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.

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

Results

Stoke's score comes first

Legend WinDrawLoss

Football League First Division

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

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR310 January 1953 WrexhamH2–136,361Finney, WhistonR431 January 1953 Halifax TownA0–134,788

Squad statistics Pos.NameLeagueFA CupTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGK Frank Elliott12010130GK Dennis Herod11010120GK Bill Robertson19000190GK Billy Waters000000DF Roy Beckett400040DF George Bourne20000200DF Brian Doyle17020190DF John McCue36020380DF Ken Thomson38220402MF Des Farrow300030MF Jock Kirton300030MF Frank Mountford37520395MF John Sellars37120391FW Frank Bowyer29320313FW Roy Brown16800168FW Harold Connor210021FW Bill Finney21411225FW Leslie Johnston14400144FW John Malkin24220262FW Billy McIntosh200020FW Alan Martin29410304FW Jack McClelland400040FW George Mountford400040FW Harry Oscroft3710203910FW Brian Siddall21100211FW Sammy Smyth14500145MF Derrick Ward200020FW Donald Whiston622183–Own goals–1–0–1

References