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1981–82 Stoke City F.C. season

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Stoke City
1981–82 season
ChairmanPercy Axon
ManagerRitchie Barker
StadiumVictoria Ground
Football League First Division18th (44 Points)
FA CupThird Round
League CupSecond Round
Top goalscorerLeague: Lee Chapman
(16)

All: Lee Chapman
(17)
Highest home attendance25,256 vs Manchester City
(5 September 1981)
Lowest home attendance9,120 vs Brighton & Hove Albion
(20 March 1982)
Average home league attendance14,635

The 1981–82 season was Stoke City's 75th season in the Football League and the 49th in the First Division.

In the Summer of 1981 Alan Durban quit as Stoke manager to take up the same position at Sunderland. His former assistant at Shrewsbury Town, Ritchie Barker was appointed as manager and despite a good start the team were involved in a relegation battle. The arrival of Sammy McIlroy from Manchester United helped Stoke to scrape to survival finishing two points away from the drop zone.[1]

Season review

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League

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Alan Durban's ambitions were bigger than Stoke's and in the summer of 1981 he was tempted by Sunderland's cash to become their manager.[1] Durban's former assistant at Shrewsbury Town, Ritchie Barker was appointed as manager at the Victoria Ground and he inherited a reasonable squad of players but he also knew that the club had financial problems, which to a certain extent were eased when for the first time players wore shirts with a sponsor's name across their chests, Ricoh.[1] By this time Barker had sold Kevin Sheldon, Paul Johnson, Paul Richardson and Iain Munro.[1]

The 1981–82 season saw the introduction of three points for a win and Stoke got their first trio of points on the opening day of the season away at Arsenal.[1] This was followed by a 4–0 win at home against Coventry City.[1] However results and performances declined and after picking up just four more wins by January Stoke found themselves in a fight against relegation.[1] Youth team product Adrian Heath was fast becoming one of the most talked about midfielders in the division and so Barker allowed him to join Everton for a healthy £700,000.[1] He brought in England international David Watson from Southampton for £50,000 to replace the ageing Denis Smith and Sammy McIlroy for £350,000.[1] Mike Doyle left soon after Watson's arrival following an argument with Barker.[1] Despite an upturn in the results in February Stoke managed just a point in their next nine matches.[1] With Stoke looking destined for relegation McIlroy proved to be a calming influence and Stoke managed to survive by two points.[1]

FA Cup

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A poor crowd of 12,805 saw Norwich City beat Stoke 1–0 in the third round.[1]

League Cup

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Manchester City again knocked Stoke out of the League Cup at the second round this time on penalties.[1]

Final league table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
16 Birmingham City 42 10 14 18 53 61 −8 44
17 West Bromwich Albion 42 11 11 20 46 57 −11 44
18 Stoke City 42 12 8 22 44 63 −19 44
19 Sunderland 42 11 11 20 38 58 −20 44
20 Leeds United (R) 42 10 12 20 39 61 −22 42 Relegation to the Second Division
Source: World Football
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(R) Relegated

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 29 August 1981 Arsenal A 1–0 28,212 Chapman 44'
2 2 September 1981 Coventry City H 4–0 13,914 Chapman (2) 5', 77', Heath (2) 12', 54'
3 5 September 1981 Manchester City H 1–3 25,256 Chapman 62'
4 12 September 1981 West Ham United A 2–3 28,774 O'Callaghan 29', Maguire 87' (pen)
5 19 September 1981 Nottingham Forest H 1–2 15,653 Heath 5'
6 23 September 1981 Aston Villa A 2–2 25,637 Griffiths 63', Maguire 65' (pen)
7 26 September 1981 Middlesbrough A 2–3 11,604 Griffiths 18', Chapman 80'
8 3 October 1981 Everton H 3–1 16,007 Chapman (2) 2', 90', Maguire 80'
9 10 October 1981 Tottenham Hotspur A 0–2 30,520
10 17 October 1981 Swansea City H 1–2 14,665 Griffiths 35'
11 24 October 1981 Birmingham City H 1–0 15,399 Chapman 50'
12 31 October 1981 Brighton & Hove Albion A 0–0 17,862
13 7 November 1981 Southampton H 0–2 13,884
14 14 November 1981 West Bromwich Albion A 2–1 15,787 Heath 25', Chapman 37'
15 21 November 1981 Ipswich Town H 2–0 13,802 Chapman 60', Maguire 90'
16 24 November 1981 Coventry City A 0–3 10,250
17 28 November 1981 Wolverhampton Wanderers A 0–2 15,314
18 5 December 1981 Leeds United H 1–2 13,901 Heath 51'
19 9 January 1982 Manchester City A 1–1 31,491 O'Callaghan 39'
20 20 January 1982 Arsenal H 0–1 9,625
21 23 January 1982 Manchester United H 0–3 19,662
22 30 January 1982 Nottingham Forest A 0–0 16,219
23 6 February 1982 West Ham United H 2–1 11,987 Chapman 10', Maguire 80'
24 10 February 1982 Sunderland A 2–0 14,317 O'Callaghan 65', McIlroy 70'
25 13 February 1982 Everton A 0–0 20,656
26 20 February 1982 Middlesbrough H 2–0 10,473 O'Callaghan 29', Chapman 46'
27 27 February 1982 Tottenham Hotspur H 0–2 20,592
28 6 March 1982 Swansea City A 0–3 11,811
29 9 March 1982 Liverpool H 1–5 16,758 McIlroy 56'
30 13 March 1982 Birmingham City A 1–2 12,018 Chapman 79'
31 20 March 1982 Brighton & Hove Albion H 0–0 9,120
32 27 March 1982 Southampton A 3–4 20,058 Biley 49', Watson 75', McIlroy 75'
33 10 April 1982 Sunderland H 0–1 11,399
34 13 April 1982 Liverpool A 0–2 30,419
35 17 April 1982 Ipswich Town A 0–2 20,309
36 24 April 1982 Wolverhampton Wanderers H 2–1 13,797 Maguire 35' (pen), Chapman 47'
37 26 April 1982 Notts County A 1–3 8,686 Chapman 27'
38 1 May 1982 Leeds United A 0–0 17,775
39 5 May 1982 Aston Villa H 1–0 10,363 Bracewell 17'
40 8 May 1982 Notts County H 2–2 11,011 Watson 25', Maguire 27'
41 15 May 1982 Manchester United A 0–2 43,073
42 20 May 1982 West Bromwich Albion H 3–0 19,698 Watson 25', Chapman 38', O'Callaghan 73'

FA Cup

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Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
R3 2 January 1982 Norwich City H 0–1 12,805

League Cup

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Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
R2 1st Leg 10 October 1981 Manchester City A 0–2 23,146
R2 2nd Leg 28 October 1981 Manchester City H 2–0 (8–9 pens) 17,373 Chapman 80', Evans 87'

Friendlies

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Match Opponent Venue Result
1 Crewe Alexandra A 1–0
2 Shrewsbury Town A 1–2
3 Port Vale A 6–1
4 Blackburn Rovers A 0–0
5 Wrexham A 3–0
6 Forest Green Rovers A 4–0
7 Shrewsbury Town A 0–0
8 Sheffield Wednesday A 0–0
9 Bideford A 4–0
10 Port Vale H 3–2
11 Panathinaikos A 2–3
12 Tunisia XI A 1–1

Squad statistics

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Pos. Name League FA Cup League Cup Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
GK England Peter Fox 38 0 1 0 2 0 41 0
GK Northern Ireland Eric McManus 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
DF England Steve Bould 1(1) 0 0 0 0 0 1(1) 0
DF England Alan Dodd 41 0 1 0 2 0 44 0
DF England Mike Doyle 8 0 1 0 0 0 9 0
DF Wales Chris Evans 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
DF England Ray Evans 22 0 1 0 2 1 25 1
DF England Peter Hampton 33 0 1 0 2 0 36 0
DF England Paul Anthony Johnson 12(1) 0 0(1) 0 1 0 13(2) 0
DF Scotland Steve Kirk 12 0 0 0 0 0 12 0
DF England Denis Smith 17 0 0 0 2 0 19 0
DF England Dave Watson 24 3 0 0 0 0 24 3
DF Scotland David McAughtrie 13 0 0 0 0 0 13 0
MF England Alan Biley 8 1 0 0 0 0 8 1
MF England Paul Bracewell 42 1 1 0 2 0 45 1
MF England Jeff Cook 0(1) 0 0 0 0 0 0(1) 0
MF England Robbie Earle 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
MF England Peter Griffiths 27(4) 3 1 0 0(1) 0 28(5) 3
MF England Adrian Heath 17 5 1 0 2 0 20 5
MF Northern Ireland Sammy McIlroy 18 3 0 0 0 0 18 3
MF England Derek Parkin 10 0 0 0 0 0 10 0
MF Netherlands Loek Ursem 1(2) 0 1 0 1 0 3(2) 0
FW England Lee Chapman 40(1) 16 1 0 2 1 43(1) 17
FW England Steve Ford 1(1) 0 0 0 0 0 1(1) 0
FW Scotland John Lumsden 2(3) 0 0 0 0 0 2(3) 0
FW Scotland Paul Maguire 32(3) 7 0 0 2 0 34(3) 7
FW Republic of Ireland Brendan O'Callaghan 39(2) 5 1 0 2 0 42(2) 5

References

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