1926–27 Port Vale F.C. season

Port Vale

1926–27 season
Chairman	Frank Huntbach
Manager	Joe Schofield
Stadium	The Old Recreation Ground
Football League Second Division	8th (45 Points)
FA Cup	Fourth Round
Top goalscorer	League: Wilf Kirkham (38) All: Wilf Kirkham (41)
Highest home attendance	21,056 vs. Middlesbrough (15 April 1927)
Lowest home attendance	5,327 vs. Grimsby Town (20 November 1926)
Average home league attendance	10,736
Home colours
← 1925–26 1927–28 →

The 1926–27 season was Port Vale's eighth consecutive season of football (21st overall) in the Football League.^[1] Vale finished in eighth position for the third season running, obtaining 45 points, this time coming nine points off promotion to the top tier in English football. For the first time in the club's history, they played in a league above rivals Stoke City. Wilf Kirkham broke a club record by scoring 38 league goals, and 41 goals in all competitions.^[1] He scored six braces, four hat-tricks, and also scored four goals in one game.

Billy Briscoe was rushed to hospital after one game having collapsed due to concussion.^[1]

Chairman Frank Huntbach.

Right-back Jack Maddock posted a 42 game season.

Overview

Second Division

The pre-season additions included Stoke left-half Vic Rouse and Stockport County half-back George Whitcombe.^[1]

The season started with just one defeat in the opening ten games, the defeat coming against relegation candidates Darlington. Going into October the club suffered from injuries, meaning that four of the five games that month ended in defeat, with just two goals scored.^[1] Goalkeeper Tom Fern was one of the injured, and so 44-year-old Howard Matthews was re-signed, having left the club nineteen years earlier.^[1] To boost the strike-force Stewart Littlewood and Jack Simms were signed from Luton Town and Leek Alexandra respectively.^[1] The week after a 6–2 defeat at Fulham, the "Valiants" returned to thrash Grimsby Town 6–1, Kirkham bagging a hat-trick.

In January, Alfred Strange felt unsettled and so was transferred to The Wednesday in exchange for Harry Anstiss and an unknown sum of money.^[1] Strange would later win twenty caps for England in his 30s, whereas Anstiss settled in well at the Vale, scoring eleven goals in fifteen league games during his debut season.^[1] Meanwhile injuries occasionally savaged the Vale team, with even Jack Lowe being forced to end his run of 123 consecutive games after spraining his ankle.^[1] As the season drew to a close secretary Joe Schofield was made manager, meaning he was better able to work with the younger players.^[1]

Finances

On the financial side, the club wished to move back to the Athletic Ground due to the lack of space to develop The Old Recreation Ground.^[1] However, the council would only offer £20,000 for the land at the Old Rec, and refused to waive the first option on a repurchase, thereby killing the club's ambitions.^[1]

Cup competitions

In the FA Cup, Vale made it through to the Fourth Round after taking Clapton Orient to a replay. This came just two weeks after playing the club twice during the Christmas period.^[1] They then faced First Division Arsenal, and following a draw at The Old Recreation Ground, the "Gunners" won 1–0 at Highbury, before going on to lose in the final.^[1] Vale's hard work in the tournament earned them over £4,000 in gate receipts.^[1] On 5 May 1927, Vale played Potteries derby rivals Stoke City in the North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary Cup, and lost an embarrassing 5–0 to the Third Division North champions.^[1] However £365 was raised for the local hospital.^[2]

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GA	GD		Pts
1	Middlesbrough	42		18	2	1	78	23		9	6	6	44	37		122	60	2.033	+ 62		62
2	Portsmouth	42		14	4	3	58	17		9	4	8	29	32		87	49	1.776	+ 38		54
3	Manchester City	42		15	3	3	65	23		7	7	7	43	38		108	61	1.770	+ 47		54
4	Chelsea	42		13	7	1	40	17		7	5	9	22	35		62	52	1.192	+ 10		52
5	Nottingham Forest	42		14	6	1	57	23		4	8	9	23	32		80	55	1.455	+ 25		50
6	Preston North End	42		14	4	3	54	29		6	5	10	20	43		74	72	1.028	+ 2		49
7	Hull City	42		13	4	4	43	19		7	3	11	20	33		63	52	1.212	+ 11		47
8	Port Vale	42		11	6	4	50	26		5	7	9	38	52		88	78	1.128	+ 10		45
9	Blackpool	42		13	5	3	65	26		5	3	13	30	54		95	80	1.188	+ 15		44
10	Oldham Athletic	42		12	3	6	50	37		7	3	11	24	47		74	84	0.881	– 10		44
11	Barnsley	42		13	5	3	56	23		4	4	13	32	64		88	87	1.011	+ 1		43
12	Swansea City	42		13	5	3	44	21		3	6	12	24	51		68	72	0.944	– 4		43
13	Southampton	42		9	8	4	35	22		6	4	11	25	40		60	62	0.968	– 2		42
14	Reading	42		14	1	6	47	20		2	7	12	17	52		64	72	0.889	– 8		40
15	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42		10	4	7	54	30		4	3	14	19	45		73	75	0.973	– 2		35
16	Notts County	42		11	4	6	45	24		4	1	16	25	72		70	96	0.729	– 26		35
17	Grimsby Town	42		6	7	8	39	39		5	5	11	35	52		74	91	0.813	– 17		34
18	Fulham	42		11	4	6	39	31		2	4	15	19	61		58	92	0.630	– 34		34
19	South Shields	42		10	8	3	49	25		1	3	17	22	71		71	96	0.740	– 25		33
20	Clapton Orient	42		9	3	9	37	35		3	4	14	23	61		60	96	0.625	– 36		31
21	Darlington	42		10	3	8	53	42		2	3	16	26	56		79	98	0.806	– 19		30
22	Bradford City	42		6	4	11	30	28		1	5	15	20	60		50	88	0.568	– 38		23

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	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A
Result	W	L	D	D	D	W	W	D	W	D	L	L	L	L	W	L	L	D	D	D	L	W	W	L	D	D	D	W	W	L	L	L	W	W	W	D	W	L	W	L	D	W
Position	8	10	10	10	12	9	7	7	3	4	5	7	11	11	11	12	11	11	11	11	11	11	10	10	11	11	12	12	10	11	11	12	11	10	8	9	8	9	8	9	8	8

Sourced from Statto.^[3]

Football League Second Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
28 August 1926	Bradford City	A	2–1	14,077	Kirkham, Strange
30 August 1926	Darlington	A	3–4	6,081	Maddock, Lowe, Kirkham
4 September 1926	Chelsea	H	0–0	14,720
11 September 1926	Preston North End	A	4–4	18,960	Maddock (pen), Lowe, Page, Kirkham
13 September 1926	Southampton	A	2–2	8,681	Page, Briscoe
18 September 1926	South Shields	H	4–2	12,474	Lowe (2), Kirkham (2)
20 September 1926	Darlington	H	3–2	8,827	Lowe, Page, Strange
25 September 1926	Hull City	A	0–0	7,793
27 September 1926	Southampton	H	3–1	9,594	Page (2), Briscoe
2 October 1926	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	1–1	14,083	Briscoe
9 October 1926	Notts County	A	1–2	11,838	Maddison
16 October 1926	Barnsley	A	0–2	5,520
23 October 1926	Manchester City	H	0–2	14,467
30 October 1926	Portsmouth	A	0–4	12,372
6 November 1926	Oldham Athletic	H	3–0	7,339	Kirkham (2), Simms
13 November 1926	Fulham	A	2–6	3,102	Lowe, Kirkham
20 November 1926	Grimsby Town	H	6–1	5,327	Kirkham (3), Maddock, Lowe, Simms
27 November 1926	Blackpool	A	2–2	7,656	Strange (2)
4 December 1926	Reading	H	1–1	9,340	Kirkham
11 December 1926	Swansea City	A	2–2	16,344	Kirkham, Simms
18 December 1926	Nottingham Forest	H	0–2	8,046
25 December 1926	Clapton Orient	A	2–1	14,378	Littlewood (2)
27 December 1926	Clapton Orient	H	3–0	16,457	Kirkham (2), Briscoe
1 January 1927	Middlesbrough	A	2–5	26,163	Kirkham (2 [1 pen])
15 January 1927	Bradford City	H	0–0	9,732
5 February 1927	South Shields	A	3–3	4,603	Kirkham (3)
12 February 1927	Hull City	H	0–0	10,654
26 February 1927	Notts County	H	6–2	9,368	Kirkham (3), Connelly, Page, Anstiss
5 March 1927	Barnsley	H	3–2	8,452	Briscoe, Page, Kirkham
12 March 1927	Manchester City	A	1–4	34,281	Page
16 March 1927	Barrow	A	0–2	18,169
19 March 1927	Portsmouth	H	2–3	10,972	Briscoe, Simms
26 March 1927	Oldham Athletic	A	3–1	4,419	Anstiss (2), Kirkham
28 March 1927	Preston North End	H	2–0	8,388	Anstiss, Briscoe
2 April 1927	Fulham	H	7–1	7,642	Kirkham (4), Anstiss (3)
9 April 1927	Grimsby Town	A	4–4	8,717	Page, Kirkham, Lowe, Anstiss
15 April 1927	Middlesbrough	H	3–1	21,056	Kirkham (3)
16 April 1927	Blackpool	H	2–4	10,749	Anstiss, Kirkham
19 April 1927	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	2–1	11,628	Kirkham, Anstiss
23 April 1927	Reading	A	0–2	9,084
30 April 1927	Swansea City	H	1–1	7,483	Kirkham
7 May 1927	Nottingham Forest	A	3–0	5,455	Anstiss, Kirkham (2)

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	8 January 1927	Clapton Orient	A	1–1	17,965	Simms
R3 Replay	12 January 1927	Clapton Orient	H	5–1	11,450	Kirkham (2), Page, Strange, Simms
R4	29 January 1927	Arsenal	H	2–2	18,000	o.g., Kirkham
R4 Replay	2 February 1927	Arsenal	A	0–1	35,700

Player statistics

Appearances Pos. Name Football League FA Cup Total Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals GK Tom Fern 11 0 0 0 11 0 GK George Holdcroft 6 0 0 0 6 0 GK Howard Matthews 21 0 4 0 26 0 GK Alex Binnie 4 0 0 0 4 0 DF Jimmy Oakes 40 0 4 0 45 0 DF Jack Maddock 39 3 2 0 42 3 DF Billy Wootton 5 0 2 0 7 0 MF Bob Connelly 39 1 3 0 43 1 MF Roger Jones 7 0 0 0 7 0 MF Jack Lowe 40 8 4 0 45 8 MF Arden Maddison 15 1 0 0 15 1 MF Alfred Strange 24 4 4 1 28 5 MF Herbert Smith 13 0 3 0 16 0 MF Fred Smith 2 0 0 0 2 0 MF George Whitcombe 21 0 3 0 24 0 MF Vic Rouse 29 0 3 0 33 0 MF Jack Simms 21 4 4 2 25 6 MF Phil Griffiths 1 0 0 0 1 0 FW Tom Page 34 9 3 1 38 10 FW Wilf Kirkham 41 38 4 3 46 41 FW Billy Briscoe 30 7 1 0 32 7 FW Arthur Ecclestone 1 0 0 0 1 0 FW Stewart Littlewood 2 2 0 0 2 2 FW Percy Oldacre 1 0 0 0 1 0 FW Harry Anstiss 15 11 0 0 16 11

Scorers All competitions Scorer Goals Wilf Kirkham 41 Harry Anstiss 11 Tom Page 10 Jack Lowe 8 Billy Briscoe 7 Jack Simms 6 Alfred Strange 5 Jack Maddock 3 Stewart Littlewood 2 Bob Connelly 1 Arden Maddison League Scorer Goals Wilf Kirkham 38 Harry Anstiss 11 Tom Page 9 Jack Lowe 8 Billy Briscoe 7 Alfred Strange 4 Jack Simms Jack Maddock 3 Stewart Littlewood 2 Bob Connelly 1 Arden Maddison

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. Kent, Jeff (November 1998). The Potteries Derbies. Witan Books. p. 126. ISBN 0-9529152-3-5.
3. Port Vale 1926–1927 : Results & Fixtures. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.

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