1936–37 Port Vale F.C. season

Port Vale

1936–37 season
Chairman	Frank Huntbach
Manager	Warney Cresswell
Stadium	The Old Recreation Ground
Football League Third Division North	11th (44 Points)
FA Cup	Third Round
Football League Third Division North Cup	Semi-finals
Top goalscorer	League: Tommy Ward (14) All: Tommy Ward (18)
Highest home attendance	12,950 vs. Chester (5 December 1936)
Lowest home attendance	2,148 vs. Rochdale (17 April 1937)
Average home league attendance	7,298
Home colours
← 1935–36 1937–38 →

The 1936–37 season was Port Vale's 31st season of football in the Football League, and their first season (second overall) back in the Third Division North following their relegation from the Second Division.^[1] For the first time in the club's history, rivals Stoke City were playing two leagues above them. The "Valiants" played in white shirts and black socks – a look that they kept for the rest of the century and beyond. Manager Warney Cresswell would prove to be the first of Vale's managers to be recognizable as a manager to modern observers, training the players to ensure fitness, allowing them to relax together as a group, and searching the country for fresh talent. His modern techniques were not enough to ensure promotion, despite a mid-season unbeaten run of thirteen games in an otherwise unremarkable season.

Chairman Frank Huntbach.

Overview

Third Division North

During the pre-season build-up, former England international full-back Warney Cresswell was appointed as manager-coach, filling a position which had remained vacant since September 1936.^[1] Described as 'a very knowledgeable man about football', he increased the playing staff to twenty, signing winger Gerry Kelly (Chester); right-half Tommy Ward (Grimsby Town); and left-half Spencer Evans (Altrincham).^[1] Cresswell also began running the players and pushing them in the gym, in order to get them fit for the season.^[1] In between heavy training sessions he encouraged the players to relax with snooker and billiards competitions.^[1] The club also decided to introduce a new strip of white shirts and black shorts, a look they retain to this day.^[1]

The season opened with two defeats, as Vale found it tough to acclimatize to third tier football, their 3–1 home defeat to Hull City came despite them doing the double over the "Tigers" the previous season.^[1] Following this, George Stabb transferred to Bradford Park Avenue, in a deal which saw Tom Nolan return to The Old Recreation Ground.^[1] Continuing their poor form, by the end of September they were seventh from bottom.^[1] This prompted Cresswell to sign inside-forward Alfred Dickinson from Everton.^[1] On 26 September, Nolan scored a hat-trick past Stockport County, but the Vale would have to wait a little longer before getting into their stride.^[1] Seven changes were made for the 24 October win over Hartlepools United, and the wait would be worth it, as Vale then went on a thirteen game unbeaten run.^[1] Nevertheless, Cresswell continued to travel the country in the hunt for talented young amateurs.^[1] By the end of October the 40,000 Shilling Fund completed its mission.^[1] With Ward scoring two hat-tricks during the spell, Michael Curley and George Heywood were judged as surplus to requirements, and moved on to Colwyn Bay and Southport respectively.^[1] Fred Obrey also proved to be a revelation in the centre of the pitch.^[1]

By the time Vale lost their unbeaten run – 1–0 at struggling Darlington's Feethams – they were up to fourth in the table.^[1] Vale were then in indifferent form for the remainder of the season, as their promotion hopes petered away.^[1] On 27 March a heavy 7–1 defeat was recorded to Mansfield Town at Field Mill.^[1] Cresswell's contract was cancelled by mutual consent, and he quickly took up the management reins at Third Division South side Northampton Town.^[1]

They finished in eleventh position with 44 points.^[1] This meant they were sixteen points short of promotion and twelve points clear of the re-election zones. With 58 goals scored they had the third weakest attack in the division, and had almost half the tally of runners-up Lincoln City.^[1]

Finances

On the financial side, a profit of £401 was made, though £1,923 of income came through the Shilling Fund.^[1] Gate receipts had tailed off by another £1,065; whilst the wage bill was trimmed to £5,656 and a transfer credit of £465 was made.^[1] Fourteen players departed at the season's end, including: Ken Gunn (sold to Creswell's Northampton Town); Eric Hayward (sold to Blackpool); goalkeeper Allan Todd (refused terms and was transferred to Nottingham Forest); fourteen year club veteran Roger Jones (retirement); and Gerry Kelly (signed with Southampton).^[1] The club also petitioned the Football League for a switch to the Third Division South, where gates were believed to be higher, however the League replied that circumstance and not applications determined where club's were placed – despite this Mansfield Town were the ones transferred, Mansfield being a town some forty miles north of Stoke-on-Trent.^[1]

Cup competitions

In the FA Cup, they fell at the Third Round to First Division Sheffield Wednesday with a 2–0 defeat at Hillsborough, having been forced to play six reserves due to injury.^[1] In the short-lived Football League Third Division North Cup, the club progressed to the semi-finals with victories over Mansfield Town (2–0), Stockport County (4–0), and Rotherham United (1–0); where they lost 3–0 to Chester.^[1] Attendances of around 100 exemplified the lack of interest in the competition.^[1]

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		F	A	GA	GD		Pts
1	Stockport County	42		17	3	1	59	18		6	11	4	25	21		84	39	2.154	+ 45		60
2	Lincoln City	42		18	1	2	65	20		7	6	8	38	37		103	57	1.807	+ 46		57
3	Chester	42		15	5	1	68	21		7	4	10	19	36		87	57	1.526	+ 30		53
4	Oldham Athletic	42		13	7	1	49	25		7	4	10	28	34		77	59	1.305	+ 18		51
5	Hull City	42		13	6	2	39	22		4	6	11	29	47		68	69	0.986	– 1		46
6	Hartlepools United	42		16	1	4	53	21		3	6	12	22	48		75	69	1.087	+ 6		45
7	Halifax Town	42		12	4	5	40	20		6	5	10	28	43		68	63	1.079	+ 5		45
8	Wrexham	42		12	3	6	41	21		4	9	8	30	36		71	57	1.246	+ 14		44
9	Mansfield Town	42		13	1	7	64	35		5	7	9	27	41		91	76	1.197	+ 15		44
10	Carlisle United	42		13	6	2	42	19		5	2	14	23	49		65	68	0.956	– 3		44
11	Port Vale	42		12	6	3	39	23		5	4	12	19	41		58	64	0.906	– 6		44
12	York City	42		13	3	5	54	27		3	8	10	25	43		79	70	1.129	+ 9		43
13	Accrington Stanley	42		14	2	5	51	26		2	7	12	25	43		76	69	1.101	+ 7		41
14	Southport	42		10	8	3	39	28		2	5	14	34	59		73	87	0.839	– 14		37
15	New Brighton	42		10	8	3	36	16		3	3	15	19	54		55	70	0.786	– 15		37
16	Barrow	42		11	5	5	42	25		2	5	14	28	61		70	86	0.814	– 16		36
17	Rotherham United	42		11	7	3	52	28		3	0	18	26	63		78	91	0.857	– 13		35
18	Rochdale	42		12	3	6	44	27		1	6	14	25	59		69	86	0.802	– 17		35
19	Tranmere Rovers	42		10	8	3	52	30		2	1	18	19	58		71	88	0.807	– 17		33
20	Crewe Alexandra	42		6	8	7	31	31		4	4	13	24	52		55	83	0.663	– 28		32
21	Gateshead	42		9	8	4	40	31		2	2	17	23	67		63	98	0.643	– 35		32
22	Darlington	42		6	8	7	42	46		2	6	13	24	50		66	96	0.688	– 30		30

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	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	H
Result	L	L	W	W	D	L	L	W	L	D	L	W	D	W	W	W	D	W	W	W	W	D	D	W	L	W	L	L	W	W	W	L	L	L	W	D	L	L	D	D	L	W
Position	18	21	17	9	12	13	16	11	15	14	18	14	13	13	13	9	8	6	6	5	5	5	5	4	5	5	6	6	5	4	4	4	6	5	4	4	6	6	6	7	11	11

Sourced from Statto.^[2]

Football League Third Division North

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
29 August 1936	Hull City	H	1–3	9,207	Miller
2 September 1936	New Brighton	A	0–2	4,522
5 September 1936	Gateshead	A	1–0	4,538	Rhodes
7 September 1936	New Brighton	H	3–1	6,096	Roberts (2), Rhodes
12 September 1936	Darlington	H	2–2	7,628	Caldwell, Nolan
14 September 1936	Oldham Athletic	A	1–5	3,622	Roberts
19 September 1936	Wrexham	A	0–1	7,746
26 September 1936	Stockport County	H	3–0	9,407	Nolan (3)
3 October 1936	Rotherham United	A	0–2	7,032
10 October 1936	York City	H	1–1	7,627	Caldwell
17 October 1936	Carlisle United	A	2–5	4,691	Nolan, Rhodes
24 October 1936	Hartlepools United	H	1–0	6,659	Roberts
31 October 1936	Southport	A	3–3	7,483	Roberts (2), Nolan
7 November 1936	Tranmere Rovers	H	2–1	6,551	Roberts, Nolan
14 November 1936	Halifax Town	A	1–0	7,443	Goodfellow
21 November 1936	Mansfield Town	H	5–1	8,983	Jones (3), Ward, Dean
28 November 1936	Chester	A	0–0	7,616
5 December 1936	Chester	H	4–0	12,950	Ward (3), Rhodes (pen)
12 December 1936	Rochdale	A	0–0	2,218
19 December 1936	Barrow	H	3–2	8,431	Nolan (2), Kelly
25 December 1936	Accrington Stanley	A	3–2	5,997	Ward (2), Jones
26 December 1936	Hull City	A	1–1	14,928	Ward
28 December 1936	Accrington Stanley	H	1–1	8,030	Ward
2 January 1937	Gateshead	H	4–2	8,472	Ward (3), Dean
9 January 1937	Darlington	A	0–1	5,177
20 January 1937	Crewe Alexandra	A	1–0	2,059	Kelly
23 January 1937	Wrexham	H	0–3	7,432
30 January 1937	Stockport County	A	0–1	10,690
6 February 1937	Rotherham United	H	2–1	7,440	Dean, Rhodes
13 February 1937	York City	A	2–1	4,241	Obrey, Jones
20 February 1937	Carlisle United	H	1–0	6,585	Ward
27 February 1937	Hartlepools United	A	0–2	2,645
6 March 1937	Southport	H	0–2	6,986
13 March 1937	Tranmere Rovers	A	2–4	5,732	Ward (2)
20 March 1937	Halifax Town	H	3–1	8,815	Jones (3)
26 March 1937	Lincoln City	H	1–1	6,243	Dean
27 March 1937	Mansfield Town	A	1–7	6,348	Jones
29 March 1937	Lincoln City	A	0–1	13,715
3 April 1937	Crewe Alexandra	H	0–0	6,365
17 April 1937	Rochdale	H	1–1	2,148	Nolan
24 April 1937	Barrow	A	1–3	4,298	Nolan
1 May 1937	Oldham Athletic	H	1–0	2,353	Roberts

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	16 January 1937	Sheffield Wednesday	A	0–2	27,450

Player statistics

Appearances Pos. Name Football League FA Cup Total Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals GK Allan Todd 39 0 0 0 43 0 GK John Jones 3 0 1 0 4 0 DF Trevor Rhodes 33 5 0 0 36 5 DF Eric Hayward 18 0 1 0 21 0 DF Roderick Welsh 17 0 1 0 21 0 DF George Heywood 2 0 0 0 2 0 DF Harry Griffiths 8 0 0 0 8 0 DF Claude Barrett 19 0 0 0 19 0 MF Roger Jones 36 9 1 0 39 9 MF Ken Gunn 37 0 0 0 40 0 MF Arthur Caldwell 13 2 0 0 14 2 MF Frank Ryder 6 0 1 0 8 0 MF Michael Curley 3 0 0 0 3 0 MF Tommy Ward 27 14 1 0 32 18 MF Billy Tunnicliffe 2 0 0 0 3 1 MF Wilf Smith 1 0 0 0 1 0 MF Fred Obrey 29 1 1 0 33 1 MF Gerry Kelly 20 2 1 0 21 2 MF Jack Harrison 2 0 0 0 4 0 MF Spencer Evans 34 0 1 0 38 1 MF Arthur Cumberlidge 8 0 0 0 9 0 MF Percy Adams 1 0 0 0 1 0 FW Luke Dean 13 4 0 0 14 4 FW Jack Roberts 15 8 0 0 16 8 FW George Stabb 2 0 0 0 2 0 FW Tom Nolan 37 11 1 0 41 12 FW Peter Miller 13 1 1 0 17 1 FW Arthur Ford 3 0 0 0 4 0 FW Syd Goodfellow 16 1 0 0 16 1 FW Alfred Dickinson 5 0 0 0 5 0

Scorers All competitions Scorer Goals Tommy Ward 18 Tom Nolan 12 Roger Jones 9 Jack Roberts 8 Trevor Rhodes 5 Luke Dean 4 Arthur Caldwell 2 Gerry Kelly Peter Miller 1 Syd Goodfellow Billy Tunnicliffe Fred Obrey Spencer Evans League Scorer Goals Tommy Ward 14 Tom Nolan 11 Roger Jones 9 Jack Roberts 8 Trevor Rhodes 5 Luke Dean 4 Arthur Caldwell 2 Gerry Kelly Peter Miller 1 Syd Goodfellow Fred Obrey

References

1. Kent, Jeff (1990). "From Glory to Despair (1929–1939)". The Valiants' Years: The Story Of Port Vale. Witan Books. pp. 124–150. ISBN 978-0-9508981-4-8.
2. Port Vale 1936–1937 : Results & Fixtures. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.

• Kent, Jeff (1993). The Port Vale Record 1879-1993. Witan Books. ISBN 978-0-9508981-9-3.