1947–48 Stoke City F.C. season

The 1947–48 season was Stoke City's 41st season in the Football League and the 27th in the First Division.

Stoke City
1947–48 season
ChairmanMr H. Booth
ManagerBob McGrory
StadiumVictoria Ground
Football League First Division15th (38 Points)
FA CupFourth Round
Top goalscorerLeague: Freddie Steele
(10)

All: Freddie Steele
(12)
Highest home attendance47,609 vs Blackpool
(27 December 1947)
Lowest home attendance19,478 vs Derby County
(1 May 1948)
Average home league attendance31,590

After narrowly missing out on their first league title last season there was a huge weight of expectation for the Stoke squad of 1947–48. But great misfortune was the story of the season as six key players suffered long term injuries all in September. The side battled on with inexperienced youngsters having to fill the gaps and relegation was a distinct possibility but they managed to recover and finish in 15th position.[1]

Season review

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League

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Manager Bob McGrory, ambitious and anxious now to build on last season success, twice broke the club's record transfer in the Summer of 1947 when he brought in forwards Jimmy McAlinden from Portsmouth and Tommy Kiernan from Celtic for fees of £7,000 and £8,500 respectively.[1] These two new players on top of the best from last season looked good for Stoke in the 1947–48 season as not many teams in the country could boast such an exciting young squad as Stoke's.[1]

Unfortunately, an appalling catalogue of injuries soon made it obvious that the fans would see no repeat of the form showed from last season.[1] By mid-September six of Stoke's key players, Jock Kirton, Neil Franklin, Frank Baker, George Mountford, Frank Mountford and Freddie Steele, all suffered major injuries which ruled them out for most of the season.[1] The team battled on though, and in the end took 15th place in the table, having spent quite some time in the bottom three, relegation was a distinct possibility.[1] Only six teams conceded fewer goals than Stoke but it was in attack where the problems lay, Stoke's goal threat completely drying up with Stoke scoring 90 goals last season and just 41 this season.[1] Yet despite the frustrating anti-climax for the Stoke public the average home gate rose again this time to 31,590.[1]

FA Cup

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There was no joy in the cup for Stoke fans as a 4–2 victory over Mansfield Town was followed by a 3–0 reverse against Third Division Queens Park Rangers.[1]

Final league table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GAv Pts
13 Charlton Athletic 42 17 6 19 57 66 0.864 40
14 Everton 42 17 6 19 52 66 0.788 40
15 Stoke City 42 14 10 18 41 55 0.745 38
16 Middlesbrough 42 14 9 19 71 73 0.973 37
17 Bolton Wanderers 42 16 5 21 46 58 0.793 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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Match Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
1 23 August 1947 Bolton Wanderers A 1–0 25,000 Steele
2 25 August 1947 Portsmouth H 2–1 30,106 Steele, Ormston
3 30 August 1947 Liverpool H 0–2 37,408
4 3 September 1947 Portsmouth A 0–3 30,053
5 6 September 1947 Middlesbrough A 1–2 38,000 Ormston
6 8 September 1947 Preston North End H 0–1 26,764
7 13 September 1947 Charlton Athletic H 0–1 30,027
8 17 September 1947 Preston North End A 1–2 25,114 Ormston
9 20 September 1947 Arsenal A 0–3 62,000
10 27 September 1947 Sheffield United H 1–1 39,965 Peppitt
11 4 October 1947 Manchester United A 1–1 45,745 Kiernan
12 11 October 1947 Blackburn Rovers H 2–1 33,912 G Mountford, F Mountford
13 18 October 1947 Manchester City A 0–3 42,401
14 25 October 1947 Grimsby Town H 2–1 29,944 Sellars, Kiernan
15 1 November 1947 Sunderland A 0–1 36,734
16 8 November 1947 Everton H 1–1 32,246 G Mountford
17 15 November 1947 Chelsea A 1–4 41,618 Caton
18 22 November 1947 Aston Villa H 1–2 31,891 McAlinden
19 29 November 1947 Wolverhampton Wanderers A 2–1 32,000 G Mountford, Ormston
20 6 December 1947 Huddersfield Town H 1–1 24,451 McAlinden
21 13 December 1947 Derby County A 1–1 24,812 Kiernan
22 20 December 1947 Bolton Wanderers H 2–0 23,404 Steele, Sellars
23 25 December 1947 Blackpool A 2–1 26,613 Steele (2)
24 27 December 1947 Blackpool H 1–1 47,609 Kiernan
25 3 January 1948 Liverpool A 0–0 48,665
26 17 January 1948 Middlesbrough H 2–4 24,990 Steele (2)
27 31 January 1948 Charlton Athletic A 1–0 32,102 Ormston
28 7 February 1948 Arsenal H 0–0 45,000
29 14 February 1948 Sheffield United A 0–3 30,178
30 21 February 1948 Manchester United H 0–2 36,794
31 28 February 1948 Blackburn Rovers A 0–2 24,000
32 6 March 1948 Manchester City H 3–0 30,243 Steele (2), Baker
33 13 March 1948 Grimsby Town A 0–0 9,000
34 20 March 1948 Sunderland H 3–1 26,750 Steele, Kiernan, Peppitt
35 26 March 1948 Burnley A 0–4 27,000
36 27 March 1948 Everton A 1–0 44,241 G Mountford
37 29 March 1948 Burnley H 3–0 32,459 Peppitt (3)
38 2 April 1948 Chelsea H 2–0 28,040 G Mountford, Malkin
39 10 April 1948 Aston Villa A 0–1 30,000
40 17 April 1948 Wolverhampton Wanderers H 2–3 24,512 Baker (2)
41 24 April 1948 Huddersfield Town A 0–0 15,000
42 1 May 1948 Derby County H 1–0 19,478 F Mountford (pen)

FA Cup

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Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
R3 10 January 1948 Mansfield Town A 4–2 10,500 Sellars, Kiernan, Steele (2)
R4 24 January 1948 Queens Park Rangers A 0–3 24,100

Squad statistics

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Pos. Name League FA Cup Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
GK   Dennis Herod 41 0 2 0 43 0
GK   Arthur Jepson 1 0 0 0 1 0
DF   Neil Franklin 35 0 2 0 37 0
DF   Roy Jones 1 0 0 0 1 0
DF   John McCue 23 0 0 0 23 0
DF   Harry Meakin 22 0 2 0 24 0
DF   Billy Mould 40 0 2 0 42 0
MF   Roy Brown 7 0 0 0 7 0
MF   Edmund Giblin 1 0 0 0 1 0
MF   Jock Kirton 26 0 2 0 28 0
MF   Frank Mountford 35 2 2 0 37 2
MF   John Sellars 31 2 2 1 33 3
MF   Edward Wordley 3 0 0 0 3 0
FW   Frank Baker 14 3 0 0 14 3
FW   Frank Bowyer 1 0 0 0 1 0
FW   Bill Caton 3 1 0 0 3 1
FW   John Jackson 1 0 0 0 1 0
FW   Tommy Kiernan 24 5 2 1 26 6
FW   John Malkin 5 1 0 0 5 1
FW   Jimmy McAlinden 31 2 2 0 33 2
FW   Bert Mitchell 6 0 0 0 6 0
FW   George Mountford 29 5 0 0 29 5
FW   Alexander Ormston 33 5 2 0 35 5
FW   Syd Peppitt 28 5 0 0 28 5
FW   Freddie Steele 21 10 2 2 23 12

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.