1919–20 Port Vale F.C. season

The 1919–20 season was Port Vale's first season of football back in the Football League (their fourteenth overall following their brief 1892–96 and 1898–1907 spells in the league).^[1] It was their first Football League season at The Old Recreation Ground, and their first season in which they were in the same division as rivals Stoke. The club were also referred to as "the Valiants" for the first time, a nickname coined by chairman Frank Huntbach.

Their return to the Football League completed the success story of a local church team that rose to become a competitor in the second tier of English football. The club considers itself a continuation of the Burslem Port Vale that resigned from the league in 1907, and is recognized as such in an official capacity. The club rose from the North Staffordshire Federation League in 1907–08 to The Central League in 1911–12, and in October 1919 replaced Leeds City in the Football League Second Division.

Vale finished in mid-table, this was due in part to a tremendous season for top scorer Bobby Blood. As well as earning a return to the Football League, the club also enjoyed minor cup success, lifting the Staffordshire Senior Cup and sharing the North Staffordshire Infirmary Cup.

In March 1920, Joe Schofield was appointed manager-secretary, a position he would retain throughout the decade.

Chairman Frank Huntbach, who coined the Valiants' nickname.

Player-manager Tom Holford.

Bobby Blood scored 24 Second Division goals against all the odds.

Joe Brough, 33, returned to the Football League after a seven year absence.

Young forward Billy Briscoe was prolific in The Central League.

Return to the Football League

Following Port Vale's resignation from the Football League in 1907, and Stoke's resignation the years after, Staffordshire had been without representation in the league for eleven years. Following the end of the Great War, the Football League was organized back into its national form.^[1] In March 1919, Stoke, West Ham United, South Shields, Rotherham County, and Coventry City all gained re-election to the league – Port Vale were short by just one vote.^[1]

In the Central League, Vale had won five of their eight games against the reserve sides of Football League First Division clubs Aston Villa, Manchester United, Manchester City, Everton, Blackburn Rovers, and the reserve side of Second Division Huddersfield Town.^[1]

On 13 October 1919, Leeds City were expelled from the Football League over illegal payments to their players.^[1] Port Vale were elected to fill their spot (ahead of a bid from Tranmere Rovers).^[1] The club who had competed their 1906–07 season in the North Staffordshire Church League had taken the Port Vale name and played their way to the second tier of the national league within twelve years.^[1]

Port Vale's reserve side fulfilled the remaining fixtures in the Central League. Leeds City had already played their games against Blackpool, Coventry City, Hull City, and Wolverhampton Wanderers; leaving Vale with a solid starting point of ten points from eight matches.^[1]

Overview

The club built a strong side for the 1919–20 Central League campaign, signing skilful forward William Aitken and former Scotland international Peter Pursell from Rangers.^[1]

Second Division

Back in the Second Division, the club faced a battle to register their players in time for the nine hour trip to South Shields, where they lost 2–0.^[1] Two defeats to eventual champions Tottenham Hotspur followed, before the club scored their first goal, and picked up their first win against South Shields on 10 November thanks to an Aaron Lockett strike.^[1] The club signed Bobby Blood from Leek United for £50 in order to bolster their strike force, the player had one leg shorter than the other and was riddled with bullets from his valiant efforts in the First World War, and yet he would still prove the doctors wrong who said he would never play football again.^[1] The win against South Shields initiated a run of three wins in five games. However this was followed by a streak of seven games without victory. Vale had settled in the league by January, and went into the derby with Stoke in March having lost just one of their previous eight games.^[1] This included a 4–0 win over Rotherham County which saw Blood score all four, and a 4–1 win over Nottingham Forest in which Blood claimed a hat-trick.^[1] Stoke dispatched the Vale 3–0 in front of the biggest home crowd of the season, the first ever encounter between the two clubs in the Football League. Seven days later, Vale went to Stoke to claim a point in front of 27,000 fans.^[1]

At the end of the season Vale finished with forty points, thirty of which came from their own efforts, and ten from Leeds City.^[1] This put them eleven points clear of the re-election zones, and fourteen points shy of promotion.

Easily the club's top scorer was Bobby Blood with 26 goals, 24 of which were in the league (Second Division).^[1] Blood was playing in the Football League for the first time at the age of 25. Billy Briscoe scored eight goals in seven Central League games, but failed to transfer this success to the Football League.^[1] Peter Pursell played 49 of 51 games, with fellow Scotsman William Aitken also rarely missing game.^[1] Tom Lyons and Alfred Bourne missed just four Second Division games between them. Tom Holford was another crucial player, who also acted as manager for much of the season. In March 1920, Joe Schofield was appointed manager-secretary.^[1]

Finances

Financially, the club were on much better terms than twelve years ago, with even practice matches well attended, and supporters groups busy raising cash to improve The Old Recreation Ground.^[1] Seats were priced between one and two shillings.^[1] The club had also made almost £700 on their 1918–19 Central League season.^[1] In 1919–20, they recorded a profit of almost £650.^[1]

Cup competitions

The club qualified for the FA Cup by easily dispatching Central Alliance side Loughborough Corinthians 4–0.^[1] In the First Round the Vale put up a brave fight against Manchester United, going out 1–0 in front of almost 15,000 supporters – thanks in part due to a great performance from opposition keeper Jack Mew.^[1] This was particularly remarkable considering that in their Central League game just four months earlier the Vale first team had lost 3–2 to the United Reserve outfit.^[1]

The club lifted the Staffordshire Senior Cup for the first time in their history, dispatching Stoke Reserves 1–0 in the First Round, before an epic semi-final with West Bromwich Albion Reserves that was settled after three replays with a Bobby Blood penalty.^[1] Billy Fitchford scored the only goal in the final against Birmingham Reserves at the Victoria Ground.^[1]

The annual North Staffordshire Infirmary Cup game finished goalless, and so the trophy was shared with Stoke.^[1] The match raised £309 for the local hospital.^[2]

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	F	A	GA	GD	Pts
1	Tottenham Hotspur	42	19	2	0	60	11	13	4	4	42	21	102	32	3.188	+ 70	70
2	Huddersfield Town	42	16	4	1	58	13	12	4	5	39	25	97	38	2.553	+ 59	64
3	Birmingham	42	14	3	4	54	16	10	5	6	31	18	85	34	2.500	+ 51	56
4	Blackpool	42	13	4	4	40	18	8	6	7	25	29	65	47	1.383	+ 18	52
5	Bury	42	14	4	3	35	15	6	4	11	25	29	60	44	1.364	+ 16	48
6	Fulham	42	11	6	4	36	18	8	3	10	25	32	61	50	1.220	+ 9	47
7	West Ham United	42	14	3	4	34	14	5	6	10	13	26	47	40	1.175	+ 7	47
8	Bristol City	42	9	9	3	30	18	4	8	9	16	25	46	43	1.070	+ 3	43
9	South Shields	42	13	5	3	47	18	2	7	12	11	30	58	48	1.208	+ 10	42
10	Stoke	42	13	3	5	37	15	5	3	13	23	39	60	54	1.111	+ 6	42
11	Hull City	42	13	4	4	53	23	5	2	14	25	49	78	72	1.083	+ 2	42
12	Barnsley	42	9	5	7	41	28	6	5	10	20	27	61	55	1.109	+ 6	40
13	Port Vale	42	11	3	7	35	27	5	5	11	24	35	59	62	0.952	– 3	40
14	Leicester City	42	8	6	7	26	29	7	4	10	15	32	41	61	0.672	– 20	40
15	Clapton Orient	42	14	3	4	34	17	2	3	16	17	42	51	59	0.864	– 8	38
16	Stockport County	42	11	4	6	34	24	3	5	13	18	37	52	61	0.852	– 9	37
17	Rotherham County	42	10	4	7	32	27	3	4	14	19	56	51	83	0.614	– 32	34
18	Nottingham Forest	42	9	4	8	23	22	2	5	14	20	51	43	73	.589	– 30	31
19	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	8	4	9	41	32	2	6	13	14	48	55	80	0.688	– 25	30
20	Coventry City	42	7	7	7	20	26	2	4	15	15	47	35	73	0.479	– 38	29
21	Lincoln City	42	8	6	7	27	30	1	3	17	17	71	44	101	0.436	– 57	27
22	Grimsby Town	42	8	4	9	23	24	2	1	18	11	51	34	75	0.453	– 41	25

Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against;
GA = Goal average; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

Results

Port Vale's score comes first

Legend

Win	Draw	Loss

Football League Second Division

Main article: 1919–20 Football League

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
18 October 1919	South Shields	A	0–2	14,000
27 October 1919	Tottenham Hotspur	H	0–1	16,000
1 November 1919	Tottenham Hotspur	A	0–2	35,000
10 November 1919	South Shields	H	1–0	8,000	Lockett
15 November 1919	Clapton Orient	A	1–2	8,000	Briscoe
22 November 1919	Lincoln City	A	0–0	4,000
24 November 1919	Clapton Orient	H	4–2	7,000	Blood (2), Brough, o.g.
29 November 1919	Lincoln City	H	1–0	8,000	Brough
6 December 1919	Bury	A	1–2	6,000	Brough
13 December 1919	Bury	H	2–2	6,000	Blood (2)
25 December 1919	Barnsley	H	0–2	12,000
26 December 1919	Barnsley	A	0–1	16,000
1 January 1920	Fulham	H	3–4	8,000	Hill, Blood, Perry
3 January 1920	Huddersfield Town	A	1–4	8,500	Blood
24 January 1920	Bristol City	A	1–1	12,000	Lockett
26 January 1920	Bristol City	H	3–1	7,000	Blood (2), Lockett
31 January 1920	Nottingham Forest	H	4–1	10,000	Blood (3), Fitchford
7 February 1920	West Ham United	A	1–3	25,000	Blood
14 February 1920	West Ham United	H	1–0	15,000	Aitken
18 February 1920	Nottingham Forest	A	1–0	5,000	Blood
21 February 1920	Rotherham County	A	2–2	10,000	Briscoe, Blood
28 February 1920	Rotherham County	H	4–2	12,000	Blood (4)
6 March 1920	Stoke	H	0–3	22,697
13 March 1920	Stoke	A	0–0	27,000
20 March 1920	Grimsby Town	H	2–1	13,500	Blood, Brough
27 March 1920	Grimsby Town	A	0–2	7,000
29 March 1920	Huddersfield Town	H	0–0	10,000
2 April 1920	Stockport County	A	4–0	8,000	Aitken (2), Blood (2)
3 April 1920	Birmingham	H	1–3	15,000	Fitchford
8 April 1920	Stockport County	H	2–0	3,000	Blood (2)
10 April 1920	Birmingham	A	0–3	30,000
17 April 1920	Leicester City	H	1–2	14,000	Blood
24 April 1920	Leicester City	A	1–0	20,000	Aitken
1 May 1920	Fulham	A	0–4	14,000

FA Cup

Main article: 1919–20 FA Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
6Q	20 December 1919	Loughborough Corinthians	H	4–0	5,000	Brough (2), Blood, Lyons (pen)
1R	10 January 1920	Manchester United	H	0–1	14,549

Player statistics

Appearances

Pos.	Name	Football League		FA Cup		Total (+Central League)
Pos.	Name	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Jonathan Hammond	2	0	0	0	11	0
GK	Alfred Bourne	32	0	2	0	40	0
DF	Edgar Bentley	2	0	0	0	2	0
DF	Peter Pursell	33	0	2	0	49	0
DF	Tom Lyons	32	0	2	1	47	1
DF	Percy Ellis	12	0	0	0	15	0
MF	James Wootton	19	0	2	0	30	1
MF	Arthur McGarry	30	0	2	0	45	0
MF	Andie Newton	14	0	2	0	22	0
MF	Ernest Perry	26	1	2	0	34	1
MF	Tom Holford	26	0	0	0	37	2
MF	Joe Brough	22	4	1	2	25	6
MF	Archie Dyke	0	0	0	0	2	0
MF	Billy Fitchford	19	2	2	0	30	4
MF	James Hill	15	1	0	0	21	2
MF	Albert Broadhouse	4	0	2	0	14	1
MF	Robert Waine	0	0	0	0	1	0
FW	George Shelton	2	0	0	0	2	0
FW	Harry Wainwright	4	0	0	0	4	0
FW	Alfred Manning	1	0	0	0	1	0
FW	Albert Pearson	0	0	0	0	6	0
FW	Aaron Lockett	9	3	0	0	14	5
FW	Billy Briscoe	12	2	0	0	25	10
FW	William Aitken	30	4	1	0	44	9
FW	Bobby Blood	28	24	2	1	32	26

Scorers

All competitions

Scorer	Goals
Bobby Blood	26
Billy Briscoe	10
William Aitken	9
Joe Brough	6
Aaron Lockett	5
Billy Fitchford	4
James Hill	2
Tom Holford	2
Albert Broadhouse	1
Ernest Perry
James Wootton
Tom Lyons

League

Scorer	Goals
Bobby Blood	24
William Aitken	4
Joe Brough	4
Aaron Lockett	3
Billy Briscoe	2
Billy Fitchford	2
James Hill	1
Ernest Perry	1

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Kent, Jeff (1990). "Keeping in Good Company (1919-1929)". The Valiants' Years The Story Of Port Vale. Witan Books. pp. 98–123. ISBN 0-9508981-4-7.
↑ Kent, Jeff (November 1998). The Potteries Derbies. Witan Books. p. 118. ISBN 0-9529152-3-5.

Kent, Jeff (1993). The Port Vale Record 1879-1993. Witan Books. ISBN 0-9508981-9-8.

Port Vale F.C. seasons

1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 99–1900

1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10

1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20

1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30

1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40

1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50

1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60

1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70

1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80

1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90

1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 99–2000

2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10

2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20

Port Vale Football Club

History Honours Managers Records Reserves & Youth Seasons

Grounds	Athletic Ground Old Recreation Ground Vale Park

Players	25+ appearances <25 appearances Player of the Year Winners

Matches	1989 Play-off Final 1993 League Trophy Final 1993 Play-off Final 1996 Anglo-Italian Final 2001 League Trophy Final Potteries derby

1919–20 in English football

« 1918–19

1920–21 »

FA competitions

FA Cup (Qualifying Rounds
Final)

Football and Southern Leagues

Lower leagues

Related to national team

Home Championship

Club seasons

First Division	Arsenal Aston Villa Blackburn Rovers Bradford City Bolton Wanderers Bradford Park Avenue Burnley Chelsea Derby County Everton Liverpool Manchester City Manchester United Middlesbrough Newcastle United Notts County Oldham Athletic Preston North End Sheffield United Sunderland The Wednesday West Bromwich Albion

Second Division	Barnsley Birmingham Blackpool Bristol City Bury Clapton Orient Coventry City Fulham Grimsby Town Huddersfield Town Hull City Leeds City Leicester City Lincoln City Nottingham Forest Port Vale Rotherham County Stockport County Stoke South Shields Tottenham Hotspur West Ham United Wolverhampton Wanderers

Southern League	Brentford Brighton & Hove Albion Bristol Rovers Cardiff City Crystal Palace Exeter City Gillingham Luton Town Merthyr Town Millwall Newport County Northampton Town Norwich City Plymouth Argyle Portsmouth Queens Park Rangers Reading Southampton Southend United Swansea Town Swindon Town Watford

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