1948–49 Stoke City F.C. season

Stoke City

1948–49 season
Chairman	Mr H. Booth
Manager	Bob McGrory
Stadium	Victoria Ground
Football League First Division	11th (41 Points)
FA Cup	Fifth Round
Top goalscorer	League: Frank Bowyer (21) All: Frank Bowyer (21)
Highest home attendance	45,803 vs Manchester United (16 October 1948)
Lowest home attendance	15,949 vs Huddersfield Town (5 March 1949)
Average home league attendance	29,943
Home colours
← 1947–48 1949–50 →

The 1948–49 season was Stoke City's 42nd season in the Football League and the 28th in the First Division.

It was again a disappointing season for Stoke as a number of players started voicing their displeasure at manager Bob McGrory's strict discipline. A number of players handed in transfer requests as discomfort began to affect the club. Results on the pitch were inconsistent and a mid table finish of 11th was the final outcome.^[1]

Season review

League

A strange feeling of disharmony set in at the Victoria Ground prior to the start of the 1948–49 season and Stoke received a number of transfer requests from players on the slightest whim.^[1] The previous season's main signings Jimmy McAlinden and Tommy Kiernan both departed after just a year with the club losing around £2,000 on the pair.^[1] The only other player whose wish to leave was accepted was Bert Mitchell.^[1] The 4 December 1948 was Stoke's red letter day as they fielded a team against Blackpool that cost a mere £10 and with all of them from the Stoke-on-Trent area.^[1] The only blotch on the claim however is that Frank Mountford was born in Doncaster but he moved to Stoke when he was about three years old.^[1]

A mid table position of 11th was all that Stoke could have expected from an inconsistent season with 16 wins and 17 defeats.^[1] One key point during the season was manager Bob McGrory's decision to employ Frank Bowyer as an out-and-out centre forward and he scored 21 goals.^[1] Surprisingly, when the campaign ended Bowyer asked for a transfer which was accepted but he soon had a change of heart and would remain at the club until 1960.^[1]

FA Cup

Stoke beat Swindon Town 3–1 in the third round before being drawn against Stanley Matthews' Blackpool.^[1] Stoke overcame the "Tangerines" 1–0 in a replay. Around 46,738 fans assembled to watch Stoke take on Third Division Hull City but much to the shock of the Stoke supporters, Hull won 2–0 on an awful Victoria Ground pitch.^[1]

Final league table

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Portsmouth	42	25	8	9	84	42	2.000	58
2	Manchester United	42	21	11	10	77	44	1.750	53
3	Derby County	42	22	9	11	74	55	1.345	53
4	Newcastle United	42	20	12	10	70	56	1.250	52
5	Arsenal	42	18	13	11	74	44	1.682	49
6	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	17	12	13	79	66	1.197	46
7	Manchester City	42	15	15	12	47	51	0.922	45
8	Sunderland	42	13	17	12	49	58	0.845	43
9	Charlton Athletic	42	15	12	15	63	67	0.940	42
10	Aston Villa	42	16	10	16	60	76	0.789	42
11	Stoke City	42	16	9	17	66	68	0.971	41
12	Liverpool	42	13	14	15	53	43	1.233	40
13	Chelsea	42	12	14	16	69	68	1.015	38
14	Bolton Wanderers	42	14	10	18	59	68	0.868	38
15	Burnley	42	12	14	16	43	50	0.860	38
16	Blackpool	42	11	16	15	54	67	0.806	38
17	Birmingham City	42	11	15	16	36	38	0.947	37
18	Everton	42	13	11	18	41	63	0.651	37
19	Middlesbrough	42	11	12	19	46	57	0.807	34
20	Huddersfield Town	42	12	10	20	40	69	0.580	34
21	Preston North End	42	11	11	20	62	75	0.827	33
22	Sheffield United	42	11	11	20	57	78	0.731	33

Key: P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points

Results

Stoke's score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League First Division

Match	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
1	21 August 1948	Charlton Athletic	H	2–2	29,975	Kiernan, F Mountford
2	25 August 1948	Arsenal	A	0–3	47,000
3	28 August 1948	Manchester City	A	0–0	47,450
4	30 August 1948	Arsenal	H	1–0	39,595	Steele
5	4 September 1948	Portsmouth	H	0–1	30,036
6	8 September 1948	Everton	A	1–2	42,818	Bowyer
7	11 September 1948	Newcastle United	A	2–2	59,262	Bowyer, Steele
8	13 September 1948	Everton	H	1–0	25,404	Steele
9	18 September 1948	Middlesbrough	H	3–0	28,854	Steele, Bowyer (2)
10	25 September 1948	Birmingham City	A	1–2	49,800	Bowyer
11	2 October 1948	Chelsea	H	4–3	30,934	Bowyer, Steele (2), Baker
12	9 October 1948	Huddersfield Town	A	3–1	19,381	Bowyer, Baker, G Mountford
13	16 October 1948	Manchester United	H	2–1	45,830	G Mountford, Steele
14	23 October 1948	Sheffield United	A	2–2	29,374	G Mountford, Bowyer
15	30 October 1948	Aston Villa	H	4–2	37,200	G Mountford, Bowyer, Peppitt, Ashton (o.g.)
16	6 November 1948	Sunderland	A	1–1	41,871	Bowyer
17	13 November 1948	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	2–1	37,111	Bowyer (2)
18	20 November 1948	Bolton Wanderers	A	1–2	40,000	Steele
19	27 November 1948	Liverpool	H	3–0	29,607	Steele, F Mountford, Bowyer
20	4 December 1948	Blackpool	A	1–2	30,000	Steele
21	11 December 1948	Derby County	H	4–2	38,802	Steele (2), F Mountford (pen), Ormston
22	18 December 1948	Charlton Athletic	A	1–4	32,000	Bowyer
23	25 December 1948	Burnley	A	3–1	39,000	Bowyer (3)
24	27 December 1948	Burnley	H	2–1	39,533	Steele (2)
25	1 January 1949	Manchester City	H	2–3	27,379	Steele, Bowyer
26	15 January 1949	Portsmouth	A	0–1	34,000
27	22 January 1949	Newcastle United	H	1–1	39,377	Bowyer
28	19 February 1949	Birmingham City	H	2–1	25,892	Steele, Sellars
29	26 February 1949	Chelsea	A	2–2	39,652	Caton, G Mountford
30	5 March 1949	Huddersfield Town	H	1–3	15,595	Bowyer
31	12 March 1949	Manchester United	A	0–3	55,949
32	19 March 1949	Bolton Wanderers	H	4–0	24,269	G Mountford (2), F Mountford, Hamlett (o.g.)
33	26 March 1949	Liverpool	A	0–4	30,797
34	2 April 1949	Sunderland	H	0–0	21,989
35	9 April 1949	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	1–3	35,000	Steele
36	15 April 1949	Preston North End	A	1–2	37,000	Bowyer
37	16 April 1949	Sheffield United	H	0–1	22,556
38	18 April 1949	Preston North End	H	2–0	22,185	Steele, Peppitt
39	23 April 1949	Aston Villa	A	1–2	40,000	Ormston
40	27 April 1949	Middlesbrough	A	1–1	40,226	Peppitt
41	30 April 1949	Blackpool	H	3–2	18,705	Peppitt, G Mountford, F Mountford (pen)
42	7 May 1949	Derby County	A	1–4	28,616	Peppitt

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
R3	8 January 1949	Swindon Town	A	3–1	26,335	Steele, G Mountford (2)
R4	29 January 1948	Blackpool	H	1–1	45,000	F Mountford
R4 Replay	5 February 1949	Blackpool	A	1–0	30,000	G Mountford
R5	12 February 1949	Hull City	H	0–2	46,738

Squad statistics

Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Dennis Herod	41	0	4	0	45	0
GK	Norman Wilkinson	1	0	0	0	1	0
DF	Neil Franklin	36	0	4	0	40	0
DF	Eric Hampson	1	0	0	0	1	0
DF	Roy Jones	5	0	0	0	5	0
DF	John Kirkby	1	0	0	0	1	0
DF	John McCue	39	0	1	0	40	0
DF	Harry Meakin	2	0	3	0	5	0
DF	Billy Mould	25	0	0	0	25	0
DF	Cyril Watkin	16	0	3	0	19	0
MF	Roy Brown	2	0	0	0	2	0
MF	Jock Kirton	1	0	1	0	2	0
MF	Frank Mountford	40	5	4	1	44	6
MF	John Sellars	42	1	4	0	46	1
MF	Edward Wordley	1	0	0	0	1	0
FW	Frank Baker	17	2	0	0	17	2
FW	Frank Bowyer	31	21	4	0	35	21
FW	Bill Caton	10	1	0	0	10	1
FW	Tommy Kiernan	4	1	0	0	4	1
FW	Jimmy McAlinden	2	0	0	0	2	0
FW	John Malkin	6	0	0	0	6	0
FW	George Mountford	39	8	4	3	43	11
FW	Alexander Ormston	42	2	4	0	46	2
FW	Syd Peppitt	20	5	4	0	24	5
FW	Freddie Steele	38	18	4	1	42	19
–	Own goals	–	2	–	0	–	2

References

1. Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.

See also

• 1948–49 in English football
• List of Stoke City F.C. seasons