The 1957–58 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 51st season in the Football League and the 18th in the Second Division. The pressure was now beginning to increase on Frank Taylor with the club gearing up for another season in the second tier. Taylor believed he was building a useful and settled squad however the supporters were starting to get impatient with him. The 1957–58 season was again a huge disappointment as after a good first half of the season was followed up by a poor second half and they ended up in 11th position.

Season review

League

Prior to the start of the 1957–58 season both

George Bourne George Bourne (1780–1845) was a 19th-century American abolitionist and editor, credited as the first public proclaimer of "immediate emancipation without compensation" of American slaves. Life George was born on June 13, 1780, in Westbury, ...

and

John Malkin John Malkin (9 November 1921 – 19 May 1994) was an English footballer who played in the Football League for Stoke City. Career Malkin was born in Stoke-on-Trent and was spotted by scouts in 1942 playing football in the Army and was signed b ...

had to retire from playing due to injury. Despite this the management left the transfer market alone during the summer of 1957 with Frank Taylor saying: ''I am slowly getting together a useful squad and building a settled side.'' However the club was still short on forward players with only five available these of

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 ...

, Neville Coleman,

Johnny King Johnny Cecil King (born 2 July 1942) is an Australian former rugby league footballer and coach. He was a winger with the St. George Dragons for the last seven years of their eleven consecutive premiership-winning run from 1956 to 1966. He was ...

, George Kelly and

Harry Oscroft Harry Oscroft (10 March 1926 – 31 December 2008) was an English footballer. A left winger, he scored over 150 goals in nearly 500 league games in a 14-year career in the English Football League. He played for Mansfield Town for three years, ...

. Yet to their credit these five kept the goals flowing with Kelly top scoring with 24 to his name. The 1957–58 season again proved to be a big disappointment and whilst until December Stoke were in the top two, they ended up in 11th place with absolutely nothing to show for the early efforts. Taylor did go out and spend £11,000 on Dennis Wilshaw from Wolverhampton Wanderers and long serving

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 ...

bowed out after eight years and took up a coaching role a position he would keep until 1980. The fruits of the club's youth policy were slowly play dividends with the emergence this season of Tony Allen a quality full back who go on to win international honours with England. Peter Bullock also came through the youth team whilst he did not have a very successful career with Stoke he made his debut against Swansea Town at the age of 16 and 163 days old and he scored becoming the club's youngest player and goalscorer.

FA Cup

Stoke made in-roads in the FA Cup overcoming

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

in a 2nd replay and then Middlesbrough to reach the fifth round where they came up against a powerful

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

side who with the help of Nat Lofthouse beat Stoke 3–1 as they went on to lift the cup.

Final league table

Results

''Stoke's score comes first''

Legend

Football League Second Division

FA Cup

Squad statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1957-58 Stoke City F.C. season Stoke City F.C. seasons

Stoke Stoke is a common place name in the United Kingdom. Stoke may refer to: Places United Kingdom The largest city called Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. See below. Berkshire * Stoke Row, Berkshire Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stok ...