1929–30 Stoke City F.C. season
# 1929–30 Stoke City F.C. season

The 1929–30 season was Stoke City's 30th season in the Football League and the tenth in the Second Division.

With the 1920s, which had seen Stoke hit the highs of the First Division and lows of the Third Division, coming to an end there was hope around the city that the club could regain its top-flight status. The Victoria Ground was improved again and could now hold 50,000. Despite a good start to the season with 15 points collected from the first 12 matches Stoke could not maintain a promotion challenge and finished in mid-table.

## Season review

### League

With the 1920s now drawing to a close there were high hopes that, after three seasons of reasonable success on the pitch, a return to the First Division could be imminent. Tom Mather was proving to be a fine manager, who with little or no resources, had built a team good enough to compete with the best in the country. The bad feeling surrounding the sale of Harry Davies was slowly receding and two new forwards emerged, Wilf Kirkham from Port Vale and Wilf Chadwick from Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The 1929–30 season was launched with a ceremony at the Victoria Ground which saw the Football League vice-president Mr C. Sutcliffe, officially declare open the new covered accommodation on the Butler Street stand for 12,000 spectators, bringing the overall number of fans under cover up to 20,000. At this time it was considered that the Victoria Ground was only second in the country to Liverpool's Anfield with the total capacity now at 50,000.

With Dick Williams still in goal and Bob McGrory and Billy Spencer at full back, Stoke started the season well and after twelve matches they lay second in the table. However Stoke could not maintain their challenge as they were robbed of key players through injury mainly McGrory whose leadership was sorely missed and in the end Stoke settled for a position in mid table.

### FA Cup

Stoke suffered great misfortune in the FA Cup as in the third round they were leading Doncaster Rovers 3–2 up until 76 minutes when the match was called off due to heavy snow fall. In the 'replay' Doncaster won 1–0.

## Final league table

| Pos | Team v t e | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 9 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 42 | 16 | 9 | 17 | 77 | 79 | 0.975 | 41 |
| 10 | Nottingham Forest | 42 | 13 | 15 | 14 | 55 | 69 | 0.797 | 41 |
| 11 | Stoke City | 42 | 16 | 8 | 18 | 74 | 72 | 1.028 | 40 |
| 12 | Tottenham Hotspur | 42 | 15 | 9 | 18 | 59 | 61 | 0.967 | 39 |
| 13 | Charlton Athletic | 42 | 14 | 11 | 17 | 59 | 63 | 0.937 | 39 |

## Results

Stoke's score comes first

### Legend

| Win | Draw | Loss |
| - | - | - |

### Football League Second Division

| Match | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 31 August 1929 | Bradford City | H | 2–0 | 16,568 | Wilson, Archibald |
| 2 | 2 September 1929 | Charlton Athletic | H | 2–1 | 10,000 | Wilson, Chadwick |
| 3 | 7 September 1929 | Swansea Town | A | 2–2 | 12,136 | Wilson, Bussey |
| 4 | 9 September 1929 | Charlton Athletic | A | 4–4 | 20,000 | Wilson, Bussey (2), Cull |
| 5 | 14 September 1929 | Cardiff City | H | 1–1 | 19,013 | Wilson |
| 6 | 21 September 1929 | Preston North End | A | 1–5 | 8,000 | Kirkham |
| 7 | 28 September 1929 | Bristol City | H | 6–2 | 13,492 | Kirkham, Wilson (3), Cull, Mawson |
| 8 | 30 September 1929 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | H | 3–0 | 6,648 | Kirkham, Mawson, Archibald |
| 9 | 5 October 1929 | Notts County | A | 3–3 | 7,000 | Wilson, Liddle (2) |
| 10 | 9 October 1929 | Tottenham Hotspur | A | 1–3 | 12,000 | Wilson |
| 11 | 12 October 1929 | Reading | H | 2–2 | 15,853 | Wilson, Kirkham |
| 12 | 19 October 1929 | Southampton | H | 4–0 | 14,666 | Kirkham, Sellars, Mawson, Williamson |
| 13 | 26 October 1929 | Millwall | A | 1–2 | 8,000 | Mawson |
| 14 | 2 November 1929 | Oldham Athletic | H | 0–2 | 15,840 | |
| 15 | 9 November 1929 | Nottingham Forest | A | 1–2 | 6,000 | Chadwick |
| 16 | 16 November 1929 | Chelsea | H | 1–1 | 8,000 | Robertson |
| 17 | 23 November 1929 | Bury | A | 0–2 | 5,000 | |
| 18 | 30 November 1929 | Blackpool | H | 0–1 | 11,546 | |
| 19 | 7 December 1929 | Barnsley | A | 1–3 | 9,058 | Liddle |
| 20 | 14 December 1929 | Bradford Park Avenue | H | 2–1 | 8,881 | Shirley (2) |
| 21 | 21 December 1929 | West Bromwich Albion | A | 3–2 | 11,809 | Shirley, Wilson (2) |
| 22 | 25 December 1929 | Hull City | A | 0–3 | 6,000 | |
| 23 | 26 December 1929 | Hull City | H | 3–1 | 11,553 | Shirley, Williamson, Mawson |
| 24 | 28 December 1929 | Bradford City | A | 0–3 | 12,000 | |
| 25 | 4 January 1930 | Swansea Town | H | 0–1 | 6,640 | |
| 26 | 18 January 1930 | Cardiff City | A | 2–1 | 10,124 | Wilson, Bussey |
| 27 | 25 January 1930 | Preston North End | H | 2–3 | 10,325 | Wilson, Archibald |
| 28 | 1 February 1930 | Bristol City | A | 6–2 | 10,022 | Wilson (4) (1 Pen), Bussey, Kirkham |
| 29 | 8 February 1930 | Notts County | H | 1–1 | 8,583 | Kirkham |
| 30 | 15 February 1930 | Reading | A | 0–0 | 5,175 | |
| 31 | 22 February 1930 | Southampton | A | 1–2 | 10,000 | Armitage (pen) |
| 32 | 1 March 1930 | Millwall | H | 1–0 | 8,987 | Wilson |
| 33 | 8 March 1930 | Oldham Athletic | A | 0–5 | 17,749 | |
| 34 | 15 March 1930 | Nottingham Forest | H | 6–0 | 5,369 | Kirkham (3), Williamson, Sellars, Bussey |
| 35 | 22 March 1930 | Chelsea | A | 2–3 | 35,000 | Kirkham (2) |
| 36 | 29 March 1930 | Bury | H | 1–0 | 10,019 | Liddle |
| 37 | 5 April 1930 | Blackpool | A | 2–0 | 9,959 | Kirkham, Sellars |
| 38 | 12 April 1930 | Barnsley | H | 3–0 | 7,431 | Kirkham, Armitage (pen), Liddle |
| 39 | 19 April 1930 | Bradford Park Avenue | A | 2–3 | 6,700 | Liddle, Archibald |
| 40 | 21 April 1930 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | A | 1–2 | 18,092 | Kirkham |
| 41 | 26 April 1930 | West Bromwich Albion | H | 0–3 | 8,012 | |
| 42 | 3 May 1930 | Tottenham Hotspur | H | 1–0 | 6,570 | Cull |

### FA Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| R3 | 11 January 1930 | Doncaster Rovers | A | 3–2 | 13,224 | Abandoned after 76 minutes |
| R3 | 16 January 1930 | Doncaster Rovers | A | 0–1 | 7,748 | |

## Squad statistics

| Pos. | Name | League | League | FA Cup | FA Cup | Total | Total |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Pos. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| GK | Dave Beswick | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| GK | Norman Lewis | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 0 |
| GK | Dick Williams | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 0 |
| DF | Arthur Beachill | 20 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 0 |
| DF | Tommy Dawson | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| DF | Bob McGrory | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 0 |
| DF | Charlie Scrimshaw | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| DF | Billy Spencer | 40 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 41 | 0 |
| DF | Harry Watson | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| MF | Len Armitage | 30 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 31 | 2 |
| MF | Thomas Godfrey | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| MF | Peter Jackson | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| MF | William Robertson | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 |
| MF | Harry Sellars | 40 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 41 | 3 |
| MF | Paddy Turley | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| MF | Tom Williamson | 37 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 38 | 3 |
| FW | Bobby Archibald | 40 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 41 | 4 |
| FW | Walter Bussey | 31 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 32 | 6 |
| FW | Wilf Chadwick | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 2 |
| FW | John Cull | 22 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 23 | 3 |
| FW | Wilf Kirkham | 27 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 15 |
| FW | Bobby Liddle | 25 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 6 |
| FW | Joe Mawson | 11 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 5 |
| FW | John Shirley | 14 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 4 |
| FW | Harold Taylor | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| FW | Charlie Wilson | 27 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 28 | 20 |
