1947–48 Stoke City F.C. season
Introduction The 1947–48 season was Stoke City's 41st season in the Football League and the 27th in the First Division.After narrowly missing out on their first league title last season there was a huge weight of expectation for the Stoke squad of 1947–48.But great misfortune was the story of the season as six key players suffered long term injuries all in September. The side battled on with inexperienced youngsters having to fill the gaps and relegation was a distinct possibility but they managed to recover and finish in 15th position.
Season review ===League===Manager Bob McGrory, ambitious and anxious now to build on last season success, twice broke the club's record transfer in the Summer of 1947 when he brought in forwards Jimmy McAlinden from Portsmouth and Tommy Kiernan from Celtic for fees of £7,000 and £8,500 respectively. These two new players on top of the best from last season looked good for Stoke in the 1947–48 season as not many teams in the country could boast such an exciting young squad as Stoke's.Unfortunately, an appalling catalogue of injuries soon made it obvious that the fans would see no repeat of the form showed from last season. By mid-September six of Stoke's key players, Jock Kirton, Neil Franklin, Frank Baker, George Mountford, Frank Mountford and Freddie Steele, all suffered major injuries which ruled them out for most of the season. The team battled on though, and in the end took 15th place in the table, having spent quite some time in the bottom three, relegation was a distinct possibility. Only six teams conceded fewer goals than Stoke but it was in attack where the problems lay, Stoke's goal threat completely drying up with Stoke scoring 90 goals last season and just 41 this season. Yet despite the frustrating anti-climax for the Stoke public the average home gate rose again this time to 31,590.===FA Cup===There was no joy in the cup for Stoke fans as a 4–2 victory over Mansfield Town was followed by a 3–0 reverse against Second Division Queens Park Rangers.
Final league table
Results ''Stoke's score comes first''===Legend===WinDrawLoss===Football League First Division===MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers1 23 August 1947 Bolton WanderersA1–025,000Steele2 25 August 1947 PortsmouthH2–130,106Steele, Ormston3 30 August 1947 LiverpoolH0–237,4084 3 September 1947 PortsmouthA0–330,0535 6 September 1947 MiddlesbroughA1–238,000Ormston6 8 September 1947 Preston North EndH0–126,7647 13 September 1947 Charlton AthleticH0–130,0278 17 September 1947 Preston North EndA1–225,114Ormston9 20 September 1947 ArsenalA0–362,00010 27 September 1947 Sheffield UnitedH1–139,965Peppitt11 4 October 1947 Manchester UnitedA1–145,745Kiernan12 11 October 1947 Blackburn RoversH2–133,912G Mountford, F Mountford13 18 October 1947 Manchester CityA0–342,40114 25 October 1947 Grimsby TownH2–129,944Sellars, Kiernan15 1 November 1947 SunderlandA0–136,73416 8 November 1947 EvertonH1–132,246G Mountford17 15 November 1947 ChelseaA1–441,618Caton18 22 November 1947 Aston VillaH1–231,891McAlinden19 29 November 1947 Wolverhampton WanderersA2–132,000G Mountford, Ormston20 6 December 1947 Huddersfield TownH1–124,451McAlinden21 13 December 1947 Derby CountyA1–124,812Kiernan22 20 December 1947 Bolton WanderersH2–023,404Steele, Sellars23 25 December 1947 BlackpoolA2–126,613Steele (2)24 27 December 1947 BlackpoolH1–147,609Kiernan25 3 January 1948 LiverpoolA0–048,66526 17 January 1948 MiddlesbroughH2–424,990Steele (2)27 31 January 1948 Charlton AthleticA1–032,102Ormston28 7 February 1948 ArsenalH0–045,00029 14 February 1948 Sheffield UnitedA0–330,17830 21 February 1948 Manchester UnitedH0–236,79431 28 February 1948 Blackburn RoversA0–224,00032 6 March 1948 Manchester CityH3–030,243Steele (2), Baker33 13 March 1948 Grimsby TownA0–09,00034 20 March 1948 SunderlandH3–126,750Steele, Kiernan, Peppitt35 26 March 1948 BurnleyA0–427,00036 27 March 1948 EvertonA1–044,241G Mountford37 29 March 1948 BurnleyH3–032,459Peppitt (3)38 2 April 1948 ChelseaH2–028,040G Mountford, Malkin39 10 April 1948 Aston VillaA0–130,00040 17 April 1948 Wolverhampton WanderersH2–324,512Baker (2)41 24 April 1948 Huddersfield TownA0–015,00042 1 May 1948 Derby CountyH1–019,478F Mountford (pen)===FA Cup===RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR310 January 1948 Mansfield TownA4–210,500Sellars, Kiernan, Steele (2)R424 January 1948 Queens Park RangersA0–324,100
Squad statistics Pos.NameLeagueFA CupTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGK Dennis Herod41020430GK Arthur Jepson100010DF Neil Franklin35020370DF Roy Jones100010DF John McCue23000230DF Harry Meakin22020240DF Billy Mould40020420MF Roy Brown700070MF Edmund Giblin100010MF Jock Kirton26020280MF Frank Mountford35220372MF John Sellars31221333MF Edward Wordley300030FW Frank Baker14300143FW Frank Bowyer100010FW Bill Caton310031FW John Jackson100010FW Tommy Kiernan24521266FW John Malkin510051FW20px Jimmy McAlinden31220332FW Bert Mitchell600060FW George Mountford29500295FW Alexander Ormston33520355FW Syd Peppitt28500285FW Freddie Steele2110222312
References