1928–29 Port Vale F.C. season

Port Vale

1928–29 season
Chairman	Frank Huntbach
Manager	Joe Schofield
Stadium	The Old Recreation Ground
Football League Second Division	21st (34 Points)
FA Cup	Third Round
Top goalscorer	League: Wilf Kirkham (15) All: Wilf Kirkham (15)
Highest home attendance	18,869 vs. Stoke City (26 January 1929)
Lowest home attendance	3,307 vs. Bristol City (4 May 1929)
Average home league attendance	10,207
Home colours
← 1927–28 1929–30 →

The 1928–29 season was Port Vale's tenth consecutive season of football (23rd overall) in the Football League.^[1] For the first time in their history they suffered relegation. This was down to poor away form, at home they went a club record 19 games without a draw, picking up all but five of their points in front of their home fans. The season also saw the departure of club legends Tom Page and Wilf Kirkham.

Fenton-born Billy Briscoe added 24 league appearances to his ever-growing tally.

Chairman Frank Huntbach declared that "no efforts will be spared by the club to regain its lost status".^[1]

Right-back Jack Maddock played in 25 games.

Overview

Second Division

The pre-season saw only the addition of one major player – goalkeeper Jack Prince from Oldham Athletic.^[1] Otherwise the club felt confident that they had a nice blend of youth and experience.^[1]

The season started with a 4–1 home defeat to Wolves, yet two days later the Vale travelled to The Dell, where they beat Southampton with two Stewart Littlewood goals – this would prove to be their only away victory of the season.^[1] Picking up just two wins in September (a 5–2 win over Millwall thanks to a Littlewood hat-trick, and a 2–1 win over Tottenham Hotspur), the club soon found themselves struggling.^[1] They also lost 2–1 at Stoke's Victoria Ground in front of 35,288 supporters.^[1] Heading into December they won six successive home games to take them into mid-table, including a four goal haul from Jack Simms to see off Nottingham Forest.^[1] December would prove to be the month that killed the Vale. Oakes had a cartilage operation, Gillespie tore an elbow joint, and the team lost six of their seven festive games.^[1] In January the popular high-scoring Littlewood was traded to Oldham Athletic for veteran striker Albert Pynegar and £1,300.^[1] Falling down the table fast, in late February they were slaughtered 7–1 at Preston North End's Deepdale.^[1] Back at The Old Recreation Ground they managed to regularly pick up victories, most notably demolishing West Bromwich Albion 8–1 on 9 March – the biggest victory in the division that season, Pynegar scoring a hat-trick.^[1] Further good work picking up three points from Oldham Athletic and beating Chelsea was undone by a horrifying 6–0 defeat at fellow strugglers Barnsley.^[1] The "Valiants" beat Bristol City 5–0 in front of a miserable home turnout thanks to a four goal effort from Pynegar, yet it was too little too late as the club were relegated.^[1]

They finished in 21st place with 34 points from 42 games, two points from safety, they suffered relegation for the first time in their history (they had previously failed re-elections).^[1] Scoring 71 goals was respectable, however 86 goals conceded was the joint-worst in the league.^[1] Their awful away form was not unique, Vale one of four teams with only one away win to their name, though they conceded more on their travels than any other side.

Finances

On the financial side, plans of a new stadium were shelved as the directors channelled money into rebuilding their team.^[1] Vic Rouse, Alf Bennett, and David Rollo were let go, Rouse joining Crewe Alexandra.^[1] Club legend Tom Page also left the club after racking up 286 Football League appearances.^[1] With a £1,223 drop in gate receipts there were fears that the club might close, these fears were heightened when fellow legend Wilf Kirkham was sold to Stoke City for £2,800 (the second highest transfer the club had ever received).^[1]

Cup competitions

In the FA Cup, it was a repeat of the 1925–26 season as the club were drawn against Manchester United at home.^[1] The First Division club returned to Old Trafford with a 3–0 victory.^[1] The end of season North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary Cup was cancelled, with Vale seemingly too despondent to field a team.^[1]

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GA	GD		Pts
1	Middlesbrough	42		14	4	3	54	22		8	7	6	38	35		92	57	1.614	+ 35		55
2	Grimsby Town	42		16	2	3	49	24		8	3	10	33	37		82	61	1.344	+ 21		53
3	Bradford Park Avenue	42		18	2	1	62	22		4	2	15	26	48		88	70	1.257	+ 18		48
4	Southampton	42		12	6	3	48	22		5	8	8	26	38		74	60	1.233	+ 14		48
5	Notts County	42		13	4	4	51	24		6	5	10	27	41		78	65	1.200	+ 23		47
6	Stoke City	42		12	7	2	46	16		5	5	11	28	35		74	51	1.451	+ 23		46
7	West Bromwich Albion	42		13	4	4	50	25		6	4	11	30	54		80	79	1.013	+ 1		46
8	Blackpool	42		13	4	4	49	18		6	3	12	43	58		92	76	1.211	+ 16		45
9	Chelsea	42		10	6	5	40	30		7	4	10	24	35		64	65	0.985	– 1		44
10	Tottenham Hotspur	42		16	3	2	50	26		1	6	14	25	55		75	81	0.926	– 6		43
11	Nottingham Forest	42		8	6	7	34	33		7	6	8	37	37		71	70	1.014	+ 1		42
12	Hull City	42		8	8	5	38	24		5	6	10	20	39		58	63	0.921	– 5		40
13	Preston North End	42		12	6	3	58	27		3	3	15	20	52		78	79	0.987	– 1		39
14	Millwall	42		10	4	7	43	35		6	3	12	28	51		71	86	0.826	– 15		39
15	Reading	42		12	3	6	48	30		3	6	12	15	56		63	86	0.733	– 23		39
16	Barnsley	42		12	4	5	51	28		4	2	15	18	38		69	66	1.045	+ 3		38
17	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42		9	6	6	41	31		6	1	14	36	50		77	81	0.951	– 4		37
18	Oldham Athletic	42		15	2	4	37	24		1	3	17	17	51		54	75	0.720	– 21		37
19	Swansea Town	42		12	3	6	46	26		1	7	13	16	49		62	75	0.827	– 13		36
20	Bristol City	42		11	6	4	37	25		2	4	15	21	47		58	72	0.806	– 14		36
21	Port Vale	42		14	1	6	53	25		1	3	17	18	61		71	86	0.826	– 15		34
22	Clapton Orient	42		10	4	7	29	25		2	4	15	16	47		45	72	0.625	– 28		32

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	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H
Result	L	W	L	W	L	L	L	W	L	W	W	L	W	L	W	D	W	L	L	L	L	L	L	W	L	L	W	L	L	W	L	W	D	L	W	L	D	W	L	D	L	W
Position	18	14	17	13	13	18	18	16	19	17	15	17	16	17	14	13	12	13	15	16	17	19	19	19	19	20	19	20	21	20	21	21	20	20	20	21	21	21	21	21	21	21

Sourced from Statto.^[2]

Football League Second Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
25 August 1928	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	1–4	12,274	Fishwick (pen)
27 August 1928	Southampton	A	2–1	11,743	Littlewood (2)
1 September 1928	Notts County	A	0–3	15,314
8 September 1928	Millwall	H	5–2	10,578	Littlewood (3), Briscoe (2)
15 September 1928	Stoke City	A	1–2	35,288	Griffiths
22 September 1928	Hull City	A	0–2	11,728
24 September 1928	Southampton	H	1–2	7,344	Fishwick
29 September 1928	Tottenham Hotspur	H	2–1	12,502	Gillespie, Littlewood
6 October 1928	Reading	A	1–2	11,276	Simms
13 October 1928	Preston North End	H	3–2	12,098	Littlewood (2), Mandley
20 October 1928	Clapton Orient	H	3–0	10,007	Littlewood, Simms, Anstiss
27 October 1928	West Bromwich Albion	A	1–3	10,851	Anstiss
3 November 1928	Nottingham Forest	H	4–2	9,936	Simms (4)
10 November 1928	Grimsby Town	A	1–3	9,017	Kirkham
17 November 1928	Barnsley	H	3–0	7,417	Kirkham (2), Gillespie
24 November 1928	Chelsea	A	3–3	23,305	Kirkham (2), Simms
1 December 1928	Blackpool	H	1–0	8,244	Simms
8 December 1928	Swansea Town	A	0–2	8,968
15 December 1928	Bradford Park Avenue	H	0–1	7,339
22 December 1928	Bristol City	A	1–2	10,459	Simms
25 December 1928	Middlesbrough	A	1–5	21,977	Fishwick
26 December 1928	Middlesbrough	H	2–3	13,988	Fishwick, Mandley
29 December 1928	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	0–4	11,426
5 January 1929	Notts County	H	3–0	7,475	Kirkham (2), Jones
19 January 1929	Millwall	A	1–2	20,056	Kirkham
26 January 1929	Stoke City	H	1–2	18,869	Mandley
2 February 1929	Hull City	H	4–1	6,065	Fishwick, Kirkham, o.g., Pynegar
9 February 1929	Tottenham Hotspur	A	2–4	21,342	Fishwick, Simms
23 February 1929	Preston North End	A	1–7	9,356	Kirkham
25 February 1929	Reading	H	4–0	4,303	Kirkham (3), Simms
2 March 1929	Clapton Orient	A	0–1	15,543
9 March 1929	West Bromwich Albion	H	8–1	11,539	Pynegar (3), Jones (2), Mandley, Simms, Kirkham
16 March 1929	Nottingham Forest	A	2–2	7,388	Kirkham, Jones
23 March 1929	Grimsby Town	H	0–3	13,085
29 March 1929	Oldham Athletic	H	2–1	17,697	Pynegar, Anstiss
30 March 1929	Barnsley	A	0–6	9,615
1 April 1929	Oldham Athletic	A	1–1	19,571	Mandley
6 April 1929	Chelsea	H	1–0	11,701	Pynegar
13 April 1929	Blackpool	A	0–4	8,696
20 April 1929	Swansea Town	H	0–0	8,587
27 April 1929	Bradford Park Avenue	A	0–2	9,132
4 May 1929	Bristol City	H	5–0	3,307	Pynegar (4), Griffiths

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	12 January 1929	Manchester United	H	0–3	17,519

Player statistics

Appearances Pos. Name Football League FA Cup Total Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals GK Alf Bennett 11 0 0 0 11 0 GK Jack Prince 31 0 1 0 32 0 DF Jimmy Oakes 26 0 0 0 26 0 DF Jack Maddock 24 0 1 0 25 0 DF Billy Wootton 6 0 0 0 6 0 DF George Shenton 10 0 0 0 10 0 MF Bob Connelly 42 0 1 0 43 0 MF Roger Jones 18 4 1 0 19 4 MF Herbert Smith 23 0 1 0 24 0 MF George Whitcombe 12 0 0 0 12 0 MF Vic Rouse 28 0 1 0 29 0 MF Jack Simms 34 12 1 0 35 12 MF Phil Griffiths 6 2 0 0 6 2 MF Bert Fishwick 14 6 1 0 15 6 MF Jack Mandley 35 5 1 0 36 5 MF Frank Williams 1 0 0 0 1 0 FW Tom Page 17 0 0 0 17 0 FW Wilf Kirkham 31 15 1 0 32 15 FW Billy Briscoe 24 2 1 0 25 2 FW Stewart Littlewood 10 9 0 0 10 9 FW Harry Anstiss 17 3 0 0 17 3 FW Robert Gillespie 14 2 0 0 14 2 FW Albert Pynegar 18 10 0 0 18 10

Scorers All competitions Scorer Goals Wilf Kirkham 15 Jack Simms 12 Albert Pynegar 10 Stewart Littlewood 9 Bert Fishwick 6 Jack Mandley 5 Roger Jones 4 Harry Anstiss 3 Billy Briscoe 2 Phil Griffiths Robert Gillespie League Scorer Goals Wilf Kirkham 15 Jack Simms 12 Albert Pynegar 10 Stewart Littlewood 9 Bert Fishwick 6 Jack Mandley 5 Roger Jones 4 Harry Anstiss 3 Billy Briscoe 2 Phil Griffiths Robert Gillespie

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 1928–1929 : Results & Fixtures. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.

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