1928–29 Stoke City F.C. season

Stoke City

1928–29 season
Chairman	Mr A.McSherwin
Manager	Tom Mather
Stadium	Victoria Ground
Football League Second Division	6th (46 Points)
FA Cup	Third Round
Top goalscorer	League: Charlie Wilson (22) All: Charlie Wilson (22)
Highest home attendance	36,182 vs Port Vale (15 September 1928)
Lowest home attendance	7,158 vs Oldham Athletic (24 November 1928)
Average home league attendance	13,666
Home colours
← 1927–28 1929–30 →

The 1928–29 season was Stoke City's 29th season in the Football League and the ninth in the Second Division.

There were no major signings in 1928–29 as the club decided to change a number of policies regarding players' contracts in order to avoid a repeat of the scenes at the end of the 1923–24 season. Mather also brought in a number of players from the club's reserve and youth teams as the squad held a solid defence and with only 51 goals conceded Stoke had the best defensive record in the top two divisions. Stoke finished the season in sixth place which the fans thought they could have done better considering their defensive qualities.^[1]

Season review

League

The Stoke board acquired the freehold of the Victoria Ground in the summer of 1928, but decided against any major signings for the 1928–29 campaign, as young players were slowly being introduced into the first team and reserve side.^[1] After some of the players' actions of 1924, chairman Sherwin along with the board and manager decided to sort out the respective salaries of their professional players in order to avoid any further problems.^[1]

Stoke had a solid look to their squad and they started the season in perfect fashion beating Nottingham Forest 5–1 on the opening day of the season at a stunned City Ground.^[1] Stoke's good form continued and by the end of October the team was in a good position to mount a promotion challenge.^[1] However they won just one match in November and December and although they did pick up in the new year Stoke were unable to challenge for a promotion spot and finished the season in sixth place.^[1] Some supporters felt the team should have done better, especially as they had the best defensive record outside the First Division.^[1] Fans were also disappointed at the sale of favourite Harry Davies to Huddersfield Town, he would later return to the club in 1931.^[1]

FA Cup

Arsenal knocked Stoke out of the FA Cup for the second season running this time in the third round.^[1]

Final league table

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

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	25 August 1928	Nottingham Forest	A	5–1	14,548	Wilson (2), Davies, Bussey, Liddle
2	27 August 1928	Bristol City	H	2–0	14,067	Davies, Armitage (pen)
3	1 September 1928	West Bromwich Albion	H	4–1	22,769	Davies, Armitage (pen), Wilson, Archibald
4	5 September 1928	Bristol City	A	1–1	10,000	Davies
5	8 September 1928	Clapton Orient	A	0–1	6,000
6	15 September 1928	Port Vale	H	2–1	36,182	Davies, Bussey
7	22 September 1928	Grimsby Town	H	1–2	15,512	Wilson
8	29 September 1928	Bradford Park Avenue	A	1–2	12,000	Davies
9	6 October 1928	Swansea Town	H	5–0	12,671	Johnson (2), Williams, Bussey, Armitage
10	13 October 1928	Blackpool	A	0–2	8,000
11	20 October 1928	Hull City	A	3–1	7,760	Davies, Archibald, Bussey
12	27 October 1928	Tottenham Hotspur	H	2–1	15,307	Archibald, Williams
13	3 November 1928	Reading	A	1–1	6,800	Williams
14	10 November 1928	Millwall	H	0–0	9,185
15	17 November 1928	Middlesbrough	A	0–1	10,000
16	24 November 1928	Oldham Athletic	H	1–1	7,185	Davies
17	1 December 1928	Southampton	A	0–0	8,000
18	8 December 1928	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	4–3	9,012	Wilson (2), Williams, Archibald
19	15 December 1928	Notts County	A	0–1	8,000
20	22 December 1928	Preston North End	H	1–1	10,263	Wilson
21	25 December 1928	Chelsea	H	0–1	12,031
22	26 December 1928	Chelsea	A	1–3	40,126	Wilson
23	29 December 1928	Nottingham Forest	H	1–1	8,120	Wilson
24	5 January 1929	West Bromwich Albion	A	3–2	20,067	Shirley, Archibald, Bussey
25	19 January 1929	Clapton Orient	H	3–1	10,166	Cull, Wilson, Williamson
26	26 January 1929	Port Vale	A	2–1	18,304	Shirley (2)
27	2 February 1929	Grimsby Town	A	1–2	8,000	Bussey
28	9 February 1929	Bradford Park Avenue	H	2–0	11,865	Archibald, Davies
29	16 February 1929	Swansea Town	A	3–3	7,000	Davies, Bussey, Mawson
30	23 February 1929	Blackpool	H	1–1	12,538	Ramsay (o.g.)
31	2 March 1929	Hull City	H	1–1	10,925	Shirley
32	9 March 1929	Tottenham Hotspur	A	0–1	26,760
33	16 March 1929	Reading	H	5–0	9,491	Shirley, Williams (2), Wilson (2)
34	23 March 1929	Millwall	A	3–1	5,500	Wilson, Archibald, Williamson
35	29 March 1929	Barnsley	A	2–4	6,000	Wilson, Bussey
36	30 March 1929	Middlesbrough	H	3–2	19,717	Wilson (2), Bussey
37	1 April 1929	Barnsley	H	0–0	13,126
38	6 April 1929	Oldham Athletic	A	0–1	5,500
39	13 April 1929	Southampton	H	3–0	8,556	Wilson (3)
40	20 April 1929	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	0–4	12,235
41	27 April 1929	Notts County	H	5–0	8,165	Wilson (3), Bussey, Williams
42	4 May 1929	Preston North End	A	2–2	6,000	Bussey, Williamson

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
R3	12 January 1929	Arsenal	A	1–2	30,762	Bussey

Squad statistics

Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Bob Dixon	7	0	0	0	7	0
GK	Dick Williams	35	0	1	0	36	0
DF	Arthur Beachill	4	0	0	0	4	0
DF	Tommy Dawson	2	0	0	0	2	0
DF	Bob McGrory	38	0	1	0	39	0
DF	Billy Spencer	40	0	1	0	41	0
MF	Len Armitage	39	3	1	0	40	3
MF	Thomas Godfrey	2	0	0	0	2	0
MF	Peter Jackson	10	0	0	0	10	0
MF	Paddy Turley	1	0	0	0	1	0
MF	Harry Sellars	40	0	1	0	41	0
MF	Tom Williamson	33	3	1	0	34	3
FW	Bobby Archibald	41	7	1	0	42	7
FW	Walter Bussey	37	11	1	1	38	12
FW	John Cull	8	1	0	0	8	1
FW	Harry Davies	35	10	1	0	36	10
FW	Jack Eyres	1	0	0	0	1	0
FW	Tommy Flannigan	4	0	0	0	4	0
FW	Dick Johnson	5	2	0	0	5	2
FW	Bobby Liddle	12	1	0	0	12	1
FW	Joe Mawson	2	1	0	0	2	1
FW	John Shirley	12	5	1	0	13	5
FW	Charlie Wilson	31	22	0	0	31	22
FW	Joey Williams	23	7	1	0	24	7
–	Own goals	–	1	–	0	–	1

References

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

See also

• 1928–29 in English football
• List of Stoke City F.C. seasons