1912–13 Stoke F.C. season

The 1912–13 season was Stoke's fourth season in the Southern Football League. In 1913, the club reached its 50th year in existence.

Stoke
1912–13 season
ChairmanMr Rev. A Hurst
ManagerAlfred Barker
StadiumVictoria Ground
Southern League Division One20th (24 Points)
FA CupFirst Round
Top goalscorerLeague: Alf Smith
(9)

All: Tom Revill
& Alf Smith
(9)
Highest home attendance10,000 vs Northampton Town
(14 September 1912)
Lowest home attendance3,500 vs Reading
(19 April 1913)
Average home league attendance5,947

Stoke had ambitions to return to the Football League and the objective for the 1912–13 season was earn a top six place in the Southern League Division One. However Stoke failed spectacularly and ended up finishing bottom and being relegated to the Southern League Division Two. The season was a complete embarrassment to the directors and management and fans started to lose patience with manager Alfred Barker.[1]

Season review

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League

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With Alfred Barker still manager of the club there were high hopes that the 1912–13 season would see Stoke come good in the top division of the Southern League.[1] The players who had served the club well over the past 12 months or so were all retained and new players were added to the squad to make competition for places harder.[1] The main ambition was a top six place, but by Christmas time Stoke were bottom of the table and stayed there.[1] The directors attributed relegation to bad luck while the supporters blamed Barker.[1] William Smith, who had been such a key player in attack missed most of the season through injury and his absence proved costly as Stoke had a very poor forward line.[1] Only 14 goals were scored in the first 15 matches (4 against Watford) summed up Stoke's problems and there was no upturn in fortune after Christmas and relegation was duly suffered and it was back to the drawing board once more.[1]

By the end of the season the directors came under considerable pressure from supporters as they were reluctant to accept a place back in Division Two and by the end of April 1913 no players had been offered a new contract contrary to previous practice.[1] The directors eventually accepted life in the Southern League Division Two again but fans vented their anger at them in the annual general meeting.[1]

FA Cup

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Stoke's miserable season also included a first round exit to fellow Southern League side Reading.[1]

Final league table

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Pos Club P W D L F A GA Pts
1 Plymouth Argyle 38 22 6 10 77 36 2.138 50
2 Swindon Town 38 20 8 10 66 41 1.609 48
3 West Ham United 38 18 12 8 66 46 1.434 48
4 Queens Park Rangers 38 18 10 10 46 35 1.314 46
5 Crystal Palace 38 17 11 10 55 36 1.527 45
6 Millwall 38 19 7 12 62 43 1.441 45
7 Exeter City 38 18 8 12 48 44 1.090 44
8 Reading 38 17 8 13 59 55 1.072 42
9 Brighton & Hove Albion 38 13 12 13 48 47 1.021 38
10 Northampton Town 38 12 12 14 61 48 1.270 36
11 Portsmouth 38 14 8 16 41 49 0.836 36
12 Merthyr Town 38 12 12 14 42 60 0.700 36
13 Coventry City 38 13 8 17 53 59 0.898 34
14 Watford 38 12 10 16 43 50 0.860 34
15 Gillingham 38 12 10 16 36 53 0.679 34
16 Bristol Rovers 38 12 9 17 55 64 0.859 33
17 Southampton 38 10 11 17 40 72 0.555 31
18 Norwich City 38 10 9 19 39 50 0.780 29
19 Brentford 38 11 5 22 42 55 0.763 27
20 Stoke 38 10 4 24 39 75 0.520 24

Key: P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points

Results

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Stoke's score comes first

Legend

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Win Draw Loss

Southern Football League Division One

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Match Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
1 2 September 1912 Norwich City H 0–1 10,000
2 5 September 1912 Norwich City A 0–1 3,000
3 7 September 1912 Brighton & Hove Albion A 1–3 4,000 Whittaker
4 14 September 1912 Northampton Town H 1–0 4,000 A Smith
5 21 September 1912 Coventry City A 2–5 6,000 A Smith, Revill
6 28 September 1912 Queens Park Rangers H 0–0 7,000
7 2 October 1912 Watford A 4–2 4,000 Revill (2), Hardman, English (o.g.)
8 12 October 1912 Brentford H 1–0 5,000 Hardman
9 19 October 1912 Merthyr Town A 1–2 3,000 A Smith
10 26 October 1912 Millwall Athletic H 0–2 3,000
11 2 November 1912 Crystal Palace A 0–1 3,000
12 9 November 1912 Bristol Rovers H 2–1 4,000 A Smith, Turner (pen)
13 16 November 1912 Plymouth Argyle A 0–4 5,000
14 23 November 1912 Swindon Town H 1–1 8,000 Revill
15 30 November 1912 Southampton A 1–2 7,000 A Smith
16 7 December 1912 Portsmouth H 2–0 6,000 Revill, Lenaghan
17 14 December 1912 Reading A 2–6 3,000 Lenaghan, Hardman
18 21 December 1912 Exeter City H 0–2 5,000
19 25 December 1912 West Ham United A 0–5 8,000
20 26 December 1912 West Ham United H 0–1 10,000
21 28 December 1912 Brighton & Hove Albion H 4–1 7,000 A Smith, Revill, Hardman, Herbert
22 4 January 1913 Northampton Town A 0–9 1,600
23 18 January 1913 Coventry City H 0–1 5,000
24 25 January 1913 Queens Park Rangers A 0–1 12,000
25 6 February 1913 Watford H 1–2 6,000 Herbert
26 15 February 1913 Brentford A 2–4 2,000 Herbert, A Smith
27 22 February 1913 Merthyr Town H 2–0 4,000 Herbert, A Smith
28 1 March 1913 Millwall Athletic A 2–1 9,000 Herbert, Pentland
29 8 March 1913 Crystal Palace H 0–0 7,000
30 14 March 1913 Bristol Rovers A 0–4 2,000
31 21 March 1913 Gillingham A 0–0 5,000
32 22 March 1913 Plymouth Argyle H 0–2 5,000
33 24 March 1913 Gillingham H 0–2 3,500
34 29 March 1913 Swindon Town A 2–3 3,000 W Smith, Holmes
35 5 April 1913 Southampton H 3–1 4,000 W Smith, Holmes (2)
36 12 April 1913 Portsmouth A 1–4 4,000 A Smith
37 19 April 1913 Reading H 4–0 3,500 Revill, W Smith (2), Heggarty
38 26 April 1913 Exeter City A 0–1 1,000

FA Cup

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Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
R1 16 January 1913 Reading H 2–2 14,000 A Smith, Revill
R1 Replay 22 January 1913 Reading A 0–3 12,000

Squad statistics

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Pos. Name League FA Cup Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
GK   Bert Gadsden 33 0 2 0 35 0
GK   Richard Herron 5 0 0 0 5 0
DF   Ernest Mullineux 16 0 1 0 17 0
DF   Charles James 1 0 0 0 1 0
DF   Alec Milne 16 0 0 0 16 0
DF   George Smart 15 0 0 0 15 0
DF   George Turner 33 1 2 0 35 1
MF   Sam Baddeley 29 0 2 0 31 0
MF   Crop Hawkins 1 0 0 0 1 0
MF   Ernest Hodkin 22 0 2 0 24 0
MF   Henry Hargreaves 2 0 0 0 2 0
MF   Joe Jones 30 0 2 0 32 0
MF   Jimmy McVay 11 0 0 0 11 0
MF   Albert Pitt 4 0 0 0 4 0
MF   George Roche 3 0 0 0 3 0
FW   Tom Bailey 13 0 0 0 13 0
FW   Richard Coates 1 0 0 0 1 0
FW   Harold Leese 5 0 1 0 6 0
FW   John Lenaghan 19 2 0 0 19 2
FW   Harold Hardman 19 4 0 0 19 4
FW   Archie Heggarty 20 1 2 0 22 1
FW   Billy Herbert 16 5 2 0 18 5
FW   William Holmes 5 3 0 0 5 3
FW   Fred Pentland 5 1 0 0 5 1
FW   Tom Revill 34 8 2 1 36 9
FW   Alf Smith 34 9 2 1 36 10
FW   William Smith 5 3 0 0 5 3
FW   Archie Sproson 1 0 0 0 1 0
FW   Billy Tempest 4 0 0 0 4 0
FW   Enos Whittaker 16 1 2 0 18 1
Own goals 1 0 1

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.