The 1931–32 season was

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

's 32nd season in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

and the 12th in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. It was a good season for Stoke as they were finally able to mount a serious promotion challenge. They were involved in the race throughout the season and just missed out finishing third, two points behind second-placed Leeds United. Too many winnable matches were drawn with fourteen matches ending on level terms. In March 1932 away at

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

, 17-year-old Stanley Matthews made his professional debut and he would go on to become one of the greatest players in English football.

Season review

League

The 1931–32 season proved to be an entertaining season for Stoke as they were involved in the hunt for promotion throughout the campaign, just missing out in third spot in the final placings. Their draw tally of 14 cost Stoke dearly in the end and on a number of occasions Stoke were denied victory due to last minute equalisers from their opponents. There were a number of good things to come out of the season, including 25 goals from Joe Mawson and a 14 match unbeaten run from mid-November to the beginning of February. Manager

Tom Mather Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

was able to select the same starting eleven for 16 consecutive matches, a club record. Stoke, suffered the fewest defeats in the Second Division. The directors, who had used cash resources carefully, allowed Mather to build up his squad, and he duly pulled off three excellent deals, the returning Harry Davies from Huddersfield Town, goalkeeper Roy John and winger Joe Johnson. Johnson was perhaps the shrewdest of the three, for Stoke became aware that his club

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

were struggling for money and after a goalless draw at Ashton Gate in April 1932 Stoke paid Bristol a mere £250 for his signature. It was at

on 19 Match 1932 that Stoke introduced their latest local talent, Stanley Matthews who at the time was described at the time as a 'promising outside right'. Matthews had signed professional contract forms on his 17th birthday (1 February 1932) and was deputising for the injured

Bobby Liddle Robert Liddle (11 April 1908 – 12 April 1972) was an English footballer who played in the Football League for Stoke City. Career Liddle was born in Gateshead and at the age of 19 he was working as a miner at Washington Colliery also playi ...

FA Cup

Stoke, beat Hull City 3–0 and

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

2–1 in a 2nd replay before been knocked out 3–0 by Bury.

Final league table

Results

''Stoke's score comes first''

Legend

Football League Second Division

FA Cup

Squad statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1931-32 Stoke City F.C. season Stoke City F.C. seasons

Stoke Stoke is a common place name in the United Kingdom. Stoke may refer to: Places United Kingdom The largest city called Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. See below. Berkshire * Stoke Row, Berkshire Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stok ...