The 1939-40 Port Vale season preview

What had happened over the summer?

There had been a substantial rebuilding of the squad the previous season but the club had been rocked by the exit of manager Tom Morgan. The Valiants had decided to replace Morgan with a selection committee. They supplemented the squad with a number of youngsters including Scottish winger Murdoch Dickie from Crewe Alexandra and inside-forward Bert Flatley from York City.

How did the season unfold?

All regular football was suspended after just two matches due to the outbreak of World War Two. For the record, Vale finished the season winless. They drew away at Brighton and Hove Albion and then lost at home to Exeter City. No Vale player managed to find the net with the scores being 0-0 and 0-1.

Football continued in the form of regional leagues with Port Vale finishing eighth (out of twelve) in the West League. Sadly the war saw the playing careers of long-serving players such as Tom Nolan come to an end.

Here are the clippings:

A few notes on these biographies…

Many sportsmen at the time had winter and summer sports. Arthur Jepson, for instance, was a goalkeeper for Vale in the winter and a seam bowler for Nottinghamshire in the summer. It’s worth noting that at the time the UK, baseball was gaining in popularity due to Great Britain winning the 1938 World Cup. So, you may notice that several of the Port Vale players also played baseball in the summer with striker Jack Roberts playing for and captaining the England side.

It’s also sobering to remember that many of these players would soon be involved in the world war. The afore-mentioned Roberts was captured in Tunisia and was one of hundreds of prisoners of war to escape by walking hundreds of miles to freedom. Records are sketchy –  Ken Fish (a warrant officer), Don Triner, Phil Griffiths and Arthur Jepson are all recorded as serving their country but many of the other players will have done so too.