Archibald played for
Rutherglen Glencairn,
Albion Rovers,
Third Lanark before joining
Aberdeen in 1914. During
World War I he played for
Rangers and his army regiment in France and Denmark. On 25 August 1925 at the age of 29 he joined English side
Stoke City and made a fine impression scoring on his debut against
Stockport County on the opening day of the
1925–26, but a new look Stoke side failed to gel together and the side agonisingly slipped towards relegation to the Third Division. Archibald was a small player at just 5 ft 4in tall and weighing just 10 stone, His physique enabled him to become a fast player and his skill on the wings marked him out as one of the few class acts in the side relegated from the Second Division for the first time. He was renowned for his consistency, from his debut he played 58 consecutive matches before pulling a muscle against
Rochdale in November 1927 and missed just six matches in the next six seasons. His fine footwork proved to be too much for Third Division full backs as he set up numerous chances for
Charlie Wilson to score his 25 goals as Stoke won the
Football League Third Division North title. After six years of fine service he was awarded a
benefit match, he chose the final home match of the
1930–31 season against
West Bromwich Albion. The second highest crowd of the season, 26,064 paid £1,540 6s 2d to bid farewell to Archibald. He spent one more season at the
Victoria Ground during which the now 38-year-old lost his place to
Harold Taylor. Once manager
Tom Mather had brought in
Joe Johnson in April 1932 he allowed Archibald to join
Barnsley. He played just eight matches for the "Tykes" and after spending several seasons in the reserves he retired in May 1937 at the age of 42. ==Personal life==