1939–40 Port Vale F.C. season

Port Vale
1939–40 season
Chairman	Frank Huntbach
Stadium	The Old Recreation Ground
Football League Third Division South	22nd (1 Point) – season abandoned
Football League West League	8th (22 Points)
Football League War Cup	Preliminary Round; (knocked out by Walsall)
Staffordshire Senior Cup	First Round; (knocked out by West Bromwich Albion)
Top goalscorer	League: Jack Roberts (13); All: Jack Roberts (14)
Highest home attendance	6,000 vs. Everton, 6 April 1940
Lowest home attendance	1,000 vs. New Brighton, 13 May 1940
Average home league attendance	2,568
Biggest win	6–1 vs. Crewe Alexandra, 21 October 1939
Biggest defeat	0–7 and 1–8
	Home colours
	Home colours
	← 1938–39

The 1939–40 season was Port Vale's 34th season of football in the Football League, and second-successive season in the Third Division South.^[1] All competitive football was suspended upon the breakout of war in Europe, just two games into the regular season. These two games were expunged from official records, and the Football League does not recognise the regional war leagues which replaced them and thus not included in official records. Port Vale finished eighth in the West League of the regional wartime league.

Overview

Having rebuilt the playing squad the previous season, the Port Vale management opted to supplement the relatively team with young signings; notable teenage arrivals were Scottish winger Murdoch Dickie from Crewe Alexandra and inside-forward Bert Flatley from York City. Ken Fish returned as an assistant trainer as well as a player, with the club deciding to do without a manager in favour of a selection committee. A goalless draw on the opening day down at Brighton & Hove Albion was followed by a 1–0 home defeat to Exeter City. Still, match number three against Northampton Town was cancelled after war was declared and the government prohibited all sports gatherings.^[1] The Football League was formally cancelled, and the footballing authorities looked at alternative arrangements.^[1] Permission was granted for football to take place in Stoke-on-Trent and friendlies took place as during this time.^[1]

The Football League eventually decided upon regional leagues and placed Vale in the West Region, alongside the big clubs from Liverpool and Manchester. Attendances were low, with only the fixtures with Manchester United and Everton breaking the 4,000 mark at the Old Recreation Ground. They managed to beat Everton 2–1 in front on a season-high crowd of around 6,000, and also managed to pick up a 1–1 draw with Liverpool in front of just 4,000 spectators at Anfield. Vale suffered heavy defeats at Old Trafford, the Victoria Ground and Maine Road, as well as at home to Liverpool, but managed to record doubles against both Crewe Alexandra and Tranmere Rovers.^[1] Despite fielding strong sides in the War Cup and Staffordshire Senior Cup they were eliminated in the opening rounds by Walsall and West Bromwich Albion respectively.^[1] Jack Roberts finished as top-scorer with 14 goals in all competitions. The club could not afford to continue fielding a professional team and so fielded just a junior side until the 1944–45 season despite still losing vast sums of money maintaining the Old Recreation Ground.^[1]

League table

Third Division South

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts
18	Northampton Town	3	1	0	2	2	12	0.167	2
19	Aldershot	3	0	1	2	3	5	0.600	1
20	Swindon Town	3	0	1	2	2	4	0.500	1
21	Bristol Rovers	3	0	1	2	2	7	0.286	1
22	Port Vale	2	0	1	1	0	1	0.000	1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Note: The Football League was cancelled after three matches.

West Regional Championship

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts
1	Stoke City	22	13	5	4	57	41	1.390	31
2	Liverpool	22	12	5	5	66	40	1.650	29
3	Everton	22	12	4	6	64	33	1.939	28
4	Manchester United	22	14	0	8	74	41	1.805	28
5	Manchester City	22	12	4	6	73	41	1.780	28
6	Wrexham	22	10	5	7	45	50	0.900	25
7	New Brighton	22	10	3	9	55	52	1.058	23
8	Port Vale	22	10	2	10	52	56	0.929	22
9	Chester	22	7	5	10	40	51	0.784	19
10	Crewe Alexandra	22	6	1	15	44	79	0.557	13
11	Stockport County	22	4	3	15	45	79	0.570	11
12	Tranmere Rovers	22	2	3	17	41	93	0.441	7

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Results

Port Vale's score comes first

Round	1	2
Ground	A	H
Result	D	L
Position	12	22

Source: Statto^[2]
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Football League Third Division South

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
26 August 1939	Brighton & Hove Albion	A	0–0	8,172
2 September 1939	Exeter City	H	0–1	5,102

Football League West (War) League


Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
21 October 1939	Crewe Alexandra	H	6–1	2,100	P.Griffiths (2), Tunnicliffe (2), Nolan, Roberts
28 October 1939	Liverpool	A	1–1	4,000	Nolan
11 November 1939	Stockport County	A	1–2	3,452	P.Griffiths
18 November 1939	Tranmere Rovers	H	6–2	1,745	H.Griffiths (3 [2 pens]), P.Griffiths, Tunnicliffe, Nolan
25 November 1939	Manchester United	A	1–8	1,500	Tunnicliffe
2 December 1939	Wrexham	H	1–0	1,456	Higgins
9 December 1939	Everton	A	1–3	1,000	P.Griffiths
6 January 1940	New Brighton	A	2–2	1,500	Tunnicliffe, P.Griffiths
10 February 1940	Crewe Alexandra	A	3–1	800	Roberts (2), Cumberlidge
24 February 1940	Liverpool	H	3–8	2,039	Sproson, Roberts, P.Griffiths
2 March 1940	Chester	A	3–0	1,000	Higgins, Roberts, Tunnicliffe
9 March 1940	Stockport County	H	6–2	1,787	Higgins (2), Tunnicliffe (2), P.Griffiths, Roberts
16 March 1940	Tranmere Rovers	A	5–1	2,000	Tunnicliffe (2), Roberts (2), Higgins
23 March 1940	Manchester United	H	1–3	4,127	Higgins
25 March 1940	Stoke City	A	1–5	9,450	Roberts
30 March 1940	Wrexham	A	0–1	2,000
6 April 1940	Everton	H	2–1	6,000	Griffiths, Higgins
4 May 1940	Chester	H	3–1	1,170	Roberts (2), Blunt
6 May 1940	Stoke City	H	1–2	3,053	Roberts
11 May 1940	Manchester City	H	2–5	1,242	Roberts, Bellis
13 May 1940	New Brighton	H	3–0	1,000	Triner (2), Bellis
18 May 1940	Manchester City	A	0–7	2,000

Football League (War) Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
Preliminary	13 April 1940	Walsall	H	2–2	4,403	H.Griffiths, Roberts
Replay	15 April 1940	Walsall	A	0–6	883

Staffordshire Senior Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
1	4 November 1939	West Bromwich Albion	A	1–2	2,000	P.Griffiths

Player statistics

Appearances and goals

Pos.	Name	Football League		War League		Cups		Total
Pos.	Name	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Arthur Jepson	2	0	21	0	3	0	26	0
GK	Jack Moore	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
DF	Harry Griffiths	2	0	16	3	2	0	20	3
DF	Johnny Rowe	2	0	15	0	3	0	20	0
DF	Edwin Blunt	0	0	9	1	1	0	10	1
DF	Jack Griffiths	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
DF	Jimmy Oakes	0	0	7	0	0	0	7	0
DF	Fred Obrey	0	0	10	0	0	0	10	0
DF	Bob Pursell	0	0	13	0	2	0	15	0
DF	Charlie Scrimshaw	0	0	7	0	1	0	8	0
DF	Jess Sproson	0	0	4	1	0	0	4	1
MF	Wilf Smith	2	0	22	0	3	0	27	0
MF	Arthur Cumberlidge	2	0	15	1	2	0	19	1
MF	Alf Bellis	2	0	5	2	0	0	7	2
MF	Don Triner	0	0	5	2	0	0	5	2
MF	George Hannah	2	0	3	0	0	0	5	0
MF	Ronald Beresford	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
MF	Murdoch Dickie	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
MF	Phil Griffiths	0	0	22	9	3	1	25	10
MF	Billy Tunnicliffe	0	0	17	10	3	0	20	10
FW	Jack Roberts	2	0	16	13	2	1	20	14
FW	Tom Nolan	0	0	8	3	1	0	9	3
FW	John Sanderson	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
FW	Bert Flatley	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
FW	Dennis Higgins	0	0	18	7	3	0	21	7
FW	George Morrey	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
FW	Harry Ware	0	0	6	0	2	0	8	0
FW	Ken Fish	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Top scorers

Place	Position	Nation	Name	West (War) League	War Cup	Staffs Cup	Total
1	FW	England	Jack Roberts	13	1	0	14
2	MF	England	Billy Tunnicliffe	10	0	0	10
–	MF	Wales	Phil Griffiths	9	0	1	10
4	FW	England	Dennis Higgins	7	0	0	7
5	FW	England	Harry Griffiths	3	1	0	4
6	FW	England	Tom Nolan	3	0	0	3
7	MF	England	Alf Bellis	2	0	0	2
–	MF	England	Don Triner	2	0	0	2
9	DF	England	Edwin Blunt	1	0	0	1
–	MF	England	Arthur Cumberlidge	1	0	0	1
–	DF	England	Jess Sproson	1	0	0	1
–	–	–	Own goals	0	0	0	0
			TOTALS	52	2	1	55

Transfers

Transfers in

Date from	Position	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
May 1939	MF	Murdoch Dickie	Crewe Alexandra	Free transfer	^[3]
June 1939	FW	Bert Flatley	York City	Free transfer	^[3]
July 1939	FW	Ken Fish	Young Boys	Free transfer	^[3]
October 1939	MF	Phil Griffiths	Folkestone	Free transfer	^[3]

Transfers out

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
December 1939	MF		Murdoch Dickie		Contract cancelled	^[3]
February 1940	FW		Tom Nolan	Retired		^[3]

References

Specific

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Kent, Jeff (1990). "Creating Sunshine from the Shadows (1939–1950)". The Valiants' Years: The Story Of Port Vale. Witan Books. pp. 151–171. ISBN 0-9508981-4-7.
^ Port Vale 1939–1940 : Results & Fixtures ^{[dead link‍]}. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities. Witan Books. ISBN 0-9529152-0-0.

General

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

[Kent-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Kent, Jeff (1990). "Creating Sunshine from the Shadows (1939–1950)". The Valiants' Years: The Story Of Port Vale. Witan Books. pp. 151–171. ISBN 0-9508981-4-7.

[2] Port Vale 1939–1940 : Results & Fixtures ^{[dead link‍]}. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.

[transfers-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities. Witan Books. ISBN 0-9529152-0-0.

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