The 1955–56 season was Stoke City's 49th season in the Football League and the 16th in the Second Division.

It was a season of what might have been for Stoke as they often looked capable of challenging for promotion but then played badly the next match. In the end Stoke had to settle for a final position of 13th after picking up a modest 44 points in what was a frustrating season.

Season review

League Manager Frank Taylor now backed by his namesake Mr G. Taylor made only minor adjustments to his squad for the start of the 1955–56 season. However, after a decent start to the season with Stoke looking capable of challenging for promotion the Stoke board showed their ambition. In November Stoke made an ambitious approach for Blackpool legend Stan Mortensen and it seemed that Stoke had signed a forward with some reasonable credentials, however much to the disappointment of the board Mortensen instead joined Hull City. So Stoke instead went and paid £11,000 to Lincoln City for their prolific forward Andy Graver. However, despite the new arrival being met by approval by the fans Graver would have an unsuccessful spell at the Victoria Ground.

After a strong start, Stoke slid down the table before finally ending up in a rather poor position of 13th. A 3–2 win against Liverpool was the best of the season in what was a 'thrilling' contest.

FA Cup Stoke beat Exeter City (3–0) and Leicester City (2–1) both in replays before losing 2–1 at Newcastle United in the fifth round.

Final league table

Results

Stoke's score comes first

Legend WinDrawLoss

Football League Second Division

MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers1 20 August 1955 Doncaster RoversA4–213,087King (3), Malkin2 22 August 1955 Bristol RoversA2–421,240Bowyer, Lowell3 27 August 1955 Sheffield WednesdayH2–024,529Bowyer, Lowell4 29 August 1955 Bristol RoversH1–218,875Lowell5 3 September 1955 Nottingham ForestA3–216,620Bowyer (2), Oscroft6 5 September 1955 Plymouth ArgyleA1–018,240Oscroft7 10 September 1955 Hull CityH4–119,971Bowyer (2), Malkin, Lawton8 12 September 1955 Plymouth ArgyleH4–117,179King, Oscroft (2), Lawton9 17 September 1955 Blackburn RoversA0–323,44510 24 September 1955 Lincoln CityH3–020,533Emery (o.g.), Lawton, King11 1 October 1955 Leicester CityA1–326,831Bowyer12 8 October 1955 Port ValeA0–136,27113 15 October 1955 Rotherham UnitedH1–017,421King14 22 October 1955 MiddlesbroughA3–118,217King, Oscroft (2)15 29 October 1955 Notts CountyH0–215,73716 5 November 1955 Leeds UnitedA0–121,13817 12 November 1955 FulhamH1–218,972Cairns18 19 November 1955 BuryA0–19,03019 26 November 1955 BarnsleyH2–117,729King (2)20 3 December 1955 Swansea TownA0–018,45721 10 December 1955 Bristol CityH4–217,039King, Bowyer, Oscroft, Graver22 17 December 1955 Doncaster RoversH5–215,336King (2), Bowyer, Graver, Coleman23 24 December 1955 Sheffield WednesdayA0–423,57924 26 December 1955 LiverpoolA2–249,604King (pen), Oscroft25 27 December 1955 LiverpoolH3–229,108Graver, Bowyer, Coleman 26 31 December 1955 Nottingham ForestH1–122,381Bowyer27 21 January 1956 Blackburn RoversH1–218,731King28 11 February 1956 Leicester CityH2–021,091Coleman (2)29 3 March 1956 MiddlesbroughH2–520,134Bowyer, Oscroft30 10 March 1956 Bristol CityA1–028,046Oscroft31 17 March 1956 Leeds UnitedH2–116,007Bowyer, Graver32 24 March 1956 FulhamA0–220,32533 30 March 1956 West Ham UnitedA0–216,23134 31 March 1956 Port ValeH1–136,362Oscroft35 2 April 1956 West Ham UnitedH3–019,949Graver, King, Coleman36 7 April 1956 BarnsleyA0–19,59037 14 April 1956 Swansea TownH5–012,770Bowyer (2), Oscroft, King, Graver38 16 April 1956 BuryH0–211,22739 21 April 1956 Notts CountyA3–111,355Graver, Oscroft, Cairns40 25 April 1956 Lincoln CityA1–212,015Oscroft41 28 April 1956 Rotherham UnitedA1–06,375Oscroft42 1 May 1956 Hull CityA2–35,232Bowyer, Ward

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR37 January 1956 Exeter CityA0–016,860R3 Replay9 January 1956 Exeter CityH3–014,513Oscroft, Bowyer, ColemanR428 January 1956 Leicester CityA3–335,877Bowyer, King, GraverR4 Replay30 January 1956 Leicester CityH2–134,120Graver, OscroftR515 February 1956 Newcastle UnitedA1–261,540King 51'

Squad statistics Pos.NameLeagueFA CupTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGK Wilf Hall600060GK Bill Robertson36050410DF George Bourne10000100DF John McCue36030390DF Bobby Meadows000000DF Jack Short30030330DF Ken Thomson37050420DF Donald Whiston12030150MF Bill Asprey300030MF Bobby Cairns33250382MF Frank Mountford15010160MF John Sellars33050380FW Frank Bowyer4216524718FW John Clowes200020FW Neville Coleman24551296FW Andy Graver24752299FW Joe Hutton100010FW George Kelly400040FW Johnny King3616524118FW John Lawton930093FW Eric Lowell730073FW John Malkin11200112FW Harry Oscroft3815524317FW Don Ratcliffe800080FW Derrick Ward510051–Own goals–1–0–1

References