The 1925–26 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 26th season in the Football League and the seventh in the Second Division. It was also the first season under the name of Stoke City.

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

was granted city status in 1925 and so Stoke added the word 'City' to their name and have since been forever known as Stoke City. However, despite a change of name there was no change in fortunes on the pitch as Stoke failed to improve after last season's narrow escape and they were relegated to the

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

this time finishing one point from safety.

Season review

League

The 1925–26 season was a season of change as Stoke F.C. became Stoke City F.C. and there was a new offside law introduced which allowed two opponents (not three as before) to be between the attacker and the goal. This change prompted many high scoring matches throughout the county as teams struggled to adapt the changes with the traditional 2–3–5 formation, eventually teams started to use new formations and tactics. But Stoke did not share the high scoring and they struggled all season with many disappointing displays. Injuries certainly hampered the team's efforts throughout the season and by the new year relegation looked inevitable and despite a late revival a failure to beat Southampton on the final day of the season sealed Stoke's fate and they dropped into the third tier for the first time. However the signing of Huddersfield Town's Charlie Wilson in March 1926 proved to be a vital addition as he would be key in making sure Stoke's stay in the

would be a short one.

FA Cup

With sides in the top two divisions now starting in the third round Stoke played Wigan Borough and beat them 5–2 however Stoke themselves were on the receiving end of a heavy cup defeat losing 6–3 to Swansea Town in the fourth round.

Final league table

Results

''Stoke's score comes first''

Legend

Football League Second Division

FA Cup

Squad statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1925-26 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 ...