1948–49 Port Vale F.C. season

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Port Vale
1948–49 season
Chairman William Holdcroft
Manager Gordon Hodgson
Stadium The Old Recreation Ground
Football League Third Division South 13th (39 Points)
FA Cup First Round
Top goalscorer League: Walter Aveyard (13)
All: Walter Aveyard (13)
Highest home attendance 18,497 vs. Aldershot (28 August 1948)
Lowest home attendance 7,738 vs. Millwall (18 December 1948)
Average home league attendance 12,069
Home colours
← 1947–48 1949–50 →

The 1948–49 season was Port Vale's 37th season of football in the Football League, and their fourth full season in the Third Division South.[1] A promotion campaign soon tailed off into an unremarkable mid-table finish, as bad form persuaded the club to sell off Bill Pointon for a then-club record fee.

Manager Gordon Hodgson during his playing days.

Overview

Third Division South

The pre-season saw the club attempt to sign Huddersfield Town's star forward Peter Doherty, when this failed Gordon Hodgson instead signed Liverpool left-wing duo Stan Palk and Mick Hulligan for £10,000.[1] Striker Walter Aveyard was also signed from Birmingham City, despite his belief that a leg injury had finished him.[1] Fans were convinced promotion to the Second Division was possible, and so there was a surge in season ticket sales.[1]

The season started with seven points from the opening four games, leaving the club top of the table.[1] The season-high 18,497 fans that turned up for a 3–0 win over Aldershot were impressed by the skill of the three new signings.[1] The club's good form continued to the end of September, despite the sale of Walter Keeley to Accrington Stanley for £1,500 – who had found himself relegated to the sidelines by Hulligan's good performances.[1] After this Hulligan broke his ankle, whilst other injuries also hit the squad.[1] Six weeks of six defeats in seven games followed, leaving Vale sixth from bottom.[1] During this spell Joe Dale was offloaded to Witton Albion, as Hodgson attempted to fill the gaps in the first team with young reserves.[1] Winning three games on the trot, the Vale put an end to this bad spell, also keeping three clean sheets.

Over the Christmas period talk was dominated by 'The Wembley of the North', which had been projected as an 80,000 capacity stadium, now it was planned as a 40,000 capacity ground with room for future expansion.[1] Finding just fifty members for the '100 club', the financing was helped by a £8,000 grant from The Football Association.[1] In January the club initiated a fire-sale of players: Bill Pointon went to Queens Park Rangers for a then-club record five-figure fee, whilst Harry Hubbick was sold to Rochdale for around £1,000.[1] Meanwhile the club transfer listed Palk, Aveyard, and Eric Eastwood (who all lived outside North Staffordshire); whilst Hulligan returned from injury.[1] A two month run without a win followed, in which Hodgson again experimented with the first eleven.[1] This run finally ended with a 1–0 win over Notts County on 9 April.[1] Nine days later at Ashton Gate, keeper Harry Prince was given a chance in place of regular George Heppell, who embarrassed himself by attempting to punch a forty yard punt from Stone, only to miss the ball entirely and thereby concede the equalizer.[1] Later in the month, Hodgson signed George King from Hull City for a four-figure fee.[1] King scored twice in his debut against Torquay United.[1]

They finished a disappointing thirteenth, boasting just 39 points.[1] They had scored twelve fewer goals than the previous campaign, though their defensive record was identical.[1] Harry Prince's move to Stafford Rangers was the only significant departure of the summer.[1]

Finances

On the financial side, a large transfer credit helped the club record a gross profit of £7,120.[1] Gate receipts had declined to £25,831, whilst wages had risen to £16,095.[1] The Burslem Supporters Club put forward a donation of £600, and the club issued 22,000 new five shilling shares to help with the New Ground Fund.[1]

Cup competitions

In the FA Cup, Vale were knocked out in the First Round by Notts County at Meadow Lane in front of 36,514 spectators.[1]

Final league table

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Main article: 1948–49 Football League
P W D L F A GA Pts
1 Swansea Town 42 27 8 7 87 34 2.559 62
2 Reading 42 25 5 12 77 50 1.540 55
3 Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic 42 22 8 12 69 48 1.438 52
4 Swindon Town 42 18 15 9 64 56 1.143 51
5 Bristol Rovers 42 19 10 13 61 51 1.196 48
6 Brighton & Hove Albion 42 15 18 9 55 55 1.000 48
7 Ipswich Town 42 18 9 15 78 77 1.013 45
8 Millwall 42 17 11 14 63 64 0.984 45
9 Torquay United 42 17 11 14 65 70 0.929 45
10 Norwich City 42 16 12 14 67 49 1.367 44
11 Notts County 42 19 5 18 102 68 1.500 43
12 Exeter City 42 15 10 17 63 76 0.829 40
13 Port Vale 42 14 11 17 51 54 0.944 39
14 Walsall 42 15 8 19 56 64 0.875 38
15 Newport County 42 14 9 19 68 92 0.739 37
16 Bristol City 42 11 14 17 44 62 0.710 36
17 Watford 42 10 15 17 41 54 0.759 35
18 Southend United 42 9 16 17 41 46 0.891 34
19 Leyton Orient 42 11 12 19 58 80 0.725 34
20 Northampton Town 42 12 9 21 51 62 0.823 33
21 Aldershot 42 11 11 20 48 59 0.814 33
22 Crystal Palace 42 8 11 23 38 76 0.500 27

P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points

Results

Port Vale's score comes first

Legend

Win Draw Loss
Round 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42
Ground A H H A A H H A A H A H A H A H A H H H A A H H A H A A H A H A H A A H H A A H A H
Result D W W W L W L W D D L L D L L L L W W W L W W L D W D L D L L L L D D W W L D W L D
Position 9 1 2 1 3 1 3 2 2 5 6 8 10 12 15 17 17 16 15 11 13 9 9 10 10 11 11 11 11 12 12 12 13 13 13 13 12 12 12 12 12 13

Sourced from Statto.[2]

Football League Third Division South

Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
21 August 1948 Millwall A 1–1 32,122 Aveyard
23 August 1948 Reading H 3–0 17,394 Aveyard (2), Hulligan
28 August 1948 Aldershot H 3–0 18,497 Hulligan (2), Dale
1 September 1948 Reading A 2–1 13,955 Palk, Martin
4 September 1948 Brighton & Hove Albion A 0–1 20,383
6 September 1948 Swindon Town H 2–0 17,581 Palk, Pointon
11 September 1948 Southend United H 0–2 16,592
15 September 1948 Swindon Town A 2–0 16,894 Allen, Aveyard
18 September 1948 Northampton Town A 2–2 9,964 Allen, Aveyard
25 September 1948 Norwich City H 0–0 15,361
2 October 1948 Exeter City A 1–2 10,672 Martin
9 October 1948 Swansea Town H 0–2 17,888
16 October 1948 Newport County A 2–2 10,037 Aveyard (2)
23 October 1948 Ipswich Town H 1–2 11,424 Aveyard
30 October 1948 Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic A 0–2 18,436
6 November 1948 Walsall H 0–2 11,559
13 November 1948 Notts County A 1–2 29,332 Aveyard
20 November 1948 Bristol Rovers H 2–0 10,342 Cheadle, Palk
18 December 1948 Millwall H 1–0 7,738 Pointon
25 December 1948 Leyton Orient H 3–0 9,480 Allen, Pointon, Hubbick
27 December 1948 Leyton Orient A 0–2 8,953
1 January 1949 Aldershot A 1–0 4,510 Pointon
8 January 1949 Watford H 3–1 8,681 Aveyard (2), Allen
15 January 1949 Brighton & Hove Albion H 3–4 9,562 Martin, Pointon, Aveyard
22 January 1949 Southend United A 0–0 9,713
5 February 1949 Northampton Town H 1–0 9,369 Allen
12 February 1949 Crystal Palace A 1–1 12,409 Cheadle
19 February 1949 Norwich City A 0–2 26,323
26 February 1949 Exeter City H 1–1 8,437 o.g.
5 March 1949 Swansea Town A 1–3 13,769 Allen
12 March 1949 Newport County H 1–2 9,487 Hulligan
19 March 1949 Ipswich Town A 1–4 10,722 Allen
26 March 1949 Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic H 0–2 8,560
30 March 1949 Torquay United A 0–0 6,483
2 April 1949 Walsall A 1–1 9,767 Martin
9 April 1949 Notts County H 1–0 12,198 Martin
15 April 1949 Bristol City H 4–2 13,571 Allen (2), Martin, Hulligan
16 April 1949 Bristol Rovers A 1–4 15,477 Aveyard
18 April 1949 Bristol City A 1–1 11,094 Palk
23 April 1949 Torquay United H 3–1 11,914 King (2), McGarry
30 April 1949 Watford A 1–2 6,316 Allen
7 May 1949 Crystal Palace H 0–0 7,821

FA Cup

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Main article: 1948–49 FA Cup
Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Goalscorers
R1 27 November 1948 Notts County A 1–2 36,514 Martin

Player statistics

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Port Vale 1948–1949 : Results & Fixtures. Statto Organisation. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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