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1963–64 Stoke City F.C. season

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Stoke City
1963–64 season
ChairmanMr G. Taylor
ManagerTony Waddington
StadiumVictoria Ground
Football League First Division17th (38 Points)
FA CupFifth round
League CupFinal (runners-up)
Top goalscorerLeague: John Ritchie
(18)

All: John Ritchie
(30)
Highest home attendance45,697 vs Manchester United
(18 April 1964)
Lowest home attendance20,488 vs Bolton Wanderers
(22 February 1964)
Average home league attendance30,315

The 1963–64 season was Stoke City's 57th season in the Football League and the 33rd in the First Division.

With the club now on a high after gaining promotion back to England's top tier, Tony Waddington wasted no time in bringing in new signings to make sure relegation was avoided. He broke the transfer record and despite some concern during the season Stoke stayed up comfortably in 17th position. Stoke enjoyed success in the League Cup reaching the final against Leicester City before losing 4–3 over two legs.[1]

Season review

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League

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With the euphoria of winning promotion over, Waddington knew that his side had to be strengthened to have any hope of surviving in the First Division.[1] The first big name signing he made was that of Peter Dobing for a club record fee of £37,500 from Manchester City and £6,000 for Bobby Irvine a young goalkeeper from Linfield.[1] Also signed by Stoke this season was John Ritchie a centre forward signed from non-league Kettering Town for a small fee of £2,500.[1] Ritchie scored 30 goals in his first season and went on to become Stoke's best ever goalscorer.[1]

Stoke made a dream start to the 1963–64 season beating Tottenham Hotspur 2–1 at home on the opening match of the season, Jimmy McIlroy scoring both goals, and then accounting for Aston Villa 3–1 two days later.[1] There followed though, a run of 10 matches without a win and Stoke found themselves at the wrong end of the table.[1] Waddington was not happy with his defence and went out and bought Calvin Palmer from Nottingham Forest for £30,000 and George Kinnell from Aberdeen for £27,000 and another 'keeper Lawrie Leslie from West Ham United.[1] On the other hand, he released Don Ratcliffe, and Ron Wilson.[1] John Ritchie was introduced into the first team by October and he made an instant impression as he started scoring the first few of his 171 for the club.[1] With Ritchie in full flow, things improved and in nine matches from early October to mid November, Stoke remained unbeaten.[1] However around Christmas time the team again went through a bad spell losing eight times including some heavy defeats.[1]

Stoke recovered well in the second half of the season and began to pull themselves away from the danger zone.[1] A huge 9–1 win over Ipswich Town in March gave the team the confidence they needed and five wins in their last nine fixtures lifted Stoke to a final position of 17th, 10 points above relegated Bolton Wanderers.[1]

FA Cup

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Stoke beat Portsmouth 4–1 in the third round and then edged past Ipswich in a replay before losing in a replay to Swansea.[1]

League Cup

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Away from the league Stoke had a great run in this seasons League Cup having made an unspectacular start to the competition which started in 1960.[1] In 1963–64 they made it through to the final where they met Leicester City.[1] Stoke's run had seen them knock-out Scunthorpe United after three matches, Bolton Wanderers, Bournemouth, Rotherham United and then Manchester City in the semi-final.[1] The final itself was played over two legs, Stoke drawing 1–1 at the Victoria Ground in the first clash. This proved to be insufficient as Leicester won the return leg at Filbert Street 3–2 giving them a 4–3 aggregate win and with it the League Cup.[1]

Final league table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GAv Pts
15 Fulham 42 13 13 16 58 65 0.892 39
16 Wolverhampton Wanderers 42 12 15 15 70 80 0.875 39
17 Stoke City 42 14 10 18 77 78 0.987 38
18 Blackpool 42 13 9 20 52 73 0.712 35
19 Aston Villa 42 11 12 19 62 71 0.873 34
Source: World Football
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Goals scored

Results

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Stoke's score comes first

Legend

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Win Draw Loss

Football League First Division

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Match Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
1 24 August 1963 Tottenham Hotspur H 2–1 40,017 McIlroy (2)
2 26 August 1963 Aston Villa A 3–1 39,041 Dobing (2), Mudie
3 31 August 1963 Wolverhampton Wanderers A 1–2 43,217 Viollet
4 4 September 1963 Aston Villa H 2–2 36,649 Viollet, Dobing
5 7 September 1963 Leicester City H 3–3 34,453 Viollet (2), Asprey
6 11 September 1963 Sheffield United A 1–4 25,347 McIlroy
7 14 September 1963 Nottingham Forest H 0–1 34,458
8 18 September 1963 Sheffield United H 0–2 30,230
9 21 September 1963 Blackburn Rovers A 0–1 30,517
10 28 September 1963 Blackpool H 1–2 27,244 Clamp (pen)
11 5 October 1963 Chelsea A 3–3 29,204 Mudie (2), Harris (o.g.)
12 9 October 1963 Arsenal H 1–2 31,014 McIlroy
13 12 October 1963 Bolton Wanderers A 4–3 17,366 McIlroy (2), Ritchie (2)
14 19 October 1963 Fulham H 1–1 24,464 Ritchie
15 26 October 1963 West Bromwich Albion A 3–2 23,800 Ritchie, Dobing, Palmer
16 2 November 1963 Burnley H 4–4 37,279 Ritchie (2), Dobing, Bebbington
17 9 November 1963 Ipswich Town A 2–0 15,006 Ritchie, Dobing
18 16 November 1963 Sheffield Wednesday H 4–4 30,695 Ritchie (3), Dobing
19 23 November 1963 Everton A 0–2 47,143
20 30 November 1963 Birmingham City H 4–1 27,308 Ritchie (2), Dobing, Kinnell
21 7 December 1963 Manchester United A 2–5 52,232 Ritchie, Dobing
22 14 December 1963 Tottenham Hotspur A 1–2 36,209 Palmer
23 21 December 1963 Wolverhampton Wanderers H 0–2 27,070
24 26 December 1963 Liverpool A 1–6 49,948 Ritchie
25 11 January 1964 Leicester City A 1–2 23,333 Clamp
26 18 January 1964 Nottingham Forest A 0–0 17,872
27 1 February 1964 Blackburn Rovers H 3–1 32,275 Bridgwood, Bebbington (2)
28 8 February 1964 Blackpool A 0–1 14,452
29 22 February 1964 Bolton Wanderers H 0–1 20,488
30 29 February 1964 Arsenal A 1–1 26,208 Kinnell
31 4 March 1964 Chelsea H 2–0 21,264 Palmer, Dobing
32 7 March 1964 West Bromwich Albion H 1–1 25,021 Viollet
33 21 March 1964 Ipswich Town H 9–1 16,166 Viollet (3), Dobing, McIlroy (2), Bebbington, Ritchie (2)
34 27 March 1964 West Ham United A 1–4 29,484 Dobing
35 28 March 1964 Burnley A 0–1 23,869
36 31 March 1964 West Ham United H 3–0 24,990 Dobing, McIlroy, Palmer
37 4 April 1964 Everton H 3–2 35,315 Bebbington (2), Viollet
38 8 April 1964 Sheffield Wednesday A 0–2 30,201
39 11 April 1964 Birmingham City A 1–0 19,890 Kinnell (pen)
40 18 April 1964 Manchester United H 3–1 45,697 Palmer, Viollet, Ritchie
41 25 April 1964 Fulham A 3–3 15,748 Dobing (2), Bridgwood
42 29 April 1964 Liverpool H 3–1 32,149 Dobing, Ritchie, Bebbington

FA Cup

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Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
R3 4 January 1964 Portsmouth H 4–1 28,966 Ritchie (2), Viollet (2)
R4 25 January 1964 Ipswich Town A 1–1 21,894 McIlroy
R4 Replay 29 January 1964 Ipswich Town H 1–0 34,612 McIlroy
R5 15 February 1964 Swansea City H 2–2 40,095 McIlroy, Matthews
R5 Replay 18 February 1964 Swansea City A 0–2 29,582

League Cup

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Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
R2 25 September 1963 Scunthorpe United A 2–2 6,945 Dobing (2)
R2 Replay 16 October 1963 Scunthorpe United H 3–3 11,060 Dobing, Ritchie (2)
R2 2nd Replay 22 October 1963 Scunthorpe United N 1–0 4,297 Ritchie
R3 29 October 1963 Bolton Wanderers H 3–0 11,285 Ritchie (2), Bebbington
R4 27 November 1963 Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic H 2–1 9,766 Ritchie (2)
Quarter-final 16 December 1963 Rotherham United H 3–2 12,988 Ritchie (2), Kinnell
Semi-final 1st Leg 15 January 1964 Manchester City H 2–0 21,019 Ritchie, Asprey
Semi-final 2nd Leg 2 February 1964 Manchester City A 0–1 16,894
Final 1st Leg 15 April 1964 Leicester City H 1–1 22,369 Bebbington
Final 2nd Leg 22 April 1964 Leicester City A 2–3 25,372 Kinnell, Viollet

Friendlies

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Match Opponent Venue Result
1 FK Austria Wien A 0–1
2 Aberdeen A 0–2
3 Benfica H 0–1
4 Belenenses A 0–0
5 Club Santa Fe A 2–3
6 Independiente Medellín A 3–0
7 Club Universidad de Chile A 0–0
8 Boca Juniors A 2–1
9 River Plate A 0–5
10 San Lorenzo A 1–2

Squad statistics

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Pos. Name League FA Cup League Cup Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
GK Northern Ireland Bobby Irvine 11 0 0 0 1 0 12 0
GK Scotland Lawrie Leslie 25 0 5 0 5 0 35 0
GK Republic of Ireland Jimmy O'Neill 6 0 0 0 4 0 10 0
DF England Tony Allen 41 0 5 0 10 0 56 0
DF England Ron Andrew 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
DF England Alan Bloor 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
DF Scotland George Kinnell 24 3 5 0 5 2 34 5
DF England Eric Skeels 39 0 5 0 10 0 54 0
DF South Africa Eddie Stuart 23 0 1 0 6 0 30 0
DF Scotland Ron Wilson 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
MF England Bill Asprey 29 1 4 0 9 1 42 2
MF England Gerry Bridgwood 16 2 0 0 6 0 22 2
MF England Eddie Clamp 18 2 4 0 6 0 28 2
MF England John Flowers 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 0
MF Scotland Jackie Mudie 4 3 0 0 1 0 5 3
MF England Calvin Palmer 30 5 5 0 5 0 40 5
FW England Keith Bebbington 36 7 4 0 9 2 49 9
FW England Peter Dobing 39 16 2 0 9 3 50 19
FW Northern Ireland Jimmy McIlroy 32 9 4 3 7 0 43 12
FW England Stanley Matthews 9 0 4 1 0 0 13 1
FW England Don Ratcliffe 8 0 0 0 1 0 9 0
FW England John Ritchie 29 18 4 2 9 10 42 30
FW England Dennis Viollet 32 10 3 2 6 1 41 13
Own goals 1 0 0 1

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.