1921–22 Port Vale F.C. season

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Port Vale
1921–22 season
Chairman Sampson Walker
Manager Joe Schofield
Stadium The Old Recreation Ground
Football League Second Division 18th (36 Points)
FA Cup First Round
North Staffordshire Infirmary Cup Champions (shared)
Top goalscorer League: Tom Page (9)
All: Tom Page (10)
Highest home attendance 20,000 vs Stoke (1 October 1921)
Lowest home attendance 6,000 vs South Shields (22 October 1921) & Barnsley (17 December 1921) & The Wednesday (3 April 1922) & Hull City (21 January 1922)
Average home league attendance 11,619
← 1920–21 1922–23 →

The 1921–22 season was Port Vale's third consecutive season of football (16th overall) in the Football League.[1] Another difficult season, both on and off the pitch, the club finished with 36 points for the second season in a row. The club were without a reliable goal scorer following their sale of Bobby Blood the previous season.

The season turned with a streak of nine games unbeaten, which followed a run of nine defeats in ten games. A case of fighting off relegation and just getting by financially, their difficulties were contrasted by the promotion of rivals Stoke – who also knocked the "Valiants" out of the FA Cup just to rub salt into the wound.

Despite such low points the club also experienced brief, but considerable periods of joy. When goalkeeper Teddy Peers turned out for Wales he became the first player to earn an international cap whilst on the books of the club. From 11 February 1922 to 18 March 1922 Peers oversaw a streak of seven consecutive clean sheets in league games, a still standing club record.

File:Tom Holford.JPG
Wing half Tom Holford was past 40 and still made several appearances.
Joe Brough, 35, was another veteran willing to play his part.
Billy Briscoe hardly missed a match.

Overview

Second Division

New additions to the squad in pre-season included: Welshman Jack Hampson signed from Aston Villa for £1,000; a returning Albert Pearson from Liverpool; half-back Ernest Collinge; centre-half from Nottingham Forest Robert Firth (a future Real Madrid manager); young Scottish midfielder Bob Connelly; and forward Billy Agnew from Falkirk.[1] The stadium was also improved, with a gym constructed, and the new stand extended.[1]

The season started poorly, with Vale losing five of their opening six games – this included a 1–0 home defeat to Stoke in what was the biggest crowd of the season.[1] The side made particularly hard work of finding the net, drawing a blank in five of these games.[1] A 5–2 loss at Bury was reversed into a 5–2 win at home, and the team went on a useful run of eight points from six games.[1] However from the end of November up until February the club lost nine of their ten league games, as the club stood rooted to the bottom slot.[1] The club turned things around in some style by going two months unbeaten, winning six of their nine games.[1] During this run they went seven games without conceding a goal, with goalkeeper Peers so confident he often felt able to lean casually on his goalpost to watch the Pursell brothers clear up any danger in front of him.[1] The run was broken after injuries set in – including a broken leg for Bob Pursell that necessitated his retirement from the game.[1] Nevertheless the club continued to pick up enough points to ensure their Second Division survival.[1]

At the end of season, the club were three points clear of the relegation zone, but sixteen points short of rivals Stoke, who were promoted. The team were hopeless in front of goal, managing just a goal a game, yet Rotherham County scored just 32 goals in 42 games and still finished ahead of the "Valiants".

The first team was rather unsettled throughout the campaign thanks to a bureaucratic method of selection.[1] However the Pursell brothers, Billy Briscoe, Tom Page; as well as new signings Ernest Collinge, Bob Connelly, Robert Firth, Jack Hampson, and Billy Agnew were all regular features. The club rotated between three goalkeepers, with a fourth also getting a game. Page was the club's top scorer with a meagre ten goals from all competitions, with Bob Connelly also netting seven. Following an injury to Walter Smith, Teddy Peers was signed from Wolves on an emergency loan.[1] Peers went on to become the first player to be capped whilst at the club when he turned out for Wales.[1]

Finances

Finances were as ever of great concern to the club, and by February the poor crowd figures meant that £2,000 was needed to keep the club afloat.[1] A 'Shilling Fund' was established to raise donations, which resulted in donations from First Division sides Preston North End and Huddersfield Town.[1] A loss of £4,641 was made on the season, with an economic downturn getting the blame for a shocking drop in gate receipt figures.[1] The club even accused local paper The Sentinel of overestimating the crowd sizes.[1] Finances were also hit by a raise in player's wages following the raising of the maximum payments limit.[1] Aiming to make a £500 the following season, the director's announced a cut in the wage bill to the tune of £3,000.[1] This meant letting go of Bob Pursell, who had broken his leg; aged half-back Joe Brough who was said to have felt 'worn out'; 38-year-old stopper Walter Smith; forward Albert Pearson; 35-year-old Robert Firth; and 33-year-old Jack Peart.[1] The former two experienced campaigners simply retired, with Smith joining Plymouth Argyle; Pearson joining Llanelli; Firth joining Southend United; and Peart joining Norwich City.

Cup competitions

Vale left the FA Cup at the First Round thanks to Arthur Watkin scoring a hat-trick, which helped secure a 4–2 win for Stoke at The Old Recreation Ground. The end of season North Staffordshire Infirmary Cup game finished goalless between the two clubs, and as was the case in 1920 the trophy was shared between the two clubs – the cup game was held on-and-off until 1932, and Vale would lose on all five occasions.

Final league table

Pos Team Pld W D L F A W D L F A F A GA GD Pts
1 Nottingham Forest 42 13 7 1 29 9 9 5 7 22 21 51 30 1.700 + 21 56
2 Stoke 42 9 11 1 31 11 9 5 7 29 33 60 44 1.364 + 16 52
3 Barnsley 42 14 5 2 43 18 8 3 10 24 34 67 52 1.288 + 15 52
4 West Ham United 42 15 3 3 39 13 5 5 11 13 26 52 39 1.333 + 13 48
5 Hull City 42 13 5 3 36 13 6 5 10 15 28 51 41 1.244 + 10 48
6 South Shields 42 11 7 3 25 13 6 5 10 18 25 43 38 1.132 + 5 46
7 Fulham 42 14 5 2 41 8 4 4 13 16 30 57 38 1.500 + 19 45
8 Leeds United 42 10 8 3 31 12 6 5 10 17 26 48 38 1.263 + 10 45
9 Leicester City 42 11 6 4 30 16 3 11 7 9 18 39 34 1.147 + 5 45
10 The Wednesday 42 12 4 5 31 24 3 10 8 16 26 47 50 0.940 – 3 44
11 Bury 42 11 3 7 35 19 4 7 10 19 36 54 55 0.982 – 1 40
12 Derby County 42 11 3 7 34 22 4 6 11 26 42 60 64 0.938 – 4 39
13 Notts County 42 10 7 4 34 18 2 8 11 13 33 47 51 0.922 – 4 39
14 Crystal Palace 42 9 6 6 28 20 4 7 10 17 31 45 51 0.882 – 6 39
15 Clapton Orient 42 12 4 5 33 18 3 5 13 10 32 43 50 0.860 – 7 39
16 Rotherham County 42 8 9 4 17 7 6 2 13 15 36 32 43 0.744 – 11 39
17 Wolverhampton Wanderers 42 8 7 6 28 19 5 4 12 16 30 44 49 0.898 – 5 37
18 Port Vale 42 10 5 6 28 19 4 3 14 15 38 43 57 0.754 – 14 36
19 Blackpool 42 11 1 9 33 27 4 4 13 11 30 44 57 0.772 – 13 35
20 Coventry City 42 8 5 8 31 21 4 5 12 20 39 51 60 0.850 – 9 34
21 Bradford Park Avenue 42 10 5 6 32 22 2 4 15 14 40 46 62 0.742 – 16 33
22 Bristol City 42 10 3 8 25 18 2 6 13 12 40 37 58 0.638 – 21 33

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 A H H A A H A H A H H A A H A H A H H A H A A A H A H H A H A H H H A A H A A H H A
Result L W L L L W D L L W D W L W D L L L L L D L L L L W D W D W W W W D L L D W L W W L
Position 14 6 14 21 21 17 16 20 20 19 19 19 18 14 16 18 18 19 19 19 20 20 21 22 22 22 22 19 20 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18

Sourced from Statto.[2]

Football League Second Division

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Main article: 1921–22 Football League
Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
27 August 1921 Leeds United A 1–2 18,000 Pearson
29 August 1921 Clapton Orient H 3–0 17,000 Firth, Hampson, Page
3 September 1921 Leeds United H 0–1 18,000
10 September 1921 West Ham United A 0–3 18,000
12 September 1921 Clapton Orient A 0–2 10,000
17 September 1921 West Ham United H 2–1 10,000 Firth, Hampson
24 September 1921 Stoke A 0–0 30,000
1 October 1921 Stoke H 0–1 20,000
8 October 1921 Bury A 2–5 12,000 Briscoe, Connelly
15 October 1921 Bury H 5–2 11,000 Connelly (2), Hampson, Firth, Page
22 October 1921 South Shields H 1–1 6,000 Page
29 October 1921 South Shields A 1–0 12,000 Agnew
5 November 1921 Bristol City A 1–2 20,000 Page
12 November 1921 Bristol City H 3–1 8,000 Agnew (2), Connelly
19 November 1921 Nottingham Forest A 1–1 16,000 Page
26 November 1921 Nottingham Forest H 0–2 12,000
3 December 1921 Wolverhampton Wanderers A 0–2 12,000
10 December 1921 Wolverhampton Wanderers H 0–2 8,000
17 December 1921 Barnsley H 2–3 6,000 Collinge (pen), Connelly
24 December 1921 Barnsley A 2–3 8,000 Simon, Firth
26 December 1921 Derby County H 1–1 17,000 Connelly
27 December 1921 Derby County A 2–3 13,000 Firth, Connelly
31 December 1921 Coventry City A 1–4 16,000 Page
21 January 1922 Hull City A 0–2 6,000
30 January 1922 Coventry City H 1–2 7,000 Lauder
4 February 1922 Notts County A 2–1 7,000 Collinge, Lauder
11 February 1922 Notts County H 0–0 12,000
13 February 1922 Hull City H 1–0 8,000 Fitchford
18 February 1922 Crystal Palace A 0–0 10,000
25 February 1922 Crystal Palace H 3–0 14,000 Lauder, Agnew, Collinge (pen)
4 March 1922 Rotherham County A 1–0 8,000 Page
11 March 1922 Rotherham County H 1–0 12,000 Page
18 March 1922 The Wednesday H 1–0 12,000 Collinge (pen)
1 April 1922 Fulham H 1–1 10,000 Page
3 April 1922 The Wednesday H 0–2 6,000
8 April 1922 Fulham A 0–1 15,000
14 April 1922 Leicester City H 1–1 10,000 Fitchford
15 April 1922 Blackpool A 1–0 14,000 Collinge (pen)
17 April 1922 Leicester City A 0–3 15,000
22 April 1922 Blackpool H 1–0 15,000 Fitchford
29 April 1922 Bradford Park Avenue H 1–0 10,998 Agnew
6 May 1922 Bradford Park Avenue A 0–2 10,000

FA Cup

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Main article: 1921–22 FA Cup
Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Goalscorers
1R 7 January 1922 Stoke A 2–4 14,471 Page, Brough

Player statistics

References

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  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Port Vale 1921–1922 : Results & Fixtures. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
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