1925–26 Port Vale F.C. season

Port Vale

1925–26 season
Chairman	Sampson Walker
Manager	Joe Schofield
Stadium	The Old Recreation Ground
Football League Second Division	8th (44 Points)
FA Cup	Third Round
Top goalscorer	League: Wilf Kirkham (35) All: Wilf Kirkham (35)
Highest home attendance	19,997 vs. Stoke City (31 August 1925)
Lowest home attendance	5,207 vs. Nottingham Forest (12 April 1926)
Average home league attendance	10,739
Home colours
← 1924–25 1926–27 →

The 1925–26 season was Port Vale's seventh consecutive season of football (20th overall) in the Football League.^[1] They improved on their previous season's success by two points. They finished in a higher league position than rivals Stoke City for only the second time in their history, and with Stoke relegated in 21st place, they guaranteed playing in a higher league than Stoke for the first time in their history. With seven games left to play, April 1926 would be arguably the club's best ever chance at reaching the top flight, however they tallied just two points from their remaining games to finish in eighth place. Despite all of this, the Vale board proposed a merger with Stoke City, and were forced to resign en-masse when the scheme failed.

A tale of two teams, their home record was the fourth strongest in the division; however away from home they recorded just four victories. The key performer was Wilf Kirkham by quite some distance, who racked up a club record 35 Football League goal tally that only he himself would better.

Billy Briscoe was injured for some time after discovering he had played a whole match whilst suffering from appendicitis.^[1]

Frank Huntbach returned as chairman after Sampson Walker led a failed bid to amalgamate with Stoke City.

Veteran Billy Tempest had his final season as a professional.

Right-back Jack Maddock put away five penalties in his thirty games.

Overview

Second Division

The pre-season was quiet, with all the club satisfied with the staff and players of the previous campaign.^[1] The game itself was changed by the offside rule being modified so that two defenders, rather than three, had to be between the attackers and the goal in order to spring the offside trap – this would have significant beneficial consequences for young forward Wilf Kirkham.^[1]

The season started with two wins, the second being a 3–0 home win over cross-town rivals Stoke.^[1] This was followed by a demolition job by Chelsea, who adapted to the new offside rule with a new 'W formation' – to devastating effects.^[1] The "Valiants" recovered quickly with another 3–0 win over Stoke – Kirkham scoring five of the six derby goals over the two matches.^[1] Following a poor display against Hull City, the Vale changed their defensive formation to better combat the new tactics used to exploit the new offside rule.^[1] They also dropped their short-passing attacking game in favour of a long ball system that utilized the wings, this resulted in a 6–1 rout of Darlington.^[1] Offers came in for a number of Vale's talent, all of which were rejected.^[1]

During the mid-season Vale suffered indifferent form, winning at home but losing away. The cold weather was blamed for the low crowds, and the selling of players was considered.^[1] Kirkham's form also suffered, as Vale found difficulty in finding the net.^[1] In January the club celebrated its Golden Jubilee,^[1] this established 1876 as their founding date despite some doubts over the exact year of the club's founding. On the pitch, the club went down 4–0 at Darlington. This defeat was followed by a sequence of seven wins in eight games, including a 5–0 win over Blackpool thanks to four goals from Alfred Strange.^[1] The team also picked up two rare away wins, including a 2–0 victory at eventual champions The Wednesday.^[1] However in March, young right-back Tom Cooper was sold to eventual promotion-winners Derby County for £2,500.^[1] Cooper would later play for Liverpool and England.^[1]

In fourth position, four points from the promotion zone, on a tremendous run of form, hopes were high for the club's first ever promotion to the top-flight.^[1] This hope was crushed with two points from their final seven games, their 1–0 defeat at home Fulham would have significant consequences for neighbours Stoke, who would have avoided relegation if the Vale had recorded a draw.^[1]

All positive thoughts were totally extinguished on 16 April 1926, when the Port Vale directors announced that they had agreed in principle to an amalgamation with Stoke City.^[1] Chairman Walker stated that low attendances and high wages meant Port Vale had probably reached their zenith,^[1] and a merger with City would allow one Stoke-on-Trent club to perform better than Port Vale ever could. Vale fans did not share his view, and organized themselves in Hanley and Burslem to deliver a message that they would not support the proposed new club.^[1] On 19 May the Stoke directors backed out of the discussions, leaving the Vale directors and chairman to resign in failure.^[1]

Finances

New chairman Frank Huntbach took over in May 1926 at a time of relative financial stability.^[1] He discovered a £1,950 profit had been made on the season, though may have been concerned that gate receipts had fallen £1,302 despite a campaign that took the club close to promotion.^[1]

Cup competitions

In the FA Cup, Vale were handed a home tie in the Third Round against First Division Manchester United. A hard fought contest, Vale lost 3–2 in front of a disappointing crowd of 14,841, raising £1,150 in gate receipts.^[1] United would go on to the semi-finals, where they would lose 3–0 to derby rivals, and eventual runners-up, Manchester City.

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GA	GD		Pts
1	The Wednesday	42		19	0	2	61	17		8	6	7	27	31		88	48	1.833	+ 40		60
2	Derby County	42		17	2	2	57	17		8	5	8	20	25		77	42	1.833	+ 35		57
3	Chelsea	42		10	7	4	42	22		9	7	5	34	27		76	49	1.551	+ 27		52
4	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42		15	4	2	55	15		6	3	12	29	45		84	60	1.400	+ 24		49
5	Swansea Town	42		13	6	2	50	16		6	5	10	27	41		77	57	1.351	+ 20		49
6	Blackpool	42		12	6	3	41	16		5	5	11	35	53		76	69	1.101	+ 7		45
7	Oldham Athletic	42		14	4	3	52	24		4	4	13	22	38		74	62	1.194	+ 12		44
8	Port Vale	42		15	3	3	53	18		4	3	14	26	51		79	69	1.145	+ 10		44
9	South Shields	42		11	6	4	50	29		7	2	12	24	36		74	65	1.138	+ 9		44
10	Middlesbrough	42		14	1	6	56	28		7	1	13	21	40		77	68	1.132	+ 9		44
11	Portsmouth	42		12	4	5	48	27		5	6	10	31	47		79	74	1.068	+ 5		44
12	Preston North End	42		17	2	2	54	28		1	5	15	17	56		71	84	0.845	– 13		43
13	Hull City	42		11	4	6	40	19		5	5	11	23	42		63	61	1.033	+ 2		41
14	Southampton	42		11	2	8	39	25		4	6	11	24	38		63	63	1.000	± 0		38
15	Darlington	42		9	5	7	51	31		5	5	11	21	46		72	77	0.935	– 5		38
16	Bradford City	42		9	5	7	28	26		4	5	12	19	40		47	66	0.712	– 19		36
17	Nottingham Forest	42		11	4	6	38	25		3	4	14	13	48		51	73	0.699	– 22		36
18	Barnsley	42		10	7	4	38	22		2	5	14	20	62		58	84	0.690	– 26		36
19	Fulham	42		8	6	7	32	29		3	6	12	14	48		46	77	0.597	– 31		34
20	Clapton Orient	42		8	6	7	30	21		4	3	14	20	44		50	65	0.769	– 15		33
21	Stoke City	42		8	5	8	32	23		4	3	14	22	54		54	77	0.701	– 23		32
22	Stockport County	42		8	7	6	34	28		0	2	19	17	69		51	97	0.526	– 46		25

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	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A
Result	W	W	L	W	L	W	W	D	D	L	L	W	L	W	L	W	L	W	D	W	L	L	L	W	L	W	L	W	W	W	D	W	W	W	W	L	L	D	D	L	L	L
Position	6	3	7	5	6	5	3	5	5	7	10	7	9	9	10	6	8	7	8	6	7	9	9	9	10	9	9	8	7	8	8	5	5	4	5	5	5	5	5	5	7	8

Sourced from Statto.^[2]

Football League Second Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
29 August 1925	Clapton Orient	A	2–1	16,854	Kirkham (2)
31 August 1925	Stoke City	H	3–0	19,997	Kirkham (2 [1 pen]), Strange
5 September 1925	Chelsea	H	0–6	12,801
7 September 1925	Stoke City	A	3–0	21,869	Kirkham (3)
12 September 1925	Hull City	A	0–3	12,523
14 September 1925	Barnsley	H	3–0	7,277	Strange, Kirkham (pen), Briscoe
19 September 1925	Darlington	H	6–1	5,841	Kirkham (4), Strange, Briscoe
26 September 1925	Blackpool	A	2–2	9,502	Briscoe, Maddock (pen)
3 October 1925	Southampton	H	1–1	12,589	Kirkham
10 October 1925	Nottingham Forest	A	0–2	10,642
17 October 1925	Oldham Athletic	A	2–3	7,924	Page, Kirkham
24 October 1925	Stockport County	H	2–0	9,954	Maddock (pen), Kirkham
31 October 1925	Swansea Town	A	0–1	15,612
7 November 1925	The Wednesday	H	4–3	6,862	Kirkham (2), Strange, Lowe
14 November 1925	Preston North End	A	0–4	17,681
21 November 1925	Middlesbrough	H	4–0	9,336	Kirkham (3), Strange
28 November 1925	Portsmouth	A	2–3	12,198	Tempest (2)
5 December 1925	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	3–0	8,364	Kirkham (2), Page
12 December 1925	Fulham	A	3–3	11,452	Connelly, Page, Strange
19 December 1925	South Shields	H	2–0	8,794	Strange, Maddock (pen)
25 December 1925	Derby County	H	0–1	15,355
26 December 1925	Derby County	A	0–2	23,784
1 January 1926	Barnsley	A	0–3	6,804
2 January 1926	Clapton Orient	H	4–2	8,070	Strange (3), Maddock (pen)
16 January 1926	Chelsea	A	1–3	15,568	Page
23 January 1926	Hull City	H	3–1	7,579	Lowe, Connelly, Kirkham
30 January 1926	Darlington	A	0–4	8,791
6 February 1926	Blackpool	H	5–0	9,027	Strange (4), Page
13 February 1926	Southampton	A	3–2	10,865	Page, Strange, Kirkham
27 February 1926	Oldham Athletic	H	3–0	11,719	Kirkham (2), Page
6 March 1926	Stockport County	A	2–2	7,889	Page, Kirkham
13 March 1926	Swansea Town	H	3–0	19,030	Kirkham, Page, Strange
20 March 1926	The Wednesday	A	2–0	24,965	Strange, Kirkham
27 March 1926	Preston North End	H	3–0	13,531	Kirkham (3)
2 April 1926	Bradford City	H	2–0	15,984	Kirkham, Lowe
3 April 1926	Middlesbrough	A	1–3	10,231	Lowe
5 April 1926	Bradford City	A	0–2	9,281
10 April 1926	Portsmouth	H	1–1	8,932	Kirkham
12 April 1926	Nottingham Forest	H	1–1	5,207	Lowe
17 April 1926	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	1–3	10,549	Briscoe
24 April 1926	Fulham	H	0–1	9,262
1 May 1926	South Shields	A	2–5	3,027	Kirkham, Oakes

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	9 January 1926	Manchester United	H	2–3	14,841	Maddock (pen), Page

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 38 0 1 0 39 0 DF Jimmy Oakes 41 1 1 0 42 1 DF Jack Maddock 29 4 1 1 30 5 DF Tom Cooper 11 0 0 0 11 0 DF Billy Wootton 3 0 0 0 3 0 MF Ernest Collinge 13 0 1 0 14 0 MF Bob Connelly 38 2 1 0 39 2 MF Roger Jones 8 0 0 0 8 0 MF Jack Lowe 42 5 1 0 43 5 MF Arden Maddison 30 0 0 0 30 0 MF Alfred Strange 41 17 1 0 42 17 MF Billy Tempest 16 2 0 0 16 2 MF Sidney Blunt 25 0 1 0 26 0 MF Herbert Smith 8 0 0 0 8 0 MF Fred Smith 2 0 0 0 2 0 MF Harold Salt 5 0 1 0 6 0 FW Tom Page 36 9 1 1 37 10 FW Tom Reid 1 0 0 0 1 0 FW Wilf Kirkham 40 35 1 0 41 35 FW Billy Briscoe 26 4 0 0 26 4 FW Joe Pointon 4 0 0 0 4 0 FW Arthur Ecclestone 1 0 0 0 1 0

Scorers All competitions Scorer Goals Wilf Kirkham 35 Alfred Strange 17 Tom Page 10 Jack Maddock 5 Jack Lowe Billy Briscoe 4 Bob Connelly 2 Billy Tempest Jimmy Oakes 1 League Scorer Goals Wilf Kirkham 35 Alfred Strange 17 Tom Page 9 Jack Lowe 5 Jack Maddock 4 Billy Briscoe Bob Connelly 2 Billy Tempest Jimmy Oakes 1

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. Port Vale 1925–1926 : Results & Fixtures. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.

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