1927–28 Stoke City F.C. season

Stoke City

1927–28 season
Chairman	Mr A.McSherwin
Manager	Tom Mather
Stadium	Victoria Ground
Football League Second Division	5th (52 Points)
FA Cup	Quarter Final
Top goalscorer	League: Charlie Wilson (32) All: Charlie Wilson (38)
Highest home attendance	27,453 vs Manchester City (7 April 1928)
Lowest home attendance	8,251 vs Southampton (31 December 1927)
Average home league attendance	14,395
Home colours
← 1926–27 1928–29 →

The 1927–28 season was Stoke City's 28th season in the Football League and the eighth in the Second Division.

Record season ticket sales were recorded prior to the start of the 1927–28 season as supporters were buoyed following last seasons Third Division North title win. Stoke had an excellent return to the Second Division finishing 5th in the table five points from promotion and also reaching the quarter final of the FA Cup losing to Arsenal. Charlie Wilson top-scored this season with a club record 38 goals.^[1]

Season review

League

The 1927–28 season saw Stoke back within one Division of the top flight, although a heavy bank overdraft of £13,000 meant that they couldn't go out and bolster the squad, Mather being forced to rely on the players who had served him well last season.^[1] However, chairman Sherwin assured the fans that he would spend the money if weakness became apparent but he stated that he would not be able to join in the transfer fee spiral that was gathering pace elsewhere.^[1] On a brighter note Stoke reported record season ticket sales for the new campaign.^[1]

Stoke made a fantastic start back in the Second Division beating Southampton 6–3 in the first match, this was followed up with 4–2 and 3–0 victories as Stoke started the season in fine form. Performances did eventually drop off and the team hit an inconsistent spell just before Christmas but then won six matches back to back.^[1] Stoke enjoyed a successful end to the campaign finishing in 5th position.^[1] Stoke's cup run perhaps cost them a genuine promotion challenge but nevertheless it was a good season with the club's bank balance improving and the team showing great consistency with six players playing 40 or more League games.^[1] The reserves also had a fine season, winning the Central League title for the first time.^[1]

FA Cup

After a number of pretty terrible performances in the FA Cup in the past few seasons, the 1927–28 season saw a marked improvement as Stoke beat Gillingham 6–1, Bolton Wanderers 4–2, Manchester City 1–0 before losing 4–1 to Arsenal in the quarter final stage.^[1] Nevertheless the board were happy with the club's performance and income which the cup run generated.^[1]

Final league table

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Manchester City	42	25	9	8	100	59	1.695	59
2	Leeds United	42	25	7	10	98	49	2.000	57
3	Chelsea	42	23	8	11	75	45	1.667	54
4	Preston North End	42	22	9	11	100	66	1.515	53
5	Stoke City	42	22	8	12	78	59	1.322	52
6	Swansea Town	42	18	12	12	75	63	1.190	48
7	Oldham Athletic	42	19	8	15	75	51	1.471	46
8	West Bromwich Albion	42	17	12	13	90	70	1.286	46
9	Port Vale	42	18	8	16	68	57	1.193	44
10	Nottingham Forest	42	15	10	17	83	84	0.988	40
11	Grimsby Town	42	14	12	16	69	83	0.831	40
12	Bristol City	42	15	9	18	76	79	0.962	39
13	Barnsley	42	14	11	17	65	85	0.765	39
14	Hull City	42	12	15	15	41	54	0.759	39
15	Notts County	42	13	12	17	68	74	0.919	38
16	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	13	10	19	63	91	0.692	36
17	Southampton	42	14	7	21	68	77	0.883	35
18	Reading	42	11	13	18	53	75	0.707	35
19	Blackpool	42	13	8	21	83	101	0.822	34
20	Clapton Orient	42	11	12	19	55	85	0.647	34
21	Fulham	42	13	7	22	68	89	0.764	33
22	South Shields	42	7	9	26	56	111	0.505	23

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	27 August 1927	Southampton	A	6–3	12,000	Archibald, Williamson, Eyres, Wilson, Davies (2)
2	31 August 1927	West Bromwich Albion	A	4–2	20,000	Wilson (3), Armitage (pen)
3	3 September 1927	Notts County	H	3–0	21,941	Wilson (2), Archibald
4	5 September 1927	West Bromwich Albion	H	1–1	20,623	Wilson
5	10 September 1927	Oldham Athletic	A	1–3	8,000	Wilson
6	17 September 1927	Grimsby Town	H	0–0	15,480
7	24 September 1927	Reading	A	1–1	5,700	Wilson
8	1 October 1927	Blackpool	H	2–0	12,014	Davies (2)
9	8 October 1927	Chelsea	A	0–1	16,000
10	15 October 1927	Clapton Orient	H	2–0	13,002	Wilson, Williams
11	22 October 1927	Barnsley	H	0–0	9,320
12	29 October 1927	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	2–1	20,000	Wilson (2)
13	5 November 1927	Port Vale	H	0–2	24,972
14	12 November 1927	Fulham	A	5–1	10,000	Wilson, Davies, Shirley (2), Barrett (o.g.)
15	19 November 1927	Swansea Town	H	1–1	9,937	Sellars
16	26 November 1927	Manchester City	A	0–4	39,897
17	3 December 1927	Hull City	H	3–1	9,632	Wilson, Armitage, Johnson
18	10 December 1927	Preston North End	A	0–2	12,000
19	17 December 1927	Nottingham Forest	H	1–3	9,090	Wallace (o.g.)
20	24 December 1927	Leeds United	A	1–5	20,000	Williamson
21	27 December 1927	South Shields	H	3–1	13,987	Sellars, Shirley (2)
22	31 December 1927	Southampton	H	2–1	8,251	Wilson, Davies
23	2 January 1928	South Shields	A	3–2	4,640	Archibald, Cull, Bussey
24	7 January 1928	Notts County	A	2–1	9,908	Wilson (2)
25	21 January 1928	Oldham Athletic	H	3–0	13,446	Wilson, Bussey (2)
26	4 February 1928	Reading	H	4–0	11,806	Bussey, Cull, Davies (2)
27	11 February 1928	Blackpool	A	1–3	6,309	Wilson
28	20 February 1928	Chelsea	H	1–0	10,223	Bussey
29	25 February 1928	Clapton Orient	A	2–3	6,140	Wilson, Campell (o.g.)
30	6 March 1928	Grimsby Town	A	2–1	5,076	Wilson, Sellars
31	10 March 1928	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	2–2	13,273	Wilson, Davies
32	17 March 1928	Port Vale	A	0–0	25,084
33	19 March 1928	Barnsley	A	1–3	6,000	Williams
34	24 March 1928	Fulham	H	5–1	10,117	Armitage (pen), Davies, Wilson (3)
35	31 March 1928	Swansea Town	A	1–1	5,460	Armitage
36	6 April 1928	Bristol City	A	0–4	8,112
37	7 April 1928	Manchester City	H	2–0	27,453	Wilson, Archibald
38	9 April 1928	Bristol City	H	1–0	12,547	Wilson
39	14 April 1928	Hull City	A	0–1	6,552
40	21 April 1928	Preston North End	H	3–2	11,233	Wilson (2), Archibald
41	28 April 1928	Nottingham Forest	A	2–0	9,043	Wilson, Davies
42	5 May 1928	Leeds United	H	5–1	12,306	Wilson (2), Bussey, Archibald, Cull

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
R3	14 January 1928	Gillingham	H	6–1	5,234	Wilson (2), Archibald, Williamson, Bussey, Davies
R4	28 January 1928	Bolton Wanderers	H	4–2	24,868	Davies, Archibald, Wilson (2)
R5	18 February 1928	Manchester City	A	1–0	50,132	Wilson
Quarter final	3 March 1928	Arsenal	A	1–4	41,974	Wilson

Squad statistics

Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Bob Dixon	41	0	4	0	45	0
GK	Dick Williams	1	0	0	0	1	0
DF	Bob McGrory	42	0	4	0	46	0
DF	Billy Spencer	42	0	4	0	46	0
MF	Len Armitage	38	4	3	0	41	4
MF	Cecil Eastwood	7	0	0	0	7	0
MF	Thomas Godfrey	6	0	1	0	7	0
MF	Peter Jackson	4	0	0	0	4	0
MF	Harry Sellars	33	3	4	0	37	3
MF	Harold Watson	2	0	0	0	2	0
MF	Tom Williamson	40	2	4	1	44	3
FW	Bobby Archibald	41	6	4	2	45	8
FW	Walter Bussey	21	8	4	1	25	9
FW	John Cull	19	3	4	0	23	3
FW	Harry Davies	40	11	4	2	44	13
FW	Jack Eyres	6	1	0	0	6	1
FW	Dick Johnson	14	1	0	0	14	1
FW	Bob Lister	1	0	0	0	1	0
FW	John Shirley	4	2	0	0	4	2
FW	Joey Williams	20	2	0	0	20	2
FW	Charlie Wilson	40	32	4	6	44	38
–	Own goals	–	3	–	0	–	3

References

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

See also

• 1927–28 in English football
• List of Stoke City F.C. seasons