# 1924–25 Stoke F.C. season

The 1924–25 season was Stoke's 25th season in the Football League and the sixth in the Second Division.
Following the squad clear-out by manager Tom Mather and with a number of new useful signings Stoke had a decent looking squad on paper going into the 1924–25 season. However the performances out on the pitch were poor and the team was almost relegated staying up by a single point.

## Season review
### League

A strong new chairman emerged with the arrival in August 1924 of Mr A. McSherwin who had already spent eleven years on the board and he would go on to hold his position for the next twelve years. After a period of real doubt, confidence started to emerge for the 1924–25 season and was certainly helped by Tom Mather replacing old players with new fresh talent. Under new skipper Vic Rouse, Stoke started the season reasonably well and seemed to have the basis of a useful side with the likes of goalkeeper Bob Dixon, Bob McGrory, Alec Milne, Bert Ralphs, Harry Davies and Len Armitage in the squad.
But overall performances on the pitch were below standard and the team went 12 matches without a win (1 January 1925 to 21 March 1925) and were almost relegated. Four wins and three draws in their last eight matches ensured survival by the narrowest of margins, a single point.

### FA Cup

Stoke exited the cup at the first round going down to a poor 3–0 defeat at Leicester City.

## Final league table

| Pos | Team v t e | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 18 | Oldham Athletic | 42 | 13 | 11 | 18 | 35 | 51 | 0.686 | 37 | |
| 19 | Stockport County | 42 | 13 | 11 | 18 | 37 | 57 | 0.649 | 37 | |
| 20 | Stoke | 42 | 12 | 11 | 19 | 34 | 46 | 0.739 | 35 | |
| 21 | Crystal Palace | 42 | 12 | 10 | 20 | 38 | 54 | 0.704 | 34 | Relegated |
| 22 | Coventry City | 42 | 11 | 9 | 22 | 45 | 84 | 0.536 | 31 | Relegated |

## Results

Stoke's score comes first

### Legend

| Win | Draw | Loss |

### Football League Second Division

| Match | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 1 | 30 August 1924 | Stockport County | A | 0–2 | 6,000 | |
| 2 | 1 September 1924 | Southampton | H | 2–0 | 14,806 | Davies (2) |
| 3 | 6 September 1924 | Manchester United | H | 0–0 | 18,105 | |
| 4 | 8 September 1924 | Southampton | A | 0–3 | 10,000 | |
| 5 | 13 September 1924 | Leicester City | A | 1–0 | 15,000 | Armitage |
| 6 | 20 September 1924 | Port Vale | H | 0–1 | 22,747 | |
| 7 | 22 September 1924 | Chelsea | H | 1–0 | 8,527 | Sellars |
| 8 | 27 September 1924 | Coventry City | H | 4–1 | 11,338 | Davies, Watkin, Brough, Eyres |
| 9 | 4 October 1924 | Oldham Athletic | A | 0–2 | 7,000 | |
| 10 | 11 October 1924 | The Wednesday | H | 0–2 | 12,388 | |
| 11 | 18 October 1924 | Clapton Orient | A | 2–0 | 5,000 | Kelly (2) |
| 12 | 25 October 1924 | Middlesbrough | A | 0–1 | 15,000 | |
| 13 | 1 November 1924 | Barnsley | H | 1–1 | 5,281 | Rouse |
| 14 | 8 November 1924 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | A | 0–1 | 15,000 | |
| 15 | 15 November 1924 | Fulham | H | 1–1 | 8,916 | Eyres |
| 16 | 22 November 1924 | Portsmouth | A | 0–0 | 10,000 | |
| 17 | 29 November 1924 | Hull City | H | 2–0 | 7,136 | Jones, Ralphs |
| 18 | 6 December 1924 | Blackpool | A | 2–1 | 10,000 | Kelly, Hallham |
| 19 | 13 December 1924 | Derby County | H | 1–1 | 13,317 | Watkin |
| 20 | 20 December 1924 | South Shields | A | 0–4 | 10,000 | |
| 21 | 26 December 1924 | Bradford City | A | 0–1 | 12,000 | |
| 22 | 27 December 1924 | Stockport County | H | 3–0 | 10,993 | Hallham, Kelly (pen), Armitage |
| 23 | 1 January 1925 | Bradford City | H | 0–0 | 4,806 | |
| 24 | 3 January 1925 | Manchester United | A | 0–2 | 39,907 | |
| 25 | 17 January 1925 | Leicester City | H | 1–1 | 11,705 | Watkin |
| 26 | 24 January 1925 | Port Vale | A | 0–2 | 17,214 | |
| 27 | 31 January 1925 | Coventry City | A | 1–3 | 10,000 | Rouse |
| 28 | 7 February 1925 | Oldham Athletic | H | 0–1 | 7,656 | |
| 29 | 14 February 1925 | The Wednesday | A | 1–2 | 20,000 | Davies |
| 30 | 21 February 1925 | Clapton Orient | H | 0–1 | 10,120 | |
| 31 | 28 February 1925 | Middlesbrough | H | 0–1 | 11,807 | |
| 32 | 7 March 1925 | Barnsley | A | 1–1 | 8,500 | Davies |
| 33 | 14 March 1925 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | H | 0–3 | 20,000 | |
| 34 | 21 March 1925 | Fulham | A | 0–1 | 10,000 | |
| 35 | 28 March 1925 | Portsmouth | H | 2–1 | 9,920 | Clennell, Johnson |
| 36 | 4 April 1925 | Hull City | A | 0–0 | 7,000 | |
| 37 | 10 April 1925 | Crystal Palace | A | 1–0 | 10,000 | Johnson |
| 38 | 11 April 1925 | Blackpool | H | 3–1 | 15,912 | Johnson, Davies, Jones (o.g.) |
| 39 | 13 April 1925 | Crystal Palace | H | 1–1 | 12,000 | Johnson |
| 40 | 18 April 1925 | Derby County | A | 2–1 | 10,000 | Davies (2) |
| 41 | 25 April 1925 | South Shields | H | 0–0 | 13,875 | |
| 42 | 27 April 1925 | Chelsea | A | 1–2 | 10,000 | Ralphs |

### FA Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| R1 | 10 January 1925 | Leicester City | A | 0–3 | 30,000 | |

## Squad statistics

| Pos. | Name | League | League | FA Cup | FA Cup | Total | Total |
| Pos. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| GK | Kenny Campbell | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| GK | Bob Dixon | 33 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 34 | 0 |
| DF | Tommy Howe | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 0 |
| DF | Bob McGrory | 40 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 41 | 0 |
| DF | Alec Milne | 18 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 0 |
| MF | Tom Brittleton | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| MF | Harry Brough | 35 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 1 |
| MF | Tommy Dawson | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| MF | Peter Jackson | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| MF | Sam Johnson | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| MF | Alec McClure | 24 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 25 | 0 |
| MF | Vic Rouse | 31 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 32 | 2 |
| MF | Frank Searle | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | George Stentiford | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| MF | John Walker | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| FW | Len Armitage | 17 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 2 |
| FW | Sid Blackie | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| FW | Joe Clennell | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 |
| FW | Harry Davies | 26 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 8 |
| FW | John Evans | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| FW | Jack Eyres | 14 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 2 |
| FW | Charles Hallam | 19 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 2 |
| FW | Dick Johnson | 13 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 4 |
| FW | Alfred Jones | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 |
| FW | Charles Kelly | 17 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 4 |
| FW | Dai Nicholas | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| FW | Edgar Powell | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| FW | Bert Ralphs | 42 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 43 | 2 |
| FW | Harry Sellars | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 1 |
| FW | Arthur Watkin | 14 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 3 |
| FW | Bob White | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| FW | William Wood | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| – | Own goals | – | 1 | – | 0 | – | 1 |