1955–56 Stoke City F.C. season
# 1955–56 Stoke City F.C. season

The 1955–56 season was Stoke City's 49th season in the Football League and the 16th in the Second Division.

It was a season of what might have been for Stoke as they often looked capable of challenging for promotion but then played badly the next match. In the end Stoke had to settle for a final position of 13th after picking up a modest 44 points in what was a frustrating season.

## Season review

### League

Manager Frank Taylor now backed by his namesake Mr G. Taylor made only minor adjustments to his squad for the start of the 1955–56 season. However, after a decent start to the season with Stoke looking capable of challenging for promotion the Stoke board showed their ambition. In November Stoke made an ambitious approach for Blackpool legend Stan Mortensen and it seemed that Stoke had signed a forward with some reasonable credentials, however much to the disappointment of the board Mortensen instead joined Hull City. So Stoke instead went and paid £11,000 to Lincoln City for their prolific forward Andy Graver. However, despite the new arrival being met by approval by the fans Graver would have an unsuccessful spell at the Victoria Ground.

It was a season of what might have been as Stoke failed to impress after their good start, and slid down the table finally ending up in a rather poor position of 13th. They were often found wanting and their home form was very poor, a 3–2 win against Liverpool was the best of the season in what was a 'thrilling' contest.

### FA Cup

Stoke beat Exeter City (3–0) and Leicester City (2–1) both in replays before losing 2–1 at Newcastle United in the fifth round.

## Final league table

| Pos | Team v t e | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 11 | Bristol City | 42 | 19 | 7 | 16 | 80 | 64 | 1.250 | 45 |
| 12 | Port Vale | 42 | 16 | 13 | 13 | 60 | 58 | 1.034 | 45 |
| 13 | Stoke City | 42 | 20 | 4 | 18 | 71 | 62 | 1.145 | 44 |
| 14 | Middlesbrough | 42 | 16 | 8 | 18 | 76 | 78 | 0.974 | 40 |
| 15 | Bury | 42 | 16 | 8 | 18 | 86 | 90 | 0.956 | 40 |

## Results

Stoke's score comes first

### Legend

| Win | Draw | Loss |
| - | - | - |

### Football League Second Division

| Match | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 20 August 1955 | Doncaster Rovers | A | 4–2 | 13,087 | King (3), Malkin |
| 2 | 22 August 1955 | Bristol Rovers | A | 2–4 | 21,240 | Bowyer, Lowell |
| 3 | 27 August 1955 | Sheffield Wednesday | H | 2–0 | 24,529 | Bowyer, Lowell |
| 4 | 29 August 1955 | Bristol Rovers | H | 1–2 | 18,875 | Lowell |
| 5 | 3 September 1955 | Nottingham Forest | A | 3–2 | 16,620 | Bowyer (2), Oscroft |
| 6 | 5 September 1955 | Plymouth Argyle | A | 1–0 | 18,240 | Oscroft |
| 7 | 10 September 1955 | Hull City | H | 4–1 | 19,971 | Bowyer (2), Malkin, Lawton |
| 8 | 12 September 1955 | Plymouth Argyle | H | 4–1 | 17,179 | King, Oscroft (2), Lawton |
| 9 | 17 September 1955 | Blackburn Rovers | A | 0–3 | 23,445 | |
| 10 | 24 September 1955 | Lincoln City | H | 3–0 | 20,533 | Emery (o.g.), Lawton, King |
| 11 | 1 October 1955 | Leicester City | A | 1–3 | 26,831 | Bowyer |
| 12 | 8 October 1955 | Port Vale | A | 0–1 | 36,271 | |
| 13 | 15 October 1955 | Rotherham United | H | 1–0 | 17,421 | King |
| 14 | 22 October 1955 | Middlesbrough | A | 3–1 | 18,217 | King, Oscroft (2) |
| 15 | 29 October 1955 | Notts County | H | 0–2 | 15,737 | |
| 16 | 5 November 1955 | Leeds United | A | 0–1 | 21,138 | |
| 17 | 12 November 1955 | Fulham | H | 1–2 | 18,972 | Cairns |
| 18 | 19 November 1955 | Bury | A | 0–1 | 9,030 | |
| 19 | 26 November 1955 | Barnsley | H | 2–1 | 17,729 | King (2) |
| 20 | 3 December 1955 | Swansea Town | A | 0–0 | 18,457 | |
| 21 | 10 December 1955 | Bristol City | H | 4–2 | 17,039 | King, Bowyer, Oscroft, Graver |
| 22 | 17 December 1955 | Doncaster Rovers | H | 5–2 | 15,336 | King (2), Bowyer, Graver, Coleman |
| 23 | 24 December 1955 | Sheffield Wednesday | A | 0–4 | 23,579 | |
| 24 | 26 December 1955 | Liverpool | A | 2–2 | 49,604 | King (pen), Oscroft |
| 25 | 27 December 1955 | Liverpool | H | 3–2 | 29,108 | Graver, Bowyer, Coleman |
| 26 | 31 December 1955 | Nottingham Forest | H | 1–1 | 22,381 | Bowyer |
| 27 | 21 January 1956 | Blackburn Rovers | H | 1–2 | 18,731 | King |
| 28 | 11 February 1956 | Leicester City | H | 2–0 | 21,091 | Coleman (2) |
| 29 | 3 March 1956 | Middlesbrough | H | 2–5 | 20,134 | Bowyer, Oscroft |
| 30 | 10 March 1956 | Bristol City | A | 1–0 | 28,046 | Oscroft |
| 31 | 17 March 1956 | Leeds United | H | 2–1 | 16,007 | Bowyer, Graver |
| 32 | 24 March 1956 | Fulham | A | 0–2 | 20,325 | |
| 33 | 30 March 1956 | West Ham United | A | 0–2 | 16,231 | |
| 34 | 31 March 1956 | Port Vale | H | 1–1 | 36,362 | Oscroft |
| 35 | 2 April 1956 | West Ham United | H | 3–0 | 19,949 | Graver, King, Coleman |
| 36 | 7 April 1956 | Barnsley | A | 0–1 | 9,590 | |
| 37 | 14 April 1956 | Swansea Town | H | 5–0 | 12,770 | Bowyer (2), Oscroft, King, Graver |
| 38 | 16 April 1956 | Bury | H | 0–2 | 11,227 | |
| 39 | 21 April 1956 | Notts County | A | 3–1 | 11,355 | Graver, Oscroft, Cairns |
| 40 | 25 April 1956 | Lincoln City | A | 1–2 | 12,015 | Oscroft |
| 41 | 28 April 1956 | Rotherham United | A | 1–0 | 6,375 | Oscroft |
| 42 | 1 May 1956 | Hull City | A | 2–3 | 5,232 | Bowyer, Ward |

### FA Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| R3 | 7 January 1956 | Exeter City | A | 0–0 | 16,860 | |
| R3 Replay | 9 January 1956 | Exeter City | H | 3–0 | 14,513 | Oscroft, Bowyer, Coleman |
| R4 | 28 January 1956 | Leicester City | A | 3–3 | 35,877 | Bowyer, King, Graver |
| R4 Replay | 30 January 1956 | Leicester City | H | 2–1 | 34,120 | Graver, Oscroft |
| R5 | 15 February 1956 | Newcastle United | A | 1–2 | 61,540 | King |

## Squad statistics

| Pos. | Name | League | League | FA Cup | FA Cup | Total | Total |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Pos. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| GK | Wilf Hall | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| GK | Bill Robertson | 36 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 41 | 0 |
| DF | George Bourne | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| DF | John McCue | 36 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 39 | 0 |
| DF | Bobby Meadows | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DF | Jack Short | 30 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 33 | 0 |
| DF | Ken Thomson | 37 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 42 | 0 |
| DF | Donald Whiston | 12 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| MF | Bill Asprey | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| MF | Bobby Cairns | 33 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 38 | 2 |
| MF | Frank Mountford | 15 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 0 |
| MF | John Sellars | 33 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 38 | 0 |
| FW | Frank Bowyer | 42 | 16 | 5 | 2 | 47 | 18 |
| FW | John Clowes | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| FW | Neville Coleman | 24 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 29 | 6 |
| FW | Andy Graver | 24 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 29 | 9 |
| FW | Joe Hutton | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| FW | George Kelly | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| FW | Johnny King | 36 | 16 | 5 | 2 | 41 | 18 |
| FW | John Lawton | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 3 |
| FW | Eric Lowell | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 3 |
| FW | John Malkin | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 2 |
| FW | Harry Oscroft | 38 | 15 | 5 | 2 | 43 | 17 |
| FW | Don Ratcliffe | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| FW | Derrick Ward | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 |
| – | Own goals | – | 1 | – | 0 | – | 1 |
