# 1908–09 Stoke F.C. season

The 1908–09 season was Stoke's first season in the Birmingham & District League.
With Stoke now out of the Football League they entered the Birmingham & District League for the 1908–09 season. With a new board, chairman, manager and squad Stoke used the season as a rebuilding one and the crowds began to return to the Victoria Ground. Stoke finished in eight place with 31 Points.

## Season review
### League

Stoke now playing in the Birmingham & District League, which included the reserve teams of Aston Villa, Birmingham, West Brom and Wolves plus some other useful opposition. With Alfred Barker now the manager the team itself was made up of an mixture of ex-professionals and amateurs. Of those which remained with the club were William Davies, Ernest Mullineux, Fred Rathbone and Sam Baddeley. Barker used 32 players during the season and eighth place was secured in the final league table.
Crowds were often good and there were turnouts of 7,000+ for a few league matches which confirmed that the club still had its local support. Wins of 7–0 over Wellington Town 5–0 over Walsall and 5–3 over Villa's second string were among the best performances while the nadir was an 8–1 defeat to West Brom reserves. Stoke's goalkeeper against Albion was Harry Cotton who after the match was sacked by Barker.

### FA Cup

Stoke made a poor exit in the first round being well beaten 5–0 at Sheffield Wednesday.

## Final league table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts |
| 1 | Aston Villa Reserves | 34 | 24 | 6 | 4 | 118 | 36 | 3.278 | 54 |
| 2 | Crewe Alexandra | 34 | 24 | 4 | 6 | 99 | 42 | 2.357 | 52 |
| 3 | Wolverhampton Wanderers Reserves | 34 | 21 | 6 | 7 | 71 | 46 | 1.543 | 48 |
| 4 | West Bromwich Albion Reserves | 34 | 18 | 6 | 10 | 85 | 43 | 1.977 | 42 |
| 5 | Brierley Hill Alliance | 34 | 14 | 8 | 12 | 57 | 54 | 1.056 | 36 |
| 6 | Shrewsbury Town | 34 | 11 | 13 | 10 | 51 | 48 | 1.063 | 35 |
| 7 | Kidderminster Harriers | 34 | 13 | 6 | 15 | 58 | 85 | 0.682 | 32 |
| 8 | Stoke | 34 | 13 | 5 | 16 | 71 | 64 | 1.109 | 31 |
| 9 | Worcester City | 34 | 14 | 3 | 17 | 71 | 70 | 1.014 | 31 |
| 10 | Stafford Rangers | 34 | 11 | 9 | 14 | 51 | 63 | 0.810 | 31 |
| 11 | Wrexham | 34 | 14 | 3 | 17 | 60 | 76 | 0.789 | 31 |
| 12 | Birmingham Reserves | 34 | 11 | 7 | 16 | 53 | 73 | 0.726 | 29 |
| 13 | Burton United | 34 | 13 | 3 | 18 | 48 | 75 | 0.640 | 29 |
| 14 | Stourbridge | 34 | 9 | 10 | 15 | 49 | 57 | 0.860 | 28 |
| 15 | Walsall | 34 | 10 | 8 | 16 | 47 | 56 | 0.839 | 28 |
| 16 | Wellington Town | 34 | 11 | 5 | 18 | 60 | 86 | 0.698 | 27 |
| 17 | Halesowen | 34 | 11 | 4 | 19 | 42 | 83 | 0.506 | 26 |
| 18 | Dudley Town | 34 | 10 | 2 | 22 | 55 | 89 | 0.618 | 22 |

## Results

Stoke's score comes first

### Legend

| Win | Draw | Loss |

### Birmingham & District League

| Match | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 1 | 5 September 1908 | Aston Villa Reserves | H | 5–3 | 12,000 | Myatt (2), Owen (2), Davies |
| 2 | 12 September 1908 | Walsall | A | 0–3 | 4,200 | |
| 3 | 14 September 1908 | Stourbridge | A | 2–2 | 2,000 | Howshall (2) |
| 4 | 19 September 1908 | Crewe Alexandra | A | 2–3 | 4,000 | Davies, Pitt |
| 5 | 19 September 1908 | Burton United | H | 0–1 | 4,000 | |
| 6 | 26 September 1908 | Kidderminster Harriers | H | 3–1 | 4,500 | Greaves (2), Davies |
| 7 | 3 October 1908 | Brierley Hill Alliance | A | 4–3 | 3,000 | Greaves (2), Davies, Pitt |
| 8 | 10 October 1908 | Wellington Town | H | 7–0 | 5,000 | Millward (3), Horrocks (2), Pitt, Davies |
| 9 | 17 October 1908 | Worcester City | A | 1–5 | 2,500 | Davies |
| 10 | 24 October 1908 | Dudley Town | H | 4–0 | 5,000 | Davies, Greaves, Horrocks, Pitt |
| 11 | 31 October 1908 | West Bromwich Albion Reserves | A | 1–8 | 5,000 | Davies |
| 12 | 7 November 1908 | Birmingham Reserves | H | 0–1 | 5,000 | |
| 13 | 14 November 1908 | Halesowen | A | 0–2 | 200 | |
| 14 | 28 November 1908 | Shrewsbury Town | A | 1–3 | 2,000 | Gorman |
| 15 | 5 December 1908 | Stourbridge | H | 2–0 | 5,000 | McAllister, Cook |
| 16 | 12 December 1908 | Stafford Rangers | A | 1–1 | 3,000 | Davies (pen) |
| 17 | 19 December 1908 | Wolverhampton Wanderers Reserves | H | 3–1 | 4,000 | McAllister, Millward (2) |
| 18 | 26 December 1908 | Burton United | A | 1–2 | 3,000 | Davies |
| 19 | 28 December 1908 | Wrexham | H | 4–2 | 6,000 | Davies (2), Hargraves (2) |
| 20 | 2 January 1909 | Aston Villa Reserves | A | 1–4 | 5,000 | Hargraves |
| 21 | 9 January 1909 | Walsall | H | 5–0 | 3,000 | Hargraves, Davies (2), Horrocks, Millward |
| 22 | 23 January 1909 | Crewe Alexandra | H | 3–4 | 12,000 | Millward, Gorman (2) |
| 23 | 30 January 1909 | Kidderminster Harriers | A | 2–3 | 2,500 | Hargraves, Horrocks |
| 24 | 6 February 1909 | Brierley Hill Alliance | H | 2–0 | 3,000 | Millward, McAllister |
| 25 | 13 February 1909 | Wellington Town | A | 1–1 | 2,000 | Baddeley |
| 26 | 20 February 1909 | Worcester City | H | 3–0 | 5,000 | Millward, Hargraves, Gorman |
| 27 | 27 February 1909 | Dudley Town | A | 2–2 | 1,500 | Hargraves, Gorman |
| 28 | 13 March 1909 | Birmingham Reserves | A | 1–0 | 3,000 | Hargraves |
| 29 | 20 March 1909 | Halesowen | H | 0–1 | 2,500 | |
| 30 | 27 March 1909 | Wrexham | A | 1–2 | 3,000 | Eardley |
| 31 | 3 April 1909 | Shrewsbury Town | H | 1–2 | 3,000 | Bullock |
| 32 | 17 April 1909 | Stafford Rangers | H | 3–3 | 4,000 | Eardley, Hargraves, Gorman |
| 33 | 19 April 1909 | West Bromwich Albion Reserves | H | 5–0 | 4,000 | Hargraves (2), Gorman, Millward, Kelly |
| 34 | 26 April 1909 | Wolverhampton Wanderers Reserves | A | 0–1 | 3,000 | |

### FA Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| R1 | 16 January 1909 | The Wednesday | A | 0–5 | 8,000 | |

## Squad statistics

| Pos. | Name | League | League | FA Cup | FA Cup | Total | Total |
| Pos. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| GK | Jack Benton | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| GK | Harry Cotton | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| GK | Bert Miller | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
| GK | Fred Rathbone | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 0 |
| GK | Fred Wain | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| FB | Harry Hutsby | 31 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 32 | 0 |
| FB | Charles James | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| FB | Ernest Mullineux | 29 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 30 | 0 |
| FB | George Turner | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| FB | Jimmy Williams | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| HB | Sam Baddeley | 32 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 33 | 1 |
| HB | Albert Cook | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 1 |
| HB | William Harding | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| HB | Dick Hawe | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| HB | Chris Kelly | 19 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 20 | 1 |
| HB | Albert Pitt | 31 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 32 | 4 |
| HB | Josuah Turner | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| FW | Albert Bullock | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| FW | William Davies | 20 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 14 |
| FW | Francis Eardley | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| FW | Arthur Fielding | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| FW | Thomas Greaves | 10 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 5 |
| FW | Edwin Griffiths | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| FW | James Gorman | 17 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 7 |
| FW | Ade Hamnett | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| FW | Fred Hargraves | 14 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 11 |
| FW | Vic Horrocks | 18 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 6 |
| FW | Sam Howshall | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| FW | Sam McAllister | 15 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 3 |
| FW | Ernie Millward | 29 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 30 | 9 |
| FW | Herbert Myatt | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| FW | Syd Owen | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 |