1925–26 Stoke City F.C. season

Stoke City

1925–26 season
Chairman	Mr A.McSherwin
Manager	Tom Mather
Stadium	Victoria Ground
Football League Second Division	21st (32 Points)
FA Cup	Fourth Round
Top goalscorer	League: Harry Davies & Bobby Archibald (10) All: Harry Davies & Dick Johnson
Highest home attendance	21,782 vs Port Vale (7 September 1925)
Lowest home attendance	6,670 vs Bradford City (27 February 1926)
Average home league attendance	12,144
Home colours
← 1924–25 1926–27 →

The 1925–26 season was Stoke City's 26th season in the Football League and the seventh in the Second Division. It was also the first season under the name of Stoke City.

Stoke-on-Trent was granted city status in 1925 and so Stoke added the word 'City' to their name and have since been forever known as Stoke City. However despite a change of name there was no change in fortunes on the pitch as Stoke failed to improve after last season's narrow escape and they were relegated to the Third Division North this time finishing one point from safety.^[1]

Season review

League

The 1925–26 season was a season of change as Stoke F.C. became Stoke City F.C. and there was a new offside law introduced which allowed two opponents (not three as before) to be between the attacker and the goal.^[1] This change prompted many high scoring matches throughout the county as teams struggled to adapt the changes with the traditional 2–3–5 formation, eventually teams started to use new formations and tactics.^[1] But Stoke did not share the high scoring and they struggled all season with many disappointing displays.^[1]

Injuries certainly hampered the team's efforts throughout the season by the new year relegation looked inevitable and despite a late revival a failure to beat Southampton on the final day of the season sealed Stoke's fate and they dropped into the third tier for the first time.^[1] However the signing of Huddersfield Town's Charlie Wilson in March 1926 proved to be a vital addition as he would be key in making sure Stoke's stay in the Third Division North would be a short one.^[1]

FA Cup

With sides in the top two divisions now starting in the third round Stoke played Wigan Borough and beat them 5–2 however Stoke themselves were on the receiving end of a heavy cup defeat losing 6–3 to Swansea Town in the fourth round.^[1]

Final league table

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

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

Stoke's score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League Second Division

Match	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
1	29 August 1925	Stockport County	H	3–0	17,296	Clennell (2), Archibald
2	31 August 1925	Port Vale	A	0–3	20,000
3	5 September 1925	Fulham	A	4–2	10,000	Davies (2), Ralphs (2)
4	7 September 1925	Port Vale	H	0–3	21,782
5	12 September 1925	South Shields	H	0–1	13,334
6	14 September 1925	Oldham Athletic	A	2–7	6,680	Sellars, Howe (pen)
7	19 September 1925	Preston North End	A	0–2	10,000
8	26 September 1925	Middlesbrough	H	4–0	9,617	Paterson (3), Archibald
9	3 October 1925	Portsmouth	A	0–2	12,000
10	10 October 1925	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	0–0	15,609
11	17 October 1925	Bradford City	H	1–0	8,377	Davies
12	24 October 1925	Derby County	A	3–7	15,000	Davies (2), Paterson
13	31 October 1925	Clapton Orient	H	0–0	9,106
14	7 November 1925	Barnsley	A	1–2	10,000	D Johnson
15	14 November 1925	Blackpool	H	1–3	8,529	Archibald
16	21 November 1925	Darlington	A	2–1	8,529	D Johnson, Clennell
17	28 November 1925	Hull City	H	3–1	7,155	D Johnson, Clennell, Archibald
18	5 December 1925	Chelsea	A	1–1	15,000	Davies
19	12 December 1925	Nottingham Forest	H	1–1	9,033	Archibald
20	19 December 1925	Southampton	A	2–1	9,033	D Johnson, Clennell
21	25 December 1925	Swansea Town	A	1–1	12,000	Davies
22	26 December 1925	Swansea Town	H	1–1	19,814	Ralphs
23	2 January 1926	Stockport County	A	1–2	6,600	Walker
24	16 January 1926	Fulham	H	5–0	7,565	D Johnson (4), Archibald
25	23 January 1926	South Shields	A	1–5	5,000	Davies
26	6 February 1926	Middlesbrough	A	0–3	8,800
27	13 February 1926	Portsmouth	H	2–1	11,724	Davies, Clifford (o.g.)
28	20 February 1926	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	1–5	15,000	Clennell
29	22 February 1926	Preston North End	H	1–3	10,140	Archibald
30	27 February 1926	Bradford City	A	1–2	6,140	Davies
31	6 March 1926	Derby County	H	0–1	14,808
32	13 March 1926	Clapton Orient	A	0–4	8,000
33	20 March 1926	Barnsley	H	1–2	18,638	Archibald
34	27 March 1926	Blackpool	A	0–0	7,500
35	3 April 1926	Darlington	H	6–1	13,811	Clennell (2), Archibald, Wilson, Williams (2)
36	5 April 1926	The Wednesday	H	0–1	18,138
37	6 April 1926	The Wednesday	A	0–2	20,000
38	10 April 1926	Hull City	A	0–1	6,000
39	17 April 1926	Chelsea	H	1–3	10,219	Wilson
40	24 April 1926	Nottingham Forest	A	2–1	12,000	Archibald, Sellars
41	26 April 1926	Oldham Athletic	H	1–0	8,461	Wilson
42	1 May 1926	Southampton	H	1–1	8,012	D Johnson

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
R3	9 January 1926	Wigan Borough	A	5–2	3,992	D Johnson (3), Davies (2)
R4	30 January 1926	Swansea Town	A	3–6	21,000	D Johnson, Davies, Beswick

Squad statistics

Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Kenny Campbell	7	0	0	0	7	0
GK	Bob Dixon	34	0	2	0	36	0
GK	Percy Knott	1	0	0	0	1	0
DF	Tommy Howe	6	1	0	0	6	1
DF	Bob McGrory	36	0	2	0	38	0
DF	Alec Milne	25	0	2	0	27	0
DF	Harold Robson	1	0	0	0	1	0
DF	Billy Spencer	16	0	0	0	16	0
MF	Ewart Beswick	23	0	1	1	24	1
MF	Harry Brough	5	0	0	0	5	0
MF	Tommy Dawson	8	0	0	0	8	0
MF	George Dickie	1	0	0	0	1	0
MF	Reginald Hodgkins	2	0	0	0	2	0
MF	Peter Jackson	10	0	0	0	10	0
MF	Sam Johnson	30	0	2	0	32	0
MF	Alec McClure	4	0	2	0	6	0
MF	Harry Sellars	13	2	0	0	13	2
MF	John Walker	25	1	1	0	26	1
FW	Bobby Archibald	42	10	2	0	44	10
FW	Len Armitage	14	0	0	0	14	0
FW	Walter Bussey	4	0	0	0	4	0
FW	Joe Clennell	24	8	2	0	26	8
FW	John Cull	3	0	0	0	3	0
FW	Harry Davies	30	10	2	3	32	13
FW	Jack Eyres	3	0	0	0	3	0
FW	Charles Hallam	6	0	0	0	6	0
FW	Dick Johnson	31	9	2	4	33	13
FW	Charles Kelly	1	0	0	0	1	0
FW	James Maxwell	10	0	0	0	10	0
FW	George Paterson	7	4	0	0	7	4
FW	Bert Ralphs	16	3	2	0	18	3
FW	Arthur Watkin	2	0	0	0	2	0
FW	Joey Williams	11	2	0	0	11	2
FW	Charlie Wilson	11	3	0	0	11	3
–	Own goals	–	1	–	0	–	1

References

1. Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.

See also

• 1925–26 in English football
• List of Stoke City F.C. seasons