By Joe Bennett: Opera singer Steve Laird hopes his vocal chords will help cheer his beloved Port Vale all the way to League One this weekend.

Steve lives in Belgium and is a former member of the Liege Opera group, but still travels 12 hours to watch his side at every other home game.

“I try and time it so two home games fall within a week so I can see more games while I’m here,” he told StaffsLive.

Vale fans may remember the crooner after he sang at the opening game of last season – a feat chairman Bill Brat remembers well.

“We invited him to sing Nessun Dorma, but we didn’t realise how powerful his voice was and he ended up blowing the speakers – it was was an expensive lesson we learnt that day it cost us £6k to fix!”

Micky Adams met the Opera singer after training.

“You’ve got to question his sanity,” joked Adams. “Football fans are the life blood of a football club but to see dedication like Steve’s is unbelievable.”

Steve has been impressed by Adams this season. “It took a while at the beginning but he’s turned things around and it’s looking good now.”

As for his own efforts, he explained: “I’m hooked and what can I say, you just do what you can for the club, everyone should get down here and roar the team on!”

Whether Vale reach the play-offs or not this season, Laird is keen to sing again at the start of next season – and hopefully in League One.