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

Results

Stoke's score comes first

Legend

Football League North

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
R3 1st Leg5 January 1946BurnleyH3–121,776Steele
R3 2nd Leg7 January 1946BurnleyA1–218,403Antonio
R4 1st Leg26 January 1946Sheffield UnitedH2–035,306G Mountford, Steele
R4 2nd Leg28 January 1946Sheffield UnitedA2–350,208Antonio, Steele
R5 1st Leg9 February 1946Sheffield WednesdayH2–040,452Steele
R5 2nd Leg11 February 1946Sheffield WednesdayA0–062,728
Quarter final 1st Leg2 March 1946Bolton WanderersH0–250,736
Quarter final 2nd Leg9 March 1946Bolton WanderersA0–065,419

Squad statistics

Note: Only the FA Cup appearances are considered as official competitive matches