1952–53 Stoke City F.C. season

March 2015 March 2015 Stoke City 1952–53 Frank Taylor Mr E. Henshall Victoria Ground Football League First Division 21st (34 Points) FA Cup Fourth Round Harry Oscroft (10) Harry Oscroft (10) 35,006 vs Manchester City (23 August 1952) 19,611 vs Sunderland (28 March 1953) 27,883 1951–52 1953–54 _red_stripes _red_stripes _red_stripes _hoops_red FFFFFF FFFFFF The 1952–53 season was Stoke City's 46th season in the Football League and the 32nd in the First Division. The summer of 1952 again brought drama as long serving manager Bob McGrory resigned after spending 31 years with the club as player and manager. In his place came former Scarborough manager and Wolverhampton Wanderers defender Frank Taylor. However despite a change in leadership the team continued to struggle and were again involved in a relegation battle. The season went to the final day and Stoke went into their match against Derby County knowing they had to win to stay up, a 2–1 defeat saw Stoke's stay in the First Division come to a disappointing end.Matthews Tony The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City 1994 Lion Press 0-9524151-0-0 Season review League During the summer of 1952 Bob McGrory resigned after spending 31 years at the Victoria Ground as player and manager and Frank Taylor took over as first team manager. Taylor was a 'new breed' of tracksuit manager and was regarded as potential great manager by the Stoke board. The first act Taylor did was to erect a sign above the players dressing room which read: Are you 90 minutes fit? It's the last 20 minutes that count–train for it. The 1952–53 season was obviously going to be a transitional one with the defence and forward lines in need of strengthening. A new goalkeeper was brought in, Bill Robertson coming up from Birmingham City for £8,000. The season did not start well and after one win the first five matches Taylor moved quickly to bring in Ken Thomson to the club a fine centre back from Aberdeen whilst allowing George Mountford to join Queens Park Rangers. Taylor also started to move on some of McGrory's signings but the talent from the youth team which had served Stoke for so long had now dried up. Prior to the lead up to 1953 Stoke had agonisingly slipped into the relegation zone, but seven games without defeat at the turn of the year they seemed to have averted the danger. But then it all went wrong again and they slipped back down the table and in the end they had to win their final match of the season against an already relegated Derby County at the Victoria Ground. Most expected Stoke to step it up and beat a dejected Derby side but disaster struck as Jack Lee scored for the "Rams" early on. Stoke hit back through Frank Bowyer but Jackie Stamps but Derby 2–1 up. Stoke created plenty of chances and with just minutes left were awarded a penalty but the reliable Ken Thomson hit his kick straight at Ray Middleton and with it ended Stoke's 20 year stay in the First Division. FA Cup A miserable season was not helped any by a shock 1–0 defeat to Third Division North side Halifax Town in the fourth round. Final league table First Division y STK Results Stoke's score comes first Legend WinDrawLoss Football League First Division 1952–53 Football League MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers1 23 August 1952 Manchester CityH2–135,006Smyth, Oscroft2 26 August 1952 BurnleyA2–329,087Smyth, Oscroft3 30 August 1952 LiverpoolA2–340,062Bowyer, Johnston4 1 September 1952 BurnleyH1–340,062Oscroft5 6 September 1952 MiddlesbroughH1–032,061Johnston6 10 September 1952 Preston North EndA0–335,2757 13 September 1952 West Bromwich AlbionA2–327,028Johnston, Mountford (pen)8 15 September 1952 Preston North EndH0–028,4369 20 September 1952 Newcastle UnitedH1–032,359Johnston10 27 September 1952 Cardiff CityA0–240,27111 4 October 1952 Sheffield WednesdayH1–329,627Sellars12 11 October 1952 Manchester UnitedA2–028,968Siddall, Finney13 18 October 1952 PortsmouthH2–429,057Finney, Smyth14 25 October 1952 Bolton WanderersA1–225,294Finney15 1 November 1952 Aston VillaH1–426,652Smyth16 8 November 1952 SunderlandA1–143,444Mountford (pen)17 15 November 1952 Wolverhampton WanderersH1–228,410Smyth18 22 November 1952 Charlton AthleticA1–512,143Mountford (pen)19 29 November 1952 ArsenalH1–124,033Malkin20 6 December 1952 Derby CountyA0–417,48421 13 December 1952 BlackpoolH4–019,382Oscroft (2), Mountford, Fenton (o.g.)22 20 December 1952 Manchester CityA1–213,562Whiston23 26 December 1952 ChelseaH1–130,846Malkin24 27 December 1952 ChelseaA0–017,17325 3 January 1953 LiverpoolH3–123,488Oscroft (2), Whiston26 17 January 1953 MiddlesbroughA0–020,32027 24 January 1953 West Bromwich AlbionH5–135,226Oscroft (2), Martin (2), Bowyer28 7 February 1953 Newcastle UnitedA2–125,115Martin, Finney29 14 February 1953 Cardiff CityH0–021,61930 21 February 1953 Sheffield WednesdayA0–140,20931 28 February 1953 Manchester UnitedH3–130,219Brown (2), Martin32 7 March 1953 PortsmouthA1–125,370Oscroft33 14 March 1953 Bolton WanderersH1–228,232Brown34 25 March 1953 Aston VillaA1–115,056Thomson35 28 March 1953 SunderlandH3–019,611Brown (2), Connor36 3 April 1953 Tottenham HotspurA0–135,60637 4 April 1953 Wolverhampton WanderersA0–338,00038 6 April 1953 Tottenham HotspurH2–025,346Brown, Thomson39 11 April 1953 Charlton AthleticH1–027,087Brown40 15 April 1953 BlackpoolA1–113,280Mountford41 18 April 1953 ArsenalA1–347,376Brown42 25 April 1953 Derby CountyH1–229,597Bowyer FA Cup 1952–53 FA Cup RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR310 January 1953 WrexhamH2–136,361Finney, WhistonR431 January 1953 Halifax TownA0–134,788 Squad statistics Pos.NameLeagueFA CupTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGKWAL 1953 Frank Elliott12010130GKENG Dennis Herod11010120GKENG Bill Robertson19000190GKWAL 1953 Billy Waters000000DFENG Roy Beckett400040DFENG George Bourne20000200DFENG Brian Doyle17020190DFENG John McCue36020380DFSCO Ken Thomson38220402MFENG Des Farrow300030MFSCO Jock Kirton300030MFENG Frank Mountford37520395MFENG John Sellars37120391FWENG Frank Bowyer29320313FWENG Roy Brown16800168FWENG Harold Connor210021FWENG Bill Finney21411225FWSCO Leslie Johnston14400144FWENG John Malkin24220262FWSCO Billy McIntosh200020FWENG Alan Martin29410304FWENG Jack McClelland400040FWENG George Mountford400040FWENG Harry Oscroft3710203910FWENG Brian Siddall21100211FWNIR Sammy Smyth14500145MFENG Derrick Ward200020FWENG Donald Whiston622183–Own goals–1–0–1 References Category:Stoke City F.C. seasons Stoke City