The 1923–24 season was

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 ...

's 24th 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 fifth 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 ...

. With Stoke back in the Second Division after their short stay in the First and without a manager the supporters questioned what the future held for the club.

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 appointed as the club's new manager in October 1923 and it would start a run of consistency as from 1923 to 1976 Stoke had just four managers. Mather led the club to sixth position in the table with just two wins in their last 12 matches costing Stoke a promotion challenge. At the end of the season Mather decided to sell a number of players including fans favourites

Jimmy Broad James Broad (10 November 1891 – 22 August 1963) was an English footballer who played as a forward for various Football League clubs in the 1910s and 1920s, including Oldham Athletic, Stoke and Everton. His brother Tommy was also a footballer ...

Tommy Broad Thomas Higginson Broad (31 July 1887 – 1966) was an English footballer who played in the Football League for Bristol City, Chesterfield, Manchester City, Oldham Athletic, Southampton, Stoke and West Bromwich Albion. His brother Jimmy was ...

and

Billy Tempest William Tempest (8 January 1893 – 1945) was an English footballer who played on the left-wing. He played for Stoke between 1912 and 1924, before finishing his career in 1926 with Port Vale. Career Tempest played for Trentham in two spells ar ...

; some players not asked to re-sign smashed up the offices at the Victoria Ground and caused a considerable amount of damage.

Season review

League

There was little money available for new players, and when former Southend United boss

, a Lancastrian from

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth came pr ...

, was given the managerial position in October, he quickly set about restoring the team's fortunes. Mather, who had been assistant manager at both

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

and

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

before becoming manager at Burnden Park during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, certainly consolidated the club and a final league finish of 6th was a decent outcome and would give Mather a platform to build on. There was however a regrettable incident at the club just as the season ended when a group of players, who had not been asked to re-sign for the next season, arrived at the Victoria Ground and started smashing up the offices and dressing rooms, causing a considerable amount of damage. The offenders were immediately released by the club and things were quickly sorted out. There was a substantial clear-out, with a number of players leaving who had served the club well whilst there was also changes at boardroom level with chairman Mr E. Reynish relinquishing his position as chairman and wealthy director John Slater also left after he had injected a lot of his own money into the club with mixed success.

FA Cup

No progress was made in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

Season review

League

FA Cup

Final league table

Results

Legend

Football League Second Division

FA Cup

Squad statistics

References