Port Vale took over the Shed End at Stamford Bridge and filled the London evening air with non-stop singing
07:00, 05 Apr 2026
Port Vale fans remain in high spirits despite a heavy FA Cup defeat at Chelsea.
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Port Vale fans remain in high spirits despite a heavy FA Cup defeat at Chelsea.(Image: Offside via Getty Images)
It’s an ominous sign when Port Vale are being praised for how they’re playing at half-time but are still losing 3-0.
The Vale went to Stamford Bridge hoping to pull off one of the biggest shocks in FA Cup history – but the reason that those kind of upsets are such brilliant stories is because they’re so rare. As it turned out, Chelsea took the lead in 64 seconds and had the ability to zip into higher gears, even if Vale chased and harried and battled between those moments.
“I don't think Chelsea have played their best football,” said Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink, the Chelsea forward turned BBC pundit. “Port Vale have done really well. You wouldn't expect them to get a goal in the first minute from a set-piece, that was disappointing for Port Vale. But they have made it difficult for Chelsea to get into their rhythm.”
The goals, for what it’s worth, didn’t stop the main story of the afternoon, which was the backing of 6,000 supporters from Burslem who took over the whole of the Shed End.
There were chants about drinking, Steino, going to York and the Wonder of You catching through the London evening as the world champions put their foot down – and it ended with a rousing rendition about their love for the club when the final whistle blew at 7-0.
Liam Rosenior had named a near full-strength side and Chelsea were not taking any opposition lightly, regardless of whether they had lost at Wycombe the previous weekend.
The chasm between these two clubs had been highlighted in the build-up when, after Vale had posted losses of £6.1 million, Chelsea put that spectacularly in the shade with losses of a mind-boggling £262m.
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Carol Shanahan was asked on Radio 4 just how on earth football can sustain figures like that. To be honest, that seems like the all-important question. A club can sell a player or enjoy a cup run – Vale picked up £600,000 in prize money alone from this trip to the last eight – to boost the coffers but they can’t on that often enough to cover such deep holes.
“As a businesswoman you'd never go into football,” said Shanahan. “My daughter did a masters degree in business finance at London Business School and they had a whole lecture about how businesses work. At the end of it the lecturer said, 'All of that doesn't apply to football. Football is the only industry in the world that doesn't follow these rules.'
“It doesn't. It relies on the benevolence of the owner. As a business model it doesn't work at all, which is what we're seeing with these losses.
“You've got the losses up there with Chelsea and they'll cope with that. But when you get into the lower leagues, these amounts mean more and more because they're focused on fewer people. If you look at ours it's only our family. That's the same for a lot of League One and League Two clubs. It's a lot of losses to absorb, which is where football has a real challenge at the moment.”
She added: “It isn't sustainable. It's why when the independent football regulator was announced they would get the Premier League to get money flowing because that's what it needs - an independent voice that has clout and can say we need to save this industry and make it sustainable. To make it sustainable we need to make sure that money is distributed more fairly, particularly the media money. That's what I'm really still hoping the independent football regulator will do.
“I was asked (on Thursday) to be one of a few club owners that speak to the IFR as they are setting themselves up about what we would like to see. And we're pretty clear about what we want to see to be honest. We would like a sustainable industry that means we can deliver this entertainment, this sport, to all our fans.”
Six thousand Vale fans got to go to the home of the world champions and dream for a bit. Maybe that’s a reminder of why football all through the pyramid is worth fighting for.
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