# 1901–02 Stoke F.C. season

The 1901–02 season was Stoke's 13th season in the Football League.
Stoke failed to improve from last season's narrow escape and again required a final day survival, Stoke stayed up after a 2–2 draw with Manchester City one point more than Small Heath who could only draw 0–0 with Notts County and were relegated.

## Season review
### League

Stoke now without William Maxwell struggled again in 1901–02. With winger Freddie Johnson now skippering the side, Stoke again took 16th position in the First Division avoiding relegation by a single point thanks mainly to a four match unbeaten run at the end of the season. The relegation battle came to a crescendo in April with literally 14 of the 18 teams in the division in danger of the drop, with 3rd placed Newcastle United only avoiding relegation by seven points.
At the start of April the bottom of the table was tight with Stoke having one of the poorest goal-averages, and away trips to Notts County and Manchester City were favourites to go down. But again, Stoke escaped after switching 5 ft 5 inch half-back Tom Holford to centre forward for the last four games which ended in a 1–1 draw at Notts County, home wins 4–0 and 2–0 over Bolton and Grimsby respectively and a last gasp 2–2 draw with Manchester City where Holford scored his third goal in succession. Stoke could have gone down right at the death if Small Heath had beaten Notts County in their last match but they drew 0–0 and both the Birmingham club and Manchester City were relegated. One of Stoke's most bizarre events in their history occurred in January 1902 when the team fell ill with food poisoning just before a league match away at Liverpool. The players had eaten fish at the Adelphi Hotel and were violently sick in the dressing room at Anfield. Soon into the match goalkeeper Leigh Richmond Roose had to leave the pitch and Stoke went on to lose 7–0.

### FA Cup

Stoke fared better in the FA Cup this season beating Aston Villa and Bristol Rovers before losing to Nottingham Forest in the third round.

## Final league table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts | Relegation |
| 14 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 34 | 13 | 6 | 15 | 46 | 57 | 0.807 | 32 | |
| 15 | Grimsby Town | 34 | 13 | 6 | 15 | 44 | 60 | 0.733 | 32 | |
| 16 | Stoke | 34 | 11 | 9 | 14 | 45 | 55 | 0.818 | 31 | |
| 17 | Small Heath (R) | 34 | 11 | 8 | 15 | 47 | 45 | 1.044 | 30 | Relegation to the Second Division |
| 18 | Manchester City (R) | 34 | 11 | 6 | 17 | 42 | 58 | 0.724 | 28 | Relegation to the Second Division |

## Results

Stoke's score comes first

### Legend

| Win | Draw | Loss |

### Football League First Division

| Match | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 1 | 2 September 1901 | Bury | H | 1–2 | 13,000 | Lockett |
| 2 | 7 September 1901 | Liverpool | H | 1–0 | 12,000 | Higginson |
| 3 | 14 September 1901 | Newcastle United | A | 1–5 | 20,000 | Lockett |
| 4 | 21 September 1901 | Aston Villa | H | 1–0 | 10,000 | Watkins |
| 5 | 28 September 1901 | Sheffield United | A | 1–1 | 12,000 | Higginson |
| 6 | 5 October 1901 | Nottingham Forest | H | 1–1 | 8,000 | Johnson |
| 7 | 12 October 1901 | Bury | A | 2–4 | 8,000 | Watkins (2) |
| 8 | 19 October 1901 | Blackburn Rovers | H | 2–2 | 10,000 | Watkins, Lockett |
| 9 | 26 October 1901 | Grimsby Town | A | 2–1 | 6,000 | Watkins, Whitehouse |
| 10 | 2 November 1901 | Everton | A | 0–1 | 16,000 | |
| 11 | 9 November 1901 | Sunderland | H | 3–0 | 10,000 | Watkins (2), Doig (o.g.) |
| 12 | 11 November 1901 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | H | 3–0 | 8,000 | Watkins, Johnson, Hales |
| 13 | 23 November 1901 | Derby County | H | 1–1 | 8,000 | Harris |
| 14 | 30 November 1901 | The Wednesday | A | 1–3 | 7,500 | Johnson |
| 15 | 7 December 1901 | Notts County | H | 3–0 | 7,000 | Watkins, Hales, Lockett |
| 16 | 14 December 1901 | Bolton Wanderers | A | 1–2 | 6,000 | Watkins |
| 17 | 26 December 1901 | Sheffield United | H | 3–2 | 12,000 | Watkins (2), MacDonald |
| 18 | 28 December 1901 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | A | 1–4 | 7,000 | Whitehouse |
| 19 | 4 January 1902 | Liverpool | A | 0–7 | 7,000 | |
| 20 | 11 January 1902 | Newcastle United | H | 0–0 | 4,000 | |
| 21 | 13 January 1902 | Manchester City | H | 3–0 | 5,000 | Higginson, Watkins, Whitehouse |
| 22 | 18 January 1902 | Aston Villa | A | 0–0 | 25,000 | |
| 23 | 1 February 1902 | Nottingham Forest | A | 0–2 | 6,000 | |
| 24 | 15 February 1902 | Blackburn Rovers | A | 1–6 | 7,000 | Watkins |
| 25 | 17 February 1902 | Small Heath | A | 1–1 | 5,000 | MacDonald |
| 26 | 1 March 1902 | Everton | H | 1–2 | 10,000 | MacDonald |
| 27 | 8 March 1902 | Sunderland | A | 0–2 | 8,000 | |
| 28 | 15 March 1902 | Small Heath | H | 1–0 | 6,000 | Lockett |
| 29 | 22 March 1902 | Derby County | A | 0–1 | 8,000 | |
| 30 | 29 March 1902 | The Wednesday | H | 1–2 | 7,000 | Higginson |
| 31 | 5 April 1902 | Notts County | A | 1–1 | 5,000 | Harris |
| 32 | 12 April 1902 | Bolton Wanderers | H | 4–0 | 5,000 | Harris, Holford, Higginson (2) |
| 33 | 14 April 1902 | Grimsby Town | H | 2–0 | 4,000 | Watkins, Holford |
| 34 | 19 April 1902 | Manchester City | A | 2–2 | 7,000 | Holford, Hillman (o.g.) |

### FA Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| R1 | 25 January 1902 | Aston Villa | H | 2–2 | 20,000 | Watkins, Hales |
| R1 Replay | 29 January 1902 | Aston Villa | A | 2–1 (aet) | 22,000 | Higginson, Hales |
| R2 | 8 February 1902 | Bristol Rovers | A | 1–0 | 15,000 | Dunn (o.g.) |
| R3 | 22 February 1902 | Nottingham Forest | A | 0–2 | 29,000 | |

## Squad statistics

| Pos. | Name | League | League | FA Cup | FA Cup | Total | Total |
| Pos. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| GK | George Boote | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| GK | George Lawton | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| GK | Leigh Richmond Roose | 24 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 28 | 0 |
| GK | Tom Wilkes | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| FB | Harry Benson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| FB | Charlie Burgess | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| FB | Bill Capewell | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| FB | Andy Clark | 34 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 37 | 0 |
| FB | Sam Meredith | 27 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 31 | 0 |
| HB | Thomas Shufflebotham | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| HB | Samuel Ashworth | 25 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 29 | 0 |
| HB | George Baddeley | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| HB | James Bradley | 23 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 25 | 0 |
| HB | Tom Holford | 29 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 33 | 3 |
| HB | Vic Horrocks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| HB | Billy Leech | 13 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| FW | Ross Fielding | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| FW | Len Hales | 15 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 19 | 4 |
| FW | George Harris | 15 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 3 |
| FW | Sam Higginson | 30 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 34 | 7 |
| FW | Freddie Johnson | 29 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 33 | 3 |
| FW | Arthur Lockett | 27 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 31 | 5 |
| FW | Billy MacDonald | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 3 |
| FW | Bertram Wallace | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| FW | Mart Watkins | 32 | 15 | 4 | 1 | 36 | 16 |
| FW | Frank Whitehouse | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 |
| – | Own goals | – | 2 | – | 1 | – | 3 |