# 1939–40 Port Vale F.C. season

The 1939–40 season was Port Vale's 34th season of football in the Football League, and second-successive season in the Third Division South. All competitive football was suspended upon the breakout of war in Europe, just two games into the regular season. These two games were expunged from official records, and the Football League does not recognise the regional war leagues which replaced them and thus not included in official records. Port Vale finished eighth in the West League of the regional wartime league.

## Overview

Having rebuilt the playing squad the previous season, the Port Vale management opted to supplement the relatively team with young signings; notable teenage arrivals were Scottish winger Murdoch Dickie from Crewe Alexandra and inside-forward Bert Flatley from York City. Ken Fish returned as an assistant trainer as well as a player, with the club deciding to do without a manager in favour of a selection committee. The squad consisted of 22 professionals, though both Roy Felton and Roger Whittle were absent on military training, as the club decided to save money by asking squad players to be versatile in their playing positions. A goalless draw on the opening day down at Brighton & Hove Albion was followed by a 1–0 home defeat to Exeter City. Still, match number three against Northampton Town was cancelled after war was declared and the government prohibited all sports gatherings. The Football League was formally cancelled, and the footballing authorities looked at alternative arrangements. Permission was granted for football to take place in Stoke-on-Trent and friendlies took place as during this time.
The Football League eventually decided upon regional leagues and placed Vale in the West Region, alongside the big clubs from Liverpool and Manchester. Attendances were low, with only the fixtures with Manchester United and Everton breaking the 4,000 mark at the Old Recreation Ground. They managed to beat Everton 2–1 in front on a season-high crowd of around 6,000, and also managed to pick up a 1–1 draw with Liverpool in front of just 4,000 spectators at Anfield. Vale suffered heavy defeats at Old Trafford, the Victoria Ground and Maine Road, as well as at home to Liverpool, but managed to record doubles against both Crewe Alexandra and Tranmere Rovers. Despite fielding strong sides in the War Cup and Staffordshire Senior Cup they were eliminated in the opening rounds by Walsall and West Bromwich Albion respectively. Jack Roberts finished as top-scorer with 14 goals in all competitions. The club could not afford to continue fielding a professional team and so fielded just a junior side until the 1944–45 season despite still losing vast sums of money maintaining the Old Recreation Ground.

## League table
### Third Division South

| Pos | Team v t e | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts |
| 18 | Northampton Town | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 0.167 | 2 |
| 19 | Aldershot | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0.600 | 1 |
| 20 | Swindon Town | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0.500 | 1 |
| 21 | Bristol Rovers | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 0.286 | 1 |
| 22 | Port Vale | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.000 | 1 |
* Note: The Football League was cancelled after three matches.

### West Regional Championship

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GR | Pts |
| 1 | Stoke City | 22 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 57 | 41 | 1.390 | 31 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 22 | 12 | 5 | 5 | 66 | 40 | 1.650 | 29 |
| 3 | Everton | 22 | 12 | 4 | 6 | 64 | 33 | 1.939 | 28 |
| 4 | Manchester United | 22 | 14 | 0 | 8 | 74 | 41 | 1.805 | 28 |
| 5 | Manchester City | 22 | 12 | 4 | 6 | 73 | 41 | 1.780 | 28 |
| 6 | Wrexham | 22 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 45 | 50 | 0.900 | 25 |
| 7 | New Brighton | 22 | 10 | 3 | 9 | 55 | 52 | 1.058 | 23 |
| 8 | Port Vale | 22 | 10 | 2 | 10 | 52 | 56 | 0.929 | 22 |
| 9 | Chester | 22 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 40 | 51 | 0.784 | 19 |
| 10 | Crewe Alexandra | 22 | 6 | 1 | 15 | 44 | 79 | 0.557 | 13 |
| 11 | Stockport County | 22 | 4 | 3 | 15 | 45 | 79 | 0.570 | 11 |
| 12 | Tranmere Rovers | 22 | 2 | 3 | 17 | 41 | 93 | 0.441 | 7 |

## Results

Port Vale's score comes first
| Round | 1 | 2 |
| Ground | A | H |
| Result | D | L |
| Position | 12 | 22 |

### Football League Third Division South

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 26 August 1939 | Brighton & Hove Albion | A | 0–0 | 8,172 | |
| 2 September 1939 | Exeter City | H | 0–1 | 5,102 | |

### Football League West (War) League

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 21 October 1939 | Crewe Alexandra | H | 6–1 | 2,100 | P.Griffiths (2), Tunnicliffe (2), Nolan, Roberts |
| 28 October 1939 | Liverpool | A | 1–1 | 4,000 | Nolan |
| 11 November 1939 | Stockport County | A | 1–2 | 3,452 | P.Griffiths |
| 18 November 1939 | Tranmere Rovers | H | 6–2 | 1,745 | H.Griffiths (3 [2 pens]), P.Griffiths, Tunnicliffe, Nolan |
| 25 November 1939 | Manchester United | A | 1–8 | 1,500 | Tunnicliffe |
| 2 December 1939 | Wrexham | H | 1–0 | 1,456 | Higgins |
| 9 December 1939 | Everton | A | 1–3 | 1,000 | P.Griffiths |
| 6 January 1940 | New Brighton | A | 2–2 | 1,500 | Tunnicliffe, P.Griffiths |
| 10 February 1940 | Crewe Alexandra | A | 3–1 | 800 | Roberts (2), Cumberlidge |
| 24 February 1940 | Liverpool | H | 3–8 | 2,039 | Sproson, Roberts, P.Griffiths |
| 2 March 1940 | Chester | A | 3–0 | 1,000 | Higgins, Roberts, Tunnicliffe |
| 9 March 1940 | Stockport County | H | 6–2 | 1,787 | Higgins (2), Tunnicliffe (2), P.Griffiths, Roberts |
| 16 March 1940 | Tranmere Rovers | A | 5–1 | 2,000 | Tunnicliffe (2), Roberts (2), Higgins |
| 23 March 1940 | Manchester United | H | 1–3 | 4,127 | Higgins |
| 25 March 1940 | Stoke City | A | 1–5 | 9,450 | Roberts |
| 30 March 1940 | Wrexham | A | 0–1 | 2,000 | |
| 6 April 1940 | Everton | H | 2–1 | 6,000 | Griffiths, Higgins |
| 4 May 1940 | Chester | H | 3–1 | 1,170 | Roberts (2), Blunt |
| 6 May 1940 | Stoke City | H | 1–2 | 3,053 | Roberts |
| 11 May 1940 | Manchester City | H | 2–5 | 1,242 | Roberts, Bellis |
| 13 May 1940 | New Brighton | H | 3–0 | 1,000 | Triner (2), Bellis |
| 18 May 1940 | Manchester City | A | 0–7 | 2,000 | |

### Football League (War) Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Goalscorers |
| Preliminary | 13 April 1940 | Walsall | H | 2–2 | 4,403 | H.Griffiths, Roberts |
| Replay | 15 April 1940 | Walsall | A | 0–6 | 883 | |

### Staffordshire Senior Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Goalscorers |
| 1 | 4 November 1939 | West Bromwich Albion | A | 1–2 | 2,000 | P.Griffiths |

## Player statistics
### Appearances and goals

| Pos. | Name | Football League | Football League | War League | War League | Cups | Cups | Total | Total |
| Pos. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| GK | Arthur Jepson | 2 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 26 | 0 |
| GK | Jack Moore | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| DF | Harry Griffiths | 2 | 0 | 16 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 3 |
| DF | Johnny Rowe | 2 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 20 | 0 |
| DF | Edwin Blunt | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 1 |
| DF | Jack Griffiths | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| DF | Jimmy Oakes | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| DF | Fred Obrey | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| DF | Bob Pursell | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| DF | Charlie Scrimshaw | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| DF | Jess Sproson | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| MF | Wilf Smith | 2 | 0 | 22 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 27 | 0 |
| MF | Arthur Cumberlidge | 2 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 19 | 1 |
| MF | Alf Bellis | 2 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 |
| MF | Don Triner | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 |
| MF | George Hannah | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| MF | Ronald Beresford | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| MF | Murdoch Dickie | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| MF | Phil Griffiths | 0 | 0 | 22 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 25 | 10 |
| MF | Billy Tunnicliffe | 0 | 0 | 17 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 20 | 10 |
| FW | Jack Roberts | 2 | 0 | 16 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 20 | 14 |
| FW | Tom Nolan | 0 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 3 |
| FW | John Sanderson | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| FW | Bert Flatley | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| FW | Dennis Higgins | 0 | 0 | 18 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 21 | 7 |
| FW | George Morrey | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| FW | Harry Ware | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| FW | Ken Fish | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

### Top scorers

| Place | Position | Nation | Name | West (War) League | War Cup | Staffs Cup | Total |
| 1 | FW | England | Jack Roberts | 13 | 1 | 0 | 14 |
| 2 | MF | England | Billy Tunnicliffe | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| – | MF | Wales | Phil Griffiths | 9 | 0 | 1 | 10 |
| 4 | FW | England | Dennis Higgins | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 5 | FW | England | Harry Griffiths | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 6 | FW | England | Tom Nolan | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 7 | MF | England | Alf Bellis | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| – | MF | England | Don Triner | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | DF | England | Edwin Blunt | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| – | MF | England | Arthur Cumberlidge | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| – | DF | England | Jess Sproson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| – | – | – | Own goals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | | | TOTALS | 52 | 2 | 1 | 55 |

## Transfers
### Transfers in

| Date from | Position | Name | From | Fee |
| May 1939 | MF | Murdoch Dickie | Crewe Alexandra | Free transfer |
| June 1939 | FW | Bert Flatley | York City | Free transfer |
| July 1939 | FW | Ken Fish | Young Boys | Free transfer |
| October 1939 | MF | Phil Griffiths | Folkestone | Free transfer |

### Transfers out

| Date from | Position | Nationality | Name | To | Fee | Ref. |
| December 1939 | MF | | Murdoch Dickie | | Contract cancelled | |
| February 1940 | FW | | Tom Nolan | Retired | Retired | |