1932–33 Port Vale F.C. season

Port Vale
1932–33 season
Chairman	Frank Huntbach
Manager	Tom Holford
Stadium	Old Recreation Ground
Football League Second Division	17th (38 Points)
FA Cup	Third Round; (knocked out by Blackpool)
Top goalscorer	League: Wilf Kirkham (15); All: Wilf Kirkham (15)
Highest home attendance	19,625 vs. Stoke City, 4 March 1933
Lowest home attendance	3,364 vs. Plymouth Argyle, 29 April 1933
Average home league attendance	8,876
Biggest win	9–1 vs. Chesterfield, 24 September 1932
Biggest defeat	0–7 vs. Bradford City, 1 October 1932
	Home colours
	Home colours

The 1932–33 season was Port Vale's 27th season of football in the English Football League, and their third-successive season (26th overall) in the Second Division.^[1] Despite hopes of improvement, the club again struggled in mid‑table — finishing 17th with 38 points from 42 matches (14 wins, 10 draws, 18 losses), scoring 66 goals and conceding 79.

Under manager Tom Holford, who returned in June 1932, the season was notable for the record-setting 9–1 league win over Chesterfield on 24 September, in which Stewart Littlewood netted six goals within 57 minutes, marking both still club records. That moment of brilliance aside, injuries (notably Littlewood's cartilage damage and Shenton’s knee) and inconsistent form hampered progress, including a run of eight winless games over October–November. Legendary striker Wilf Kirkham concluded his long career in a Vale shirt this season, finishing as the club's league top scorer once again — his sixth such feat — with 15 goals before retiring to a teaching career.

In the FA Cup, Vale were eliminated in the Third Round, falling 2–1 away to First Division side Blackpool at Bloomfield Road. Off the field, the club made a £481 profit, managed tight wage controls, reduced gate receipts (around £11,447), and issued clear-outs of several senior players to refresh the squad heading into 1933–34. The season is best remembered for shouting highs and frustrating lows — a record-breaking win and farewell to Kirkham standing out in an otherwise unremarkable campaign.

Chairman Frank Huntbach was pleased the club's finances.^[1]

Overview

Second Division

The pre-season worries over the Great Depression saw ticket prices reduced, as the Old Recreation Ground's capacity was increased, and a radio-gramophone broadcaster with four loudspeakers was installed.^[1] New signings included Bradford Park Avenue outside-left Bob Morton and Cardiff City left-half Jimmy McGrath.^[1]

The season began well; an opening-day victory over Bury was followed by a useful sequence of results that saw the club climb the table.^[1] Their 9–1 win over Chesterfield on 24 September was the biggest victory of the season in the division, and a still standing club record victory in the Football League.^[1] Stewart Littlewood scored an incredible six goals that day – also a still standing club record, all within 57 minutes.^[2]^[1] The Vale followed this record win with a 7–0 defeat at Bradford City's Valley Parade, in what had been dubbed a promotion clash.^[1] Shenton twisted his knee in the latter match, and the list of injuries began to mount, Littlewood also requiring an operation to repair cartilage damage.^[1] This prompted the signing of Manchester United's highly experienced ex-England international forward Louis Page, brother of ex-Vale player Tom Page.^[1]

From 15 October to 3 December, Vale were on a run of eight games without a win, six defeats.^[1] One of these defeats was a 5–0 hammering at Notts County's Meadow Lane in which goalkeeper Jock Leckie was stretchered off, and another was a 1–0 defeat at Stoke City's Victoria Ground in front of 29,296 spectators, yet another was a 4–0 loss at Tottenham Hotspur's White Hart Lane in front of a crowd of 33,071.^[1] In December, a shake-up in the first XI brought four successive home victories, though only one point was won from three away games.^[1] They had also been leading Charlton Athletic 4–1 on Boxing Day, until the match was called off due to fog. Stoke defender Len Armitage was brought in to help shore up the defence as the club hovered in mid-table.^[1]

In January, ten-year veteran left-back Jimmy Oakes was sold to Charlton Athletic for £3,000.^[1] On 21 January, they fell to a 5–0 defeat at West Ham United. On 4 March, Stoke romped home to a 3–1 derby win, with a certain Stanley Matthews scoring his first goal for the "Potters".^[1] After this the "Valiants" went five games unbeaten, which started with them picking up a point at Old Trafford.^[1] Only one of these matches was a win, though, as they defeated Notts County by four goals to nil. They won three and lost four of their seven April games.^[1] Safety was secured on 22 April with three games left to play despite a 4–2 loss at Bradford (Park Avenue). The 26 April game against Charlton Athletic at The Valley was remarkable as Oakes became the first ever player to play for opposite teams in the same match – this happened as before his transfer he had played for Vale in a game with the "Addicks" that was called off before full-time due to fog.^[1] The final game of the season was a 6–1 beating at Blundell Park by Grimsby Town, though by this time their survival in the division was already ensured.^[1]

They finished in 17th position with 38 points, four points clear of relegated Chesterfield and 17 points short of promoted Spurs. Meanwhile, the reserve team won the Cheshire League for the fifth successive season.^[1]

Finances

On the financial side, a profit of £481 was made due to strict economic management.^[1] Wages were reduced, and the "A" team was scrapped.^[1] Gate receipts had again fallen, now standing at £11,447.^[1] Another clear-out of players took place: with Billy Easton, Louis Page, Stewart Littlewood, Tom Tippett, Wilf Kirkham, Jock Leckie, and Ben Davies all leaving on free transfers. Easton joined Aldershot, Page signed with Yeovil & Petters United, Littlewood went to Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic, Tippett joined West Ham United, Leckie went to Stockport County. Kirkham retired as a professional to concentrate on his duties as an educator, turning out as an amateur for Kidderminster Harriers in the Birmingham League.^[1]

Cup competitions

In the FA Cup, Vale lost 2–1 at First Division relegation strugglers Blackpool's Bloomfield Road in the third round.^[1]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts
15	Notts County	42	15	10	17	67	78	0.859	40
16	Oldham Athletic	42	15	8	19	67	80	0.838	38
17	Port Vale	42	14	10	18	66	79	0.835	38
18	Lincoln City	42	12	13	17	72	87	0.828	37
19	Burnley	42	11	14	17	67	79	0.848	36

Source:
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Goals scored

Results

Port Vale's score comes first

Football League Second Division

Results by matchday

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	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	A	H	A
Result	W	D	W	L	W	D	W	L	W	L	L	D	L	L	D	L	L	W	L	W	W	D	W	L	L	D	W	L	L	D	D	W	D	D	L	W	L	W	L	L	W	L
Position	1	5	3	7	4	4	4	4	4	5	8	8	12	13	13	15	17	16	17	16	14	15	13	15	15	15	15	15	16	15	15	14	13	14	15	15	17	15	16	16	16	17
Points	2	3	5	5	7	8	10	10	12	12	12	13	13	13	14	14	14	16	16	18	20	21	23	23	23	24	26	26	26	27	28	30	31	32	32	34	34	36	36	36	38	38

Source: Statto^[3]
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Matches

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
27 August 1932	Bury	H	1–0	10,120	Kirkham
29 August 1932	Southampton	A	2–2	8,151	Littlewood (2)
3 September 1932	Lincoln City	A	1–0	11,276	Kirkham
5 September 1932	Southampton	H	0–2	8,843
10 September 1932	West Ham United	H	4–0	9,582	Morton, Kirkham, Littlewood, Sherlock (pen)
17 September 1932	Fulham	A	1–1	21,272	Morton
24 September 1932	Chesterfield	H	9–1	9,950	Littlewood (6), Kirkham (2), Morton
1 October 1932	Bradford City	A	0–7	12,648
8 October 1932	Swansea Town	H	2–1	7,310	Morton, Kirkham
15 October 1932	Notts County	A	0–5	9,217
22 October 1932	Stoke City	A	0–1	29,296
29 October 1932	Manchester United	H	3–3	7,138	Sherlock, Page, Morton
5 November 1932	Tottenham Hotspur	A	0–4	33,071
12 November 1932	Nottingham Forest	H	0–1	8,088
19 November 1932	Burnley	A	1–1	7,940	Kirkham
26 November 1932	Preston North End	H	0–1	6,938
3 December 1932	Oldham Athletic	A	1–2	4,397	McGrath
10 December 1932	Bradford Park Avenue	H	3–1	6,114	McGrath, Kirkham, Mills
17 December 1932	Plymouth Argyle	A	1–3	15,567	Page
24 December 1932	Grimsby Town	H	4–2	8,342	Tippett (2), Sherlock (pen), Kirkham
27 December 1932	Charlton Athletic	H	2–1	12,622	McGrath, Mills
31 December 1932	Bury	A	0–0	7,906
7 January 1933	Lincoln City	H	3–2	7,263	Kirkham (2), Tippett
21 January 1933	West Ham United	A	0–5	13,908
28 January 1933	Fulham	H	1–2	5,383	Kirkham
4 February 1933	Chesterfield	A	2–2	11,748	Morton, McGrath
11 February 1933	Bradford City	H	2–0	9,873	Jones, Littlewood
18 February 1933	Swansea Town	A	0–2	8,049
4 March 1933	Stoke City	H	1–3	19,625	McGrath
11 March 1933	Manchester United	A	1–1	24,690	McGrath
18 March 1933	Tottenham Hotspur	H	1–1	14,588	Nolan
20 March 1933	Notts County	H	4–0	5,682	Nolan (2), Kirkham, Baker
25 March 1933	Nottingham Forest	A	1–1	10,618	Kirkham
1 April 1933	Burnley	H	1–1	7,221	o.g.
8 April 1933	Preston North End	A	1–3	9,490	Morton
14 April 1933	Millwall	H	2–0	11,032	Morton, Nolan
15 April 1933	Oldham Athletic	H	2–4	7,317	McGrath (2)
17 April 1933	Millwall	A	1–0	7,507	Armitage
22 April 1933	Bradford Park Avenue	A	2–4	5,757	Morton, Armitage
26 April 1933	Charlton Athletic	A	1–2	5,492	Morton
29 April 1933	Plymouth Argyle	H	4–1	3,364	Nolan (3), Kirkham
6 May 1933	Grimsby Town	A	1–6	6,349	Nolan

FA Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	14 January 1933	Blackpool	A	1–2	15,800	Mills

Player statistics

Appearances and goals

Key to positions: GK – Goalkeeper; FB – Full back; HB – Half back; FW – Forward

Pos.	Name	Football League		FA Cup		Total
Pos.	Name	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Ben Davies	11	0	1	0	12	0
GK	Jock Leckie	22	0	0	0	22	0
GK	Allan Todd	9	0	0	0	9	0
FB	Jimmy Oakes	12	0	0	0	12	0
FB	George Shenton	28	0	1	0	29	0
FB	William Cope	3	0	0	0	3	0
FB	William Allsop	5	0	0	0	5	0
FB	George Poyser	28	0	0	0	28	0
HB	Arnold Bliss	21	0	1	0	22	0
HB	Roger Jones	40	1	1	0	41	1
HB	Jack Round	31	0	0	0	31	0
HB	Jimmy McGrath	28	8	1	0	29	8
HB	Fred Mills	36	2	1	1	37	3
HB	Albert Harrison	3	0	0	0	3	0
HB	Cliff Birks	21	0	1	0	22	0
HB	Jack Sherlock	24	3	0	0	24	3
FW	Len Armitage	10	2	1	0	11	2
FW	James Henshall	5	0	0	0	5	0
FW	Bob Morton	33	10	0	0	33	10
FW	Horace Baker	7	1	0	0	7	1
FW	Stewart Littlewood	13	10	0	0	13	10
FW	Tom Tippett	8	3	1	0	9	3
FW	Tom Nolan	17	8	0	0	17	8
FW	Billy Easton	3	0	0	0	3	0
FW	Wilf Kirkham	33	15	1	0	34	15
FW	John Smith	6	0	0	0	6	0
FW	Louis Page	18	2	1	0	19	2
FW	Robert Davies	5	0	0	0	5	0

Top scorers

Place	Position	Nation	Name	Second Division	FA Cup	Total
1	FW	England	Wilf Kirkham	15	0	15
2	FW	England	Bob Morton	10	0	10
–	FW	England	Stewart Littlewood	10	0	10
4	FW	England	Tom Nolan	8	0	8
–	HB	England	Jimmy McGrath	8	0	8
6	HB	England	Fred Mills	2	1	3
–	FW	England	Tom Tippett	3	0	3
–	HB	England	Jack Sherlock	3	0	3
9	FW	England	Len Armitage	2	0	2
–	FW	England	Louis Page	2	0	2
11	HB	England	Roger Jones	1	0	1
–	FW	England	Horace Baker	1	0	1
–	–	–	Own goals	1	0	1
			TOTALS	66	1	67

Transfers

Transfers in

Date from	Position	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
May 1932	HB	Jimmy McGrath	Cardiff City	Free transfer	^[4]
May 1932	FW	Bob Morton	Bradford Park Avenue	Free transfer	^[4]
August 1932	FW	John Smith	Derby County	Free transfer	^[4]
October 1932	FW	Louis Page	Manchester United	Free transfer	^[4]
October 1932	GK	Allan Todd	Cowdenbeath	Free transfer	^[4]
December 1932	FW	Len Armitage	Rhyl Athletic	Free transfer	^[4]
March 1933	HB	Billy Tabram	Swansea Town	Free transfer	^[4]

Transfers out

Date from	Position	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
January 1933	FB	Jimmy Oakes	Charlton Athletic	£3,000	^[4]
April 1933	HB	Arnold Bliss	West Ham United	Released	^[4]
May 1933	GK	Ben Davies		Released	^[4]
May 1933	FW	Billy Easton	Aldershot	Free transfer	^[4]
May 1933	HB	Albert Harrison	Leek Alexandra	Free transfer	^[4]
May 1933	GK	Jock Leckie	Stockport County	Free transfer	^[4]
May 1933	FW	John Smith	Carlisle United	Free transfer	^[4]
May 1933	FW	Tom Tippett	West Ham United	Free transfer	^[4]
July 1933	FW	Stewart Littlewood	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	Free transfer	^[4]
July 1933	HB	Jack Sherlock	Colwyn Bay United	Free transfer	^[4]
Summer 1933	FW	Wilf Kirkham	Retired		^[4]
Summer 1933	FW	Louis Page		Released	^[4]

References

Specific

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z Kent, Jeff (1990). "From Glory to Despair (1929–1939)". The Valiants' Years: The Story Of Port Vale. Witan Books. pp. 124–150. ISBN 0-9508981-4-7.
^ Fielding, Rob (3 October 2019). "Five of the best thumping Port Vale home victories". onevalefan.co.uk. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
^ Port Vale 1932–1933 : Results & Fixtures Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s 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.

[Kent-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z Kent, Jeff (1990). "From Glory to Despair (1929–1939)". The Valiants' Years: The Story Of Port Vale. Witan Books. pp. 124–150. ISBN 0-9508981-4-7.

[2] Fielding, Rob (3 October 2019). "Five of the best thumping Port Vale home victories". onevalefan.co.uk. Retrieved 5 June 2020.

[3] Port Vale 1932–1933 : Results & Fixtures Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.

[transfers-4] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities. Witan Books. ISBN 0-9529152-0-0.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

Port Vale F.C. seasons
1880–81 1881–82 1882–83 1883–84 1884–85 1885–86 1886–87 1887–88 1888–89 1889–90
1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–00
1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10
1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20
1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30
1930–31 1931–32 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40
1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50
1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60
1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70
1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80
1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90
1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00
2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10
2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20
2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26 2026–27 2027–28 2028–29 2029–30