1945–46 Stoke City F.C. season

The 1945–46 season was Stoke City's eleventh and final season in the non-competitive War League.

In 1939 World War II was declared and the Football League was cancelled. In its place were formed War Leagues and cups, based on geographical lines rather than based on previous league placement. However, none of these were considered to be competitive football, and thus their records are not recognised by the Football League and thus not included in official records. The FA Cup made a welcome return after seven years out. However Stoke were involved in the Burnden Park disaster.

Season review Crowds up and down the country, including Stoke's were now beginning to show an increase as the situation in Europe began to improve and when the 1945–46 season commenced there was a feeling that the Football League would not be too long in starting up again, especially now that the FA Cup was reinstated into the fixture list, with clubs playing ties over two legs. For the final war time league season the idea of two phases of league fixtures was scrapped and a more traditional format took its place and Stoke finished in 13th position.

In the FA Cup Stoke progressed past Burnley and both Sheffield clubs United then Wednesday before drawing Bolton Wanderers in the quarter-final. The first leg was played at the Victoria Ground on 2 March 1946, Bolton won the match 2–0 to put them in prime position to reach the semi-final. However tragedy struck in the second leg at Burnden Park as crush barriers gave way on part of the terracing and 33 spectators were killed with another 520 injured. The match itself was delayed from some time and it eventually finished goalless.

Final league table

Results

Stoke's score comes first

Legend WinDrawLoss

Football League North MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers1 25 August 1945 BradfordA0–115,7252 1 September 1945 BradfordH3–013,498Sale, Steele, Basnett3 8 September 1945 Manchester CityH2–015,784G Mountford, F Mountford4 13 September 1945 Leeds UnitedH2–16,594Steele (2)5 15 September 1945 Manchester CityA2–512,881Steele (2)6 20 September 1945 Manchester UnitedH1–216,917G Mountford7 22 September 1945 Newcastle UnitedA1–945,000Steele8 28 September 1945 Newcastle UnitedH3–120,229G Mountford, Basnett9 6 October 1945 Sheffield WednesdayH3–021,451Basnett, Steele (2)10 13 October 1945 Sheffield WednesdayA0–133,38711 17 October 1945 SunderlandA2–410,000Sale, Steele12 20 October 1945 Huddersfield TownA1–311,493Steele13 27 October 1945 Huddersfield TownH6–218,531Steele (3), Sale, G Mountford (2) 14 3 November 1945 ChesterfieldH6–128,387Steele (3), Sale, Matthews, Basnett 15 10 November 1945 ChesterfieldA1–126,301Basnett16 17 November 1945 BarnsleyA3–325,000Basnett, Steele (2)17 24 November 1945 BarnsleyH4–015,707Steele (2), Antonio, Matthews18 1 December 1945 EvertonH2–320,743Sellars, G Mountford19 8 December 1945 EvertonA1–628,066Steele20 15 December 1945 Bolton WanderersA2–222,402G Mountford, Peppitt21 22 December 1945 Bolton WanderersH4–113,000Steele (3), Antonio22 25 December 1945 Preston North EndH6–018,603Steele (2), Antonio (2), Sellars, G Mountford23 26 December 1945 Preston North EndA4–223,024Sellars (2), Steele, Dodd24 29 December 1945 Leeds UnitedA0–022,00025 19 January 1946 SunderlandH0–08,59326 2 February 1946 Sheffield UnitedA0–416,60827 16 February 1946 MiddlesbroughH1–49,123Brigham28 23 February 1946 BurnleyH0–011,68929 16 March 1946 Grimsby TownA2–015,000Steele, Sale30 23 March 1946 BlackpoolH6–316,416Steele (4), Sale (2)31 30 March 1946 BlackpoolA1–213,006Sale32 1 April 1946 BurnleyA0–110,60733 6 April 1946 LiverpoolH0–111,00034 8 April 1946 Sheffield UnitedH0–39,00035 13 April 1946 LiverpoolA1–423,880Peppitt36 15 April 1946 Grimsby TownH4–27,000Boothway, Sellars, Peppitt, Ormston37 19 April 1946 BuryA4–212,000Sellars (2), G Mountford, Steele38 20 April 1946 Blackburn RoversA1–59,000Peppitt39 22 April 1946 BuryH2–012,206Antonio, Steele40 27 April 1946 Blackburn RoversH5–08,000Antonio (2), Steele, Ormston (2)41 1 May 1946 MiddlesbroughA1–325,000Steele42 4 May 1946 Manchester UnitedA1–237,773Peppitt

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR3 1st Leg5 January 1946 BurnleyH3–121,776Steele (3)R3 2nd Leg7 January 1946 BurnleyA1–218,403AntonioR4 1st Leg26 January 1946 Sheffield UnitedH2–035,306G Mountford, SteeleR4 2nd Leg28 January 1946 Sheffield UnitedA2–350,208Antonio, SteeleR5 1st Leg9 February 1946 Sheffield WednesdayH2–040,452Steele (2)R5 2nd Leg11 February 1946 Sheffield WednesdayA0–062,728Quarter final 1st Leg2 March 1946 Bolton WanderersH0–250,736Quarter final 2nd Leg9 March 1946 Bolton WanderersA0–065,419

Squad statistics Note: Only the FA Cup appearances are considered as official competitive matches

Pos.NameWar LeagueFA CupTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGK Dennis Herod42080500DF Harry Brigham42180501DF Roy Brown800080DF Jack Challinor400040DF Neil Franklin23080310DF Eric Hampson200020DF Stanley Harrison100010DF John McCue15080230DF Harry Meakin300030DF Billy Mould400040DF Frank Mountford40180481DF John Sellars21700217DF Cyril Topsham12000120MF Stuart Cowden21010220MF Jock Kirton25070320MF Stanley Matthews20280282MF Syd Peppitt13520155MF Bobby Windsor300030FW George Antonio16772239FW Frank Baker9020110FW Fred Basnett18820208FW Jack Boothway110011FW Frank Bowyer100010FW Harry Craddock200020FW John Dodd110011FW John Jackson200020FW Bill Kinson700070FW George Mountford32861389FW Alexander Ormston11340153FW Tommy Sale23810248FW Freddie Steele3736874443FW Thomas Vallance100010

References