| Season: | 1920–21 |
| Chairman: | Mr E.Reynish |
| League Result: | 20th (35 Points) |
| Cup1 Result: | First Round |
| League Topscorer: | Arthur Watkin (15) |
| Season Topscorer: | Arthur Watkin (16) |
| Highest Attendance: | 27,455 vs Port Vale (2 October 1920) |
| Lowest Attendance: | 5,000 vs Barnsley (2 March 1921) |
| Average Attendance: | 13,315 |
| Nextseason: | 1921–22 |
| Pattern La1: | _red_stripes |
| Pattern B1: | _red_stripes |
| Pattern Ra1: | _red_stripes |
| Pattern So1: | _color_3_stripes_white |
| Shorts1: | FFFFFF |
| Socks1: | FF0000 |
The 1920–21 season was Stoke's 21st in the Football League and the third in the Second Division.
Despite strengthening the Stoke squad with veteran Tom Brittleton the most notable signing Stoke struggled all season and were involved in a fight against relegation. With one team being relegated this season, Stoke finished five points from bottom place Stockport County which was too close for comfort.[1]
For the 1920–21 season efforts were made to strengthen the pool of players and the first of these was former England international Tom Brittleton who made the move from Sheffield Wednesday and immediately became club captain.[1] Competition for places or not manager Arthur Shallcross maintained a settled side that is until in October when he transferred Charlie Parker to Sunderland.[1] He had spent six years at Stoke and became a fan favourite.[1]
A shortage of goals saw Stoke slip dangerously towards the lower regions of the Second Division as the 1920–21 season progressed and with only one club being relegated to the newly formed Third Division North the margin of five points and a 20th-place finish out of 22 was too close for comfort.[1] Arthur Watkin top scored with 15 and Billy Tempest scored 10 however other than those two there was a lack of goals in the side.[1]
A most significant signing in April 1921 was that of Bob McGrory, a full-back from Burnley. Rumours has it that McGrory had reservations about joining Stoke as he did not like the look of the place.[1] Whether this was true or not, he went on to spend 31 years with the club as a player and manager eventually leaving the club in May 1952.[1]
Stoke again exited the competition at the first hurdle losing 3–2 away at eventual runners-up Wolverhampton Wanderers in front of 35,000 spectators.[1]
Stoke's score comes first
| Win | Draw | Loss |
See main article: 1920–21 Football League.
| Match | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 28 August 1920 | Nottingham Forest | A | 2–2 | 21,000 | Brown, Parker | |
| 2 | 30 August 1920 | Rotherham County | H | 2–0 | 10,000 | Watkin, McColl | |
| 3 | 4 September 1920 | Nottingham Forest | H | 4–0 | 19,000 | Watkin (3), McColl | |
| 4 | 6 September 1920 | Rotherham County | A | 1–1 | 15,000 | Tempest | |
| 5 | 11 September 1920 | The Wednesday | A | 3–1 | 25,000 | Tempest (2), Brown | |
| 6 | 18 September 1920 | The Wednesday | H | 0–1 | 30,000 | ||
| 7 | 25 September 1920 | Port Vale | A | 1–2 | 19,967 | McColl | |
| 8 | 2 October 1920 | Port Vale | H | 0–1 | 27,455 | ||
| 9 | 9 October 1920 | Notts County | H | 1–0 | 10,000 | Watkin | |
| 10 | 16 October 1920 | Notts County | A | 0–3 | 8,500 | ||
| 11 | 23 October 1920 | Coventry City | H | 4–1 | 12,000 | Tempest (2), McColl, Maddock | |
| 12 | 30 October 1920 | Coventry City | A | 0–1 | 18,000 | ||
| 13 | 6 November 1920 | Leeds United | H | 4–0 | 14,000 | Watkin (3), Brown | |
| 14 | 13 November 1920 | Leeds United | A | 0–0 | 20,000 | ||
| 15 | 20 November 1920 | Birmingham | H | 1–2 | 15,000 | Brown | |
| 16 | 27 November 1920 | Birmingham | A | 0–3 | 12,000 | ||
| 17 | 4 December 1920 | West Ham United | H | 1–0 | 10,000 | Brittleton | |
| 18 | 11 December 1920 | West Ham United | A | 0–1 | 15,000 | ||
| 19 | 18 December 1920 | Fulham | H | 1–2 | 7,000 | Brittleton | |
| 20 | 25 December 1920 | Leicester City | A | 1–3 | 20,000 | Watkin | |
| 21 | 27 December 1920 | Leicester City | H | 1–1 | 15,000 | Tempest | |
| 22 | 1 January 1921 | Fulham | A | 3–1 | 8,500 | Watkin (2), Brittleton | |
| 23 | 15 January 1921 | South Shields | A | 1–1 | 15,000 | Burton | |
| 24 | 22 January 1921 | South Shields | H | 0–0 | 5,000 | ||
| 25 | 5 February 1921 | Cardiff City | A | 1–0 | 28,000 | Watkin | |
| 26 | 12 February 1921 | Hull City | A | 1–1 | 5,000 | Watkin | |
| 27 | 14 February 1921 | Cardiff City | H | 0–0 | 12,000 | ||
| 28 | 26 February 1921 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | A | 3–3 | 20,000 | Watkin, McColl, Smith | |
| 29 | 10 March 1921 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | H | 1–0 | 8,000 | Tempest | |
| 30 | 12 March 1921 | Stockport County | A | 0–2 | 4,000 | ||
| 31 | 19 March 1921 | Stockport County | H | 1–0 | 7,000 | Watkin | |
| 32 | 25 March 1921 | Blackpool | A | 1–3 | 14,000 | Whitehurst | |
| 33 | 26 March 1921 | Clapton Orient | H | 0–1 | 14,000 | ||
| 34 | 28 March 1921 | Blackpool | H | 1–1 | 12,000 | Tempest | |
| 35 | 2 April 1921 | Clapton Orient | A | 2–3 | 6,000 | Whitehurst, Little | |
| 36 | 9 April 1921 | Bury | H | 0–1 | 7,000 | ||
| 37 | 11 April 1921 | Hull City | H | 1–3 | 5,000 | Tempest | |
| 38 | 16 April 1921 | Bury | A | 0–3 | 5,000 | ||
| 39 | 23 April 1921 | Bristol City | H | 0–0 | 7,000 | ||
| 40 | 30 April 1921 | Bristol City | A | 0–5 | 6,000 | ||
| 41 | 2 May 1921 | Barnsley | H | 3–2 | 5,000 | Tempest (pen), Brittleton, Helme | |
| 42 | 7 May 1921 | Barnsley | A | 0–1 | 7,000 |
See main article: 1920–21 FA Cup.
| Pos. | Name | League | FA Cup | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| GK | Tom Kay | 27 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 28 | 0 |
| GK | Percy Knott | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| GK | Edwin Steventon | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| DF | Percy Brooke | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| DF | Jack Maddock | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 |
| DF | Bob McGrory | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| DF | Alec Milne | 42 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 43 | 0 |
| DF | Billy Twemlow | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| MF | Tom Brittleton | 41 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 42 | 4 |
| MF | George Clarke | 41 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 42 | 0 |
| MF | Bill Dickie | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| MF | Reg Forester | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| MF | Jack Moorwood | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| MF | Charlie Parker | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 |
| MF | David Parkes | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| MF | Dickie Smith | 38 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 39 | 1 |
| FW | David Brown | 19 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 20 | 4 |
| FW | Matthew Burton | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 2 |
| FW | Harry Crossthwaite | 18 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 0 |
| FW | Jack Helme | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| FW | George Jarvis | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| FW | Tommy Little | 17 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 1 |
| FW | James Martin | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| FW | Wally Masterman | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | Jimmy McColl | 27 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 5 |
| FW | Syd Mellor | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| FW | Tom Orpe | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FW | Louis Page | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| FW | John Spencer | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 0 |
| FW | Billy Tempest | 37 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 38 | 10 |
| FW | Arthur Watkin | 35 | 15 | 1 | 1 | 36 | 16 |
| FW | Albert Whitehurst | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 2 |