George Fredrick Mountford (30 March 1921 – 14 June 1973) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

for

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

and Stoke City.

Career

Mountford was born in

Kidderminster Kidderminster is a large market and historic minster town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester. Located north of the River Stour and east of the River Severn, in the 2011 census, it ha ...

and began his career playing for local side Kidderminster Harriers before joining Stoke City in December 1942 for a fee of £40. During the War League Mountford established himself in

Bob McGrory Robert Gerald McGrory (17 October 1891 – 24 May 1954) was a Scottish footballer who played in the Football League for Burnley and Stoke City with whom he later had a long spell as manager. McGrory played football with Dumbarton before joining ...

's side as a right winger providing crosses for Tommy Sale and namesake Frank Mountford. With

Stanley Matthews Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English footballer who played as an outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the British game, he is the only player to have been knighted while sti ...

on wartime duty with Blackpool Mountford took his number 7 shirt and Matthews struggled to win it back. Whilst he was not as talented as Matthews, Mountford made up for it with his hard work and possessed a good turn of speed which often took him into goalscoring opportunities. Throughout the 1946–47 season Matthews and Mountford both vied for the right wing position and when Matthews suffered an injury early in the campaign Mountford took his place. Even when Matthews had recovered McGrory stuck with Mountford as Stoke pushed for the First Division title. The Unhappy Matthews left for Blackpool in May 1947 and Mountford scored a vital goal against Aston Villa to take the title race in to the final day of the season. Stoke needed to beat

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

to claim the title but they lost 2–1 and the chance had gone. The side struggled with injuries in 1947–48 and Mountford made 29 appearances scoring five goals. He scored a career best of 11 in 1948–49 as Stoke finished in 11th position. In 1949–50 he played 32 times scoring six goals as the Potters narrowly avoided relegation. At the end of the 1949–50 season Mountford was convinced to join Colombian side Independiente Santa Fe along with Stoke teammate Neil Franklin, the move caused outrage with the FA as Colombia at the time was not a FIFA member. Mountford spent the who season in Colombia where he became a favourite with the Independiente support who dubbed him the "Bald Arrow". He returned to Stoke in the summer of 1951 and he found himself both suspended by Stoke and the Football League. His suspension was lifted in September 1951 and he resumed playing in the Stoke team. In October 1953 Mountford was sold to

in exchange for Des Farrow. In September 1953 Mountford returned to his roots playing for

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'Th ...

, Kidderminster Harriers and Lockheed Leamington.

Career statistics

Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mountford, George English footballers English expatriate footballers Stoke City F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Kidderminster Harriers F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players Independiente Santa Fe footballers Leamington F.C. players English Football League players Expatriate footballers in Colombia English expatriate sportspeople in Colombia 1921 births 1973 deaths Sportspeople from Kidderminster Men's association football wingers Footballers from Worcestershire