1924–25 Port Vale F.C. season

Port Vale

1924–25 season
Chairman	Sampson Walker
Manager	Joe Schofield
Stadium	The Old Recreation Ground
Football League Second Division	8th (42 Points)
FA Cup	First Round
Top goalscorer	League: Wilf Kirkham (26) All: Wilf Kirkham (33)
Highest home attendance	17,936 vs. Stoke (24 January 1925)
Lowest home attendance	5,000 vs. Southampton (13 October 1924)
Average home league attendance	10,769+
Home colours
← 1923–24 1925–26 →

The 1924–25 season was Port Vale's sixth consecutive season of football (19th overall) in the Football League.^[1] A highly successful season, for the first time in their history they finished above rivals Stoke. Vale's eighth place finish in the second tier was their best finish since 1893–94. Throughout the 20th century, this finish would be bettered only in 1930–31 (they would finish third in the Second Division in 1992–93, however by then the Second Division was actually the third tier in the Football League behind the Premier League).

Their success was down primarily to the goalscoring efforts of young Wilf Kirkham, who netted 33 goals in 44 games. This was combined with a settled team, which saw just fifteen regular players supplemented by seven reserve players.

Billy Briscoe missed just the one match.

Billy Tempest was a new signing from Stoke.

Right-back Jack Maddock played in 23 games.

Overview

Second Division

The pre-season saw the arrival of three new players: veteran Everton goalkeeper Tom Fern, young half-back Sidney Blunt, and winger Billy Tempest made the leap from Stoke to Vale.^[1]

The season started with a lose-one-win-one sequence of six games; significantly, the final game of this sequence was a 1–0 win over Stoke at the Victoria Ground, Bob Connelly scoring the goal.^[1] The "Valiants" followed this with five games without a win, and "a certain section of the crowd" became "prone to gibe and jeer at mistakes", which had a noticeable effect on the side's confidence.^[1] Goals were a problem, and so the directors took the decision to sell full-back Len Birks to Sheffield United for 'a substantial sum', promising to spend the money on forwards.^[1] They duly signed Alfred Strange from Portsmouth.^[1]

The team bobbed along at mid-table, and on 20 December were expected to be turned over by promotion-chasing Manchester United; however Vale managed to record a 2–1 win.^[1] The difficult games continued, as two games in as many days came against eventual champions Leicester City; they were thumped 7–0 at Filbert Street on Christmas Day.^[1] Johnny Duncan scored six of the "Foxes" seven goals (a Leicester record).^[2]

The second half of the season would prove to be a brilliant one for the club. They won ten of their first thirteen league games of 1925, including a 2–0 win over Stoke at The Old Recreation Ground – former "Potter" Tempest getting a goal against his former employers.^[1] The defence were absolutely solid, keeping clean sheets in nine of these thirteen games.

Whilst on the South Coast of England the players were rewarded for their hard work with a relaxing holiday, seeing sights such as the Isle of Wight, the Southampton docks, the HMS Victory, the Newbury races, and music hall star Gertie Gitana performing at the theatre.^[1] Following this, manager Joe Schofield took advantage of a comfortable league position by experimenting with his starting eleven.^[1] Just four points were picked up from their last nine games, this included a 1–0 defeat at Stamford Bridge in front of 30,000 and a 4–0 defeat at Old Trafford in front of 40,000.^[1] However Kirkham did bag his third hat-trick of the season against Stockport County.^[1]

At the end of season, Vale picked up a club record 42 Football League points, with Kirkham scoring a club record 26 league goals.^[1] Outside of Kirkham however, the club were finding difficulties in front of goal, and had to be much more prolific in order to challenge for promotion.^[1] They were fifteen points off the top two, and eight points clear of the bottom two.

Jack Lowe was an ever-present in both league and cup, whereas Kirkham and Briscoe each missed just the one game. Fern, Connelly, and Blunt also were highly consistent. At the end of the campaign all of the first team performers were retained.^[1]

Finances

The club finally found themselves on a sound financial footing, making a record £4,469 profit on the campaign.^[1] The club debt went down to £134, and the club decided to purchase The Old Recreation Ground outright, putting down a deposit of £2,250.^[1]

Cup competitions

In the FA Cup, the Vale managed to qualify for the First Round Proper for the first time since 1921–22. Kirkham and Briscoe scored a combined total of ten goals in the games against Midland League Boston and Central Alliance League Alfreton, with Strange contributing three.^[1] This set up a difficult encounter with First Division Aston Villa at Villa Park, and Vale were easily outclassed in the second-half, despite leading 1–0 at the break, they finished the game with a 7–2 defeat.^[1] The nine goals scored amounted to a club record aggregate score in the competition.

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GA	GD		Pts
1	Leicester City	42		15	4	2	58	9		9	7	5	32	23		90	32	2.813	+ 58		59
2	Manchester United	42		17	3	1	40	6		6	8	7	17	17		57	23	2.478	+ 24		57
3	Derby County	42		15	3	3	49	15		7	8	6	22	21		71	36	1.972	+ 35		55
4	Portsmouth	42		7	13	1	28	14		8	5	8	30	36		58	50	1.160	+ 8		48
5	Chelsea	42		11	8	2	31	12		5	7	9	20	25		51	37	1.378	+ 14		47
6	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42		14	1	6	29	19		6	5	10	26	32		55	51	1.078	+ 4		46
7	Southampton	42		12	8	1	29	10		1	10	10	11	26		40	36	1.111	+ 4		44
8	Port Vale	42		12	4	5	34	19		5	4	12	14	37		48	56	0.857	– 8		42
9	South Shields	42		9	6	6	33	21		3	11	7	9	17		42	38	1.105	+ 4		41
10	Hull City	42		12	6	3	40	14		3	5	13	10	35		50	49	1.020	+ 1		41
11	Clapton Orient	42		8	7	6	22	13		6	5	10	20	29		42	42	1.000	± 0		40
12	Fulham	42		11	6	4	26	15		4	4	13	15	41		41	56	0.732	– 15		40
13	Middlesbrough	42		6	10	5	22	21		4	9	8	14	23		36	44	0.818	– 8		39
14	The Wednesday	42		12	3	6	36	23		3	5	13	14	33		50	56	0.893	– 6		38
15	Barnsley	42		8	8	5	30	23		5	4	12	16	36		46	59	0.780	– 13		38
16	Bradford City	42		11	6	4	26	13		2	6	13	11	37		37	50	0.740	– 13		38
17	Blackpool	42		8	5	8	37	26		6	4	11	28	35		65	61	1.066	+ 4		37
18	Oldham Athletic	42		9	5	7	24	21		4	6	11	11	30		35	51	0.686	– 16		37
19	Stockport County	42		10	6	5	26	15		3	5	13	11	42		37	57	0.649	– 20		37
20	Stoke	42		7	8	6	22	17		5	3	13	12	29		34	46	0.739	– 12		35
21	Crystal Palace	42		8	4	9	23	19		4	6	11	15	35		38	54	0.704	– 16		34
22	Coventry City	42		10	6	5	32	26		1	3	17	13	58		45	84	0.536	– 39		31

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	H	A	H	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	H	A	H	A	H	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	A	A	H	A	A	H	A	A	A
Result	L	W	L	W	L	W	D	D	L	D	L	W	L	W	L	W	D	W	L	L	L	W	W	W	W	L	W	W	D	W	W	W	D	L	L	D	L	L	W	L	L	D
Position	14	13	17	14	16	10	14	13	16	15	15	11	14	12	12	11	15	16	17	17	18	15	16	13	9	10	10	8	7	6	5	5	5	5	7	7	7	8	8	8	8	8

Sourced from Statto.^[3]

Football League Second Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
30 August 1924	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	1–3	15,000	Page
6 September 1924	Barnsley	A	3–1	8,000	Kirkham (2), Briscoe
8 September 1924	Fulham	H	0–1	10,000
13 September 1924	Middlesbrough	H	2–1	6,000	Kirkham, Briscoe
15 September 1924	Portsmouth	H	0–2	9,000
20 September 1924	Stoke	A	1–0	22,747	Connelly
27 September 1924	Bradford City	A	1–1	10,000	Briscoe
4 October 1924	South Shields	H	0–0	10,180
11 October 1924	Derby County	A	1–4	18,000	Kirkham
13 October 1924	Southampton	H	1–1	5,000	Kirkham
18 October 1924	Blackpool	H	1–2	10,000	Kirkham
25 October 1924	Coventry City	H	4–0	7,965	Kirkham (2), Maddock (pen), Connelly
1 November 1924	Oldham Athletic	A	0–2	3,000
8 November 1924	The Wednesday	H	1–0	9,018	Kirkham
15 November 1924	Clapton Orient	A	1–3	10,000	Briscoe
22 November 1924	Crystal Palace	H	3–0	8,147	Kirkham (2), Strange
6 December 1924	Chelsea	H	1–1	11,975	Briscoe
20 December 1924	Manchester United	H	2–1	14,000	Lowe, Kirkham
25 December 1924	Leicester City	A	0–7	22,000
26 December 1924	Leicester City	H	1–2	17,000	Kirkham
27 December 1924	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	0–3	8,000
3 January 1925	Barnsley	H	2–0	7,654	Kirkham, Page
17 January 1925	Middlesbrough	A	1–0	6,000	Page
24 January 1925	Stoke	H	2–0	17,936	Kirkham, Tempest
2 February 1925	Bradford City	H	1–0	6,000	o.g.
7 February 1925	South Shields	A	0–3	10,000
14 February 1925	Derby County	H	2–1	16,000	Kirkham (2 [1 pen])
25 February 1925	Stockport County	A	2–0	3,000	Kirkham (2)
28 February 1925	Coventry City	A	0–0	9,000
7 March 1925	Oldham Athletic	H	1–0	11,005	Page
14 March 1925	The Wednesday	A	1–0	12,000	Kirkham
21 March 1925	Clapton Orient	H	4–2	10,000	Kirkham (3), Blunt
28 March 1925	Crystal Palace	A	0–0	8,000
30 March 1925	Portsmouth	A	0–2
4 April 1925	Southampton	A	0–1	8,000
10 April 1925	Hull City	H	1–1	14,500	Briscoe
11 April 1925	Chelsea	A	0–1	30,000
13 April 1925	Hull City	A	1–2	4,000	Strange
18 April 1925	Stockport County	H	4–1	9,760	Kirkham (3 [1 pen]), Strange
22 April 1925	Blackpool	A	1–4	8,000	Strange
25 April 1925	Manchester United	A	0–4	40,000
2 May 1925	Fulham	A	1–1	10,000	Page

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
5Q	29 November 1924	Boston	H	6–1	7,101	Strange (2), Kirkham (2), Briscoe (2)
6Q	13 December 1924	Alfreton	A	8–2	6,000	Briscoe (4), Kirkham (3), Strange
R1	10 January 1925	Aston Villa	A	2–7	35,800	Kirkham (2)

Player statistics

Appearances Pos. Name Football League FA Cup Total Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals GK Sidney Brown 4 0 0 0 4 0 GK Tom Fern 37 0 3 0 40 0 GK Robert Wallis 1 0 0 0 1 0 DF Len Birks 11 0 0 0 11 0 DF Jimmy Oakes 28 0 3 0 31 0 DF Jack Maddock 21 1 2 0 23 1 DF Tom Cooper 21 0 1 0 22 0 MF Ernest Collinge 29 0 3 0 32 0 MF Bob Connelly 38 2 3 0 41 2 MF Roger Jones 11 0 2 0 13 0 MF Jack Lowe 42 1 3 0 45 1 MF Arden Maddison 8 0 0 0 8 0 MF Harry Lomas 1 0 0 0 1 0 MF Jack Hyde 2 0 0 0 2 0 MF Alfred Strange 30 4 3 3 33 7 MF Billy Tempest 29 1 0 0 29 1 MF Jack Wareham 2 0 0 0 2 0 MF Sidney Blunt 36 1 3 0 39 1 FW Tom Page 28 5 1 0 29 5 FW Tom Reid 1 0 0 0 1 0 FW Wilf Kirkham 41 26 3 7 44 33 FW Billy Briscoe 41 6 3 6 44 12

Scorers All competitions Scorer Goals Wilf Kirkham 33 Billy Briscoe 12 Alfred Strange 7 Tom Page 5 Bob Connelly 2 Jack Maddock 1 Jack Lowe Billy Tempest Sidney Blunt League Scorer Goals Wilf Kirkham 26 Billy Briscoe 6 Tom Page 5 Alfred Strange 4 Bob Connelly 2 Jack Maddock 1 Jack Lowe Billy Tempest Sidney Blunt

References

1. 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.
2. Twydell, Dave (1997). Rejected F.C. of Scotland Volume 3:The Rest. p. 180. ISBN 1-874427-17-8.
3. Port Vale 1924–1925 : Results & Fixtures. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.

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