1951–52 Port Vale F.C. season

Port Vale

1951–52 season
Chairman	William Holdcroft
Manager	Ivor Powell (until November) Freddie Steele (December onwards)
Stadium	Vale Park
Football League Third Division South	13th (43 Points)
FA Cup	First Round
Top goalscorer	League: Albert Mullard (13) All: Albert Mullard (13)
Highest home attendance	17,860 vs. Brighton & Hove Albion (12 January 1952)
Lowest home attendance	4,136 vs. Aldershot (8 December 1951)
Average home league attendance	11,225
Home colours
← 1950–51 1952–53 →

The 1951–52 season was Port Vale's 40th season of football in the Football League, and their seventh full season in the Third Division South.^[1] Manager Ivor Powell did not last long, and was replaced by Freddie Steele in December. Steele would later prove to be one of the club's greatest and longest serving managers. He started early, taking a club bottom of the league at Christmas to a thirteenth place finish. He achieved this without making any major signings, rather he managed the players he had in a better way than Powell.

From 9 February until 8 September the following season the club racked up a club record streak of twelve consecutive home wins.

Overview

Third Division South

The pre-season saw 578 seats installed on the Railway Terrace, bringing the seated capacity of Vale Park to 1,010.^[1] No signings of note were made, however transfer-listed Cliff Pinchbeck failed to turn up for pre-season training, citing illness.^[1]

Thirty seconds into their opening game with Reading and they were behind, the Vale went on to lose 2–0.^[1] A six game unbeaten streak followed, with just three goals conceded, though only five goals were scored. On his return to Burslem, Pinchbeck scored a brace to salvage a point against Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic.^[1] Vale then sold Alan Martin to rivals Stoke City for £10,000 and Albert Mullard, the money going towards fixing the drainage problem at Vale Park.^[1] The sale was criticized by supporters, though they soon warmed to Mullard, who went on to become the club's top-scorer.^[1] The club failed to sign transfer target Dennis Wilshaw from Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Garth Butler was forced to retire with a knee injury.^[1] Results turned against the team, as they went on a run of thirteen games without a win, though all five of the home games on the 'wide open' Vale Park pitch were draws (all eight away matches were losses).^[1] Manager Ivor Powell attempted to sign players, but was deterred by the high transfer prices, and so instead continually reshuffled the first eleven.^[1] Powell's contract was terminated on 22 November, his team bottom of the table.^[1] Trainer Ken Fish took temporary charge of first team affairs. Roy Sproson and Ray King would later say the sacking came as no surprise, saying Powell 'ruled by fear', 'used to treat the players like kids' and it was a 'complete relief' to find him dismissed.^[1] Pinchbeck was also offloaded, sold to Northampton Town for 'an undisclosed sum'.^[1]

On 8 December, Vale recorded a surprise 4–1 win over Aldershot.^[1] Yet the side then went another eight games without a win.^[1] Freddie Steele was appointed player-manager on Christmas Eve, signing the former England international meant Vale had to pay Mansfield Town a four-figure fee.^[1] The former Stoke City forward was still very much a goalscorer, having described his record of 44 goals in 66 games for the "Stags" as "not bad for an old man!".^[1] In January, half-back Norman Hallam returned to the club.^[1] On 12 January, 17,860 turned up to witness a 1–1 draw in Steele's debut against second-placed Brighton & Hove Albion, the first of a five match unbeaten run that took Vale off the foot of the table.^[1] A fortnight later Vale travelled to Plainmoor, where Steele took the ball from his own half to score the winner past Torquay United.^[1] On 9 February, Vale beat Gillingham 1–0, in what was the first of a club record thirteen game winning run at home.^[1]

A 5–1 hammering at Elm Park from Reading failed to prevent the Vale from going on to another eight game unbeaten run.^[1] Steele accomplished this without any new signings, in fact he sold Walter Aveyard to Accrington Stanley for a four-figure fee in April.^[1] Their run ended with a 3–0 defeat at Fellows Park to bottom-placed Walsall.^[1] Vale finished their final five games with three wins.^[1]

They finished thirteenth with 43 points, with a strong defence but the lowest goals scored tally in the division.^[1] They had lost just the one game at Vale Park, back on the opening day.^[1]

Finances

On the financial side, a profit of £4,403 was announced by the club, due to a profit on transfers of £16,750.^[1] Gross receipts had fallen to £27,133, whilst wages had risen by £3,500 to £23,511.^[1] Steele seemed to be happy with the players he inherited, as he retained 31 professionals, the only departures being George Heppell to Witton Albion, Stan Palk to Worcester City, and Lol Hamlett to Congleton Town.^[1]

Cup competitions

In the FA Cup, Vale fell at the first hurdle to Colchester United at Layer Road, losing 3–1.

Final league table

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Plymouth Argyle	46	29	8	9	107	53	2.019	66
2	Reading	46	29	3	14	112	60	1.867	61
3	Norwich City	46	26	9	11	89	50	1.780	61
4	Millwall	46	23	12	11	74	53	1.396	58
5	Brighton & Hove Albion	46	24	10	12	87	63	1.381	58
6	Newport County	46	21	12	13	77	76	1.013	54
7	Bristol Rovers	46	20	12	14	89	53	1.679	52
8	Northampton Town	46	22	5	19	93	74	1.257	49
9	Southend United	46	19	10	17	75	66	1.136	48
10	Colchester United	46	17	12	17	56	77	0.727	46
11	Torquay United	46	17	10	19	86	98	0.878	44
12	Aldershot	46	18	8	20	78	89	0.876	44
13	Port Vale	46	14	15	17	50	66	0.758	43
14	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	46	16	10	20	69	75	0.920	42
15	Bristol City	46	15	12	19	58	69	0.841	42
16	Swindon Town	46	14	14	18	51	68	0.750	42
17	Ipswich Town	46	16	9	21	63	74	0.851	41
18	Leyton Orient	46	16	9	21	55	68	0.809	41
19	Crystal Palace	46	15	9	22	61	80	0.762	39
20	Shrewsbury Town	46	13	10	23	62	86	0.721	36
21	Watford	46	13	10	23	57	81	0.704	36
22	Gillingham	46	11	13	22	71	81	0.877	35
23	Exeter City	46	13	9	24	65	86	0.756	35
24	Walsall	46	13	5	28	55	94	0.585	31

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

Results

Port Vale's score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45	46
Ground	H	A	H	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	H	A	A	A	H	A	H	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H
Result	L	D	D	D	W	W	D	L	D	L	L	L	D	L	D	L	D	L	L	W	L	D	L	D	L	L	D	D	W	W	W	L	D	W	W	D	W	W	W	D	L	W	W	L	L	W
Position	21	19	22	21	17	10	9	16	16	17	19	20	22	23	23	24	23	24	24	23	23	23	23	24	24	24	24	23	23	24	23	23	22	20	19	20	18	13	14	13	15	15	13	16	17	12

Sourced from Statto.^[2]

Football League Third Division South

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
18 August 1951	Reading	H	0–2	16,663
21 August 1951	Southend United	A	0–0	9,371
27 August 1951	Southend United	H	0–0	10,550
1 September 1951	Watford	H	1–1	11,790	Leake
5 September 1951	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	A	1–0	11,455	Martin
8 September 1951	Bristol City	H	1–0	14,472	Martin
10 September 1951	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	H	2–2	12,601	Pinchbeck (2)
15 September 1951	Ipswich Town	A	0–2	9,287
22 September 1951	Torquay United	H	2–2	14,201	Mullard, Sproson
27 September 1951	Northampton Town	A	1–3	8,082	Mullard
29 September 1951	Gillingham	A	2–4	14,354	Mullard (pen), Pinchbeck
6 October 1951	Plymouth Argyle	A	0–3	19,161
13 October 1951	Norwich City	H	0–0	10,576
20 October 1951	Exeter City	A	0–2	7,834
27 October 1951	Colchester United	H	1–1	9,488	Bennett
3 November 1951	Crystal Palace	A	1–3	16,401	Pinchbeck
10 November 1951	Swindon Town	H	2–2	9,142	Barber, Mullard
17 November 1951	Leyton Orient	A	0–2	7,674
1 December 1951	Shrewsbury Town	A	0–2	8,690
8 December 1951	Aldershot	H	4–1	4,136	Mullard (2), Hulligan, Cunliffe
15 December 1951	Brighton & Hove Albion	A	1–2	14,218	Mullard
22 December 1951	Northampton Town	H	0–0	8,973
25 December 1951	Bristol Rovers	A	1–4	16,691	o.g.
26 December 1951	Bristol Rovers	H	1–1	16,734	Barber
29 December 1951	Watford	A	0–2	9,023
5 January 1952	Bristol City	A	0–1	17,598
12 January 1952	Brighton & Hove Albion	H	1–1	17,860	Mullard (pen)
19 January 1952	Ipswich Town	H	0–0	10,592
26 January 1952	Torquay United	A	3–2	5,588	Griffiths, Mullard (pen), Steele
9 February 1952	Gillingham	H	1–0	12,768	Cunliffe
16 February 1952	Plymouth Argyle	H	1–0	10,572	Mullard
20 February 1952	Reading	A	1–5	10,174	Palk
23 February 1952	Newport County	A	1–1	11,543	Griffiths
1 March 1952	Norwich City	A	3–2	17,642	Steele, Hulligan, Mullard (pen)
8 March 1952	Exeter City	H	3–0	12,021	Steele, Griffiths, Hulligan
15 March 1952	Colchester United	A	0–0	7,551
22 March 1952	Crystal Palace	H	2–0	11,686	Bennett, Griffiths
24 March 1952	Newport County	H	4–2	5,908	Steele (2), Griffiths, Mullard
5 April 1952	Leyton Orient	H	3–0	7,257	Steele, Hulligan, Mullard
11 April 1952	Millwall	A	1–1	24,375	Griffiths
12 April 1952	Walsall	A	0–3	7,518
19 April 1952	Shrewsbury Town	H	1–0	14,469	Steele
21 April 1952	Walsall	H	1–0	8,401	Griffiths
26 April 1952	Aldershot	A	1–4	6,676	Bennett
28 April 1952	Swindon Town	A	0–2	4,835
3 May 1952	Millwall	H	2–1	7,316	Leake, Griffiths

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R1	24 November 1951	Colchester United	A	1–3	10,119	Pinchbeck

Player statistics

Appearances Pos. Name Football League FA Cup Total Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals GK George Heppell 27 0 1 0 28 0 GK Ray King 19 0 0 0 19 0 DF Basil Hayward 27 0 1 0 28 0 DF Tommy Cheadle 39 0 1 0 40 0 DF Reg Potts 21 0 0 0 21 0 DF Lol Hamlett 24 0 1 0 25 0 DF Stan Turner 40 0 0 0 40 0 DF Roy Sproson 28 1 0 0 28 1 MF Jimmy Todd 24 0 1 0 25 0 MF Alan Martin 5 2 0 0 5 2 MF Mick Hulligan 37 4 1 0 38 4 MF Alan Bennett 39 3 1 0 40 3 MF Albert Leake 8 2 0 0 8 2 MF John Cunliffe 11 2 0 0 11 2 MF Albert Mullard 34 13 1 0 35 13 MF Ivor Powell 6 0 0 0 6 0 MF Norman Hallam 3 0 0 0 3 0 MF Colin Askey 7 0 0 0 7 0 FW Stan Palk 30 1 1 0 31 1 FW Walter Aveyard 13 0 0 0 13 0 FW Cliff Pinchbeck 12 4 1 1 13 5 FW Ken Griffiths 20 8 1 0 21 8 FW Len Barber 18 2 0 0 18 2 FW Freddie Steele 14 7 0 0 14 7

Scorers All competitions Scorer Goals Albert Mullard 13 Ken Griffiths 8 Freddie Steele 7 Mick Hulligan 5 Cliff Pinchbeck 4 Alan Bennett 3 Albert Leake 2 John Cunliffe Alan Martin Len Barber Stan Palk 1 Roy Sproson League Scorer Goals Albert Mullard 13 Ken Griffiths 8 Freddie Steele 7 Cliff Pinchbeck 4 Mick Hulligan Alan Bennett 3 Albert Leake 2 John Cunliffe Alan Martin Len Barber Stan Palk 1 Roy Sproson

References

1. Kent, Jeff (1990). "Fame and Fortune (1950–1959)". The Valiants' Years: The Story Of Port Vale. Witan Books. pp. 171–196. ISBN 0-9508981-4-7.
2. Port Vale 1951–1952 : Results & Fixtures. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.

• Kent, Jeff (1993). The Port Vale Record 1879-1993. Witan Books. ISBN 0-9508981-9-8.