1946–47 Stoke City F.C. season
Introduction The 1946–47 season was Stoke City's 40th season in the Football League and the 26th in the First Division.After a seven year absence due to World War II, the Football League made a welcome return for the 1946–47 season. Stoke were boosted by their time in the war leagues where they used many younger players to speed up their development. So Stoke now with a squad full of talent went on to achieve the finest league season in the club's history as they were involved in their first real attempt at winning the English title. The season was expanded until June due to a poor winter weather wise and on the final day of the season Stoke needed to beat Sheffield United to claim their first league title, but with the unhappy Stanley Matthews now moved on to Blackpool, Stoke lost 2–1 and ended up in 4th position. The 1946–47 season finish of 4th is only matched by the performance by the Stoke team of the 1935–36 season.
Season review ===League===After a seven-year break the Football League returned for the 1946–47 season. Stoke, relying on many of their wartime discoveries along with quite a few who had served the club before the war commenced, were confident of doing well, and manager Bob McGrory announced that his squad consisted of 45 players (19 of them  were amateurs) of which 22 were eventually used. As the season took its course a number of players were sold for a profit and the only signing McGrory made was that of 31 years old goalkeeper Arthur Jepson. McGrory indicated that with full-time training, his side would thrive and given the right coaching and facilities in which to train and reach peak fitness. And he was proved right, despite the team picking up one point in their first four matches, the side started to play as a unit and thanks to two unbeaten runs, a challenge was made for top spot.By October the saga involving Stanley Matthews and McGrory reared its ugly head again this time after the manager had asked the England winger to 'prove his fitness' in the reserves. Matthews now living in Blackpool refused and he drifted in and out of the squad following the fall out. One of the worst winters of the 20th century gripped Britain in 1947 and consequently the football season was extended into June and indeed it was late in the season when Stanley Matthews again asked to leave. He was 32, and running his own hotel with his wife in Blackpool, and he named the club he wanted to join unsurprisingly it was the Bloomfield Road club Blackpool. Matthews was worried that his career had only four years left and wanted to end it near his business. Matthews' career would however continue for another 20 years.The 1946–47 season came to a climax in mid June when Stoke visited Sheffield United. A victory at Bramall Lane would give Stoke the league title, anything less would hand the honour to Liverpool. Stoke took around 10,000 of their fans to Sheffield but it was the "Blades" who proved to be too sharp for Stoke as they scored twice and despite Alexander Ormston replying for Stoke the title bid was over. Stoke were awarded £110 'talent money' for their performance during the season.===FA Cup===Stoke beat Tottenham Hotspur and Chester both after replays before meeting Sheffield United who again proved be their bogey side winning 1–0 in front of 39,683 at the Victoria Ground.
Final league table
Results ''Stoke's score comes first''===Legend===WinDrawLoss===Football League First Division===MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers1 31 August 1946 Charlton AthleticH2–231,846Steele, Ormston2 2 September 1946 Bolton WanderersH1–223,450Steele3 7 September 1946 MiddlesbroughA4–545,000Steele (3), Mountford4 11 September 1946 Bolton WanderersA2–325,300Ormston, Mountford5 14 September 1946 Derby CountyH3–235,000Ormston, Mountford, Steele6 16 September 1946 Leeds UnitedH5–225,000Ormston, Antonio (2), Steele (2)7 21 September 1946 Manchester UnitedH3–240,000Antonio, Steele (2)8 28 September 1946 Preston North EndA3–125,000Antonio, Steele, Ormston9 5 October 1946 Sheffield UnitedH3–029,146Steele (3)10 12 October 1946 ChelseaA5–268,189Steele, Ormston (3), Kirton11 19 October 1946 ArsenalA0–162,00012 26 October 1946 Wolverhampton WanderersH0–345,00013 2 November 1946 SunderlandA1–053,000Baker14 9 November 1946 Aston VillaH0–035,00015 16 November 1946 PortsmouthA3–138,000Steele, Ormston, Peppitt16 23 November 1946 EvertonH2–127,798Matthews, Antonio17 30 November 1946 Huddersfield TownA0–126,76718 7 December 1946 BlackpoolH4–130,000Steele, Peppitt, Baker, Matthews19 14 December 1946 BrentfordA4–129,172Peppitt (3), Ormston20 21 December 1946 Blackburn RoversH0–023,51821 25 December 1946 LiverpoolH2–130,518Steele (2)22 26 December 1946 LiverpoolA0–249,49423 28 December 1946 Charlton AthleticA0–136,38824 4 January 1947 MiddlesbroughH3–133,986Peppitt, Mitchell (2)25 18 January 1947 Derby CountyA0–331,15626 1 February 1947 Preston North EndH5–030,000Peppitt (2), Steele (2), Ormston27 5 February 1947 Manchester UnitedA1–18,456Ormston (pen)28 15 February 1947 ChelseaH6–130,469Ormston (2), Peppitt (2), Baker, Sellars29 22 February 1947 ArsenalH3–131,642Baker, Sellars, Jackson30 1 March 1947 Wolverhampton WanderersA0–345,00031 22 March 1947 PortsmouthH1–127,708Steele32 29 March 1947 EvertonA2–240,092Peppitt, Baker33 4 April 1947 Grimsby TownA5–220,000Peppitt, Steele (3), Ormston (pen)34 5 April 1947 Huddersfield TownH3–028,966Steele, Ormston, Baker35 7 April 1947 Grimsby TownH3–034,269Ormston, Jackson (2)36 12 April 1947 BlackpoolA2–030,000Ormston (pen), Mountford37 19 April 1947 BrentfordH3–125,000Steele, Mountford, Matthews38 26 April 1947 Blackburn RoversA2–026,300Matthews, Ormston39 3 May 1947 Leeds UnitedA2–120,000Steele (2)40 17 May 1947 SunderlandH0–032,00041 26 May 1947 Aston VillaA1–042,000Mountford42 12 June 1947 Sheffield UnitedA1–230,000Ormston===FA Cup===RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR311 January 1947 Tottenham HotspurA2–265,681F Mountford, Ludford (o.g. )R3 Replay15 January 1947 Tottenham HotspurH1–038,830MatthewsR425 January 1947 ChesterA0–018,500R4 Replay29 January 1947 ChesterH3–222,863Steele (2), OrmstonR58 February 1947 Sheffield UnitedH0–139,683
Squad statistics Pos.NameLeagueFA CupTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGK Emmanuel Foster100010GK Dennis Herod14010150GK Arthur Jepson27040310DF Harry Brigham12000120DF Neil Franklin37050420DF John McCue36050410DF Harry Meakin600060DF Billy Mould30050350MF Roy Brown400040MF Jock Kirton37150421MF Frank Mountford26041301MF John Sellars17210182MF Edward Wordley500050FW George Antonio16500165FW Frank Baker39650446FW John Jackson330033FW Stanley Matthews23451285FW Bert Mitchell420042FW George Mountford23600236FW Alexander Ormston4020514521FW Syd Peppitt2412502912FW Freddie Steele3829524331–Own goals–0–1–1
References