# 1943–44 Stoke City F.C. season

The 1943–44 season was Stoke City's ninth season in the non-competitive War League.
In 1939 World War II was declared and the Football League was cancelled. In its place were formed War Leagues and cups, based on geographical lines rather than based on previous league placement. However, none of these were considered to be competitive football, and thus their records are not recognised by the Football League and thus not included in official records.

## Season review

With the war now at its most demanding clubs had to rely on even more guest players and Stoke used the most players this season more than any other time during the war. With most senior players being called for military duty there was a largely youthful feel to Stoke squad for the 1943–44 season and it showed as they ended the first phase of the Football League North in an overall position of 34th (out of 50 teams) and in the second phase they finished in 13th. Freddie Steele hit an impressive 20 goals from just 9 matches including a double hat trick against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

## Results

Stoke's score comes first

### Legend

| Win | Draw | Loss |

### Football League North 1st Phase

| Match | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 1 | 23 August 1943 | Aston Villa | H | 0–2 | 6,000 | |
| 2 | 4 September 1943 | Aston Villa | A | 1–2 | 15,000 | Sale |
| 3 | 11 September 1943 | Crewe Alexandra | A | 1–2 | 4,905 | F Mountford |
| 4 | 18 September 1943 | Crewe Alexandra | H | 4–2 | 3,950 | Sale, Bowyer (2), G Mountford |
| 5 | 25 September 1943 | Derby County | H | 5–1 | 4,000 | Leuty (o.g.), Peppitt (2), G Mountford, Franklin |
| 6 | 2 October 1943 | Derby County | A | 2–2 | 8,000 | Bowyer, Liddle |
| 7 | 9 October 1943 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | H | 5–0 | 5,119 | Bowyer, G Mountford (2), Basnett (2) |
| 8 | 16 October 1943 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | A | 2–1 | 7,242 | Basnett (2) |
| 9 | 23 October 1943 | Birmingham | H | 1–1 | 5,000 | G Mountford |
| 10 | 30 October 1943 | Birmingham | A | 0–2 | 3,900 | |
| 11 | 6 November 1943 | West Bromwich Albion | H | 3–3 | 3,520 | Sale (2), Liddle |
| 12 | 13 November 1943 | West Bromwich Albion | A | 0–3 | 6,912 | |
| 13 | 20 November 1943 | Wrexham | A | 1–4 | 3,850 | Sale |
| 14 | 27 November 1943 | Wrexham | H | 7–3 | 3,000 | Sale (2), Basnett (2), Steele (2), Liddle |
| 15 | 4 December 1943 | Crewe Alexandra | H | 5–0 | 3,500 | Sale (2), Peppitt (2), Basnett |
| 16 | 11 December 1943 | Crewe Alexandra | A | 1–2 | 3,000 | Franklin |
| 17 | 18 December 1943 | Walsall | A | 2–4 | 1,147 | Clewlow, Rist (o.g.) |
| 18 | 28 December 1943 | Walsall | H | 0–1 | 6,022 | |

### Football League North 2nd Phase

| Match | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 1 | 18 March 1944 | Leicester City | H | 2–5 | 3,279 | F Mountford, Sellars |
| 2 | 25 March 1944 | Leicester City | A | 2–2 | 7,000 | Ormston, Bowyer |
| 3 | 10 April 1944 | Crewe Alexandra | A | 6–1 | 4,350 | Bowyer (2), Sale (2), F Mountford, Pointon |
| 4 | 29 April 1944 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | H | 2–2 | 2,156 | Sale, Jackson |
| 5 | 6 May 1944 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | A | 1–2 | 1,997 | Watkin |

### Football League War Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| QR | 30 December 1943 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | A | 1–1 | 19,951 | Sale |
| QR | 1 January 1944 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | H | 9–3 | 6,798 | Steele (6), Sale (2), Liddle |
| QR | 8 January 1944 | Aston Villa | H | 6–3 | 16,492 | Steele (3), Peppitt (3) |
| QR | 15 January 1944 | Aston Villa | A | 2–0 | 32,000 | Kirton, Ormston |
| QR | 22 January 1944 | Birmingham | A | 1–4 | 1,750 | Basnett |
| QR | 29 January 1944 | Birmingham | H | 4–1 | 20,000 | Steele (3), Sale |
| QR | 5 February 1944 | Walsall | H | 5–1 | 4,000 | Sale (2), Ormston, Peppitt, Shelton (o.g.) |
| QR | 12 February 1944 | Walsall | A | 2–0 | 1,986 | Sale, F Mountford |
| QR | 19 February 1944 | West Bromwich Albion | A | 8–2 | 5,000 | Sale (3), Steele (4), Bowyer |
| QR | 26 February 1944 | West Bromwich Albion | H | 5–4 | 8,000 | Sale (2), Steele (2), G Mountford |
| R1 1st leg | 4 March 1944 | Aston Villa | H | 4–5 | 11,508 | Sale (2), Steele (2) |
| R1 2nd leg | 11 March 1944 | Aston Villa | A | 0–3 | 22,000 | |

### Midland Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| R1 1st leg | 1 April 1944 | Derby County | A | 3–1 | 9,000 | Peppitt, Steele, Bowyer |
| R1 2nd leg | 8 April 1944 | Derby County | H | 1–1 | 7,000 | Basnett |
| R2 1st leg | 15 April 1944 | West Bromwich Albion | H | 1–1 | 3,434 | Sale |
| R2 2nd leg | 22 April 1944 | West Bromwich Albion | A | 1–3 | 7,202 | Southern (o.g.) |

## Squad statistics

| Pos. | Name | Matches | Matches |
| Pos. | Name | Apps | Goals |
| GK | Emmanuel Foster | 17 | 0 |
| GK | Dennis Herod | 1 | 0 |
| GK | Edgar Podmore | 1 | 0 |
| GK | Norman Wilkinson | 8 | 0 |
| DF | Harry Brigham | 16 | 0 |
| DF | Sid Clewlow | 2 | 1 |
| DF | Stuart Cowden | 3 | 0 |
| DF | Doug Dunn | 1 | 0 |
| DF | Neil Franklin | 34 | 2 |
| DF | Jack Griffiths | 4 | 0 |
| DF | Lol Hamlett | 10 | 0 |
| DF | Eric Hayward | 6 | 0 |
| DF | Bill Kinson | 18 | 0 |
| DF | John McCue | 34 | 0 |
| DF | John Sellars | 3 | 1 |
| DF | Roy Shufflebottom | 1 | 0 |
| DF | Cyril Watkin | 1 | 1 |
| MF | Jack Edwards | 3 | 0 |
| MF | Stanley Glover | 1 | 0 |
| MF | Jock Kirton | 8 | 1 |
| MF | Bobby Liddle | 25 | 4 |
| MF | George Mountford | 19 | 6 |
| MF | Jim Simpson | 2 | 0 |
| MF | Frank Soo | 2 | 0 |
| MF | Bobby Windsor | 2 | 0 |
| MF | Edward Wordley | 1 | 0 |
| MF | Bert Wright | 1 | 0 |
| FW | Fred Basnett | 22 | 9 |
| FW | Edwin Blunt | 1 | 0 |
| FW | Frank Bowyer | 32 | 9 |
| FW | Bill Caton | 2 | 0 |
| FW | Roy Crossley | 3 | 0 |
| FW | Stanley Harrison | 2 | 0 |
| FW | John Jackson | 3 | 1 |
| FW | Stanley Matthews | 3 | 0 |
| FW | Alfred Massey | 2 | 0 |
| FW | Frank Mountford | 29 | 4 |
| FW | Alexander Ormston | 12 | 3 |
| FW | Syd Peppitt | 11 | 9 |
| FW | Bill Pointon | 2 | 1 |
| FW | Tommy Sale | 39 | 30 |
| FW | Freddie Steele | 9 | 20 |
| FW | Thomas Vallance | 1 | 0 |
| FW | Ken West | 1 | 0 |