The 1936–37 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 37th 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 23rd in the First Division. After the club's best ever season last campaign Stoke struggled to live up to their previous success and finished the season in a mid-table position of 10th. However it was a to be a season of record making with three being set during the 1936–37 season. A record attendance of 51,373 made it into the

Victoria Ground The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League. History ...

on 29 March to watch a 0–0 draw with

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. However the most remarkable achievement was that of a 10–3 victory over

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

rivals

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

and thirdly,

Freddie Steele Freddie Steele (December 18, 1912 – August 22, 1984) was a boxer and film actor born Frederick Earle Burgett in Seattle, Washington. He was recognized as the National Boxing Association (NBA) Middleweight Champion of the World between 1936 ...

finished the season with 33 league goals.

Season review

League

During the summer of 1936 there was a change at boardroom level with Mr H. Booth replacing Mr A. Sherwin as chairman. After the club's best ever season in 1935–36 Stoke found it difficult in the 1936–37 season to improve and a disappointing 10th-place finish was the final outcome. Stoke were hampered by a poor away record with only three wins forthcoming during the season and an equal record of 15 wins and defeats a mid-table finish was the obvious outcome. During the 1936–37 season Stoke made three new club records which all still stand. A record attendance of 51,373 made it into the

on 29 March to watch a 0–0 draw with

. However the most remarkable achievement was that of a 10–3 victory over

rivals

and thirdly,

finished the season with 33 league goals.

Record league victory

A 10–3 win over

is Stoke City's record League victory here is a summary of the match. Stoke gave debuts to Scottish keeper Douglas Westland and full-back James Harbot. Stoke went into the match as narrow favourites but went on to outclass Albion in all positions. The first goal came after 10 minutes as Steele headed in a

Stanley Matthews Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English footballer who played as an outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the British game, he is the only player to have been knighted while stil ...

cross. Albion levelled just a minute later through Richardson following a fine move. Stoke re-took the lead through a copy of their first on 20 minutes as Albion struggled to contain Matthews. After 32 minutes Stoke went 3–1 up, Steele was brought down in the area by

Bill Richardson William Blaine Richardson III (born November 15, 1947) is an American politician, author, and diplomat who served as the 30th governor of New Mexico from 2003 to 2011. He was also the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Energy Secretary ...

and Arthur Turner scored from the spot. Four minutes before half-time Steele claimed his hat-trick. In the second half Stoke made it 5–1 through England winger Joe Johnson before Steele missed an open goal. Wally Boyes pulled one back to 5–2 however Steele got his fourth and fifth to make it 7–2 on 67 minutes. Richardson made it 7–3 before Johnson again and George Antonio got on the score sheet. With 15 minutes left the score line was 9–3 and with the crowd chanting for more it duly arrived when Antonio made it 10–3 to complete a historic result.

FA Cup

Stoke beat

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

4–1 in the third round with

bagging a hat trick. However Stoke were on the end of a heavy defeat themselves in the next round as they lost 5–1 to eventual runners-up

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

Final league table

Results

''Stoke's score comes first''

Legend

Football League First Division

FA Cup

Squad statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1936-37 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 ...