Reginald Potts (31 July 1927 – 28 January 1996) was an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

defender, nicknamed "Dan" after

Desperate Dan Desperate Dan is a wild west character in the now-defunct Scottish comic magazine '' The Dandy''. He made his appearance in the first issue which was dated 4 December 1937 and became the magazine's mascot. He is apparently the world's stro ...

. A key member of Port Vale's

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

, he played 301 competitive games for the club between 1945 and 1957. He helped the "Valiants" to win the

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

title and to reach the

FA Cup semi-finals The FA Cup semi-finals are played to determine which teams will contest the FA Cup Final. They are the penultimate phase of the FA Cup, the oldest football tournament in the world. Location The semi-finals have always been contested at neutra ...

in 1953–54. He later turned out for

non-League Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

sides

Worcester City Worcester City Football Club is an English Association football, football club based in Worcester, England, Worcester, Worcestershire. The club play in the Southern Football League Premier Division Central, the seventh tier of English football. ...

and Macclesfield Town.

Career

Potts played for Wellington Scouts, Northwood Mission and

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

before joining Port Vale in August 1945.

National service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

interrupted his career however, and he could only be regularly picked by Vale from February 1952. He did though feature in 19 Third Division South games in 1948–49, and also played three games in 1949–50 and 25 games in 1950–51 under the stewardship of

Gordon Hodgson Gordon Hodgson (16 April 1904 – 14 June 1951) was a professional sportsman, born in Transvaal Colony, who is best known as a striker for Liverpool and as a fast bowler for Lancashire. He won two international caps for South Africa and three ...

. He scored his first senior goal on 27 March 1950, in a 2–0 win over

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...

at the

Old Recreation Ground The Old Recreation Ground was a football stadium located in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, England, and home to Port Vale F.C. from 1913 to 1950. It was the sixth ground the club used. Structure and facilities The stadium was in rather bad conditi ...

. Potts featured 21 times in 1951–52, as short-term boss

Ivor Powell Ivor Verdun Powell, MBE (5 July 1916 – 6 November 2012) was a Welsh football player and manager. He won eight caps for Wales. A wing half, he began his professional career with Queens Park Rangers in September 1937. His career was inter ...

was replaced by Freddie Steele. He was an ever-present during the 1952–53 season, as the "Valiants" finished as runners-up of the

. He also managed to score a

lob Lob may refer to: Sports * Lob (pickleball) * Lob (tennis) * Lob (association football), a lofted pass or shot in association football * Lob bowling, an archaic bowling style in cricket People * Lob Brown, American college football player * Löb ...

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in the area of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, and it has been the home ground of Port Vale Football Club since its opening in 1950. It has a current capacity of 15,695, and was renovated durin ...

in a 4–0 win over

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

on 30 April. In the 1953–54 season, the "

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...

" defence of Ray King (goalkeeper), Tommy Cheadle, Potts,

Stan Turner Stanley Simpson Turner (21 October 1926 – 28 April 1991) was an English Association football, footballer. A tough-Tackle (football move), tackling Defender (association football), defender, he made 246 appearances (227 in the league, 18 in t ...

and

Roy Sproson Roy Sproson (23 September 1930 – 24 January 1997) was an English footballer and football manager for Port Vale. A one-club man, he holds the all-time appearance record for Vale, making 837 starts (and 5 substitute appearances) for Val ...

were a key part of Vale's success in winning the league and reaching the

. He was an ever-present in the 1954–55 season, as the club posted a 17th-place finish in the Second Division. He also played every game in the 1955–56 season, as part of his 167 consecutive appearances between October 1953 and April 1957. He featured 41 times in 1956–57, as new

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Norman Low failed to prevent Vale slipping to

relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

. Former teammate Graham Barnett later recalled how Potts and fellow defender Stan Turner did not get along and refused to speak to each other despite playing alongside each other for eight years. Potts was sold to Southern League side

in July 1957, later moving on to Macclesfield Town in 1960, becoming a key player for the "Silkmen" until he lost his first-team place in February 1961.

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

Port Vale *

Football League Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated t ...

: 1953–54

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Potts, Reg 1927 births 1996 deaths People from Etruria, Staffordshire Footballers from Stoke-on-Trent English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Stoke City F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Worcester City F.C. players Macclesfield Town F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players Military personnel from Stoke-on-Trent 20th-century British military personnel 20th-century English sportsmen