The 1912–13 season was Stoke's fourth season in the Southern Football League. In 1913, the club reached its 50th year in existence.

Stoke had ambitions to return to the Football League and the objective for the 1912–13 season was earn a top six place in the Southern League Division One. However Stoke failed spectacularly and ended up finishing bottom and being relegated to the Southern League Division Two. The season was a complete embarrassment to the directors and management and fans started to lose patience with manager Alfred Barker.

Season review

League With Alfred Barker still manager of the club there were high hopes that the 1912–13 season would see Stoke come good in the top division of the Southern League. The players who had served the club well over the past 12 months or so were all retained and new players were added to the squad to make competition for places harder. The main ambition was a top six place, but by Christmas time Stoke were bottom of the table and stayed there. The directors attributed relegation to bad luck while the supporters blamed Barker. William Smith, who had been such a key player in attack missed most of the season through injury and his absence proved costly as Stoke had a very poor forward line. Only 14 goals were scored in the first 15 matches (4 against Watford) summed up Stoke's problems and there was no upturn in fortune after Christmas and relegation was duly suffered and it was back to the drawing board once more.

By the end of the season the directors came under considerable pressure from supporters as they were reluctant to accept a place back in Division Two and by the end of April 1913 no players had been offered a new contract contrary to previous practice. The directors eventually accepted life in the Southern League Division Two again but fans vented their anger at them in the annual general meeting.

FA Cup Stoke's miserable season also included a first round exit to fellow Southern League side Reading.

Final league table PosClubPWDLFAGAPts1Plymouth Argyle382261077362.138502Swindon Town382081066411.609483West Ham United381812866461.434484Queens Park Rangers3818101046351.314465Crystal Palace3817111055361.527456Millwall381971262431.441457Exeter City381881248441.090448Reading381781359551.072429Brighton & Hove Albion3813121348471.0213810Northampton Town3812121461481.2703611Portsmouth381481641490.8363612Merthyr Town3812121442600.7003613Coventry City381381753590.8983414Watford3812101643500.8603415Gillingham3812101636530.6793416Bristol Rovers381291755640.8593317Southampton3810111740720.5553118Norwich City381091939500.7802919Brentford381152242550.7632720Stoke381042439750.52024 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 WinDrawLoss

Southern Football League Division One

MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers1 2 September 1912 Norwich CityH0–110,0002 5 September 1912 Norwich CityA0–13,0003 7 September 1912 Brighton & Hove AlbionA1–34,000Whittaker4 14 September 1912 Northampton TownH1–04,000A Smith5 21 September 1912 Coventry CityA2–56,000A Smith, Revill6 28 September 1912 Queens Park RangersH0–07,0007 2 October 1912 WatfordA4–24,000Revill (2), Hardman, English (o.g.)8 12 October 1912 BrentfordH1–05,000Hardman9 19 October 1912 Merthyr TownA1–23,000A Smith10 26 October 1912 Millwall AthleticH0–23,00011 2 November 1912 Crystal PalaceA0–13,00012 9 November 1912 Bristol RoversH2–14,000A Smith, Turner (pen)13 16 November 1912 Plymouth ArgyleA0–45,00014 23 November 1912 Swindon TownH1–18,000Revill15 30 November 1912 SouthamptonA1–27,000A Smith16 7 December 1912 PortsmouthH2–06,000Revill, Lenaghan17 14 December 1912 ReadingA2–63,000Lenaghan, Hardman18 21 December 1912 Exeter CityH0–25,00019 25 December 1912 West Ham UnitedA0–58,00020 26 December 1912 West Ham UnitedH0–110,00021 28 December 1912 Brighton & Hove AlbionH4–17,000A Smith, Revill, Hardman, Herbert22 4 January 1913 Northampton TownA0–91,60023 18 January 1913 Coventry CityH0–15,00024 25 January 1913 Queens Park RangersA0–112,00025 6 February 1913 WatfordH1–26,000Herbert26 15 February 1913 BrentfordA2–42,000Herbert, A Smith27 22 February 1913 Merthyr TownH2–04,000Herbert, A Smith28 1 March 1913 Millwall AthleticA2–19,000Herbert, Pentland29 8 March 1913 Crystal PalaceH0–07,00030 14 March 1913 Bristol RoversA0–42,00031 21 March 1913 GillinghamA0–05,00032 22 March 1913 Plymouth ArgyleH0–25,00033 24 March 1913 GillinghamH0–23,50034 29 March 1913 Swindon TownA2–33,000W Smith, Holmes35 5 April 1913 SouthamptonH3–14,000W Smith, Holmes (2)36 12 April 1913 PortsmouthA1–44,000A Smith37 19 April 1913 ReadingH4–03,500Revill, W Smith (2), Heggarty 38 26 April 1913 Exeter CityA0–11,000

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR116 January 1913 ReadingH2–214,000A Smith, RevillR1 Replay22 January 1913 ReadingA0–312,000

Squad statistics Pos.NameLeagueFA CupTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGK Bert Gadsden33020350GK Richard Herron500050DF Ernest Mullineux16010170DF Charles James100010DF Alec Milne16000160DF George Smart15000150DF George Turner33120351MF Sam Baddeley29020310MF Crop Hawkins100010MF Ernest Hodkin22020240MF Henry Hargreaves200020MF Joe Jones30020320MF Jimmy McVay11000110MF Albert Pitt400040MF George Roche300030FW Tom Bailey13000130FW Richard Coates100010FW Harold Leese501060FW John Lenaghan19200192FW Harold Hardman19400194FW Archie Heggarty20120221FW Billy Herbert16520185FW William Holmes530053FW Fred Pentland510051FW Tom Revill34821369FW Alf Smith349213610FW William Smith530053FW Archie Sproson100010FW Billy Tempest400040FW Enos Whittaker16120181–Own goals–1–0–1

References