in a position, and two leagues whose ranges overlap may not really differ. Reserve teams such as Barcelona B or Real Madrid Castilla are left out of these counts, because they cannot be promoted into their first team's division.
Counts: were back up within five seasons: 31 of 67; reached the top flight within ten seasons: 1 of 48.
The story so far
Final position each seasonRinged dots are titles
How to read this chart
Every club in the divisions covered is placed on one ladder each season: the champions are 1st, and the top club of the second division comes straight after the bottom club of the first. Shaded bands are the divisions. Hover over or tap a dot for the season.
34seasons since 1992/93
0seasons in the Premier League
0league titles
0top-four finishes
4promotions
4relegations
Against the money
Not enough seasons with published wage figures in the top two divisions (0).
Clubs with a similar path
Clubs whose finishing positions over the last 15 seasons were closest to Port Vale's, with recent seasons counting more.
In England
Northampton TownEngland · 24th in League One, 2025/26Exeter CityEngland · 21st in League One, 2025/26Leyton OrientEngland · 20th in League One, 2025/26Swindon TownEngland · 9th in League Two, 2025/26
Compare Port Vale with another club
Sources
- Final tables to 2025/26. Top-flight positions follow the official classification, including head-to-head tie-breaks and point deductions. Lower-division positions before 2025/26 are worked out from match results and can differ from official tables where points were deducted.
- Relegations include dropping out of the divisions covered.
- All figures can be downloaded on the data page. Spotted a mistake? Report it with a source.