1950–51 Stoke City F.C. season
# 1950–51 Stoke City F.C. season

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

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 11 | Derby County | 42 | 16 | 8 | 18 | 81 | 75 | 1.080 | 40 |
| 12 | Sunderland | 42 | 12 | 16 | 14 | 63 | 73 | 0.863 | 40 |
| 13 | Stoke City | 42 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 50 | 59 | 0.847 | 40 |
| 14 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 42 | 15 | 8 | 19 | 74 | 61 | 1.213 | 38 |
| 15 | Aston Villa | 42 | 12 | 13 | 17 | 66 | 68 | 0.971 | 37 |

## Results

Stoke's score comes first

### Legend

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

### Football League First Division

| Match | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 19 August 1950 | Newcastle United | H | 1–2 | 28,000 | Bowyer |
| 2 | 23 August 1950 | Huddersfield Town | A | 1–3 | 14,075 | Johnston |
| 3 | 26 August 1950 | West Bromwich Albion | A | 1–1 | 34,000 | Johnston |
| 4 | 28 August 1950 | Huddersfield Town | H | 0–1 | 21,776 | |
| 5 | 2 September 1950 | Derby County | H | 4–1 | 28,000 | Bowyer, Brown, Johnston (2) |
| 6 | 4 September 1950 | Sheffield Wednesday | A | 1–1 | 35,700 | Johnston |
| 7 | 9 September 1950 | Everton | H | 2–0 | 28,000 | Johnston (2) |
| 8 | 11 September 1950 | Sheffield Wednesday | H | 1–1 | 23,272 | Brown |
| 9 | 16 September 1950 | Portsmouth | A | 1–5 | 30,000 | Bowyer |
| 10 | 23 September 1950 | Chelsea | H | 2–1 | 26,000 | Johnston, Oscroft |
| 11 | 30 September 1950 | Burnley | A | 1–1 | 23,776 | Bowyer |
| 12 | 7 October 1950 | Liverpool | A | 0–0 | 40,239 | |
| 13 | 14 October 1950 | Fulham | H | 1–1 | 27,000 | Ormston |
| 14 | 21 October 1950 | Tottenham Hotspur | A | 1–6 | 54,124 | Ormston |
| 15 | 28 October 1950 | Charlton Athletic | H | 2–0 | 25,000 | Bowyer (2) |
| 16 | 4 November 1950 | Bolton Wanderers | A | 1–1 | 33,000 | Ball (o.g.) |
| 17 | 11 November 1950 | Blackpool | H | 1–0 | 39,994 | Mountford (pen) |
| 18 | 18 November 1950 | Manchester United | A | 0–0 | 30,031 | |
| 19 | 25 November 1950 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | H | 0–1 | 35,000 | |
| 20 | 2 December 1950 | Sunderland | A | 1–1 | 36,137 | Bowyer |
| 21 | 9 December 1950 | Aston Villa | H | 1–0 | 29,998 | Oscroft |
| 22 | 16 December 1950 | Newcastle United | A | 1–3 | 25,067 | Brown |
| 23 | 23 December 1950 | West Bromwich Albion | H | 1–1 | 19,811 | Bowyer |
| 24 | 25 December 1950 | Arsenal | A | 3–0 | 38,224 | Bowyer, Johnston, Brown |
| 25 | 26 December 1950 | Arsenal | H | 1–0 | 40,012 | Bowyer |
| 26 | 30 December 1950 | Derby County | A | 1–1 | 25,034 | Bowyer |
| 27 | 13 January 1951 | Everton | A | 3–0 | 35,542 | Bowyer, Johnston, Beckett |
| 28 | 20 January 1951 | Portsmouth | H | 1–2 | 23,455 | Johnston |
| 29 | 3 February 1951 | Chelsea | A | 1–1 | 25,224 | Bowyer |
| 30 | 17 February 1951 | Burnley | H | 0–0 | 20,823 | |
| 31 | 24 February 1951 | Liverpool | H | 2–3 | 22,216 | Johnston (2) |
| 32 | 3 March 1951 | Fulham | A | 0–2 | 34,768 | |
| 33 | 10 March 1951 | Tottenham Hotspur | H | 0–0 | 24,236 | |
| 34 | 17 March 1951 | Charlton Athletic | A | 0–2 | 15,091 | |
| 35 | 23 March 1951 | Middlesbrough | A | 0–1 | 36,239 | |
| 36 | 24 March 1951 | Bolton Wanderers | H | 2–1 | 20,027 | Bowyer (2) |
| 37 | 26 March 1951 | Middlesbrough | H | 2–0 | 19,004 | Oscroft (2) |
| 38 | 31 March 1951 | Blackpool | A | 0–3 | 27,122 | |
| 39 | 7 April 1951 | Manchester United | H | 2–0 | 25,690 | Oscroft, Mullard |
| 40 | 14 April 1951 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | A | 3–2 | 30,040 | Oscroft, Clowes (2) |
| 41 | 21 April 1951 | Sunderland | H | 2–4 | 20,190 | Mountford (pen), Hedley (o.g.) |
| 42 | 5 May 1951 | Aston Villa | A | 2–6 | 24,986 | Mullard, Bowyer |

### FA Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| R3 | 6 January 1951 | Port Vale | H | 2–2 | 48,000 | Mullard (2) |
| R3 Replay | 8 January 1951 | Port Vale | H | 1–0 | 40,903 | Bowyer |
| R4 | 29 January 1951 | West Ham United | H | 1–0 | 47,929 | Bowyer |
| R5 | 10 February 1951 | Newcastle United | H | 2–4 | 48,500 | Bowyer, Mountford |

## Squad statistics

| Pos. | Name | League | League | FA Cup | FA Cup | Total | Total |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Pos. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| GK | Don Clegg | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| GK | Dennis Herod | 35 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 38 | 0 |
| GK | Norman Wilkinson | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| DF | Roy Beckett | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| DF | Eric Hampson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| DF | John McCue | 39 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 43 | 0 |
| DF | Billy Mould | 20 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 24 | 0 |
| DF | George Mulholland | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| DF | Cyril Watkin | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 0 |
| MF | John Brooks | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| MF | Jock Kirton | 39 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 43 | 0 |
| MF | Frank Mountford | 42 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 45 | 3 |
| MF | John Sellars | 41 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 45 | 0 |
| FW | Stan Bevans | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| FW | Frank Bowyer | 39 | 16 | 4 | 3 | 43 | 19 |
| FW | Roy Brown | 26 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 29 | 4 |
| FW | John Clowes | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| FW | Dennis Hughes | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| FW | Leslie Johnston | 38 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 41 | 13 |
| FW | John Malkin | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| FW | Albert Mullard | 14 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 16 | 4 |
| FW | Harry Oscroft | 35 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 39 | 6 |
| FW | Alexander Ormston | 35 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 39 | 2 |
| FW | Brian Siddall | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| – | Own goals | – | 2 | – | 0 | – | 2 |
