The 1930–31 season was the 30th season of competitive football played by Cardiff City F.C. It was the team's second season in the Second Division of the Football League since being relegated from the First Division during the 1928–29 season. They finished bottom of the Second Division after winning only 8 of their 42 league matches and scoring the fewest goals in the league and were relegated to the Third Division South.
In the FA Cup, Cardiff were beaten by Third Division South side Brentford in a replay. A replay of the final of the 1929–30 Welsh Cup was held in October 1930 with Cardiff defeating Rhyl 4–2 following a hat-trick by Len Davies. In the 1930–31 Welsh Cup, Cardiff reached the semi-final before being eliminated by Shrewsbury Town. George Emmerson featured in more matches than any other player during the season, appearing 46 times in the campaign. Walter Robbins was the club's highest scoring player, netting 12 times in all competitions.
Background Cardiff City played in the Football League Second Division in the 1930–31 season, having been relegated from the First Division during the 1928–29 season. It was the team's tenth season in the Football League since their inaugural campaign in 1920. The previous season, Cardiff had finished in eighth place in the Second Division, while a drop in attendance figures following relegation had led the club's board to allow the sale of several players to bolster their depleted finances. One highlight of the season had the first hosting of a South Wales derby since 1920, with Cardiff and Swansea Town meeting three times in during the campaign. The matches had attracted the biggest crowds of the season for both sides and the success led to plans being proposed for an annual competition between the two, but these ultimately failed to come to fruition.
Before the new season, Jimmy Nelson was sold to Newcastle United for £7,000 after nine years with Cardiff. Billy Thirlaway was also sold to Tunbridge Wells. The club's board also approached captain Fred Keenor about reducing his wages, which were still at the same level as they had been during their First Division seasons. Keenor had been earning £8 a week, but the new deal reduced this to £6 a week during the season and £4 a week during the summer. The board hoped the reduction would force Keenor to move elsewhere, avoiding any criticism from fans over selling him. Keenor however was keen to remain in Cardiff and accepted the new terms. Billy Hardy, who had been with the club since 1912, was appointed to a player-coach role.
As funds were limited, Fred Stewart made few additions to the playing squad. The most high-profile signings were George Emmerson from Middlesbrough and local amateur Eddie Jenkins.
Second Division August–December Cardiff's opening game of the season was a South Wales derby against Swansea Town on 30 August 1930. Ralph Williams, Cardiff's top goalscorer the previous season, scored his first goal of the new campaign after 15 minutes before Swansea answered with three goals to take control of the game. Williams added a second goal late on but Swansea held on to win 3–2. The defeat proved to be the start of a five-game losing streak that began the campaign; in their following four matches, Cardiff conceded thirteen goals and scored only four in reply. They claimed their first point of the season in their sixth match on 17 September, securing a 1–1 draw with Everton with Williams scoring his side's goal. A draw with Bradford City followed three days later before Cardiff secured their first win of the season by beating Plymouth Argyle 4–1 on 22 September. Both Walter Robbins and Len Davies scored their first goals of the campaign, the former with a brace.
Davies would appear in two further matches, a defeat against Charlton Athletic on 27 September and a victory over Barnsley a week later before appendicitis ruled him out for more than four months. The latter fixture also ended Emlyn John's season when he suffered a broken ankle in a collision with an opposition player; the injury left Cardiff with ten players out injured during the early part of the campaign. Cardiff gained only one further point in October, during a 1–1 draw against Nottingham Forest, but began November positively by winning consecutive matches against Southampton and Reading. The latter victory saw Robbins score his second brace of the season while recent arrival Albert Valentine scored his first goals for the club as Cardiff ran out 5–0 winners. The side scored only once in their next three matches, defeats against Stoke City, Bradford and Wolverhampton Wanderers. On 6 December, Robbins scored the side's first league hat-trick of the season in a 4–4 draw with Millwall. Although they suffered a heavy 7–0 defeat to Preston North End a week later, Cardiff again scored four on 20 December, defeating Burnley with Robbins adding another brace.
Williams made his first appearance since October on 26 December but his goal proved to be a consolation as Cardiff lost 5–1 in the return fixture against Plymouth. Cardiff's last fixture of the calendar year was the second South Wales derby of the season. Leslie Jones scored the only goal of the game as Cardiff defeated their local rivals for the first time in the Football League.
January–May Due to a clash with FA Cup fixtures, Cardiff played only three matches in January losing two and winning one. In the first defeat, a 3–2 loss against West Bromwich Albion, new signing Jimmy McCambridge scored a brace on his debut having arrived the day before from Everton, but was unable to stop his side suffering defeat. Their only victory came in a 2–1 defeat of Port Vale at Ninian Park on 17 January as Robbins scored a brace. Their last match in January, a 2–0 defeat to Charlton, proved to be the start of a low-scoring run as the team scored only 8 times in their final 17 league matches. McCambridge added his third goal of the campaign in a 2–1 loss to Bradford City on 4 February before the team failed to score in three consecutive matches, losing to Barnsley and Bristol City before drawing with Oldham Athletic.
Davies added his second of the season after returning from his appendicitis issues in a 3–1 defeat to Nottingham Forest on 28 February, while March opened with further defeats to Southampton and Reading. Cardiff broke an eight-match winless run on 21 March by beating Stoke 3–2 on 21 March with McCambridge scoring a hat-trick. He added a brace just over a week later in a 2–2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur but this proved to be the side's last goals until the final game of the season as they failed to score in five consecutive matches, drawing three and losing two. Their final game of the campaign ended in a 3–1 defeat to Bury as Cardiff ended the season having won only 1 of their final 17 fixtures. They finished bottom of the Second Division having scored the fewest goals in the league and were subsequently relegated to the Third Division South.
Partial league table
Match results
Key
In result column, Cardiff City's score shown first H = Home match A = Away match
pen. = Penalty kick o.g. = Own goal
Results DateOpponentsResultGoalscorersAttendance 30 August 1930 Swansea Town (A) 2–3 Williams (2) 20,363 3 September 1930 Bury (A) 0–3 9,488 6 September 1930 West Bromwich Albion (H) 3–6 Jones, Bird, Helsby 10,987 8 September 1930 Everton (H) 1–2 Bird 11,463 13 September 1930 Port Vale (A) 0–2 9,693 17 September 1930 Everton (A) 1–1 Williams 17,464 20 September 1930 Bradford City (H) 1–1 Bird 5,839 22 September 1930 Plymouth Argyle (H) 4–1 Robbins (2), Williams, Davies 6,615 27 September 1930 Charlton Athletic (A) 1–4 Williams 12,279 4 October 1930 Barnsley (H) 2–0 Helsby, Jones 9,884 11 October 1930 Bristol City (A) 0–1 19,447 18 October 1930 Oldham Athletic (A) 2–4 Harris, Emmerson 11,663 25 October 1930 Nottingham Forest (H) 1–1 Jones 8,955 1 November 1930 Southampton (A) 1–0 Keenor 12,182 8 November 1930 Reading (H) 5–0 Robbins (2), Jones, Valentine (2) 10,902 15 November 1930 Stoke City (A) 0–1 8,666 22 November 1930 Bradford (H) 0–3 5,475 29 November 1930 Wolverhampton Wanderers (A) 1–4 Valentine 6,995 6 December 1930 Millwall (H) 4–4 Emmerson, Robbins (3) 6,400 13 December 1930 Preston North End (A) 0–7 13,457 20 December 1930 Burnley (H) 4–0 Robbins (2), Jones, Emmerson 7,485 26 December 1930 Plymouth Argyle (A) 1–5 Williams 31,106 27 December 1930 Swansea Town (H) 1–0 Jones 24,232 3 January 1931 West Bromwich Albion (A) 2–3 McCambridge (2) 13,792 17 January 1931 Port Vale (H) 2–1 Robbins (2) 8,028 31 January 1931 Charlton Athletic (H) 0–2 4,470 4 February 1931 Bradford City (A) 1–2 McCambridge 4,799 7 February 1931 Barnsley (A) 0–4 5,399 14 February 1931 Bristol City (H) 0–1 11,780 21 February 1931 Oldham Athletic (H) 0–0 8,911 28 February 1931 Nottingham Forest (A) 1–3 Davies 3,565 7 March 1931 Southampton (H) 0–1 5,555 14 March 1931 Reading (A) 0–3 9,555 21 March 1931 Stoke City (H) 3–2 McCambridge 5,372 28 March 1931 Bradford (A) 0–3 6,557 3 April 1931 Tottenham Hotspur (A) 2–2 McCambridge (2) 41,547 4 April 1931 Wolverhampton Wanderers (H) 0–3 6,659 6 April 1931 Tottenham Hotspur (H) 0–0 6,666 11 April 1931 Millwall (A) 0–0 14,328 18 April 1931 Preston North End (H) 0–0 4,082 25 April 1931 Burnley (A) 0–1 4,125 2 May 1931 Bury (H) 1–3 Jones 3,841
Cup matches FA Cup Cardiff entered the FA Cup in the third round and were drawn against Third Division South side Brentford. The first match took place on 10 January at the opposition's Griffin Park and ended in a 2–2 draw with Jones and Valentine scoring for Cardiff. As a result, the two sides met again four days later in a replay at Ninian Park. Robbins scored for Cardiff but his side fell to a 2–1 defeat and were eliminated from the competition.
Match results Key
In result column, Cardiff City's score shown first H = Home match A = Away match N = Neutral venue
pen. = Penalty kick o.g. = Own goal
Results DateRoundOpponentsResultGoalscorersAttendance 10 January 1930 Three Brentford (A) 2–2 Jones, Valentine 16,500 14 January 1930 Three (replay) Brentford (H) 1–2 Robbins 25,000
Welsh Cup The Welsh Cup final the previous season had ended in a goalless draw between Cardiff and Rhyl. Unusually, the Football Association of Wales (FAW) did not host a replay of the final until October 1930, three months into the following season. On 8 October, Cardiff met Rhyl in a replay and won the match 4–2 following a hat-trick from Davies and one goal by Jones.
Cardiff entered the 1930–31 Welsh Cup in the third round where they were drawn against Barry Town on 4 March 1931. Cardiff proved too strong for their opponents despite fielding several reserve players, winning the match 7–3 with braces from Matt Robinson, Davies and Bill Merry and one from George Emmerson. For the 1930–31 season, the (FAW) had allowed English club's located near the Wales-England border to compete in the competition for the first time. Cardiff were drawn against English side Chester in the sixth round, winning 1–0 following a goal by McCambridge. However, in the semi-final Cardiff were eliminated by English opposition after losing 1–0 to Shrewsbury Town.
Match results 1929–30 Key
In result column, Cardiff City's score shown first H = Home match A = Away match N = Neutral venue
pen. = Penalty kick o.g. = Own goal
Results DateRoundOpponentsResultGoalscorersAttendance 8 October 1930 Final (replay) Rhyl (A) 4–2 Davies (3), Jones 7,000
1930–31 Key
In result column, Cardiff City's score shown first H = Home match A = Away match N = Neutral venue
pen. = Penalty kick o.g. = Own goal
Results DateRoundOpponentsResultGoalscorersAttendance 4 March 1931 Five Barry Town (H) 7–3 Robinson (2), Davies (2), Merry (2), Emmerson 3,000 25 March 1931 Six Chester (A) 1–0 McCambridge 12,000 13 April 1931 Semi-final Shrewsbury Town (A) 0–1 4,000
Player details