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 Stoke 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

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

Football League Second Division

MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
131 August 1929Bradford CityH2–016,568Wilson, Archibald
22 September 1929Charlton AthleticH2–110,000Wilson, Chadwick
37 September 1929Swansea TownA2–212,136Wilson, Bussey
49 September 1929Charlton AthleticA4–420,000Wilson, Bussey, Cull
514 September 1929Cardiff CityH1–119,013Wilson
621 September 1929Preston North EndA1–58,000Kirkham
728 September 1929Bristol CityH6–213,492Kirkham, Wilson, Cull, Mawson
830 September 1929Wolverhampton WanderersH3–06,648Kirkham, Mawson, Archibald
95 October 1929Notts CountyA3–37,000Wilson, Liddle
109 October 1929Tottenham HotspurA1–312,000Wilson
1112 October 1929ReadingH2–215,853Wilson, Kirkham
1219 October 1929SouthamptonH4–014,666Kirkham, Sellars, Mawson, Williamson
1326 October 1929MillwallA1–28,000Mawson
142 November 1929Oldham AthleticH0–215,840
159 November 1929Nottingham ForestA1–26,000Chadwick
1616 November 1929ChelseaH1–18,000Robertson
1723 November 1929BuryA0–25,000
1830 November 1929BlackpoolH0–111,546
197 December 1929BarnsleyA1–39,058Liddle
2014 December 1929Bradford Park AvenueH2–18,881Shirley
2121 December 1929West Bromwich AlbionA3–211,809Shirley, Wilson
2225 December 1929Hull CityA0–36,000
2326 December 1929Hull CityH3–111,553Shirley, Williamson, Mawson
2428 December 1929Bradford CityA0–312,000
254 January 1930Swansea TownH0–16,640
2618 January 1930Cardiff CityA2–110,124Wilson, Bussey
2725 January 1930Preston North EndH2–310,325Wilson, Archibald
281 February 1930Bristol CityA6–210,022Wilson , Bussey, Kirkham
298 February 1930Notts CountyH1–18,583Kirkham
3015 February 1930ReadingA0–05,175
3122 February 1930SouthamptonA1–210,000Armitage
321 March 1930MillwallH1–08,987Wilson
338 March 1930Oldham AthleticA0–517,749
3415 March 1930Nottingham ForestH6–05,369Kirkham, Williamson, Sellars, Bussey
3522 March 1930ChelseaA2–335,000Kirkham
3629 March 1930BuryH1–010,019Liddle
375 April 1930BlackpoolA2–09,959Kirkham, Sellars
3812 April 1930BarnsleyH3–07,431Kirkham, Armitage, Liddle
3919 April 1930Bradford Park AvenueA2–36,700Liddle, Archibald
4021 April 1930Wolverhampton WanderersA1–218,092Kirkham
4126 April 1930West Bromwich AlbionH0–38,012
423 May 1930Tottenham HotspurH1–06,570Cull

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
R311 January 1930Doncaster RoversA3–213,224Abandoned after 76 minutes
R316 January 1930Doncaster RoversA0–17,748

Squad statistics