Reginald Potts (31 July 1927 – 28 January 1996) was an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

defender, nicknamed "Dan" after

Desperate Dan Desperate Dan is a wild west character in the now-defunct Scottish comic magazine ''The Dandy'', and became its mascot. He made his appearance in the first issue which was dated 4 December 1937. He is apparently the world's strongest man, ...

. A key member of

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

, he played 301 competitive games for the club between 1945 and 1957. He helped the "Valiants" to win the

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

title and to reach the

FA Cup semi-finals The FA Cup semi-finals are played to determine which teams will contest the FA Cup Final. They are the penultimate phase of the FA Cup, the oldest Association football, football tournament in the world. Location The semi-finals have always be ...

in 1953–54. He later turned out for

non-League Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

sides

Worcester City Worcester City Football Club is an English football club based in Worcester, Worcestershire. The club play in the Midland Football League, the ninth tier of English football. Established in 1902, the club play at Claines Lane. Worcester City's ...

and

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional association football, football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was liquidation, wound-up after a High Court of Justice, High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially kno ...

Career

Potts played for Wellington Scouts, Northwood Mission and

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

before joining

in August 1945.

National service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

interrupted his career however, and he could only be regularly picked by Vale from February 1952. He did though feature in 19

Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

games in 1948–49, and also played three games in 1949–50 and 25 games in 1950–51 under the stewardship of

Gordon Hodgson Gordon Hodgson (16 April 1904 – 14 June 1951) was a professional sportsman, born in Transvaal Colony, who is best known as a striker for Liverpool and as a fast bowler for Lancashire. He won two international caps for South Africa and three ...

. He scored his first senior goal on 27 March 1950, in a 2–0 win over

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

The Old Recreation Ground The Old Recreation Ground was a football stadium located in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, England, and home to Port Vale F.C. from 1913 to 1950. It was the sixth ground the club used. Structure and facilities The stadium was in rather bad conditio ...

. Potts featured 21 times in 1951–52, as short-term boss

Ivor Powell Ivor Verdun Powell, MBE (5 July 1916 – 6 November 2012) was a Welsh football player and manager. He won eight caps for Wales. A wing half, he began his professional career with Queens Park Rangers in September 1937. His career was interr ...

was replaced by

Freddie Steele Freddie Steele (December 18, 1912 – August 22, 1984) was a boxer and film actor born Frederick Earle Burgett in Seattle, Washington. He was recognized as the National Boxing Association (NBA) Middleweight Champion of the World between 1936 ...

. He was an ever-present during the 1952–53 season, as the "Valiants" finished as runners-up of the

. He also managed to score a

lob Lob may refer to: Sports * Lob (pickleball) * Lob (tennis) * Lob (association football), a lofted pass or shot in association football * Lob bowling, an archaic bowling style in cricket People * Lob Brown, American college football player * L ...

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has been the home ground of Port Vale F.C. since 1950. The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49, ...

in a 4–0 win over

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

on 30 April. In the 1953–54 season, the "

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...

" defence of Ray King (goalkeeper),

Tommy Cheadle Thomas Cheadle (8 April 1919 – 4 September 1993) was an English footballer. He played for Port Vale in various positions for over a decade. It was his time as a "hard-man" centre-back, captaining some of the most successful Vale sides in the ...

, Potts,

Stan Turner Stanley Simpson Turner (21 October 1926 – 28 April 1991) was an English footballer. A tough-tackling defender, he made 246 appearances (227 in the league, 18 in the FA Cup and 1 in the Coronation Cup) for Port Vale during one of the club's ...

and

Roy Sproson Roy Sproson (23 September 1930 – 24 January 1997) was an English footballer and football manager for Port Vale. A one-club man, he holds the all-time appearance record for Vale, making 837 starts (and 5 substitute appearances) for Vale ...

were a key part of Vale's success in winning the league and reaching the

. He was an ever-present in the 1954–55 season, as the club posted a 17th-place finish in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. He also played every game in the 1955–56 season, as part of his 167 consecutive appearances between October 1953 and April 1957. He featured 41 times in 1956–57, as new

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Norman Low Norman Harvey Low (23 March 1914 – 21 May 1994) was a Scottish football player and manager. He was the son of Scottish international footballer, Wilf Low. A central defender, he played for Newcastle United between 1931 and 1933, before a th ...

failed to prevent Vale slipping to

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

. Former teammate Graham Barnett later recalled how Potts and fellow defender Stan Turner did not get along and refused to speak to each other despite playing alongside each other for eight years. Potts was sold to Southern League side

in July 1957, later moving on to

in 1960, becoming a key player for the "Silkmen" until he lost his first-team place in February 1961.

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

Port Vale *

Football League Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated In sports leagues, promotion and ...

: 1953–54

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Potts, Reg 1927 births 1996 deaths People from Etruria, Staffordshire Footballers from Stoke-on-Trent English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Stoke City F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Worcester City F.C. players Macclesfield Town F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players Military personnel from Stoke-on-Trent 20th-century British military personnel