For all of the drama and in-house fighting in the Premier League this season, none can match the ridiculous events that have occurred at Port Vale this season.
A good manager and an exciting set of players propelled them to the top of the table by November.
In January, however, Micky Adams head was turned by boyhood club Sheffield United. He left them 2nd in the league on 36 points after 20 games.
At the end of the campaign they were 11th, picking up just 29 points from 24 games and sandwiched in between was a manic period of managerial instability and boardroom politics.
So where did it all go wrong for Vale? Firstly, I’ll start with matters off the pitch.
At the beginning of the season Port Vale faced an uncertain future. The board were having cash flow difficulties. The expenditure was high and cost control low and Micky Adams was working off a shoestring budget with minimum resources.
New York businessman Mike Newton came in with a £500,000 bid, claiming the money would be used to ‘drive the club forward’.
However, the board of directors were unhappy with his demands. He wanted to become chairman and take control of the youth team independently from the first team amongst other things.
His bid failed, paving the way for local businessman Mo Chaudry to swoop in and bid to take over the club.
That was also rejected, despite having a lot of support from fans beginning to get restless with Chairman Bill Bratt, who was now receiving serious threats.
This culminated in an Extraordinary General Meeting on June 1st, where a vote of no confidence was cast in the board of directors.
In a seemingly never ending saga, Bill Bratt retained his position on the board along with 2 other directors after pop star Robbie Williams’ offer to sponsor four people on the board for £50,000; each was rejected due to rules stating only one person (local businessman Mark Sims) could be sponsored.
‘There has been some tactical voting and last-minute switches of agreements’ was the claim from Chaudry, who was disappointed not to be elected as the chairman and ultimately take over control of the troubled club.
This horrendously complicated, drawn-out, bitter, twisted affair coincided with Micky Adams’ departure and the appointment of the eccentric Jim Gannon.
If you think what was going on off the field at Port Vale was dramatic, Gannon’s tenure was just as crazy.
In a turbulent 74 days in charge, he won just 4 out of his 15 games in charge, argued with assistant manager Geoff Horsfield and signed 5 loan players.
If there could be an advert for a need of stability in the football business, Port Vale would be used as an example.
The club threw away the chance of promotion amid a series of events that Lemony Snickett would label as unfortunate.
They now have Adams back in charge and a whole summer to sort out problems behind the scenes, and if they can achieve that, the Valiants can start to look forward to another promotion bid.
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Nail on the head mate… Nice one