1921–22 Port Vale F.C. season

The 1921–22 season was Port Vale's third consecutive season of football (16th overall) in the Football League.^[1] Another difficult season, both on and off the pitch, the club finished with 36 points for the second season in a row. The club were without a reliable goal scorer following their sale of Bobby Blood the previous season.

The season turned with a streak of nine games unbeaten, which followed a run of nine defeats in ten games. A case of fighting off relegation and just getting by financially, their difficulties were contrasted by the promotion of rivals Stoke – who also knocked the "Valiants" out of the FA Cup just to rub salt into the wound.

Despite such low points the club also experienced brief, but considerable periods of joy. When goalkeeper Teddy Peers turned out for Wales he became the first player to earn an international cap whilst on the books of the club. From 11 February 1922 to 18 March 1922 Peers oversaw a streak of seven consecutive clean sheets in league games, a still standing club record.

Wing half Tom Holford was past 40 and still made several appearances.

Joe Brough, 35, was another veteran willing to play his part.

Billy Briscoe hardly missed a match.

Overview

Second Division

New additions to the squad in pre-season included: Welshman Jack Hampson signed from Aston Villa for £1,000; a returning Albert Pearson from Liverpool; half-back Ernest Collinge; centre-half from Nottingham Forest Robert Firth (a future Real Madrid manager); young Scottish midfielder Bob Connelly; and forward Billy Agnew from Falkirk.^[1] The stadium was also improved, with a gym constructed, and the new stand extended.^[1]

The season started poorly, with Vale losing five of their opening six games – this included a 1–0 home defeat to Stoke in what was the biggest crowd of the season.^[1] The side made particularly hard work of finding the net, drawing a blank in five of these games.^[1] A 5–2 loss at Bury was reversed into a 5–2 win at home, and the team went on a useful run of eight points from six games.^[1] However from the end of November up until February the club lost nine of their ten league games, as the club stood rooted to the bottom slot.^[1] The club turned things around in some style by going two months unbeaten, winning six of their nine games.^[1] During this run they went seven games without conceding a goal, with goalkeeper Peers so confident he often felt able to lean casually on his goalpost to watch the Pursell brothers clear up any danger in front of him.^[1] The run was broken after injuries set in – including a broken leg for Bob Pursell that necessitated his retirement from the game.^[1] Nevertheless the club continued to pick up enough points to ensure their Second Division survival.^[1]

At the end of season, the club were three points clear of the relegation zone, but sixteen points short of rivals Stoke, who were promoted. The team were hopeless in front of goal, managing just a goal a game, yet Rotherham County scored just 32 goals in 42 games and still finished ahead of the "Valiants".

The first team was rather unsettled throughout the campaign thanks to a bureaucratic method of selection.^[1] However the Pursell brothers, Billy Briscoe, Tom Page; as well as new signings Ernest Collinge, Bob Connelly, Robert Firth, Jack Hampson, and Billy Agnew were all regular features. The club rotated between three goalkeepers, with a fourth also getting a game. Page was the club's top scorer with a meagre ten goals from all competitions, with Bob Connelly also netting seven. Following an injury to Walter Smith, Teddy Peers was signed from Wolves on an emergency loan.^[1] Peers went on to become the first player to be capped whilst at the club when he turned out for Wales.^[1]

Finances

Finances were as ever of great concern to the club, and by February the poor crowd figures meant that £2,000 was needed to keep the club afloat.^[1] A 'Shilling Fund' was established to raise donations, which resulted in donations from First Division sides Preston North End and Huddersfield Town.^[1] A loss of £4,641 was made on the season, with an economic downturn getting the blame for a shocking drop in gate receipt figures.^[1] The club even accused local paper The Sentinel of overestimating the crowd sizes.^[1] Finances were also hit by a raise in player's wages following the raising of the maximum payments limit.^[1] Aiming to make a £500 the following season, the director's announced a cut in the wage bill to the tune of £3,000.^[1] This meant letting go of Bob Pursell, who had broken his leg; aged half-back Joe Brough who was said to have felt 'worn out'; 38-year-old stopper Walter Smith; forward Albert Pearson; 35-year-old Robert Firth; and 33-year-old Jack Peart.^[1] The former two experienced campaigners simply retired, with Smith joining Plymouth Argyle; Pearson joining Llanelli; Firth joining Southend United; and Peart joining Norwich City.

Cup competitions

Vale left the FA Cup at the First Round thanks to Arthur Watkin scoring a hat-trick, which helped secure a 4–2 win for Stoke at The Old Recreation Ground. The end of season North Staffordshire Infirmary Cup game finished goalless between the two clubs, and as was the case in 1920 the trophy was shared between the two clubs – the cup game was held on-and-off until 1932, and Vale would lose on all five occasions.

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GA	GD	Pts
1	Nottingham Forest	42	13	7	1	29	9	9	5	7	22	21	51	30	1.700	+ 21	56
2	Stoke	42	9	11	1	31	11	9	5	7	29	33	60	44	1.364	+ 16	52
3	Barnsley	42	14	5	2	43	18	8	3	10	24	34	67	52	1.288	+ 15	52
4	West Ham United	42	15	3	3	39	13	5	5	11	13	26	52	39	1.333	+ 13	48
5	Hull City	42	13	5	3	36	13	6	5	10	15	28	51	41	1.244	+ 10	48
6	South Shields	42	11	7	3	25	13	6	5	10	18	25	43	38	1.132	+ 5	46
7	Fulham	42	14	5	2	41	8	4	4	13	16	30	57	38	1.500	+ 19	45
8	Leeds United	42	10	8	3	31	12	6	5	10	17	26	48	38	1.263	+ 10	45
9	Leicester City	42	11	6	4	30	16	3	11	7	9	18	39	34	1.147	+ 5	45
10	The Wednesday	42	12	4	5	31	24	3	10	8	16	26	47	50	0.940	– 3	44
11	Bury	42	11	3	7	35	19	4	7	10	19	36	54	55	0.982	– 1	40
12	Derby County	42	11	3	7	34	22	4	6	11	26	42	60	64	0.938	– 4	39
13	Notts County	42	10	7	4	34	18	2	8	11	13	33	47	51	0.922	– 4	39
14	Crystal Palace	42	9	6	6	28	20	4	7	10	17	31	45	51	0.882	– 6	39
15	Clapton Orient	42	12	4	5	33	18	3	5	13	10	32	43	50	0.860	– 7	39
16	Rotherham County	42	8	9	4	17	7	6	2	13	15	36	32	43	0.744	– 11	39
17	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	8	7	6	28	19	5	4	12	16	30	44	49	0.898	– 5	37
18	Port Vale	42	10	5	6	28	19	4	3	14	15	38	43	57	0.754	– 14	36
19	Blackpool	42	11	1	9	33	27	4	4	13	11	30	44	57	0.772	– 13	35
20	Coventry City	42	8	5	8	31	21	4	5	12	20	39	51	60	0.850	– 9	34
21	Bradford Park Avenue	42	10	5	6	32	22	2	4	15	14	40	46	62	0.742	– 16	33
22	Bristol City	42	10	3	8	25	18	2	6	13	12	40	37	58	0.638	– 21	33

Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against;
GA = Goal average; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

Results

Port Vale's score comes first

Legend

Win	Draw	Loss

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42
Ground	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	H	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	H	A
Result	L	W	L	L	L	W	D	L	L	W	D	W	L	W	D	L	L	L	L	L	D	L	L	L	L	W	D	W	D	W	W	W	W	D	L	L	D	W	L	W	W	L
Position	14	6	14	21	21	17	16	20	20	19	19	19	18	14	16	18	18	19	19	19	20	20	21	22	22	22	22	19	20	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18

Sourced from Statto.^[2]

Football League Second Division

Main article: 1921–22 Football League

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
27 August 1921	Leeds United	A	1–2	18,000	Pearson
29 August 1921	Clapton Orient	H	3–0	17,000	Firth, Hampson, Page
3 September 1921	Leeds United	H	0–1	18,000
10 September 1921	West Ham United	A	0–3	18,000
12 September 1921	Clapton Orient	A	0–2	10,000
17 September 1921	West Ham United	H	2–1	10,000	Firth, Hampson
24 September 1921	Stoke	A	0–0	30,000
1 October 1921	Stoke	H	0–1	20,000
8 October 1921	Bury	A	2–5	12,000	Briscoe, Connelly
15 October 1921	Bury	H	5–2	11,000	Connelly (2), Hampson, Firth, Page
22 October 1921	South Shields	H	1–1	6,000	Page
29 October 1921	South Shields	A	1–0	12,000	Agnew
5 November 1921	Bristol City	A	1–2	20,000	Page
12 November 1921	Bristol City	H	3–1	8,000	Agnew (2), Connelly
19 November 1921	Nottingham Forest	A	1–1	16,000	Page
26 November 1921	Nottingham Forest	H	0–2	12,000
3 December 1921	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	0–2	12,000
10 December 1921	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	0–2	8,000
17 December 1921	Barnsley	H	2–3	6,000	Collinge (pen), Connelly
24 December 1921	Barnsley	A	2–3	8,000	Simon, Firth
26 December 1921	Derby County	H	1–1	17,000	Connelly
27 December 1921	Derby County	A	2–3	13,000	Firth, Connelly
31 December 1921	Coventry City	A	1–4	16,000	Page
21 January 1922	Hull City	A	0–2	6,000
30 January 1922	Coventry City	H	1–2	7,000	Lauder
4 February 1922	Notts County	A	2–1	7,000	Collinge, Lauder
11 February 1922	Notts County	H	0–0	12,000
13 February 1922	Hull City	H	1–0	8,000	Fitchford
18 February 1922	Crystal Palace	A	0–0	10,000
25 February 1922	Crystal Palace	H	3–0	14,000	Lauder, Agnew, Collinge (pen)
4 March 1922	Rotherham County	A	1–0	8,000	Page
11 March 1922	Rotherham County	H	1–0	12,000	Page
18 March 1922	The Wednesday	H	1–0	12,000	Collinge (pen)
1 April 1922	Fulham	H	1–1	10,000	Page
3 April 1922	The Wednesday	H	0–2	6,000
8 April 1922	Fulham	A	0–1	15,000
14 April 1922	Leicester City	H	1–1	10,000	Fitchford
15 April 1922	Blackpool	A	1–0	14,000	Collinge (pen)
17 April 1922	Leicester City	A	0–3	15,000
22 April 1922	Blackpool	H	1–0	15,000	Fitchford
29 April 1922	Bradford Park Avenue	H	1–0	10,998	Agnew
6 May 1922	Bradford Park Avenue	A	0–2	10,000

FA Cup

Main article: 1921–22 FA Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
1R	7 January 1922	Stoke	A	2–4	14,471	Page, Brough

Player statistics

Appearances

Pos.	Name	Football League		FA Cup		Total
Pos.	Name	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Walter Smith	13	0	0	0	13	0
GK	Alfred Bourne	13	0	0	0	13	0
GK	Ernest Blackham	1	0	0	0	1	0
GK	Teddy Peers	15	0	1	0	17	0
DF	Peter Pursell	30	0	1	0	32	0
DF	Bob Pursell	28	0	1	0	29	0
DF	Len Birks	6	0	0	0	7	0
DF	William Lavery	5	0	0	0	5	0
DF	Billy Twemlow	18	0	1	0	19	0
MF	Tom Holford	5	0	1	0	7	0
MF	Joe Brough	8	0	1	1	9	1
MF	Billy Fitchford	6	3	0	0	7	3
MF	Frank Simon	7	1	0	0	7	1
MF	Ernest Collinge	41	5	1	0	43	5
MF	Bob Connelly	38	7	1	0	39	7
MF	Robert Firth	39	5	1	0	41	5
MF	Jack Hampson	30	3	0	0	31	3
FW	Billy Briscoe	33	1	0	0	34	1
FW	Tom Page	37	9	1	1	39	10
FW	John Johnstone	3	0	0	0	3	0
FW	Albert Hayes	2	0	0	0	2	0
FW	Frank Cartledge	4	0	0	0	5	0
FW	Billy Agnew	31	5	0	0	31	5
FW	Tom Collinge	1	0	0	0	1	0
FW	Andrew Finlay	1	0	0	0	1	0
FW	Alex Lauder	21	3	0	0	21	3
FW	Albert Pearson	19	1	0	0	20	1
FW	Jack Peart	7	0	0	0	7	0

Scorers

All competitions

Scorer	Goals
Tom Page	10
Bob Connelly	7
Billy Agnew	5
Robert Firth
Ernest Collinge
Billy Fitchford	3
Jack Hampson
Alex Lauder
Albert Pearson	1
Billy Briscoe
Frank Simon
Joe Brough

League

Scorer	Goals
Tom Page	9
Bob Connelly	7
Billy Agnew	5
Robert Firth
Ernest Collinge
Billy Fitchford	3
Jack Hampson
Alex Lauder
Albert Pearson	1
Billy Briscoe
Frank Simon

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Kent, Jeff (1990). "Keeping in Good Company (1919-1929)". The Valiants' Years The Story Of Port Vale. Witan Books. pp. 98–123. ISBN 0-9508981-4-7.
↑ Port Vale 1921–1922 : Results & Fixtures. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.

Kent, Jeff (1993). The Port Vale Record 1879-1993. Witan Books. ISBN 0-9508981-9-8.

Port Vale F.C. seasons

1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 99–1900

1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10

1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20

1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30

1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40

1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50

1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60

1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70

1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80

1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90

1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 99–2000

2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10

2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20

Port Vale Football Club

History Honours Managers Records Reserves & Youth Seasons

Grounds	Athletic Ground Old Recreation Ground Vale Park

Players	25+ appearances <25 appearances Player of the Year Winners

Matches	1989 Play-off Final 1993 League Trophy Final 1993 Play-off Final 1996 Anglo-Italian Final 2001 League Trophy Final Potteries derby

1921–22 in English football

« 1920–21

1922–23 »

FA competitions

FA Cup (Qualifying Rounds
Final)
FA Charity Shield

Football League

Third Division South)

Lower leagues

Related to national team

Home Championship

Club seasons

First Division

Arsenal
Aston Villa
Birmingham
Blackburn Rovers
Bolton Wanderers
Bradford City
Burnley
Cardiff City
Chelsea
Everton
Huddersfield Town
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Middlesbrough
Newcastle United
Oldham Athletic
Preston North End
Sheffield United
Sunderland
Tottenham Hotspur
West Bromwich Albion

Second Division

Barnsley
Blackpool
Bradford Park Avenue
Bristol City
Bury
Clapton Orient
Coventry City
Crystal Palace
Derby County
Fulham
Hull City
Leeds United
Leicester City
Nottingham Forest
Notts County
Port Vale
Rotherham County
South Shields
Stoke
The Wednesday
West Ham United
Wolverhampton Wanderers

Third Division

North	Accrington Stanley Ashington Barrow Chesterfield Crewe Alexandra Darlington Durham City Grimsby Town Halifax Town Hartlepools United Lincoln City Nelson Rochdale Southport Stalybridge Celtic Stockport County Tranmere Rovers Walsall Wigan Borough Wrexham

South	Aberdare Athletic Brentford Brighton & Hove Albion Bristol Rovers Charlton Athletic Exeter City Gillingham Luton Town Merthyr Town Millwall Newport County Northampton Town Norwich City Plymouth Argyle Portsmouth Queens Park Rangers Reading Southampton Southend United Swansea Town Swindon Town Watford

Other

Torquay United

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