1929–30 Stoke City F.C. season
Introduction 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
Results ''Stoke's score comes first''===Legend===WinDrawLoss===Football League Second Division===MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers1 31 August 1929 Bradford CityH2–016,568Wilson, Archibald2 2 September 1929 Charlton AthleticH2–110,000Wilson, Chadwick3 7 September 1929 Swansea TownA2–212,136Wilson, Bussey4 9 September 1929 Charlton AthleticA4–420,000Wilson, Bussey (2), Cull5 14 September 1929 Cardiff CityH1–119,013Wilson6 21 September 1929 Preston North EndA1–58,000Kirkham7 28 September 1929 Bristol CityH6–213,492Kirkham, Wilson (3), Cull, Mawson8 30 September 1929 Wolverhampton WanderersH3–06,648Kirkham, Mawson, Archibald9 5 October 1929 Notts CountyA3–37,000Wilson, Liddle (2)10 9 October 1929 Tottenham HotspurA1–312,000Wilson11 12 October 1929 ReadingH2–215,853Wilson, Kirkham12 19 October 1929 SouthamptonH4–014,666Kirkham, Sellars, Mawson, Williamson13 26 October 1929 MillwallA1–28,000Mawson14 2 November 1929 Oldham AthleticH0–215,84015 9 November 1929 Nottingham ForestA1–26,000Chadwick16 16 November 1929 ChelseaH1–18,000Robertson17 23 November 1929 BuryA0–25,00018 30 November 1929 BlackpoolH0–111,54619 7 December 1929 BarnsleyA1–39,058Liddle20 14 December 1929 Bradford Park AvenueH2–18,881Shirley (2)21 21 December 1929 West Bromwich AlbionA3–211,809Shirley, Wilson (2)22 25 December 1929 Hull CityA0–36,00023 26 December 1929 Hull CityH3–111,553Shirley, Williamson, Mawson24 28 December 1929 Bradford CityA0–312,00025 4 January 1930 Swansea TownH0–16,64026 18 January 1930 Cardiff CityA2–110,124Wilson, Bussey27 25 January 1930 Preston North EndH2–310,325Wilson, Archibald28 1 February 1930 Bristol CityA6–210,022Wilson (4) (1 Pen), Bussey, Kirkham29 8 February 1930 Notts CountyH1–18,583Kirkham30 15 February 1930 ReadingA0–05,17531 22 February 1930 SouthamptonA1–210,000Armitage (pen)32 1 March 1930 MillwallH1–08,987Wilson33 8 March 1930 Oldham AthleticA0–517,74934 15 March 1930 Nottingham ForestH6–05,369Kirkham (3), Williamson, Sellars, Bussey35 22 March 1930 ChelseaA2–335,000Kirkham (2)36 29 March 1930 BuryH1–010,019Liddle37 5 April 1930 BlackpoolA2–09,959Kirkham, Sellars38 12 April 1930 BarnsleyH3–07,431Kirkham, Armitage (pen), Liddle39 19 April 1930 Bradford Park AvenueA2–36,700Liddle, Archibald40 21 April 1930 Wolverhampton WanderersA1–218,092Kirkham41 26 April 1930 West Bromwich AlbionH0–38,01242 3 May 1930 Tottenham HotspurH1–06,570Cull===FA Cup===RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR311 January 1930 Doncaster RoversA3–213,224Abandoned after 76 minutesR316 January 1930 Doncaster RoversA0–17,748
Squad statistics Pos.NameLeagueFA CupTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGK Dave Beswick100010GK Norman Lewis17010180GK Dick Williams24000240DF Arthur Beachill20010210DF Tommy Dawson300030DF Bob McGrory21000210DF Charlie Scrimshaw200020DF Billy Spencer40010410DF Harry Watson200020MF Len Armitage30210312MF Thomas Godfrey100010MF Peter Jackson600060MF William Robertson910091MF Harry Sellars40310413MF20px Paddy Turley100010MF Tom Williamson37310383FW Bobby Archibald40410414FW Walter Bussey31610326FW Wilf Chadwick721082FW John Cull22310233FW Wilf Kirkham2715002715FW Bobby Liddle25600256FW Joe Mawson11500115FW John Shirley14400144FW Harold Taylor400040FW Charlie Wilson2720102820
References