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1940–41 Stoke City F.C. season

Field	Value
club	Stoke City
season	1940–41
manager	Bob McGrory
chairman	Mr H. Booth
stadium	Victoria Ground
league	South Regional Championship
league result	25th
cup1	Football League War Cup
cup1 result	First Round
highest attendance	4,980 vs Birmingham
(9 November 1940)
lowest attendance	300 vs Notts County
(25 January 1941)
prevseason	1939–40
nextseason	1941–42
pattern_la1	_red_stripes
pattern_b1	_red_stripes
pattern_ra1	_red_stripes
pattern_so1	_band_red
shorts1	FFFFFF
socks1	000000

(9 November 1940) (25 January 1941) The 1940–41 season was Stoke City's sixth 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 so many players unable to get leave from the army on matchdays this gave the club a perfect opportunity to field several younger players and when Stoke kicked off the 1940–41 season against Notts County on 31 August 1940 they fielded a side with an average age of 21. Several clubs did not play as many matches as others during the season and Stoke, well below strength and lacking in form, conceded a remarkable 23 goals in just four games in December and January.

Stoke's back line caved in regularly and seven goals were put past them on three occasions at Mansfield, Northampton and Walsall. Stoke finished 25th (out of 34) in the final South Regional League this season when a points average decided league placings rather than points simply because some teams did not play as many games as others e.g. Birmingham played 16 and Stoke 36.

Final league table

Note: Due to the inconsistent number of matches played by teams in 1940–41, positions were decided by goal-average.

Results

Stoke's score comes first

Legend

Win	Draw	Loss

War League South Regional Championship

Match	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
1	31 August 1940	Notts County	H	4–1	2,421	Mountford (3), Sale
2	7 September 1940	Notts County	A	2–3	3,000	Sale, Bowyer
3	14 September 1940	Mansfield Town	A	3–2	1,000	Bowyer, Mountford, Liddle
4	21 September 1940	Mansfield Town	H	5–0	2,000	Bowyer (2), Mountford (2), Liddle
5	28 September 1940	Leicester City	A	0–1	3,000
6	5 October 1940	Leicester City	H	3–3	2,814	Mountford (2), Sale
7	12 October 1940	West Bromwich Albion	A	1–0	4,091	Bowyer
8	19 October 1940	West Bromwich Albion	H	1–3	3,392	Soo
9	26 October 1940	Nottingham Forest	A	3–3	1,500	Mountford (2), Bowyer
10	2 November 1940	Nottingham Forest	H	5–0	714	Mountford, Bowyer, Sale, Soo (2)
11	9 November 1940	Birmingham	H	5–0	4,980	Mountford (3), Ormston (2)
12	16 November 1940	Birmingham	A	2–6	1,462	Liddle, Smith
13	30 November 1940	Tranmere Rovers	A	2–2	1,000	Mountford (2)
14	7 December 1940	Cardiff City	H	5–1	2,000	Mountford, Sale (2), Steele, Bowyer
15	14 December 1940	Cardiff City	A	0–4	800
16	21 December 1940	Walsall	A	2–2	540	Soo, Liddle
17	25 December 1940	Mansfield Town	A	2–7	3,450	Mountford, Smith
18	28 December 1940	Walsall	A	1–5	3,518	Steele
19	4 January 1941	Leicester City	A	2–6	3,000	Mountford, Sale
20	11 January 1941	Leicester City	H	3–5	2,000	Mountford (2), Sale
21	25 January 1941	Notts County	H	2–2	300	Sale, Dunkley
22	1 February 1941	Notts County	A	1–2	1,000	Steele
23	1 March 1941	Walsall	H	1–1	1,045	Sale
24	8 March 1941	Walsall	A	3–7	1,616	Bowyer, Liddle, Longford
25	15 March 1941	West Bromwich Albion	A	2–2	2,086	Liddle, Franklin
26	22 March 1941	West Bromwich Albion	H	0–2	794
27	29 March 1941	Nottingham Forest	H	4–0	500	Mountford (3), Sale
28	5 April 1941	Nottingham Forest	A	2–3	200	Basnett, Mitchell
29	14 April 1941	Northampton Town	A	0–7	3,000
30	26 April 1941	Chester	H	1–2	400	Sale
31	3 May 1941	Chester	H	0–1	1,200
32	10 May 1941	Northampton Town	H	2–1	400	Bowyer, Brigham
33	17 May 1941	Chesterfield	H	2–2	500	Steele, Brigham
34	24 May 1941	Chesterfield	A	1–5	1,000	Sale
35	2 June 1941	Wrexham	A	3–3	1,000	Sale, Steele, Basnett
36	7 June 1941	Leicester City	A	1–2	1,000	Brigham

[[Football League War Cup]]

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
R1 1st Leg	15 February 1941	Mansfield Town	A	1–6	2,000	Mountford
R1 2nd Leg	22 February 1941	Mansfield Town	H	2–0	1,000	Sale, Longford

Friendlies

Match	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
1	23 November 1940	Royal Air Force XI	H	3–2	825	Sale (2), Smith
2	8 February 1941	Royal Air Force XI	H	9–1	300	Mountford (4), Steele (4), Sale
3	12 April 1941	Army XI	H	7–2	400	Mitchell (4), Liddle, Mountford (2)
4	21 April 1941	Wrexham	A	2–5	3,370	Mitchell, Sale

Squad statistics

Pos.	Name	Matches	Apps
GK	ENG Pat Bridges	18	0
GK	ENG Lionel Hayward	1	0
GK	ENG Dennis Herod	13	0
GK	ENG Tom Holden	3	0
GK	WAL David Jones	1	0
GK	ENG Norman Wilkinson	2	0
DF	ENG Harry Brigham	30	3
DF	ENG Jack Challinor	5	0
DF	ENG Neil Franklin	33	1
DF	ENG Stanley Glover	20	0
DF	ENG Harry Griffiths	1	0
DF	ENG Jack Griffiths	3	0
DF	ENG Eric Hampson	22	0
DF	ENG Stanley Harrison	11	0
DF	ENG Eric Hayward	1	0
DF	ENG Bill Kinson	2	0
DF	ENG John McCue	14	0
DF	ENG Billy Mould	2	0
MF	ENG Edwin Blunt	1	0
MF	ENG Wally Gould	1	0
MF	ENG Len Howell	1	0
MF	SCO Jock Kirton	4	0
MF	ENG Alfred Massey	2	0
MF	ENG Clement Smith	6	2
MF	ENG Arthur Turner	11	0
MF	ENG Frank Soo	18	4
MF	ENG Edward Wordley	2	0
FW	ENG Fred Basnett	5	2
FW	ENG Frank Bowyer	28	10
FW	ENG C. Curtis	1	0
FW	ENG Robert Dunkley	3	1
FW	ENG John Jackson	2	0
FW	ENG Bobby Liddle	32	7
FW	ENG Eric Longford	7	2
FW	ENG Stanley Matthews	12	0
FW	ENG Bert Mitchell	6	1
FW	ENG Frank Mountford	29	23
FW	ENG Alexander Ormston	3	2
FW	ENG Syd Peppitt	4	0
FW	ENG Tommy Sale	36	17
FW	ENG Freddie Steele	16	5
FW	ENG George Stevens	1	0
FW	ENG Harry Ware	1	0
FW	SCO James Westland	1	0

References

Matthews, Tony. (1994). "The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City". Lion Press.

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