1929–30 Stoke City F.C. season

The 1929–30 season was Stoke City's 30th season in the Football League and the tenth in the Second Division.

Stoke City
1929–30 season
ChairmanMr A.McSherwin
ManagerTom Mather
StadiumVictoria Ground
Football League Second Division11th (40 Points)
FA CupThird Round
Top goalscorerLeague: Charlie Wilson
(20)

All: Charlie Wilson
(20)
Highest home attendance19,013 vs Cardiff City
(14 September 1929)
Lowest home attendance5,369 vs Nottingham Forest
(15 March 1930)
Average home league attendance11,523

With the 1920s, which had seen Stoke hit the highs of the First Division and lows of the Third Division, coming to an end there was hope around the city that the club could regain its top-flight status. The Victoria Ground was improved again and could now hold 50,000. Despite a good start to the season with 15 points collected from the first 12 matches Stoke could not maintain a promotion challenge and finished in mid-table.[1]

Season review

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League

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With the 1920s now drawing to a close there were high hopes that, after three seasons of reasonable success on the pitch, a return to the First Division could be imminent.[1] Tom Mather was proving to be a fine manager, who with little or no resources, had built a team good enough to compete with the best in the country.[1] The bad feeling surrounding the sale of Harry Davies was slowly receding and two new forwards emerged, Wilf Kirkham from Port Vale and Wilf Chadwick from Wolverhampton Wanderers.[1]

The 1929–30 season was launched with a ceremony at the Victoria Ground which saw the Football League vice-president Mr C. Sutcliffe, officially declare open the new covered accommodation on the Butler Street stand for 12,000 spectators, bringing the overall number of fans under cover up to 20,000.[1] At this time it was considered that the Victoria Ground was only second in the country to Liverpool's Anfield with the total capacity now at 50,000.[1]

With Dick Williams still in goal and Bob McGrory and Billy Spencer at full back, Stoke started the season well and after twelve matches they lay second in the table.[1] However Stoke could not maintain their challenge as they were robbed of key players through injury mainly McGrory whose leadership was sorely missed and in the end Stoke settled for a position in mid table.[1]

FA Cup

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Stoke suffered great misfortune in the FA Cup as in the third round they were leading Doncaster Rovers 3–2 up until 76 minutes when the match was called off due to heavy snow fall. In the 'replay' Doncaster won 1–0.[1]

Final league table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GAv Pts
9 Wolverhampton Wanderers 42 16 9 17 77 79 0.975 41
10 Nottingham Forest 42 13 15 14 55 69 0.797 41
11 Stoke City 42 16 8 18 74 72 1.028 40
12 Tottenham Hotspur 42 15 9 18 59 61 0.967 39
13 Charlton Athletic 42 14 11 17 59 63 0.937 39
Source: [citation needed]
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Goals scored

Results

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Stoke's score comes first

Legend

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Win Draw Loss

Football League Second Division

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Match Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
1 31 August 1929 Bradford City H 2–0 16,568 Wilson, Archibald
2 2 September 1929 Charlton Athletic H 2–1 10,000 Wilson, Chadwick
3 7 September 1929 Swansea Town A 2–2 12,136 Wilson, Bussey
4 9 September 1929 Charlton Athletic A 4–4 20,000 Wilson, Bussey (2), Cull
5 14 September 1929 Cardiff City H 1–1 19,013 Wilson
6 21 September 1929 Preston North End A 1–5 8,000 Kirkham
7 28 September 1929 Bristol City H 6–2 13,492 Kirkham, Wilson (3), Cull, Mawson
8 30 September 1929 Wolverhampton Wanderers H 3–0 6,648 Kirkham, Mawson, Archibald
9 5 October 1929 Notts County A 3–3 7,000 Wilson, Liddle (2)
10 9 October 1929 Tottenham Hotspur A 1–3 12,000 Wilson
11 12 October 1929 Reading H 2–2 15,853 Wilson, Kirkham
12 19 October 1929 Southampton H 4–0 14,666 Kirkham, Sellars, Mawson, Williamson
13 26 October 1929 Millwall A 1–2 8,000 Mawson
14 2 November 1929 Oldham Athletic H 0–2 15,840
15 9 November 1929 Nottingham Forest A 1–2 6,000 Chadwick
16 16 November 1929 Chelsea H 1–1 8,000 Robertson
17 23 November 1929 Bury A 0–2 5,000
18 30 November 1929 Blackpool H 0–1 11,546
19 7 December 1929 Barnsley A 1–3 9,058 Liddle
20 14 December 1929 Bradford Park Avenue H 2–1 8,881 Shirley (2)
21 21 December 1929 West Bromwich Albion A 3–2 11,809 Shirley, Wilson (2)
22 25 December 1929 Hull City A 0–3 6,000
23 26 December 1929 Hull City H 3–1 11,553 Shirley, Williamson, Mawson
24 28 December 1929 Bradford City A 0–3 12,000
25 4 January 1930 Swansea Town H 0–1 6,640
26 18 January 1930 Cardiff City A 2–1 10,124 Wilson, Bussey
27 25 January 1930 Preston North End H 2–3 10,325 Wilson, Archibald
28 1 February 1930 Bristol City A 6–2 10,022 Wilson (4) (1 Pen), Bussey, Kirkham
29 8 February 1930 Notts County H 1–1 8,583 Kirkham
30 15 February 1930 Reading A 0–0 5,175
31 22 February 1930 Southampton A 1–2 10,000 Armitage (pen)
32 1 March 1930 Millwall H 1–0 8,987 Wilson
33 8 March 1930 Oldham Athletic A 0–5 17,749
34 15 March 1930 Nottingham Forest H 6–0 5,369 Kirkham (3), Williamson, Sellars, Bussey
35 22 March 1930 Chelsea A 2–3 35,000 Kirkham (2)
36 29 March 1930 Bury H 1–0 10,019 Liddle
37 5 April 1930 Blackpool A 2–0 9,959 Kirkham, Sellars
38 12 April 1930 Barnsley H 3–0 7,431 Kirkham, Armitage (pen), Liddle
39 19 April 1930 Bradford Park Avenue A 2–3 6,700 Liddle, Archibald
40 21 April 1930 Wolverhampton Wanderers A 1–2 18,092 Kirkham
41 26 April 1930 West Bromwich Albion H 0–3 8,012
42 3 May 1930 Tottenham Hotspur H 1–0 6,570 Cull

FA Cup

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Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
R3 11 January 1930 Doncaster Rovers A 3–2 13,224 Abandoned after 76 minutes
R3 16 January 1930 Doncaster Rovers A 0–1 7,748

Squad statistics

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Pos. Name League FA Cup Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
GK   Dave Beswick 1 0 0 0 1 0
GK   Norman Lewis 17 0 1 0 18 0
GK   Dick Williams 24 0 0 0 24 0
DF   Arthur Beachill 20 0 1 0 21 0
DF   Tommy Dawson 3 0 0 0 3 0
DF   Bob McGrory 21 0 0 0 21 0
DF   Charlie Scrimshaw 2 0 0 0 2 0
DF   Billy Spencer 40 0 1 0 41 0
DF   Harry Watson 2 0 0 0 2 0
MF   Len Armitage 30 2 1 0 31 2
MF   Thomas Godfrey 1 0 0 0 1 0
MF   Peter Jackson 6 0 0 0 6 0
MF   William Robertson 9 1 0 0 9 1
MF   Harry Sellars 40 3 1 0 41 3
MF   Paddy Turley 1 0 0 0 1 0
MF   Tom Williamson 37 3 1 0 38 3
FW   Bobby Archibald 40 4 1 0 41 4
FW   Walter Bussey 31 6 1 0 32 6
FW   Wilf Chadwick 7 2 1 0 8 2
FW   John Cull 22 3 1 0 23 3
FW   Wilf Kirkham 27 15 0 0 27 15
FW   Bobby Liddle 25 6 0 0 25 6
FW   Joe Mawson 11 5 0 0 11 5
FW   John Shirley 14 4 0 0 14 4
FW   Harold Taylor 4 0 0 0 4 0
FW   Charlie Wilson 27 20 1 0 28 20

References

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