1950–51 Stoke City F.C. season

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Stoke City
1950–51 season
ChairmanMr H. Booth
ManagerBob McGrory
StadiumVictoria Ground
Football League First Division13th (40 Points)
FA CupFifth Round
Top goalscorerLeague: Frank Bowyer
(16)
All: Frank Bowyer
(19)
Highest home attendance40,012 vs Arsenal
(26 December 1950)
Lowest home attendance19,004 vs Middlesbrough
(26 March 1951)
Average home league attendance25,791

The 1950–51 season was Stoke City's 44th season in the Football League and the 30th in the First Division.

Stoke were rocked before the start of the season by the news that Neil Franklin and George Mountford had agreed to play for Independiente Santa Fe in Colombia. The transfer caused uproar amongst the FA and the pair were later punished.[1] Stoke were again unimpressive as they finished in a mid table position of 13th.[1]

Season review

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League

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Stoke were rocked before the start of the season by the news that Neil Franklin and George Mountford had agreed to play for Independiente Santa Fe in Colombia.[1] The South American country at this time was not under the jurisdiction of FIFA and the two players came under heavy criticism, and Franklin was stripped from England international duties.[1] However, despite the pair making a big impression on Colombian football the country was at a state of civil unrest and two months later Franklin returned to England.[1] He never played for Stoke again and ended up with Hull City whilst George Mountford finished the season with Santa Fe and returned to Stoke.[1]

The summer activities were still the gossip as the 1950–51 season opened with only one new signing at the Victoria Ground, goalkeeper Don Clegg who had an unsuccessful career.[1] Jock Kirton was made captain and most fans lacked confidence in the squad now minus to key players.[1] McGrory stated that his team was good enough for First Division football but admitted that he would have liked to bring in more players to the club.[1] With the season five days old McGrory paid £8,000 on Crewe Alexandra forward Albert Mullard however in his first game for Stoke he injured his knee and suffered a lengthy lay-off.[1]

Stoke had a season of mixed fortunes and whilst they were certainly good enough to stay out of relegation trouble they lacked the quality to claim a top half finished and ended up in 13th position which was not as bad as some of the supporters made out.[1]

FA Cup

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Stoke drew local rivals Port Vale in the third round and the two sides served up a thrilling cup tie.[1] The initial clash with Vale took place on a heavy Victoria Ground pitch was seen by over 48,000 fans.[1] In an entertaining first half Alan Bennett put Vale into the lead after six minutes and although Stoke pushed hard for an equaliser they couldn't beat Ray King.[1] Then the Vale fans were celebrating again as their side went 2–0 up, Cliff Pinchbeck scoring after 45 seconds into the second half.[1] Stoke were rattled and soon after Albert Mullard pulled one back with a crisp shot from the edge of the area and he then scored again to set up a frantic finale.[1] However, with both teams battling it out in the mud the match finished in a fair draw.[1] With Vale Park waterlogged it was back to the Victoria Ground and was again a tense encounter.[1] Vale were the better team creating the most chances but with just seconds remaining Frank Bowyer who had been kept quite by the "Valiants" defence suddenly found space and headed in a Harry Oscroft cross to end the tie.[1]

Stoke then beat West Ham United before losing 4–2 against Newcastle United in front of 48,500 at the Vic.[1]

Final league table

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Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GAv Pts
11 Derby County 42 16 8 18 81 75 1.080 40
12 Sunderland 42 12 16 14 63 73 0.863 40
13 Stoke City 42 13 14 15 50 59 0.847 40
14 Wolverhampton Wanderers 42 15 8 19 74 61 1.213 38
15 Aston Villa 42 12 13 17 66 68 0.971 37
Source: World Football
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Goals scored

Results

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Stoke's score comes first

Legend

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Win Draw Loss

Football League First Division

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Main article: 1950–51 Football League
Match Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
1 19 August 1950 Newcastle United H 1–2 28,000 Bowyer
2 23 August 1950 Huddersfield Town A 1–3 14,075 Johnston
3 26 August 1950 West Bromwich Albion A 1–1 34,000 Johnston
4 28 August 1950 Huddersfield Town H 0–1 21,776
5 2 September 1950 Derby County H 4–1 28,000 Bowyer, Brown, Johnston (2)
6 4 September 1950 Sheffield Wednesday A 1–1 35,700 Johnston
7 9 September 1950 Everton H 2–0 28,000 Johnston (2)
8 11 September 1950 Sheffield Wednesday H 1–1 23,272 Brown
9 16 September 1950 Portsmouth A 1–5 30,000 Bowyer
10 23 September 1950 Chelsea H 2–1 26,000 Johnston, Oscroft
11 30 September 1950 Burnley A 1–1 23,776 Bowyer
12 7 October 1950 Liverpool A 0–0 40,239
13 14 October 1950 Fulham H 1–1 27,000 Ormston
14 21 October 1950 Tottenham Hotspur A 1–6 54,124 Ormston
15 28 October 1950 Charlton Athletic H 2–0 25,000 Bowyer (2)
16 4 November 1950 Bolton Wanderers A 1–1 33,000 Ball (o.g.)
17 11 November 1950 Blackpool H 1–0 39,994 Mountford (pen)
18 18 November 1950 Manchester United A 0–0 30,031
19 25 November 1950 Wolverhampton Wanderers H 0–1 35,000
20 2 December 1950 Sunderland A 1–1 36,137 Bowyer
21 9 December 1950 Aston Villa H 1–0 29,998 Oscroft
22 16 December 1950 Newcastle United A 1–3 25,067 Brown
23 23 December 1950 West Bromwich Albion H 1–1 19,811 Bowyer
24 25 December 1950 Arsenal A 3–0 38,224 Bowyer, Johnston, Brown
25 26 December 1950 Arsenal H 1–0 40,012 Bowyer
26 30 December 1950 Derby County A 1–1 25,034 Bowyer
27 13 January 1951 Everton A 3–0 35,542 Bowyer, Johnston, Beckett
28 20 January 1951 Portsmouth H 1–2 23,455 Johnston
29 3 February 1951 Chelsea A 1–1 25,224 Bowyer
30 17 February 1951 Burnley H 0–0 20,823
31 24 February 1951 Liverpool H 2–3 22,216 Johnston (2)
32 3 March 1951 Fulham A 0–2 34,768
33 10 March 1951 Tottenham Hotspur H 0–0 24,236
34 17 March 1951 Charlton Athletic A 0–2 15,091
35 23 March 1951 Middlesbrough A 0–1 36,239
36 24 March 1951 Bolton Wanderers H 2–1 20,027 Bowyer (2)
37 26 March 1951 Middlesbrough H 2–0 19,004 Oscroft (2)
38 31 March 1951 Blackpool A 0–3 27,122
39 7 April 1951 Manchester United H 2–0 25,690 Oscroft, Mullard
40 14 April 1951 Wolverhampton Wanderers A 3–2 30,040 Oscroft, Clowes (2)
41 21 April 1951 Sunderland H 2–4 20,190 Mountford (pen), Hedley (o.g.)
42 5 May 1951 Aston Villa A 2–6 24,986 Mullard, Bowyer

FA Cup

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Main article: 1950–51 FA Cup
Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
R3 6 January 1951 Port Vale H 2–2 48,000 Mullard (2)
R3 Replay 8 January 1951 Port Vale H 1–0 40,903 Bowyer
R4 29 January 1951 West Ham United H 1–0 47,929 Bowyer
R5 10 February 1951 Newcastle United H 2–4 48,500 Bowyer, Mountford

Squad statistics

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Pos. Name League FA Cup Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
GK England Don Clegg 2 0 0 0 2 0
GK England Dennis Herod 35 0 3 0 38 0
GK England Norman Wilkinson 5 0 1 0 6 0
DF England Roy Beckett 3 1 1 0 4 1
DF England Eric Hampson 1 0 0 0 1 0
DF England John McCue 39 0 4 0 43 0
DF England Billy Mould 20 0 4 0 24 0
DF Scotland George Mulholland 3 0 0 0 3 0
DF England Cyril Watkin 22 0 0 0 22 0
MF England John Brooks 2 0 0 0 2 0
MF Scotland Jock Kirton 39 0 4 0 43 0
MF England Frank Mountford 42 2 3 1 45 3
MF England John Sellars 41 0 4 0 45 0
FW England Stan Bevans 2 0 0 0 2 0
FW England Frank Bowyer 39 16 4 3 43 19
FW England Roy Brown 26 4 3 0 29 4
FW England John Clowes 2 2 0 0 2 2
FW England Dennis Hughes 1 0 0 0 1 0
FW Scotland Leslie Johnston 38 13 3 0 41 13
FW England John Malkin 8 0 0 0 8 0
FW England Albert Mullard 14 2 2 2 16 4
FW England Harry Oscroft 35 6 4 0 39 6
FW England Alexander Ormston 35 2 4 0 39 2
FW England Brian Siddall 8 0 0 0 8 0
– Own goals – 2 – 0 – 2

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.
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