1917–18 Stoke F.C. season
# 1917–18 Stoke F.C. season

The 1917–18 season was Stoke's third season in the War-time League.

With the start of World War I, all Football League football was cancelled. In its place were formed War Leagues, based on geographical lines rather than based on previous league placement. Stoke contested the Lancashire Section in the Principal Tournament, and the Lancashire Section Secondary Competition Group B. However, none of these were considered to be competitive football, and thus their records are not recognised by the Football League.

## Season review

In the Primary Competition of the Lancashire League Stoke finished in 1st place with 48 points whilst in the Secondary Competition they finished 3rd with 6 points. Stoke were in free scoring form this season amassing 106 goals including a 16–0 win over Blackburn Rovers this was followed up by an 8–1 win over Rovers a week later. Stoke also beat teams 9–0 (Burnley), 7–0 (Oldham), 6–0 (Port Vale). Stoke won the Primary Competition and thus competed in the championship decider against Leeds City over two legs. However Leeds won 2–1. Both matches against Leeds drew impressive crowds and gate receipts totalled £918 which went to the National Footballers' War Fund.

## Final league table

### Lancashire Section Primary Competition

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Stoke | 30 | 22 | 4 | 4 | 109 | 27 | 4.037 | 48 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 30 | 21 | 6 | 3 | 101 | 26 | 3.885 | 48 |
| 3 | Everton | 30 | 19 | 6 | 5 | 92 | 36 | 2.556 | 44 |
| 4 | Manchester City | 30 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 57 | 28 | 2.036 | 38 |
| 5 | Stockport County | 30 | 17 | 3 | 10 | 59 | 32 | 1.844 | 37 |
| 6 | Rochdale | 30 | 14 | 9 | 7 | 78 | 51 | 1.529 | 37 |
| 7 | Bolton Wanderers | 30 | 13 | 4 | 13 | 68 | 70 | 0.971 | 30 |
| 8 | Manchester United | 30 | 11 | 8 | 11 | 45 | 49 | 0.918 | 30 |
| 9 | Oldham Athletic | 30 | 11 | 6 | 13 | 50 | 59 | 0.847 | 28 |
| 10 | Preston North End | 30 | 12 | 3 | 15 | 38 | 53 | 0.717 | 27 |
| 11 | Port Vale | 30 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 47 | 58 | 0.810 | 26 |
| 12 | Blackpool | 30 | 9 | 7 | 14 | 46 | 70 | 0.657 | 25 |
| 13 | Southport Central | 30 | 8 | 6 | 16 | 33 | 69 | 0.478 | 22 |
| 14 | Bury | 30 | 8 | 5 | 17 | 46 | 64 | 0.719 | 21 |
| 15 | Burnley | 30 | 5 | 4 | 21 | 32 | 104 | 0.308 | 14 |
| 16 | Blackburn Rovers | 30 | 2 | 1 | 27 | 22 | 127 | 0.173 | 5 |

### Lancashire Section Secondary Competition Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Manchester City | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 4 | 2.750 | 9 |
| 2 | Manchester United | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 0.857 | 7 |
| 3 | Stoke | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 5 | 2.000 | 6 |
| 4 | Port Vale | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 15 | 0.267 | 2 |

## Results

Stoke's score comes first

### Legend

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

### Lancashire Section Primary Competition

| Match | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 1 September 1917 | Bolton Wanderers | A | 5–2 | 6,000 | Howell (2), Bridgett, Whittingham (2) |
| 2 | 8 September 1917 | Bolton Wanderers | H | 6–2 | 7,000 | Howell (2), Bridgett, Whittingham, Herbert (2) |
| 3 | 15 September 1917 | Preston North End | A | 3–2 | 5,000 | Howell, Whittingham, Herbert |
| 4 | 22 September 1917 | Preston North End | H | 4–0 | 8,000 | Howell, Herbert, Bridgett, Jones |
| 5 | 29 September 1917 | Port Vale | A | 2–0 | 10,000 | Herbert, Whittingham |
| 6 | 6 October 1917 | Port Vale | H | 4–1 | 8,000 | Herbert, Whittingham (2), Howell |
| 7 | 13 October 1917 | Blackpool | A | 5–0 | 4,000 | Harrison, Herbert (2), Howell (2) |
| 8 | 20 October 1917 | Blackpool | H | 3–1 | 7,000 | Howell, Whittingham, Parker |
| 9 | 27 October 1917 | Manchester City | H | 4–3 | 9,000 | Herbert, Watkin (2), Turner |
| 10 | 3 November 1917 | Manchester City | A | 0–1 | 20,000 | |
| 11 | 10 November 1917 | Blackburn Rovers | H | 16–0 | 8,000 | Whittingham (4), Turner (4), Herbert (3), Parker (2), Harrison, Bridgett, Jones |
| 12 | 17 November 1917 | Blackburn Rovers | A | 8–1 | 4,000 | Whittingham (2), Herbert, Howell (2), Jones, Bridgett (2) |
| 13 | 1 December 1917 | Rochdale | A | 0–0 | 4,000 | |
| 14 | 8 December 1917 | Everton | H | 3–0 | 8,000 | Bridgett (2), Howell |
| 15 | 15 December 1917 | Everton | A | 2–3 | 10,000 | Bridgett, Whittingham |
| 16 | 22 December 1917 | Bury | H | 1–0 | 5,000 | Howell |
| 17 | 29 December 1917 | Bury | A | 1–1 | 4,000 | P. Jones |
| 18 | 5 January 1918 | Oldham Athletic | H | 7–0 | 5,000 | Herbert (4), Howell (2), Martin |
| 19 | 12 January 1918 | Oldham Athletic | A | 2–2 | 3,000 | Herbert, Howell |
| 20 | 19 January 1918 | Stockport County | H | 2–1 | 4,000 | Herbert, Howell |
| 21 | 21 January 1918 | Stockport County | A | 3–0 | 3,000 | Martin, Jones, Smith |
| 22 | 2 February 1918 | Manchester United | H | 5–1 | 6,000 | Bridgett, Parker, Herbert, Howell (2) |
| 23 | 9 February 1918 | Manchester United | A | 1–2 | 10,000 | Harrison |
| 24 | 16 February 1918 | Southport Central | A | 2–0 | 3,000 | Howell, Turner |
| 25 | 23 February 1918 | Southport Central | H | 4–0 | 4,000 | Turner, Lockett, Herbert, Jones |
| 26 | 2 March 1918 | Liverpool | A | 1–1 | 22,000 | Howell |
| 27 | 9 March 1918 | Liverpool | H | 3–1 | 25,000 | Howell (2), Bridgett |
| 28 | 16 March 1918 | Burnley | H | 9–0 | 16,000 | Herbert (2), Bridgett, Howell (3), Parker, Lockett, Harrison |
| 29 | 23 March 1918 | Burnley | A | 2–0 | 4,000 | Howell, Lockett |
| 30 | 27 April 1918 | Rochdale | H | 1–2 | 6,000 | Jones |

### Lancashire Section Secondary Competition Group B

| Match | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 29 March 1918 | Port Vale | A | 2–1 | 7,000 | Herbert, P. Jones |
| 2 | 30 March 1918 | Manchester United | A | 1–2 | 11,000 | Jones |
| 3 | 1 April 1918 | Port Vale | H | 6–0 | 12,000 | Herbert (3), Lockett, Bassett (2) |
| 4 | 6 April 1918 | Manchester United | H | 0–0 | 8,000 | |
| 5 | 13 April 1918 | Manchester City | H | 1–1 | 9,000 | Herbert |
| 6 | 20 April 1918 | Manchester City | A | 0–2 | 11,000 | |

### Championship Decider

| Match | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1st leg | 4 May 1918 | Leeds City | A | 0–2 | 15,000 | |
| 2nd leg | 11 May 1918 | Leeds City | H | 1–0 | 14,000 | Parker |

## Squad statistics

| Pos. | Name | Matches | Matches |
| - | - | - | - |
| Pos. | Name | Apps | Goals |
| GK | Richard Herron | 2 | 0 |
| GK | A. Morns | 5 | 0 |
| GK | Teddy Peers | 31 | 0 |
| DF | Arthur Allman | 5 | 0 |
| DF | Jack Maddock | 23 | 0 |
| DF | Alec Milne | 4 | 0 |
| DF | George Turner | 1 | 0 |
| DF | Billy Twemlow | 37 | 0 |
| DF | Harry Wootton | 1 | 0 |
| MF | Joe Jones | 38 | 6 |
| MF | Charlie Parker | 38 | 6 |
| MF | Dick Smith | 32 | 1 |
| FW | G. Bassett | 4 | 2 |
| FW | J. Bridgett | 24 | 10 |
| FW | Billy Briscoe | 1 | 0 |
| FW | S. Connor | 1 | 0 |
| FW | S. Cooper | 1 | 0 |
| FW | Thomas Greaves | 2 | 0 |
| FW | Billy Harrison | 33 | 4 |
| FW | Billy Herbert | 38 | 32 |
| FW | Harry Howell | 31 | 28 |
| FW | P. Jones | 3 | 2 |
| FW | Aaron Lockett | 9 | 5 |
| FW | James Martin | 9 | 3 |
| FW | G. McGregor | 1 | 0 |
| FW | Billy Tempest | 1 | 0 |
| FW | Eli Turner | 13 | 9 |
| FW | Arthur Watkin | 3 | 2 |
| FW | Bob Whittingham | 17 | 15 |
