1922–23 Port Vale F.C. season

Port Vale

1922–23 season
Chairman	Sampson Walker
Manager	Joe Schofield
Stadium	The Old Recreation Ground
Football League Second Division	17th (37 Points)
FA Cup	Fifth Qualification Round
North Staffordshire Infirmary Cup	Runners-up
Top goalscorer	League: Tom Butler (9) All: Tom Butler (9)
Highest home attendance	16,022 vs Manchester United (14 October 1922)
Lowest home attendance	5,000 vs Derby County (26 February 1923)
Average home league attendance	10,204+
Home colours
← 1921–22 1923–24 →

The 1922–23 season was Port Vale's fourth consecutive season of football (17th overall) in the Football League.^[1] For the third successive the season the club finished just out of the relegation zones, and for the second successive season were unable to find a regular goalscorer following the sale of Bobby Blood. Financial issues continued to be a concern, especially when a former trainer reported the club for making illegal payments.

Veteran Tom Holford didn't make an appearance.

Billy Briscoe was absent in just four games.

Overview

Second Division

The releasing of numerous experienced players in pre-season necessitated the signing of numerous new attacking players, namely Millwall winger Patrick Donoghue; 'robust' inside-right John Gordon from Queen's Park; James Smith from Plymouth Argyle; and Tom Reid from Ayr United.^[1]

The season opened with two defeats in August, and though things soon turned around it became clear that goals were at a premium.^[1] To solve this problem experienced winger Billy Harrison was signed from Manchester United.^[1] The "Valiants" duly did the double over the "Red Devils" with a 2–1 win at Old Trafford, and a 1–0 win at home thanks to a Harrison strike.^[1] Following an injury to the player the club suffered something of a blip in November.^[1] The following month the club spent £100 to bring Tom Butler from Darlaston.^[1] By the end of the calendar year the club were at the top end of the table, however a loss of form in January caused them to slip back down the table.^[1] In February, young Arthur Prince was promoted from the reserves, and helped the club go four games unbeaten.^[1] The Vale finished out the season on hot and cold spells, and ended up narrowly avoiding relegation.

At the end of season Vale had made slight progress, having finished on 37 points, improving their tally of the previous two seasons by a single point. Their shocking home record was better only than bottom placed Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Vale secured the fewest home wins and had the second lowest goals scored tally at home – remarkably second place West Ham United had managed to score just two fewer than Vale at home. Their six wins away from home helped them avoid the drop.

Top scorer Tom Butler bagged nine goals in his 26 games, but no other player managed more than four goals. Six players were rarely out of the first eleven: goalkeeper Teddy Peers; defenders Peter Pursell and Len Birks; midfielders Ernest Collinge and Jack Hampson; and forward Billy Briscoe. At the end of the season Billy Harrison joined Welsh club Wrexham; John Gordon went back to Scotland to sign with Greenock Morton; Teddy Peers retired; and Billy Briscoe refused a pay-cut and instead signed with nearby Congleton Town.^[1]

Finances

Finances were poor as attendances were disappointing, with The Sentinel's "Spectator" commenting that "Port Vale is respected everywhere, except in its own district".^[1] The ongoing Shilling Fund was useful for raising revenue, whilst £1,100 was written off by creditors in a remarkably charitable fashion.^[1] Yet in June 1923, the club were in trouble when former trainer Billy Barr reported Port Vale to the Football League, accusing the club of having made illegal payments to its players throughout the season.^[1] The club were found guilty, and were fined £100, with manager Joe Schofield also picking up a £25 fine.^[1] Three other officials were fined £150 in total, whilst seventeen players were each fined £1 each.^[1] This helped the club to report a loss of £2,400 on the season despite their tight spending.^[1] Gate receipts stood at just over £10,000, down almost 50% on 1920–21.^[1]

Cup competitions

Vale left the FA Cup at the Fifth Round of Qualifying after a disappointing 2–0 defeat by Third Division North Wrexham at The Old Recreation Ground.^[1] The end of season North Staffordshire Infirmary Cup Potteries derby bragging rights went to Stoke, which was scant consolation for a club who had just suffered relegation from the First Division.^[1] The match raised £250 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	Notts County	42		16	1	4	29	15		7	6	8	17	19		46	34	1.353	+ 32		53
2	West Ham United	42		9	8	4	21	11		11	3	7	42	27		63	38	1.658	+ 25		51
3	Leicester City	42		14	2	5	42	19		7	7	7	23	25		65	44	1.477	+ 21		51
4	Manchester United	42		10	6	5	25	17		7	8	6	26	19		51	36	1.417	+ 15		48
5	Blackpool	42		12	4	5	37	14		6	7	8	23	29		60	43	1.395	+ 17		47
6	Bury	42		14	5	2	41	16		4	6	11	14	30		55	46	1.196	+ 9		47
7	Leeds United	42		11	8	2	26	10		7	3	11	17	26		43	36	1.194	+ 7		47
8	The Wednesday	42		14	3	4	36	16		3	9	9	18	31		54	47	1.149	+ 7		46
9	Barnsley	42		12	4	5	42	21		5	7	9	20	30		62	51	1.216	+ 11		45
10	Fulham	42		10	7	4	29	12		6	5	10	14	20		43	32	1.344	+ 11		44
11	Southampton	42		10	5	6	28	21		4	9	8	12	19		40	40	1.000	± 0		42
12	Hull City	42		9	8	4	29	22		5	6	10	14	23		43	45	0.956	– 2		42
13	South Shields	42		11	7	3	26	12		4	3	14	9	32		35	44	0.795	– 9		40
14	Derby County	42		9	5	7	25	16		5	6	10	21	34		46	50	0.920	– 4		39
15	Bradford City	42		8	7	6	27	18		4	6	11	14	27		41	45	0.911	– 4		37
16	Crystal Palace	42		10	7	4	33	16		3	4	14	21	46		54	62	0.871	– 8		37
17	Port Vale	42		8	6	7	23	18		6	3	12	16	33		39	51	0.765	– 12		37
18	Coventry City	42		12	2	7	35	21		3	5	13	11	42		46	63	0.730	– 17		37
19	Clapton Orient	42		9	6	6	26	17		3	6	12	14	33		40	50	0.800	– 10		36
20	Stockport County	42		10	6	5	32	24		4	2	15	11	34		43	58	0.741	– 15		36
21	Rotherham County	42		10	7	4	30	19		3	2	16	14	44		44	63	0.698	– 19		35
22	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42		9	4	8	32	26		0	5	16	10	51		42	77	0.545	– 35		27

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

Round	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	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42
Ground	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	H	H	A	A	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H
Result	L	L	D	W	W	L	D	W	W	W	D	L	W	L	L	D	W	W	L	W	L	L	L	L	L	D	W	W	D	L	L	L	L	W	W	L	L	D	W	D	L	D
Position	19	21	19	15	14	15	16	11	10	8	8	10	8	10	13	10	10	9	12	10	12	12	14	15	15	15	15	13	13	13	14	15	17	15	14	15	16	16	16	15	17	17

Sourced from Statto.^[3]

Football League Second Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
26 August 1922	Fulham	H	0–1	14,136
28 August 1922	Hull City	A	0–3	6,000
2 September 1922	Fulham	A	1–1	23,000	Smith
4 September 1922	Hull City	H	1–0	10,000	Gordon
9 September 1922	Coventry City	A	2–1	17,000	Smith, Agnew
16 September 1922	Coventry City	H	0–1	12,733
23 September 1922	Clapton Orient	A	0–0	10,000
30 September 1922	Clapton Orient	H	3–1	10,200	Harrison, Gordon, Connelly
7 October 1922	Manchester United	A	2–1	20,000	Hampson, Collinge
14 October 1922	Manchester United	H	1–0	16,022	Harrison
21 October 1922	Notts County	H	0–0	15,055
28 October 1922	Notts County	A	0–1	12,000
4 November 1922	Bury	H	2–0	8,822	Connelly, Gordon
11 November 1922	Bury	A	0–2	11,000
18 November 1922	Rotherham County	A	1–3	10,000	Collinge (pen)
25 November 1922	Rotherham County	H	0–0	7,503
9 December 1922	Stockport County	A	2–0	10,000	Orpe, Hampson
16 December 1922	Crystal Palace	H	2–0	10,000	Butler, Orpe
23 December 1922	Crystal Palace	A	0–2	9,000
25 December 1922	South Shields	H	3–0	9,254	Butler (2), Davies
30 December 1922	Leeds United	H	1–2	10,000	Hampson
1 January 1922	South Shields	A	1–3	9,000	Briscoe
6 January 1923	Leeds United	A	1–2	15,000	Butler
13 January 1923	Stockport County	H	0–2	9,500
20 January 1923	West Ham United	H	1–3	10,000	Connelly
27 January 1923	West Ham United	A	0–0	18,000
3 February 1923	Blackpool	H	2–0	9,885	Thompson, Collinge
10 February 1923	Derby County	A	2–1	10,000	Butler (2)
17 February 1923	Southampton	H	0–0	12,275
26 February 1923	Derby County	H	2–3	5,000	Thompson, Butler
3 March 1923	Bradford City	H	1–2	6,000	Prince
5 March 1923	Southampton	A	1–3	5,000	Thompson
10 March 1923	Bradford City	A	0–2	9,000
17 March 1923	Blackpool	A	2–0	10,000	Briscoe, Butler
30 March 1923	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	1–0	15,000	Page
31 March 1923	Leicester City	A	0–3	20,000
2 April 1923	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	0–3	15,000
7 April 1923	Leicester City	H	0–0	8,660
14 April 1923	Barnsley	A	1–0	8,000	Reid
21 April 1923	Barnsley	H	1–1	7,799	Briscoe
28 April 1923	The Wednesday	A	0–2	12,000
5 May 1923	The Wednesday	H	2–2	6,000	Hampson (pen), Butler

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
5Q	2 December 1922	Wrexham	H	0–2	7,200

North Staffordshire Infirmary Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
Final	7 May 1923	Stoke	A	1–3		Thompson

Player statistics

Appearances Pos. Name Football League FA Cup Other Total Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals GK Daniel Smith 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 GK Teddy Peers 41 0 1 0 0 0 43 0 DF Peter Pursell 40 0 1 0 1 0 42 0 DF Len Birks 41 0 0 0 0 0 41 0 DF William Lavery 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 DF Billy Twemlow 3 0 0 0 1 0 4 0 DF David Richards 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 MF Billy Fitchford 19 0 1 0 0 0 20 0 MF Ernest Collinge 42 3 1 0 1 0 44 3 MF Bob Connelly 29 3 0 0 0 0 30 3 MF Jack Hampson 38 4 1 0 0 0 39 4 MF Tom Orpe 8 2 0 0 0 0 8 2 MF Arthur Prince 16 1 0 0 1 0 17 1 MF Patrick Donoghue 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 MF Tom Holford 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 FW Billy Briscoe 39 3 0 0 1 0 40 3 FW Tom Page 25 1 1 0 0 0 26 1 FW Billy Agnew 11 1 1 0 0 0 12 1 FW Jimmy Thompson 8 3 0 0 1 1 9 4 FW Albert Spencer 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 FW James Smith 7 2 0 0 0 0 7 2 FW Tom Reid 6 1 0 0 1 0 7 1 FW John Gordon 22 3 1 0 1 0 24 3 FW Charles Hallam 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 FW Billy Harrison 21 2 0 0 1 0 22 2 FW Harry Davies 12 1 0 0 0 0 12 1 FW Tom Butler 25 9 0 0 1 0 26 9

Scorers All competitions Scorer Goals Tom Butler 9 Jack Hampson 4 Jimmy Thompson Ernest Collinge 3 Bob Connelly John Gordon Billy Briscoe Tom Orpe 2 Billy Harrison James Smith Arthur Prince 1 Tom Page Harry Davies Billy Agnew Tom Reid League Scorer Goals Tom Butler 9 Jack Hampson 4 Ernest Collinge 3 Jimmy Thompson Bob Connelly John Gordon Billy Briscoe Tom Orpe 2 Billy Harrison James Smith Arthur Prince 1 Tom Page Harry Davies Billy Agnew Tom Reid

Transfers

Transfers in

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
May 1922	FW		James Smith	Plymouth Argyle	Free transfer	[4]
June 1922	FW		Harry Davies	Chorley	Free transfer	[4]
August 1922	MF		Patrick Donoghue	Millwall Athletic	Free transfer	[4]
August 1922	FW		John Gordon	Queen's Park	Free transfer	[4]
August 1922	FW		Tom Reid	Ayr United	Free transfer	[4]
August 1922	DF		David Richards	Larkhall Thistle	Free transfer	[4]
August 1922	GK		Daniel Smith		Free transfer	[4]
September 1922	FW		Charles Hallam	Sandford Hill Primitives	Free transfer	[4]
September 1922	FW		Billy Harrison	Manchester United	Free transfer	[4]
October 1922	MF		Arthur Prince	Bucknall	Free transfer	[4]
October 1922	FW		Albert Spencer		Free transfer	[4]
November 1922	MF		Tom Orpe	Hanley	Free transfer	[4]
January 1923	FW		Tom Butler	Darlaston	£100	[4]
January 1923	FW		Jimmy Thompson	Ashton National Gas	Free transfer	[4]

Transfers out

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
October 1922	FW		James Smith	Fulham	Mutual consent	[4]
May 1923	GK		Teddy Peers		Retired	[4]
June 1923	FW		Billy Harrison	Wrexham	£300	[4]
June 1923	FW		Albert Spencer	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Free transfer	[4]
Summer 1923	FW		Billy Agnew	Arthurlie	Released	[4]
Summer 1923	GK		Ernest Blackham		Released	[4]
Summer 1923	FW		Billy Briscoe	Congleton Town	Free transfer	[4]
Summer 1923	FW		Harry Davies	Chorley	Released	[4]
Summer 1923	MF		Patrick Donoghue		Released	[4]
Summer 1923	FW		John Gordon	Greenock Morton	Released	[4]
Summer 1923	DF		William Lavery		Released	[4]
Summer 1923	MF		Billy Fitchford	Glossop	Released	[4]
Summer 1923	MF		Harry Johnstone		Released	[4]
Summer 1923	MF		Tom Orpe	Cheadle New Haden	Released	[4]
Summer 1923	DF		David Richards	Dundee United	Released	[4]
Summer 1923	GK		Daniel Smith		Released	[4]
Summer 1923	FW		Jimmy Thompson	Blackpool	Released	[4]
Summer 1923	DF		Billy Twemlow	Macclesfield	Released	[4]
August 1923	FW		Charles Hallam	Sandbach Ramblers	Released	[4]

References

Specific

1. 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.
2. Kent, Jeff (November 1998). The Potteries Derbies. Witan Books. p. 118. ISBN 0-9529152-3-5.
3. Port Vale 1922–1923 : Results & Fixtures. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
4. Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities. Witan Books. ISBN 0-9529152-0-0.

General

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