1901–02 Stoke F.C. season

Stoke
1901–02 season
Chairman	Mr W Cowlishaw
Manager	Horace Austerberry
Stadium	Victoria Ground
Football League First Division	16th (31 Points)
FA Cup	Third Round
Top goalscorer	League: Mart Watkins (15); All: Mart Watkins (16)
Highest home attendance	13,000 vs Bury (2 September 1901)
Lowest home attendance	4,000 vs Newcastle United (11 January 1902)
Average home league attendance	7,280
	Home colours
	Home colours
	← 1900–01 1902–03 →

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.^[1]

Season review

League

Stoke now without William Maxwell struggled again in 1901–02.^[1] 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.^[1] 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.^[1]

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.^[1] 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.^[1] 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.^[1] 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.^[2]

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.^[1]

Final league table

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Sunderland	34	19	6	9	50	35	1.429	44
2	Everton	34	17	7	10	53	35	1.514	41
3	Newcastle United	34	14	9	11	48	34	1.412	37
4	Blackburn Rovers	34	15	6	13	52	48	1.083	36
5	Nottingham Forest	34	13	9	12	43	43	1.000	35
6	Derby County	34	13	9	12	39	41	0.951	35
7	Bury	34	13	8	13	44	38	1.158	34
8	Aston Villa	34	13	8	13	42	40	1.050	34
9	The Wednesday	34	13	8	13	48	52	0.923	34
10	Sheffield United	34	13	7	14	53	48	1.104	33
11	Liverpool	34	10	12	12	42	38	1.105	32
12	Bolton Wanderers	34	12	8	14	51	56	0.911	32
13	Notts County	34	14	4	16	51	57	0.895	32
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	34	11	8	15	47	45	1.044	30
18	Manchester City	34	11	6	17	42	58	0.724	28

Key: P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points

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		FA Cup		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	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	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

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.
^ "A fishy sickness bug? When Liverpool put Potters in their plaice". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 29 November 2014.

[The_Encyclopaedia_of_Stoke_City-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.

[2] "A fishy sickness bug? When Liverpool put Potters in their plaice". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 29 November 2014.

[1]

[2]

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