# 1945–46 Stoke City F.C. season

The 1945–46 season was Stoke City's eleventh and final 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. The FA Cup made a welcome return after seven years out. However Stoke were involved in the Burnden Park disaster.

## Season review

Crowds up and down the country, including Stoke's were now beginning to show an increase as the situation in Europe began to improve and when the 1945–46 season commenced there was a feeling that the Football League would not be too long in starting up again, especially now that the FA Cup was reinstated into the fixture list, with clubs playing ties over two legs. For the final war time league season the idea of two phases of league fixtures was scrapped and a more traditional format took its place and Stoke finished in 13th position.
In the FA Cup Stoke progressed past Burnley and both Sheffield clubs United then Wednesday before drawing Bolton Wanderers in the quarter-final. The first leg was played at the Victoria Ground on 2 March 1946, Bolton won the match 2–0 to put them in prime position to reach the semi-final. However tragedy struck in the second leg at Burnden Park as crush barriers gave way on part of the terracing and 33 spectators were killed with another 520 injured. The match itself was delayed from some time and it eventually finished goalless.

## Final league table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GR | Pts |
| 11 | Liverpool | 42 | 17 | 9 | 16 | 80 | 70 | 1.143 | 43 |
| 12 | Middlesbrough | 42 | 17 | 9 | 16 | 75 | 87 | 0.862 | 43 |
| 13 | Stoke City | 42 | 18 | 6 | 18 | 88 | 79 | 1.114 | 42 |
| 14 | Bradford | 42 | 17 | 6 | 19 | 71 | 84 | 0.845 | 40 |
| 15 | Huddersfield Town | 42 | 17 | 4 | 21 | 90 | 89 | 1.011 | 38 |

## Results

Stoke's score comes first

### Legend

| Win | Draw | Loss |

### Football League North

| Match | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 1 | 25 August 1945 | Bradford | A | 0–1 | 15,725 | |
| 2 | 1 September 1945 | Bradford | H | 3–0 | 13,498 | Sale, Steele, Basnett |
| 3 | 8 September 1945 | Manchester City | H | 2–0 | 15,784 | G Mountford, F Mountford |
| 4 | 13 September 1945 | Leeds United | H | 2–1 | 6,594 | Steele (2) |
| 5 | 15 September 1945 | Manchester City | A | 2–5 | 12,881 | Steele (2) |
| 6 | 20 September 1945 | Manchester United | H | 1–2 | 16,917 | G Mountford |
| 7 | 22 September 1945 | Newcastle United | A | 1–9 | 45,000 | Steele |
| 8 | 28 September 1945 | Newcastle United | H | 3–1 | 20,229 | G Mountford, Basnett |
| 9 | 6 October 1945 | Sheffield Wednesday | H | 3–0 | 21,451 | Basnett, Steele (2) |
| 10 | 13 October 1945 | Sheffield Wednesday | A | 0–1 | 33,387 | |
| 11 | 17 October 1945 | Sunderland | A | 2–4 | 10,000 | Sale, Steele |
| 12 | 20 October 1945 | Huddersfield Town | A | 1–3 | 11,493 | Steele |
| 13 | 27 October 1945 | Huddersfield Town | H | 6–2 | 18,531 | Steele (3), Sale, G Mountford (2) |
| 14 | 3 November 1945 | Chesterfield | H | 6–1 | 28,387 | Steele (3), Sale, Matthews, Basnett |
| 15 | 10 November 1945 | Chesterfield | A | 1–1 | 26,301 | Basnett |
| 16 | 17 November 1945 | Barnsley | A | 3–3 | 25,000 | Basnett, Steele (2) |
| 17 | 24 November 1945 | Barnsley | H | 4–0 | 15,707 | Steele (2), Antonio, Matthews |
| 18 | 1 December 1945 | Everton | H | 2–3 | 20,743 | Sellars, G Mountford |
| 19 | 8 December 1945 | Everton | A | 1–6 | 28,066 | Steele |
| 20 | 15 December 1945 | Bolton Wanderers | A | 2–2 | 22,402 | G Mountford, Peppitt |
| 21 | 22 December 1945 | Bolton Wanderers | H | 4–1 | 13,000 | Steele (3), Antonio |
| 22 | 25 December 1945 | Preston North End | H | 6–0 | 18,603 | Steele (2), Antonio (2), Sellars, G Mountford |
| 23 | 26 December 1945 | Preston North End | A | 4–2 | 23,024 | Sellars (2), Steele, Dodd |
| 24 | 29 December 1945 | Leeds United | A | 0–0 | 22,000 | |
| 25 | 19 January 1946 | Sunderland | H | 0–0 | 8,593 | |
| 26 | 2 February 1946 | Sheffield United | A | 0–4 | 16,608 | |
| 27 | 16 February 1946 | Middlesbrough | H | 1–4 | 9,123 | Brigham |
| 28 | 23 February 1946 | Burnley | H | 0–0 | 11,689 | |
| 29 | 16 March 1946 | Grimsby Town | A | 2–0 | 15,000 | Steele, Sale |
| 30 | 23 March 1946 | Blackpool | H | 6–3 | 16,416 | Steele (4), Sale (2) |
| 31 | 30 March 1946 | Blackpool | A | 1–2 | 13,006 | Sale |
| 32 | 1 April 1946 | Burnley | A | 0–1 | 10,607 | |
| 33 | 6 April 1946 | Liverpool | H | 0–1 | 11,000 | |
| 34 | 8 April 1946 | Sheffield United | H | 0–3 | 9,000 | |
| 35 | 13 April 1946 | Liverpool | A | 1–4 | 23,880 | Peppitt |
| 36 | 15 April 1946 | Grimsby Town | H | 4–2 | 7,000 | Boothway, Sellars, Peppitt, Ormston |
| 37 | 19 April 1946 | Bury | A | 4–2 | 12,000 | Sellars (2), G Mountford, Steele |
| 38 | 20 April 1946 | Blackburn Rovers | A | 1–5 | 9,000 | Peppitt |
| 39 | 22 April 1946 | Bury | H | 2–0 | 12,206 | Antonio, Steele |
| 40 | 27 April 1946 | Blackburn Rovers | H | 5–0 | 8,000 | Antonio (2), Steele, Ormston (2) |
| 41 | 1 May 1946 | Middlesbrough | A | 1–3 | 25,000 | Steele |
| 42 | 4 May 1946 | Manchester United | A | 1–2 | 37,773 | Peppitt |

### FA Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| R3 1st Leg | 5 January 1946 | Burnley | H | 3–1 | 21,776 | Steele (3) |
| R3 2nd Leg | 7 January 1946 | Burnley | A | 1–2 | 18,403 | Antonio |
| R4 1st Leg | 26 January 1946 | Sheffield United | H | 2–0 | 35,306 | G Mountford, Steele |
| R4 2nd Leg | 28 January 1946 | Sheffield United | A | 2–3 | 50,208 | Antonio, Steele |
| R5 1st Leg | 9 February 1946 | Sheffield Wednesday | H | 2–0 | 40,452 | Steele (2) |
| R5 2nd Leg | 11 February 1946 | Sheffield Wednesday | A | 0–0 | 62,728 | |
| Quarter final 1st Leg | 2 March 1946 | Bolton Wanderers | H | 0–2 | 50,736 | |
| Quarter final 2nd Leg | 9 March 1946 | Bolton Wanderers | A | 0–0 | 65,419 | |

## Squad statistics

Note: Only the FA Cup appearances are considered as official competitive matches
| Pos. | Name | War League | War League | FA Cup | FA Cup | Total | Total |
| Pos. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| GK | Dennis Herod | 42 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 50 | 0 |
| DF | Harry Brigham | 42 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 50 | 1 |
| DF | Roy Brown | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| DF | Jack Challinor | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| DF | Neil Franklin | 23 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 31 | 0 |
| DF | Eric Hampson | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| DF | Stanley Harrison | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| DF | John McCue | 15 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 23 | 0 |
| DF | Harry Meakin | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| DF | Billy Mould | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| DF | Frank Mountford | 40 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 48 | 1 |
| DF | John Sellars | 21 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 7 |
| DF | Cyril Topsham | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| MF | Stuart Cowden | 21 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 22 | 0 |
| MF | Jock Kirton | 25 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 32 | 0 |
| MF | Stanley Matthews | 20 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 28 | 2 |
| MF | Syd Peppitt | 13 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 5 |
| MF | Bobby Windsor | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| FW | George Antonio | 16 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 23 | 9 |
| FW | Frank Baker | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
| FW | Fred Basnett | 18 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 8 |
| FW | Jack Boothway | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| FW | Frank Bowyer | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| FW | Harry Craddock | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| FW | John Dodd | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| FW | John Jackson | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| FW | Bill Kinson | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| FW | George Mountford | 32 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 38 | 9 |
| FW | Alexander Ormston | 11 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 15 | 3 |
| FW | Tommy Sale | 23 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 24 | 8 |
| FW | Freddie Steele | 37 | 36 | 8 | 7 | 44 | 43 |
| FW | Thomas Vallance | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |