# 1922–23 Stoke F.C. season

The 1922–23 season was Stoke's 23rd season in the Football League and the 19th in the First Division.
With Stoke's achievements last season they found themselves back in the First Division for the first time since 1907; however it would prove to be a short stay. In their opening eight matches, Stoke collected just two points and found themselves bottom of the table. Despite spending money on improving the squad, results were still poor and manager Arthur Shallcross was sacked in April 1923. He was replaced with former England international Jock Rutherford, but he was unable to avoid relegation. Rutherford then completed the shortest managerial spell in the club's history as a heated argument with the directors led him to resign just four weeks into his tenure.

## Season review
### League

With the club's First Division ambitions achieved, there was more than the usual air of optimism for the 1922–23 season, but things did not go according to plan and from their opening eight matches, Stoke claimed just two points (both draws) and found themselves anchored to the bottom of the table. Stoke's first win of the season came away at West Bromwich Albion when Harry Davies scored the only goal in his second appearance. Again the director's ambition and determination to maintain First Division status showed through with the arrivals of Joe Kasher and Bert Ralphs to name a few. This belated heavy expenditure on players cost the finance's dearly, but good crowds were able to cover the cost. Unfortunately relegation was not avoided and Stoke made an instant return to the Second Division.
Former England international Jock Rutherford was appointed manager of Stoke in April 1923, taking over from Arthur Shallcross who had served the club for the previous four years. However his stay was brief and after a heated row with directors the quickly left leaving Stoke without a manager going into the 1923–24 season.

### FA Cup

In the Cup Stoke beat Blyth Spartans 3–0 in the first round before being knocked out 3–1 to Bury.

## Final league table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts | Relegation |
| 18 | Middlesbrough | 42 | 13 | 10 | 19 | 57 | 63 | 0.905 | 36 | |
| 19 | Chelsea | 42 | 9 | 18 | 15 | 45 | 53 | 0.849 | 36 | |
| 20 | Nottingham Forest | 42 | 13 | 8 | 21 | 41 | 70 | 0.586 | 34 | |
| 21 | Stoke (R) | 42 | 10 | 10 | 22 | 47 | 67 | 0.701 | 30 | Relegation to the Second Division |
| 22 | Oldham Athletic (R) | 42 | 10 | 10 | 22 | 35 | 65 | 0.538 | 30 | 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 | 26 August 1922 | Oldham Athletic | A | 1–4 | 19,000 | Groves |
| 2 | 28 August 1922 | Chelsea | H | 1–2 | 20,000 | Watkin |
| 3 | 2 September 1922 | Oldham Athletic | H | 2–2 | 25,000 | J Broad (2) |
| 4 | 4 September 1922 | Chelsea | A | 2–3 | 20,000 | J Broad (2) |
| 5 | 9 September 1922 | Huddersfield Town | H | 2–2 | 22,000 | J Broad, Watkin |
| 6 | 13 September 1922 | Birmingham | A | 0–2 | 20,000 | |
| 7 | 16 September 1922 | Huddersfield Town | A | 0–1 | 10,000 | |
| 8 | 23 September 1922 | West Bromwich Albion | H | 0–2 | 20,000 | |
| 9 | 30 September 1922 | West Bromwich Albion | A | 1–0 | 25,000 | Davies |
| 10 | 7 October 1922 | Manchester City | H | 1–1 | 20,000 | J Broad |
| 11 | 14 October 1922 | Manchester City | A | 1–2 | 18,000 | J Broad |
| 12 | 21 October 1922 | Sheffield United | A | 0–2 | 10,000 | |
| 13 | 28 October 1922 | Sheffield United | H | 4–0 | 15,000 | Davies (2), J Broad, Nicholas |
| 14 | 4 November 1922 | Bolton Wanderers | A | 1–1 | 12,000 | J Broad |
| 15 | 11 November 1922 | Bolton Wanderers | H | 2–0 | 16,000 | J Broad, Seddon (o.g.) |
| 16 | 18 November 1922 | Blackburn Rovers | H | 1–1 | 18,000 | T Broad |
| 17 | 2 December 1922 | Cardiff City | A | 1–2 | 20,000 | J Broad |
| 18 | 9 December 1922 | Cardiff City | H | 3–1 | 10,000 | J Broad (pen) (2), Tempest |
| 19 | 16 December 1922 | Middlesbrough | A | 1–3 | 5,000 | Tempest |
| 20 | 23 December 1922 | Middlesbrough | H | 0–0 | 15,112 | |
| 21 | 26 December 1922 | Sunderland | H | 1–2 | 44,000 | J Broad |
| 22 | 30 December 1922 | Arsenal | A | 0–3 | 16,000 | |
| 23 | 1 January 1923 | Sunderland | A | 0–2 | 30,000 | |
| 24 | 6 January 1923 | Arsenal | H | 1–0 | 22,000 | Brittleton |
| 25 | 20 January 1923 | Everton | A | 0–4 | 23,000 | |
| 26 | 22 January 1923 | Blackburn Rovers | A | 5–1 | 10,000 | J Broad (3), Nicholas, Ralphs |
| 27 | 27 January 1923 | Everton | H | 4–1 | 15,000 | J Broad, Nicholas, Watkin (2) |
| 28 | 8 February 1923 | Preston North End | A | 2–4 | 12,000 | J Broad (2) |
| 29 | 10 February 1923 | Preston North End | H | 4–2 | 10,000 | J Broad (pen) (3), Davies |
| 30 | 17 February 1923 | Aston Villa | A | 0–6 | 20,000 | |
| 31 | 24 February 1923 | Aston Villa | H | 1–1 | 19,850 | Watkin |
| 32 | 3 March 1923 | Burnley | A | 2–3 | 10,000 | Davies, Eyres |
| 33 | 10 March 1923 | Burnley | H | 0–1 | 20,000 | |
| 34 | 17 March 1923 | Tottenham Hotspur | H | 0–0 | 20,000 | |
| 35 | 24 March 1923 | Tottenham Hotspur | A | 1–3 | 28,000 | Watkin |
| 36 | 31 March 1923 | Nottingham Forest | H | 0–1 | 10,000 | |
| 37 | 2 April 1923 | Birmingham | H | 0–0 | 20,000 | |
| 38 | 7 April 1923 | Nottingham Forest | A | 1–0 | 12,000 | Richardson |
| 39 | 14 April 1923 | Newcastle United | H | 1–0 | 20,000 | Watkin |
| 40 | 21 April 1923 | Newcastle United | A | 0–1 | 13,000 | |
| 41 | 28 April 1923 | Liverpool | H | 0–0 | 18,000 | |
| 42 | 5 May 1923 | Liverpool | A | 0–1 | 15,000 | |

### FA Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| R1 | 13 January 1923 | Blyth Spartans | A | 3–0 | 9,121 | J Broad (2), Nicholas |
| R2 | 3 February 1923 | Bury | A | 1–3 | 32,000 | J Broad |

## Squad statistics

| Pos. | Name | League | League | FA Cup | FA Cup | Total | Total |
| Pos. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| GK | Gilbert Brookes | 12 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| GK | Kenny Campbell | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| GK | Bob Dixon | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| GK | Leslie Scott | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 0 |
| DF | Tommy Howe | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| DF | George Lennon | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| DF | Bob McGrory | 32 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 34 | 0 |
| DF | Alec Milne | 36 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 38 | 0 |
| DF | Tommy Weston | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| MF | Ewart Beswick | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| MF | Tom Brittleton | 16 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 18 | 1 |
| MF | Harry Brough | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| MF | George Clarke | 25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 26 | 0 |
| MF | Joe Kasher | 29 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 31 | 0 |
| MF | Billy Poole | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| MF | Vic Rouse | 37 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 38 | 0 |
| MF | Dickie Smith | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| FW | Jimmy Broad | 30 | 23 | 2 | 3 | 32 | 26 |
| FW | Tommy Broad | 21 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 22 | 1 |
| FW | Harry Davies | 24 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 5 |
| FW | Jack Eyres | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| FW | Fred Groves | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 1 |
| FW | Dai Nicholas | 32 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 34 | 4 |
| FW | Joe Pointon | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | Bert Ralphs | 22 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 23 | 1 |
| FW | Frank Richardson | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 |
| FW | Jock Rutherford | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | Andy Smith | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| FW | Victor Staley | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | Billy Tempest | 20 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 22 | 2 |
| FW | Arthur Watkin | 34 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 36 | 7 |
| FW | Albert Whitehurst | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| – | Own goals | – | 1 | – | 0 | – | 1 |