The 1910–11 season was Stoke's third and final season in the Birmingham & District League and second in the Southern Football League.

Stoke again played in two league competitions in 1910–11 and were very successful in both. They won the Birmingham & District League and also gained promotion to the Southern Football League Division One after finishing runner-up to Reading on goal average.

Season review

League Progress was being made slowly, and the directors were able to spend money on new players to strengthen the squad, whilst at the same time the club decided to remain in two league competitions. One major acquisition in the summer of 1910 was forward Jack Peart from Sheffield United. He made a brilliant impact, scoring 31 goals in just 21 matches before breaking his leg against Crewe Alexandra in December 1910. Stoke also re-signed goalkeeper Arthur Cartlidge for £315 a lot of money for a 'keeper in 1910 as Stoke's finances began to improve.

Stoke played 59 competitive fixtures in 1910–11. They won the Birmingham & District League and gained promotion from the Southern Football League Division Two as runners-up. A total of 167 goals were scored in the 56 league matches with the two Smiths Alf and William scoring 58 between them. They were numerous high-scoring victories including a 10–0 win over Halesowen Town, an 8–0 away win at Chesham Town and an 8–1 home win over Kettering Town. Stoke also hit six on five occasions.

With Stoke now in a tougher competition the directors decided that Stoke should leave their reserve side to play in the Birmingham & District League and let their first team concentrate on the Southern League.

FA Cup After fine qualifying round wins over Worcester City (7–0) and Lincoln City (4–0), Stoke lost 2–1 in the first round to Manchester City.

Final league table Birmingham & District League

Southern Football League Division Two

Results

Stoke's score comes first

Legend WinDrawLoss

Birmingham & District League

MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers1 3 September 1910 Wellington TownA1–11,500Turner2 10 September 1910 Worcester CityA1–42,000Peart3 17 September 1910 Birmingham ReservesA3–22,000Peart (2), Baddeley4 24 September 1910 West Bromwich Albion ReservesH2–05,000Peart (2)5 1 October 1910 Stafford RangersA3–02,500Peart, A Smith, Turner6 8 October 1910 Dudley TownH5–210,000Peart (3), A Smith, W Smith7 15 October 1910 Shrewsbury TownH3–08,000Peart, W Smith, Baddeley8 22 October 1910 StourbridgeA1–23,000Thornton9 29 October 1910 WalsallH3–47,000Peart (2), A Smith10 5 November 1910 Kidderminster HarriersA2–22,000Peart, A Smith11 12 November 1910 WrexhamH6–27,500Peart (2), A Smith, Baddeley, Turner (2)12 26 November 1910 Wolverhampton Wanderers ReservesH6–15,000Peart (3), A Smith (2), Turner13 10 December 1910 Crewe AlexandraH1–010,000S Baddeley14 17 December 1910 Wednesbury Old AthleticA0–12,00015 24 December 1910 Brierley Hill AllianceH4–12,500A Smith (2), Leese, Baddeley16 31 December 1910 Wellington TownH6–12,500A Smith (3), Baddeley, Brown17 7 January 1911 Worcester CityH2–18,000Leese, Boulton18 21 January 1911 Birmingham ReservesH6–23,000W Smith (2), Baddeley, S Baddeley, Hay (2)19 28 January 1911 West Bromwich Albion ReservesA2–13,500W Smith, A Smith 20 11 February 1911 Dudley TownA0–11,00021 18 February 1911 Shrewsbury TownA1–02,000Leese22 25 February 1911 StourbridgeH2–12,500W Smith, A Smith 23 4 March 1911 WalsallA4–23,500W Smith, A Smith, Baddeley, Leigh 24 11 March 1911 Kidderminster HarriersH5–06,500W Smith, A Smith (2), Leese (2)25 18 March 1911 WrexhamA1–73,000Hardman26 25 March 1911 Aston Villa ReservesH2–111,000W Smith, A Smith 27 1 April 1911 Wolverhampton Wanderers ReservesA3–22,000W Smith, A Smith, S Baddeley 28 3 April 1911 HalesowenA1–02,000Hay29 8 April 1911 HalesowenH10–010,000A Smith (5), Leese, W Smith, Savage (3)30 15 April 1911 Crewe AlexandraA0–112,00031 17 April 1911 Stafford RangersH4–012,000W Smith (2), Turner, Paxton32 22 April 1911 Wednesbury Old AthleticH2–06,000A Smith, Hardman33 24 April 1911 Aston Villa ReservesA0–43,00034 29 April 1911 Brierley Hill AllianceA3–22,000Leese, Griffiths, Hardman

Southern Football League Division Two

MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers1 1 September 1910 Ton PentreA3–23,000Peart (2), Griffiths2 12 September 1910 Treharris AthleticA4–13,000Peart (3), Baddeley3 3 October 1910 Ton PentreH3–03,000Peart, Griffiths (2)4 12 October 1910 Croydon CommonA1–22,000Griffiths5 17 October 1910 AberdareA4–23,000W Smith (2), Peart, Brown6 24 October 1910 Kettering TownH8–13,000Peart (3), Brown (2), Turner, Baddeley, W Smith7 5 November 1910 Chesham TownH3–02,000Horrocks (3)8 7 November 1910 Croydon CommonH6–21,000Peart (2), Baddeley (2), W Smith, A Smith9 14 November 1910 AberdareH1–03,000Peart10 12 December 1910 WalsallH4–03,000W Smith (2), Brown, Griffiths11 27 December 1910 Cardiff CityH5–09,000W Smith (2), Griffiths, Baddeley (2)12 2 January 1911 Salisbury CityH6–03,000A Smith (3), Griffiths (2), Brown13 30 January 1911 Merthyr TownH4–15,000W Smith, Griffiths, Baddeley, Boulton14 4 February 1911 Chesham TownA8–02,000W Smith (3), Boulton (3), Turner, Baddeley15 20 February 1911 ReadingH1–05,000Boulton16 8 March 1911 Salisbury CityA2–21,000Turner, Baddeley17 20 March 1911 WalsallA0–12,00018 27 March 1911 Merthyr TownA0–28,00019 10 April 1911 Treharris AthleticH2–02,000Savage, Leese20 14 April 1911 ReadingA0–210,00021 18 April 1911 Cardiff CityA2–14,000W Smith, A Smith22 27 April 1911 Kettering TownA5–15,000W Smith, A Smith, Leese, Baddeley (2)

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers4QR19 November 1910 Worcester CityH7–06,000Peart (2), A Smith (2), Baddeley (3)5QR3 November 1910 Lincoln CityH4–012,000Peart, A Smith, Griffiths, W SmithR114 January 1911 Manchester CityH1–223,883A Smith

Squad statistics Pos.NameLeagueFA CupTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGK Horace Bailey100010GK Jack Baxter600060GK Arthur Cartlidge12000120GK Richard Herron500050GK Fred Rathbone400040GK Jack Robinson28030310DF Charles James300030DF Dick Hawe100010DF James Hay29310303DF Harry Holt100010DF Ernest Mullineux40020420DF George Turner42930459DF Jimmy Williams100010MF Sam Baddeley53330563MF William Bradbury28030310MF John Brown15710167MF Archie Dyke100010MF Victor Hall100010MF Harold Hardman830083MF Francis Hobson100010MF Vic Horrocks130013MF George Latham800080MF Harry Leese50930539MF Albert Pitt800080MF James Swarbrick300030MF Tom Thornton20100201FW Amos Baddeley4218334521FW Ernest Boulton11600116FW Thomas Greaves100010FW Arthur Griffiths4410314711FW Harry Leigh19100191FW John Paxton310031FW Jack Peart2131232334FW Albert Savage940094FW Alf Smith4131344435FW William Smith5327315628

References