1952–53 Stoke City F.C. season

The 1952–53 season was Stoke City's 46th season in the Football League and the 32nd in the First Division.

Stoke City
1952–53 season
ChairmanMr E. Henshall
ManagerFrank Taylor
StadiumVictoria Ground
Football League First Division21st (34 Points)
FA CupFourth Round
Top goalscorerLeague: Harry Oscroft
(10)

All: Harry Oscroft
(10)
Highest home attendance35,006 vs Manchester City
(23 August 1952)
Lowest home attendance19,611 vs Sunderland
(28 March 1953)
Average home league attendance27,883

The summer of 1952 again brought drama as long serving manager Bob McGrory resigned after spending 31 years with the club as player and manager. In his place came former Scarborough manager and Wolverhampton Wanderers defender Frank Taylor. However despite a change in leadership the team continued to struggle and were again involved in a relegation battle. The season went to the final day and Stoke went into their match against Derby County knowing they had to win to stay up, a 2–1 defeat saw Stoke's stay in the First Division come to a disappointing end.[1]

Season review

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League

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During the summer of 1952 Bob McGrory resigned after spending 31 years at the Victoria Ground as player and manager and Frank Taylor took over as first team manager.[1] Taylor was a 'new breed' of tracksuit manager and was regarded as potential great manager by the Stoke board.[1] The first act Taylor did was to erect a sign above the players dressing room which read: Are you 90 minutes fit? It's the last 20 minutes that count–train for it.[1]

The 1952–53 season was obviously going to be a transitional one with the defence and forward lines in need of strengthening.[1] A new goalkeeper was brought in, Bill Robertson coming up from Birmingham City for £8,000.[1] The season did not start well and after one win the first five matches Taylor moved quickly to bring in Ken Thomson to the club a fine centre back from Aberdeen whilst allowing George Mountford to join Queens Park Rangers.[1] Taylor also started to move on some of McGrory's signings but the talent from the youth team which had served Stoke for so long had now dried up.[1]

Prior to the lead up to 1953 Stoke had agonisingly slipped into the relegation zone, but seven games without defeat at the turn of the year they seemed to have averted the danger.[1] But then it all went wrong again and they slipped back down the table and in the end they had to win their final match of the season against an already relegated Derby County at the Victoria Ground.[1] Most expected Stoke to step it up and beat a dejected Derby side but disaster struck as Jack Lee scored for the "Rams" early on. Stoke hit back through Frank Bowyer but Jackie Stamps but Derby 2–1 up. Stoke created plenty of chances and with just minutes left were awarded a penalty but the reliable Ken Thomson hit his kick straight at Ray Middleton and with it ended Stoke's 20 year stay in the First Division.[1]

FA Cup

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A miserable season was not helped any by a shock 1–0 defeat to Third Division North side Halifax Town in the fourth round.[1]

Final league table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GAv Pts Relegation
18 Sheffield Wednesday 42 12 11 19 62 72 0.861 35
19 Chelsea 42 12 11 19 56 66 0.848 35
20 Manchester City 42 14 7 21 72 87 0.828 35
21 Stoke City (R) 42 12 10 20 53 66 0.803 34 Relegation to the Second Division
22 Derby County (R) 42 11 10 21 59 74 0.797 32
Source: World Football
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Goals scored
(R) Relegated

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 1952 Manchester City H 2–1 35,006 Smyth, Oscroft
2 26 August 1952 Burnley A 2–3 29,087 Smyth, Oscroft
3 30 August 1952 Liverpool A 2–3 40,062 Bowyer, Johnston
4 1 September 1952 Burnley H 1–3 40,062 Oscroft
5 6 September 1952 Middlesbrough H 1–0 32,061 Johnston
6 10 September 1952 Preston North End A 0–3 35,275
7 13 September 1952 West Bromwich Albion A 2–3 27,028 Johnston, Mountford (pen)
8 15 September 1952 Preston North End H 0–0 28,436
9 20 September 1952 Newcastle United H 1–0 32,359 Johnston
10 27 September 1952 Cardiff City A 0–2 40,271
11 4 October 1952 Sheffield Wednesday H 1–3 29,627 Sellars
12 11 October 1952 Manchester United A 2–0 28,968 Siddall, Finney
13 18 October 1952 Portsmouth H 2–4 29,057 Finney, Smyth
14 25 October 1952 Bolton Wanderers A 1–2 25,294 Finney
15 1 November 1952 Aston Villa H 1–4 26,652 Smyth
16 8 November 1952 Sunderland A 1–1 43,444 Mountford (pen)
17 15 November 1952 Wolverhampton Wanderers H 1–2 28,410 Smyth
18 22 November 1952 Charlton Athletic A 1–5 12,143 Mountford (pen)
19 29 November 1952 Arsenal H 1–1 24,033 Malkin
20 6 December 1952 Derby County A 0–4 17,484
21 13 December 1952 Blackpool H 4–0 19,382 Oscroft (2), Mountford, Fenton (o.g.)
22 20 December 1952 Manchester City A 1–2 13,562 Whiston
23 26 December 1952 Chelsea H 1–1 30,846 Malkin
24 27 December 1952 Chelsea A 0–0 17,173
25 3 January 1953 Liverpool H 3–1 23,488 Oscroft (2), Whiston
26 17 January 1953 Middlesbrough A 0–0 20,320
27 24 January 1953 West Bromwich Albion H 5–1 35,226 Oscroft (2), Martin (2), Bowyer
28 7 February 1953 Newcastle United A 2–1 25,115 Martin, Finney
29 14 February 1953 Cardiff City H 0–0 21,619
30 21 February 1953 Sheffield Wednesday A 0–1 40,209
31 28 February 1953 Manchester United H 3–1 30,219 Brown (2), Martin
32 7 March 1953 Portsmouth A 1–1 25,370 Oscroft
33 14 March 1953 Bolton Wanderers H 1–2 28,232 Brown
34 25 March 1953 Aston Villa A 1–1 15,056 Thomson
35 28 March 1953 Sunderland H 3–0 19,611 Brown (2), Connor
36 3 April 1953 Tottenham Hotspur A 0–1 35,606
37 4 April 1953 Wolverhampton Wanderers A 0–3 38,000
38 6 April 1953 Tottenham Hotspur H 2–0 25,346 Brown, Thomson
39 11 April 1953 Charlton Athletic H 1–0 27,087 Brown
40 15 April 1953 Blackpool A 1–1 13,280 Mountford
41 18 April 1953 Arsenal A 1–3 47,376 Brown
42 25 April 1953 Derby County H 1–2 29,597 Bowyer

FA Cup

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Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
R3 10 January 1953 Wrexham H 2–1 36,361 Finney, Whiston
R4 31 January 1953 Halifax Town A 0–1 34,788

Squad statistics

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Pos. Name League FA Cup Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
GK   Frank Elliott 12 0 1 0 13 0
GK   Dennis Herod 11 0 1 0 12 0
GK   Bill Robertson 19 0 0 0 19 0
GK   Billy Waters 0 0 0 0 0 0
DF   Roy Beckett 4 0 0 0 4 0
DF   George Bourne 20 0 0 0 20 0
DF   Brian Doyle 17 0 2 0 19 0
DF   John McCue 36 0 2 0 38 0
DF   Ken Thomson 38 2 2 0 40 2
MF   Des Farrow 3 0 0 0 3 0
MF   Jock Kirton 3 0 0 0 3 0
MF   Frank Mountford 37 5 2 0 39 5
MF   John Sellars 37 1 2 0 39 1
FW   Frank Bowyer 29 3 2 0 31 3
FW   Roy Brown 16 8 0 0 16 8
FW   Harold Connor 2 1 0 0 2 1
FW   Bill Finney 21 4 1 1 22 5
FW   Leslie Johnston 14 4 0 0 14 4
FW   John Malkin 24 2 2 0 26 2
FW   Billy McIntosh 2 0 0 0 2 0
FW   Alan Martin 29 4 1 0 30 4
FW   Jack McClelland 4 0 0 0 4 0
FW   George Mountford 4 0 0 0 4 0
FW   Harry Oscroft 37 10 2 0 39 10
FW   Brian Siddall 21 1 0 0 21 1
FW   Sammy Smyth 14 5 0 0 14 5
MF   Derrick Ward 2 0 0 0 2 0
FW   Donald Whiston 6 2 2 1 8 3
Own goals 1 0 1

References

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