1993 Football League Second Division play-off Final

Port Vale had finished the regular 1992–93 season in third place in the Third Division, the third tier of the English football league system, one place ahead of West Bromwich Albion. Both therefore missed out on the two automatic promotion places to the First Division and instead took part in the play-offs to determine the third promoted team. Vale had finished one point behind Bolton Wanderers (who were promoted in second place) and four points behind league winners and Potteries derby rivals Stoke City; they had drawn both their games with Bolton and lost both their games with Stoke. West Brom finished four points behind Vale.[1]

Vale's opponents for the play-off semi-final were Stockport County and the first leg was played at Edgeley Park in Stockport. Jim Gannon converted a fifth-minute penalty, only for Dean Glover to level the scores at 1–1 on 24 minutes, with the game ending in a draw. The return leg was held at Vale Park three days later and Martin Foyle's 84th-minute strike went unanswered to give Vale a 2–1 aggregate victory. On 22 May, Vale would also beat Stockport 2–1 in the 1993 Football League Trophy final at Wembley Stadium. Paul Kerr put the Vale ahead, before Bernie Slaven made it two before half-time. Giant striker Kevin Francis pulled one back for Stockport but Vale held on for another 2–1 victory.[2]

West Bromwich Albion faced Swansea City in their semi-final play-off, and the first leg was played at Vetch Field, Swansea. West Brom lost the match 2–1 after Andy McFarlane and Martin Hayes scored twice in the 20 minutes after the second half kick-off, only for McFarlane to give the visitors a lifeline with an own goal on 72 minutes. The second leg was played three days later at The Hawthorns, West Brom's home ground. Andy Hunt and Ian Hamilton put the home side in control of the tie with goals on 10 and 20 minutes, and no further goals ensured West Bromwich Albion of a 3–2 aggregate victory.

Osvaldo Ardiles in 2006.

West Brom manager Osvaldo Ardiles had secured his fourth success at Wembley as a player and manager, and said that: "This is the best place in the world to win, but when you lose it looks empty and dirty. Here, the winner takes all."[5] The victory was estimated to win his club £2 million from season-ticket sales and TV rights.[5] Port Vale manager John Rudge said that: "You can't ask much more of a team than to get 89 points, which would have won us the Championship last year. It's a cruel game."[5] Speaking in 2018, Taylor described the feeling of "massive relief" and how "the parties ensued afterwards... my memory’s a bit fuzzy, but we stopped off halfway through at some hotel, had a few drinks there, and then carried on back. It went on into the daylight hours."[7]

Albion spent nine more seasons outside the top division but avoided a return to the third tier. Instead, after barely surviving the next season, they steadily improved until achieving promotion to the Premier League by finishing second in the 2001–02 season.[10] Vale won promotion as runners-up in the following season, and spent the next six seasons in the second tier. But after a high of eighth in 1996–97 they returned to the third tier for the new millennium after relegation at the end of the 1999–2000 season.[11]

Ardiles left Albion to return to manage Tottenham Hotspur in 1993, before heading abroad in 1995; he ended up coaching in places as varied as Croatia, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Argentina.[12][13] Rudge was controversially sacked in 1999 and decided sixteen years as a manager was enough, instead choosing to become Director of Football at local rivals Stoke City.[14] Bob Taylor had continued success at West Brom before spending 1998 to 2000 with Bolton Wanderers, only to return to The Hawthorns to help the club to reach the Premier League in 2002.[15] Andy Hunt stayed with West Brom until 1998 when he signed for Charlton Athletic, retiring in April 2000 at age 30 due to illness; he later emigrated to Belize.[13] Nicky Reid left the club in 1997 to become player-manager of Sligo Rovers, but things did not go well for him and he returned to England to become a physiotherapist at various clubs.[16] Kevin Donovan also left in 1997 and moved to Grimsby Town, also scoring for them in the 1998 Second Division play-off final; he continued to maintain links to grimsby Town after retiring.[13][17] Red carded Peter Swan left Vale in 1994 to move to Plymouth Argyle for a fee of £300,000, and turned out for numerous other clubs before retiring in 2000.[8]