The 1948–49 season was

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 ...

's 42nd season in the Football League and the 28th in the First Division. It was again a disappointing season for Stoke as a number of players started voicing their displeasure at manager

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 strict discipline. A number of players handed in transfer requests as discomfort began to affect the club. Results on the pitch were inconsistent and a mid table finish of 11th was the final outcome.

Season review

League

A strange feeling of disharmony set in at the Victoria Ground prior to the start of the 1948–49 season and Stoke received a number of transfer requests from players on the slightest whim. The previous season's main signings Jimmy McAlinden and Tommy Kiernan both departed after just a year with the club losing around £2,000 on the pair. The only other player whose wish to leave was accepted was

Bert Mitchell Albert James Mitchell (born 22 January 1922 – April 1997) was an English footballer who played in the Football League for Blackburn Rovers, Luton Town, Middlesbrough, Northampton Town, Southport and Stoke City. Career Mitchell began his car ...

. The 4 December 1948 was Stoke's

red letter day A red letter day (sometimes hyphenated as red-letter day or called scarlet day in academia) is any day of special significance or opportunity. Its roots are in classical antiquity; for instance, important days are indicated in red in a calendar d ...

as they fielded a team against

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

that cost a mere £10 and with all of them from the

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

area. The only blotch on the claim however is that

Frank Mountford Frank Mountford (30 March 1923 – 27 June 2006) was an English footballer who played in the Football League for Stoke City. Career Mountford was thought to be one of many local start players to emerge from the youth ranks at the Victoria Grou ...

was born in Doncaster but he moved to Stoke when he was about three years old. A mid table position of 11th was all that Stoke could have expected from an inconsistent season with 16 wins and 17 defeats. One key point during the season was manager

's decision to employ

Frank Bowyer Francis "Frank" Bowyer (10 April 1922 – 11 November 1999) was an English footballer who played as an inside forward for Stoke City. Career Bowyer was born in Chesterton, Staffordshire and played for Stoke-on-Trent schools before joining S ...

as an out-and-out centre forward and he scored 21 goals. Surprisingly, when the campaign ended Bowyer asked for a transfer which was accepted but he soon had a change of heart and would remain at the club until 1960.

FA Cup

Stoke beat Swindon Town 3–1 in the third round before being drawn against Stanley Matthews'

. Stoke overcame the "Tangerines" 1–0 in a replay. Around 46,738 fans assembled to watch Stoke take on Third Division Hull City but much to the shock of the Stoke supporters, Hull won 2–0 on an awful Victoria Ground pitch.

Season review

League

FA Cup

Final league table

Results

Legend

Football League First Division

FA Cup

Squad statistics

References