1971–72 Stoke City F.C. season

Stoke City
1971–72 season
Chairman Albert Henshall
Manager Tony Waddington
Stadium Victoria Ground
Football League First Division 17th (35 Points)
FA Cup Semi Final
League Cup Winners
Top goalscorer League: John Ritchie (12)
All: John Ritchie (21)
Highest home attendance 43,007 vs Manchester City (27 December 1971)
Lowest home attendance 13,920 vs Nottingham Forest (10 April 1972)
Average home league attendance 24,204
Home colours

The 1971–72 season was Stoke City's 65th season in the Football League and the 41st in the First Division.

After 109 years of trying Stoke City finally won their first major trophy in March 1972 beating Chelsea 2–1 in the League Cup final at Wembley. They also reached the semi final of the FA Cup for the second season running and again lost out to Arsenal. Their league campaign obviously took a hit with all the cup matches being played, Stoke finished in 17th position with 35 points. In total Stoke played 71 matches during a very busy season.[1]

Season review

League

The Stoke fans were confident of seeing more good exciting attacking football again as the 1971–72 season commenced but overall league performances were bitterly disappointing, however in the cup competitions Stoke did themselves proud.[1] With the cup matches obviously taking priority Stoke had a back-log of fixtures to play (six games in 17 days) and they failed to win any of them as they finished in 17th position with 35 points.[1]

FA Cup

Stoke had another run to the semi-final of the FA Cup after beating lower league sides, Chesterfield, Tranmere Rovers, Hull City and another two matches against Manchester United, Stoke faced Arsenal again.[1] Villa Park hosted the tie and thanks to an own goal from Peter Simpson, an unimpressive Stoke scraped to a 1–1 draw.[1] The replay at Goodison Park was controlled by the "Gunners" and although Stoke battled hard they went down 2–1 and their hopes of achieving a Wembley double disappeared.[1]

League Cup

In the League Cup Stoke ousted Southport and Oxford United and then in the fourth round Stoke visited Old Trafford and held Manchester United to a 1–1 draw with John Ritchie cancelling out a goal from Alan Gowling.[1] The replay attracted almost 41,000 fans to the Victoria Ground but this time there was no goals and third game was required.[1] This was again staged at Stoke and two late goals sealed a 2–1 victory and passage to the last eight.[1] At this stage of the season matches were coming thick and fast and a 4–2 win over Bristol Rovers saw Stoke enter the semi finals of the League Cup where they met West Ham United over two legs.[1]

Not only was this to be a memorable cup tie for Stoke, it is also once of the best encounters in the history of the League Cup competition.[2] In the 1st leg Stoke's hopes of reaching the final seemed to have disappeared when they lost 2–1 to home. However at West Ham, Ritchie levelled the aggregated score with 20 minutes left, and with just three of those reaming West Ham were awarded a penalty, a decision which angered Gordon Banks immensely. The England 'keeper was so psyched up that he dived and saved Geoff Hurst's spot kick superbly, Banks says that it was his most significant save of his career.[3] And so to a third match, a replay at Hillsborough, was a tense 0–0 draw.[1] The fourth meeting was staged at Old Trafford and another bumper crowd turned out to see the two sides do battle in a match that seemed to have everything. Bobby Ferguson, the "Hammers" goalkeeper was accidentally kicked on the head by Terry Conroy and Bobby Moore went in goals.[1] He saved a Mike Bernard penalty but was beaten on the rebound. Ferguson returned and the game ebbed and flowed, and either side could have won. In the end it was Stoke with Conroy scoring the winning goal to send City through to their first major final.[1]

The final took place on 4 March 1972 at Wembley against Chelsea in front of a crowd 97,852. Stoke showed no big match nerves at took an early lead through Terry Conroy, this prompted a response by Chelsea and just before the interval a rare mistake from Alan Bloor allowed Peter Osgood to level the scores. Stoke were not to be denied and on 73 minutes the veteran George Eastham scored the winning goal to earn Stoke their first major trophy.[1]

Final league table

PosClubPWDLFAGAPts
1Derby County422410869332.09158
2Leeds United42249973312.35557
3Liverpool42249964302.13357
4Manchester City422311877451.71157
5Arsenal422281258401.45052
6Tottenham Hotspur4219131063421.50051
7Chelsea4218121258491.18448
8Manchester United4219101369611.13148
9Wolverhampton Wanderers4218111365571.14047
10Sheffield United4217121361601.01746
11Newcastle United4215111649520.94241
12Leicester City4213131641460.89139
13Ipswich Town4211161539530.73638
14West Ham United4212121847510.92236
15Everton429181537480.77136
16West Bromwich Albion4212111942540.77835
17Stoke City4210151739560.69635
18Coventry City429151844670.65733
19Southampton421272352800.65031
20Crystal Palace428132139650.60029
21Nottingham Forest42892547810.58025
22Huddersfield Town426132327590.45825

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

Results

Stoke's score comes first

Legend

Win Draw Loss

Football League First Division

MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
1 14 August 1971 Coventry CityA1–120,739Ritchie 46'
2 17 August 1971 SouthamptonA1–318,382Greenhoff 82'
3 21 August 1971 Crystal PalaceH3–118,756Ritchie 20' (pen), Mahoney 44', Greenhoff 52'
4 25 August 1971 Leicester CityH3–121,678Ritchie 64', Bernard 78', Dobing 80'
5 28 August 1971 ArsenalA1–036,637Ritchie 20'
6 31 August 1971 Nottingham ForestA0–019,017
7 4 September 1971 Wolverhampton WanderersH0–120,021
8 11 September 1971 Derby CountyA0–432,548
9 18 September 1971 Huddersfield TownH1–016,463Conroy 25'
10 25 September 1971 West Ham UnitedA1–219,193Ritchie 58'
11 2 October 1971 LiverpoolH0–029,698
12 9 October 1971 Sheffield UnitedA3–235,371Ritchie 15', Smith 51', Conroy 81'
13 16 October 1971 Coventry CityH1–020,040Smith 82'
14 23 October 1971 Ipswich TownA1–217,678Bernard 33'
15 30 October 1971 Tottenham HotspurH2–028,348Mahoney (2) 49', 55'
16 6 November 1971 West Bromwich AlbionA1–019,207Greenhoff 42' (pen)
17 13 November 1971 ChelseaH0–122,196
18 20 November 1971 Leeds UnitedA0–133,012
19 27 November 1971 Newcastle UnitedH3–316,815Ritchie 22', Conroy (2) 65', 70'
20 4 December 1971 EvertonA0–035,469
21 11 December 1971 Manchester UnitedH1–133,807Mahoney 27'
22 13 December 1971 Wolverhampton WanderersA0–225,619
23 27 December 1971 Manchester CityH1–343,007Smith 90'
24 4 January 1972 Huddersfield TownA0–012,665
25 8 January 1972 ArsenalH0–018,965
26 22 January 1972 SouthamptonH3–117,480Ritchie 12', Greenhoff (2) 51', 82'
27 29 January 1972 Leicester CityA1–226,931Greenhoff 13'
28 12 February 1972 Ipswich TownH3–320,247Ritchie 55', Greenhoff 75', Smith 87'
29 19 February 1972 Tottenham HotspurA0–232,841
30 11 March 1972 Sheffield UnitedH2–231,667Smith 65', Ritchie 85'
31 25 March 1972 Derby CountyH1–133,592Greenhoff 48' (pen)
32 28 March 1972 LiverpoolA1–242,489Ritchie 35'
33 1 April 1972 Manchester CityA2–149,392Doyle 35 (o.g.), Ritchie 53'
34 4 April 1972 West Ham UnitedH0–024,688
35 8 April 1972 Leeds UnitedH0–335,123
35 10 April 1972 Nottingham ForestH0–213,920
37 22 April 1972 EvertonH1–116,796Lyons 30' (o.g.)
38 24 April 1972 ChelseaA0–223,443
39 26 April 1972 Crystal PalaceA0–224,550
40 29 April 1972 Manchester UnitedA0–334,959
41 5 May 1972 West Bromwich AlbionH1–116,206Burrows 68'
42 8 May 1972 Newcastle UnitedA0–021,350

FA Cup

Main article: 1971–72 FA Cup
RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
R315 January 1972 ChesterfieldH2–126,559Conroy 15', Dobing 67'
R45 February 1972 Tranmere RoversA2–224,424Conroy 68', Ritchie 75'
R4 Replay9 February 1972 Tranmere RoversH2–035,352Bernard 31', Greenhoff 70'
R526 February 1972 Hull CityH4–134,558Greenhoff (2) 44', 45', Conroy 79', Ritchie 87'
Quarter Final18 March 1972 Manchester UnitedA1–153,558Greenhoff 58'
Quarter Final Replay22 March 1972 Manchester UnitedH2–1 (aet)49,091Smith 74', Conroy 102'
Semi Final15 April 1972 ArsenalN1–156,570Simpson 65' (o.g.)
Semi Final Replay19 April 1972 ArsenalN1–235,976Greenhoff 19'
3rd/4th Play-off5 August 1972 Birmingham CityN0–0 (3–4 pens)23,841

League Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
R28 September 1971 SouthportA2–110,225Smith 10', Greenhoff 70'
R36 October 1971 Oxford UnitedA1–115,024Greenhoff 13'
R3 Replay18 October 1971 Oxford UnitedH2–011,757Ritchie 30', Haslegrave 86'
R427 October 1971 Manchester UnitedA1–147,062Ritchie 72'
R4 Replay8 November 1971 Manchester UnitedH0–0 (aet)40,829
R4 2nd Replay15 November 1971 Manchester UnitedH2–142,233Dobing 70', Ritchie 88'
Quarter Final23 November 1971 Bristol RoversA4–233,626Greenhoff 7', Smith 20', Bernard 61', Conroy 64'
Semi Final 1st Leg8 December 1971 West Ham UnitedH1–236,407Dobing 14'
Semi Final 2nd Leg15 December 1971 West Ham UnitedA1–038,771Ritchie 72'
Semi Final Replay5 January 1972 West Ham UnitedN0–046,916
Semi Final 2nd Replay26 January 1972 West Ham UnitedN3–249,247Bernard 32', Dobing 45', Conroy 49'
Final4 March 1972 ChelseaN2–197,852Conroy 5', Eastham 73'

Texaco Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
R1 1st Leg15 September 1971 MotherwellA1–08,213Bernard
R1 2nd Leg29 September 1971 MotherwellH4–112,072Ritchie (2), Greenhoff, Haslegrave
R2 1st Leg20 October 1971 Derby CountyA2–321,487Mahoney, Smith
R2 2nd Leg11 November 1971 Derby CountyH1–123,461Smith

Anglo-Italian Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
Group Stage1 June 1972 CatanzaroA3–014,147Dobing, Marsh, Greenhoff
Group Stage5 June 1972 RomaA0–219,960
Group Stage7 June 1972 CatanzaroH2–08,345Greenhoff, Ritchie
Group Stage10 June 1972 RomaH1–25,446Ritchie

Friendlies

MatchOpponentVenueResult
1PorthmadogA5–2
2MotherwellA0–0
3Southend UnitedA4–2
4OlympiacosA2–1
5OlympiacosA0–1

Squad statistics

Pos. Name League FA Cup League Cup Texaco Cup Anglo-Italian Cup Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
GKEngland Gordon Banks 360801104000590
GKEngland John Farmer 6010100040120
DFEngland Alan Bloor 350901104040630
DFNorthern Ireland Alex Elder 6020000030110
DFEngland Jackie Marsh 410801204041691
DFEngland Mike Pejic 320401203010520
DFEngland Denis Smith 285919242405410
DFEngland Eric Skeels 13(6)0501(1)0000(1)019(8)0
MFEngland Mike Bernard 362811224100606
MFRepublic of Ireland Terry Conroy 2746411320004611
MFEngland George Eastham 13(1)0806(2)1100028(3)1
MFEngland Sean Haslegrave 17(1)0002(1)1310021(2)2
MFEngland George Jackson 8000000(1)01(2)09(3)0
MFEngland Stewart Jump 17(2)02050304031(2)0
MFEngland Terry Lees 3(2)00000000(1)03(3)0
MFWales John Mahoney 25(4)4204(2)0310034(6)5
MFScotland Jimmy Robertson 001000000010
MFScotland Willie Stevenson 12(5)000103(1)04020(6)0
FWEngland Harry Burrows 1010(2)000004014(2)1
FWEngland Peter Dobing 27(1)1911031(1)04151(2)6
FWEngland Jimmy Greenhoff 3587512321325919
FWEngland Geoff Hurst 001000000010
FWEngland John Ritchie 32129212432426022
FWEngland Terry Smith 100000000010
FWEngland Tommy Walker 200000000020
Own goals 210003

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.
  2. Powell, Jeff (11 March 2011). "Why Stoke City v West Ham can claim to be the best cup tie ever". Daily Mail. London. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
  3. "Banks's happy memories of Upton Park". The Sentinel. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
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