The 1950–51 season was Stoke City's 44th season in the Football League and the 30th in the First Division.

Stoke were rocked before the start of the season by the news that Neil Franklin and George Mountford had agreed to play for Independiente Santa Fe in Colombia. The transfer caused uproar amongst the FA and the pair were later punished. Stoke were again unimpressive as they finished in a mid table position of 13th.

Season review

League Stoke were rocked before the start of the season by the news that Neil Franklin and George Mountford had agreed to play for Independiente Santa Fe in Colombia. The South American country at this time was not under the jurisdiction of FIFA and the two players came under heavy criticism, and Franklin was stripped from England international duties. However, despite the pair making a big impression on Colombian football the country was at a state of civil unrest and two months later Franklin returned to England. He never played for Stoke again and ended up with Hull City whilst George Mountford finished the season with Santa Fe and returned to Stoke.

The summer activities were still the gossip as the 1950–51 season opened with only one new signing at the Victoria Ground, goalkeeper Don Clegg who had an unsuccessful career. Jock Kirton was made captain and most fans lacked confidence in the squad now minus to key players. McGrory stated that his team was good enough for First Division football but admitted that he would have liked to bring in more players to the club. With the season five days old McGrory paid £8,000 on Crewe Alexandra forward Albert Mullard however in his first game for Stoke he injured his knee and suffered a lengthy lay-off.

Stoke had a season of mixed fortunes and whilst they were certainly good enough to stay out of relegation trouble they lacked the quality to claim a top half finished and ended up in 13th position which was not as bad as some of the supporters made out.

FA Cup Stoke drew local rivals Port Vale in the third round and the two sides served up a thrilling cup tie. The initial clash with Vale took place on a heavy Victoria Ground pitch was seen by over 48,000 fans. In an entertaining first half Alan Bennett put Vale into the lead after six minutes and although Stoke pushed hard for an equaliser they couldn't beat Ray King. Then the Vale fans were celebrating again as their side went 2–0 up, Cliff Pinchbeck scoring after 45 seconds into the second half. Stoke were rattled and soon after Albert Mullard pulled one back with a crisp shot from the edge of the area and he then scored again to set up a frantic finale. However, with both teams battling it out in the mud the match finished in a fair draw. With Vale Park waterlogged it was back to the Victoria Ground and was again a tense encounter. Vale were the better team creating the most chances but with just seconds remaining Frank Bowyer who had been kept quite by the "Valiants" defence suddenly found space and headed in a Harry Oscroft cross to end the tie.

Stoke then beat West Ham United before losing 4–2 against Newcastle United in front of 48,500 at the Vic.

Final league table

Results

Stoke's score comes first

Legend WinDrawLoss

Football League First Division

MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers1 19 August 1950 Newcastle UnitedH1–228,000Bowyer2 23 August 1950 Huddersfield TownA1–314,075Johnston3 26 August 1950 West Bromwich AlbionA1–134,000Johnston4 28 August 1950 Huddersfield TownH0–121,7765 2 September 1950 Derby CountyH4–128,000Bowyer, Brown, Johnston (2)6 4 September 1950 Sheffield WednesdayA1–135,700Johnston7 9 September 1950 EvertonH2–028,000Johnston (2)8 11 September 1950 Sheffield WednesdayH1–123,272Brown9 16 September 1950 PortsmouthA1–530,000Bowyer10 23 September 1950 ChelseaH2–126,000Johnston, Oscroft11 30 September 1950 BurnleyA1–123,776Bowyer12 7 October 1950 LiverpoolA0–040,23913 14 October 1950 FulhamH1–127,000Ormston14 21 October 1950 Tottenham HotspurA1–654,124Ormston15 28 October 1950 Charlton AthleticH2–025,000Bowyer (2)16 4 November 1950 Bolton WanderersA1–133,000Ball (o.g.)17 11 November 1950 BlackpoolH1–039,994Mountford (pen)18 18 November 1950 Manchester UnitedA0–030,03119 25 November 1950 Wolverhampton WanderersH0–135,00020 2 December 1950 SunderlandA1–136,137Bowyer21 9 December 1950 Aston VillaH1–029,998Oscroft22 16 December 1950 Newcastle UnitedA1–325,067Brown23 23 December 1950 West Bromwich AlbionH1–119,811Bowyer24 25 December 1950 ArsenalA3–038,224Bowyer, Johnston, Brown25 26 December 1950 ArsenalH1–040,012Bowyer26 30 December 1950 Derby CountyA1–125,034Bowyer27 13 January 1951 EvertonA3–035,542Bowyer, Johnston, Beckett28 20 January 1951 PortsmouthH1–223,455Johnston29 3 February 1951 ChelseaA1–125,224Bowyer30 17 February 1951 BurnleyH0–020,82331 24 February 1951 LiverpoolH2–322,216Johnston (2)32 3 March 1951 FulhamA0–234,76833 10 March 1951 Tottenham HotspurH0–024,23634 17 March 1951 Charlton AthleticA0–215,09135 23 March 1951 MiddlesbroughA0–136,23936 24 March 1951 Bolton WanderersH2–120,027Bowyer (2)37 26 March 1951 MiddlesbroughH2–019,004Oscroft (2)38 31 March 1951 BlackpoolA0–327,12239 7 April 1951 Manchester UnitedH2–025,690Oscroft, Mullard40 14 April 1951 Wolverhampton WanderersA3–230,040Oscroft, Clowes (2)41 21 April 1951 SunderlandH2–420,190Mountford (pen), Hedley (o.g.)42 5 May 1951 Aston VillaA2–624,986Mullard, Bowyer

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR36 January 1951 Port ValeH2–248,000Mullard (2)R3 Replay8 January 1951 Port ValeH1–040,903BowyerR429 January 1951 West Ham UnitedH1–047,929BowyerR510 February 1951 Newcastle UnitedH2–448,500Bowyer 57', Mountford (pen) 76'

Squad statistics Pos.NameLeagueFA CupTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGK Don Clegg200020GK Dennis Herod35030380GK Norman Wilkinson501060DF Roy Beckett311041DF Eric Hampson100010DF John McCue39040430DF Billy Mould20040240DF George Mulholland300030DF Cyril Watkin22000220MF John Brooks200020MF Jock Kirton39040430MF Frank Mountford42231453MF John Sellars41040450FW Stan Bevans200020FW Frank Bowyer3916434319FW Roy Brown26430294FW John Clowes220022FW Dennis Hughes100010FW Leslie Johnston3813304113FW John Malkin800080FW Albert Mullard14222164FW Harry Oscroft35640396FW Alexander Ormston35240392FW Brian Siddall800080–Own goals–2–0–2

References