1962–63 Stoke City F.C. season

Stoke City
1962–63 season
Chairman Mr G. Taylor
Manager Tony Waddington
Stadium Victoria Ground
Football League Second Division 1st (53 Points)
FA Cup Third Round
League Cup Third Round
Top goalscorer League: Dennis Viollet (23)
All: Dennis Viollet (23)
Highest home attendance 42,366 vs Sunderland (15 April 1962)
Lowest home attendance 11,596 vs Charlton Athletic (12 September 1963)
Average home league attendance 25,446
Home colours

The 1962–63 season was Stoke City's 56th season in the Football League and the 23rd in the Second Division. 1963 was also Stoke's centenary year which was celebrated with a friendly match at the Victoria Ground against Spanish giants Real Madrid.

In the club's centenary year Stoke managed to finally achieve promotion back to the top flight after a ten-year absence. Despite a slow start Stoke went on two fantastic unbeaten runs and although there was a nervy end to the season a Stanley Matthews inspired 2–0 over Luton Town in the final home match secured Stoke both promotion to the First Division and the Second Division title.[1]

Season review

League

The 1962–63 season saw Stoke officially celebrate its centenary and the hope from the supporters was that it would be marked by promotion.[1] A failure to win any of their first six matches caused a few grumblings from the fans but a four-goal haul from Dennis Viollet helped Stoke beat Charlton Athletic 6–3 to set the tone for the season.[1] Keith Bebbington and Eddie Clamp joined the club as well as Stoke's first African footballer, Eddie Stuart from South Africa.[1]

From late August to 8 December Stoke went 18 matches unbeaten and were now regarded as one of the promotion favourites.[1] The run came to an end away at Leeds United ten days before Christmas but after winning at Rotherham United on Boxing Day, the Football season came to a halt as one of the worst winters on record gripped the country.[1] After two months without football Stoke played again on 2 March and easily beat Walsall 3–0.[1] Just after this match Waddington pulled off another impressive transfer when he signed Northern Ireland and Burnley striker Jimmy McIlroy for £25,000 much to the bewilderment of the Burnley fans who regarded McIlroy as their best player.[1] But his debut for Stoke ended in disaster as Stoke crashed to a 6–0 defeat at Norwich City.[1] Thankfully for Stoke that awful result was quickly forgotten as they strung together six successive wins and so entered the final run of matches in fine form.[1]

A draw at Roker Park was quickly followed by victories over Cardiff City and Sunderland at home while a vital point was gain in a thrilling 3–3 draw at Huddersfield Town.[1] Three straight defeats caused some concern but a 1–0 win at Chelsea meant that Stoke were within one win of gaining a return to the First Division.[1] And so over 12,000 Stoke fans made the trip to Bury to see them gain promotion at Gigg Lane but it didn't go well and the "Shakers" certainly stirred things up by winning 2–1 to put the celebrations on hold.[1] For the penultimate match against Luton Town at the Victoria Ground a crowd of 33,644 turned up to see if Stoke could gain promotion.[1] Jackie Mudie gave Stoke the lead and then Stanley Matthews sealed the promotion in typical Matthews style as he dribbled around Town 'keeper Ron Baynham to send the home crowd ecstatic and end ten years in the Second Division.[1]

On 24 April 1963 Stoke arranged a friendly with the famous Real Madrid. The match was seen as the celebration for the clubs centenary. The match finished 2–2 with Dennis Viollet and Jimmy McIlroy scoring for Stoke while Félix Ruiz and Ferenc Puskás scored for Real.[1]

FA Cup

Stoke lost at the first attempt against Leeds United but it was seen as a blessing in disguise by the management as they wanted to concentrate on gaining promotion.[1]

League Cup

After beating Walsall, Stoke lost 3–1 away at Aston Villa.[1]

Final league table

PosClubPWDLFAGAPts
1Stoke City422013973501.46053
2Chelsea422441481421.92952
3Sunderland4220121084551.52752
4Middlesbrough422091386851.01249
5Leeds United4219101379531.49148
6Huddersfield Town4217141163501.26048
7Newcastle United4218111379591.33947
8Bury4218111351471.08547
9Scunthorpe United4216121457590.96644
10Cardiff City421871783731.13743
11Southampton421781772671.07542
12Plymouth Argyle4215121576731.04142
13Norwich City421781780791.01342
14Rotherham United421761967740.90540
15Swansea Town421591851720.70839
16Portsmouth4213111863790.79737
17Preston North End4213111859740.79737
18Derby County4212121861720.84736
19Grimsby Town4211131855660.83335
20Charlton Athletic421352462940.66031
21Walsall421192253890.59631
22Luton Town421172461840.72629

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 Second Division

MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
1 18 August 1962 Leeds UnitedH0–127,118
2 22 August 1962 Derby CountyA1–124,408Skeels
3 25 August 1962 Swansea TownA1–216,474Griffiths (o.g.)
4 29 August 1962 Derby CountyH3–319,009Asprey (2), Viollet
5 1 September 1962 ChelseaH0–019,286
6 8 September 1962 Luton TownA0–06,878
7 12 September 1962 Charlton AthleticH6–311,596Viollet (4), Ratcliffe, Bebbington
8 15 September 1962 SouthamptonH3–116,062Bebbington, Mudie (2)
9 18 September 1962 Charlton AthleticA3–017,872Bebbington, Mudie, Asprey
10 22 September 1962 Scunthorpe UnitedA0–011,364
11 29 September 1962 BuryH2–024,480Viollet, Mudie
12 6 October 1962 Newcastle UnitedH3–126,775Viollet (2), (1 Pen), Skeels
13 13 October 1962 WalsallA0–015,862
14 20 October 1962 Norwich CityH3–020,375Viollet (2), G Matthews
15 27 October 1962 Grimsby TownA1–114,419Mudie
16 3 November 1962 Plymouth ArgyleH2–224,281Mudie, Skeels
17 10 November 1962 Preston North EndA1–114,677Bebbington
18 17 November 1962 PortsmouthH3–121,142Mudie, Viollet (2)
19 24 November 1962 Cardiff CityA1–121,900Mudie
20 1 December 1962 Huddersfield TownH2–129,856Viollet, Stuart
21 8 December 1962 MiddlesbroughA2–211,799Viollet, Thompson
22 15 December 1962 Leeds UnitedA1–319,331Mudie
23 26 December 1962 Rotherham UnitedA2–111,717Viollet, Asprey
24 2 March 1963 WalsallH3–025,462Mudie (3)
25 9 March 1963 Norwich CityA0–625,950
26 16 March 1963 Grimsby TownH4–124,626Viollet (2), Mudie, Asprey
27 23 March 1963 Plymouth ArgyleA1–022,956Ratcliffe
28 27 March 1963 Swansea TownH2–026,532Mudie (2)
29 30 March 1963 Preston North EndH3–021,863Mudie (2), Viollet (pen)
30 1 April 1963 Rotherham UnitedH3–131,226Viollet, Ratcliffe, McIlroy
31 6 April 1963 PortsmouthA3–019,256Mudie, Ratcliffe, McIlroy
32 12 April 1963 SunderlandA0–062,138
33 13 April 1963 Cardiff CityH1–030,419Viollet
34 15 April 1963 SunderlandH2–142,366Viollet (2) (1 pen)
35 20 April 1963 Huddersfield TownA3–327,779Viollet, McIlroy, Skeels
36 27 April 1963 MiddlesbroughH0–125,733
37 1 May 1963 Newcastle UnitedA2–525,900McIlroy (2)
38 4 May 1963 Scunthorpe UnitedH2–325,530Ratcliffe, Stuart
39 11 May 1963 ChelseaA1–066,199McIlroy
40 14 May 1963 BuryA1–225,376Mudie
41 18 May 1963 Luton TownH2–033,644Mudie, S Matthews
42 22 May 1963 SouthamptonA0–218,295

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
R36 March 1963 Leeds UnitedA1–336,873Bebbington

League Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
R225 September 1962 WalsallA2–110,583G Matthews, Bebbington
R310 October 1962 Aston VillaA1–320,373G Matthews

Friendlies

MatchOpponentVenueResult
1Shamrock Rovers & Bohemian XIA3–4
2LimerickA5–2
3Sheffield UnitedA0–2
4Real MadridH2–2
5Israel XIA1–0
6Bnei Yehuda Tel AvivA1–1

Squad statistics

Pos. Name League FA Cup League Cup Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
GKRepublic of Ireland Jimmy O'Neill 4201020450
DFEngland Ron Andrew 20100030
DFEngland Tony Allen 4101020440
DFEngland Alan Bloor 00001010
DFEngland Eric Skeels 3841020414
DFSouth Africa Eddie Stuart 4020010412
DFEngland Terry Ward 900010100
DFScotland Ron Wilson 10000010
MFEngland Bill Asprey 4251010445
MFEngland Gerry Bridgwood 40101060
MFEngland Eddie Clamp 3201010340
MFScotland Bobby Howitt 1000010110
MFEngland Alan Philpott 10000010
FWEngland Keith Bebbington 1941121226
FWEngland Graham Matthews 41002263
FWEngland Stanley Matthews 3110000311
FWNorthern Ireland Jimmy McIlroy 1860000186
FWScotland Jackie Mudie 392000104020
FWEngland Jack Nibloe 20000020
FWEngland Don Ratcliffe 4251020455
FWEngland John Ritchie 30101050
FWEngland Tommy Thompson 51000051
FWEngland Dennis Viollet 372310103923
Own goals 1001

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.
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