1962–63 Stoke City F.C. season

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.

Stoke City
1962–63 season
ChairmanMr G. Taylor
ManagerTony Waddington
StadiumVictoria Ground
Football League Second Division1st (53 Points)
FA CupThird Round
League CupThird Round
Top goalscorerLeague: Dennis Viollet
(23)

All: Dennis Viollet
(23)
Highest home attendance42,366 vs Sunderland
(15 April 1962)
Lowest home attendance11,596 vs Charlton Athletic
(12 September 1963)
Average home league attendance25,446

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

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League

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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 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 did not 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 club's 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

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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

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

Final league table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GAv Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Stoke City (C, P) 42 20 13 9 73 50 1.460 53 Promotion to the First Division
2 Chelsea (P) 42 24 4 14 81 42 1.929 52
3 Sunderland 42 20 12 10 84 55 1.527 52
4 Middlesbrough 42 20 9 13 86 85 1.012 49
5 Leeds United 42 19 10 13 79 53 1.491 48
Source: [citation needed]
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted

Results

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Stoke's score comes first

Legend

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Win Draw Loss

Football League Second Division

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Match Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
1 18 August 1962 Leeds United H 0–1 27,118
2 22 August 1962 Derby County A 1–1 24,408 Skeels
3 25 August 1962 Swansea Town A 1–2 16,474 Griffiths (o.g.)
4 29 August 1962 Derby County H 3–3 19,009 Asprey (2), Viollet
5 1 September 1962 Chelsea H 0–0 19,286
6 8 September 1962 Luton Town A 0–0 6,878
7 12 September 1962 Charlton Athletic H 6–3 11,596 Viollet (4), Ratcliffe, Bebbington
8 15 September 1962 Southampton H 3–1 16,062 Bebbington, Mudie (2)
9 18 September 1962 Charlton Athletic A 3–0 17,872 Bebbington, Mudie, Asprey
10 22 September 1962 Scunthorpe United A 0–0 11,364
11 29 September 1962 Bury H 2–0 24,480 Viollet, Mudie
12 6 October 1962 Newcastle United H 3–1 26,775 Viollet (2), (1 Pen), Skeels
13 13 October 1962 Walsall A 0–0 15,862
14 20 October 1962 Norwich City H 3–0 20,375 Viollet (2), G Matthews
15 27 October 1962 Grimsby Town A 1–1 14,419 Mudie
16 3 November 1962 Plymouth Argyle H 2–2 24,281 Mudie, Skeels
17 10 November 1962 Preston North End A 1–1 14,677 Bebbington
18 17 November 1962 Portsmouth H 3–1 21,142 Mudie, Viollet (2)
19 24 November 1962 Cardiff City A 1–1 21,900 Mudie
20 1 December 1962 Huddersfield Town H 2–1 29,856 Viollet, Stuart
21 8 December 1962 Middlesbrough A 2–2 11,799 Viollet, Thompson
22 15 December 1962 Leeds United A 1–3 19,331 Mudie
23 26 December 1962 Rotherham United A 2–1 11,717 Viollet, Asprey
24 2 March 1963 Walsall H 3–0 25,462 Mudie (3)
25 9 March 1963 Norwich City A 0–6 25,950
26 16 March 1963 Grimsby Town H 4–1 24,626 Viollet (2), Mudie, Asprey
27 23 March 1963 Plymouth Argyle A 1–0 22,956 Ratcliffe
28 27 March 1963 Swansea Town H 2–0 26,532 Mudie (2)
29 30 March 1963 Preston North End H 3–0 21,863 Mudie (2), Viollet (pen)
30 1 April 1963 Rotherham United H 3–1 31,226 Viollet, Ratcliffe, McIlroy
31 6 April 1963 Portsmouth A 3–0 19,256 Mudie, Ratcliffe, McIlroy
32 12 April 1963 Sunderland A 0–0 62,138
33 13 April 1963 Cardiff City H 1–0 30,419 Viollet
34 15 April 1963 Sunderland H 2–1 42,366 Viollet (2) (1 pen)
35 20 April 1963 Huddersfield Town A 3–3 27,779 Viollet, McIlroy, Skeels
36 27 April 1963 Middlesbrough H 0–1 25,733
37 1 May 1963 Newcastle United A 2–5 25,900 McIlroy (2)
38 4 May 1963 Scunthorpe United H 2–3 25,530 Ratcliffe, Stuart
39 11 May 1963 Chelsea A 1–0 66,199 McIlroy
40 14 May 1963 Bury A 1–2 25,376 Mudie
41 18 May 1963 Luton Town H 2–0 33,644 Mudie, S Matthews
42 22 May 1963 Southampton A 0–2 18,295

FA Cup

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Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
R3 6 March 1963 Leeds United A 1–3 36,873 Bebbington

League Cup

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Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
R2 25 September 1962 Walsall A 2–1 10,583 G Matthews, Bebbington
R3 10 October 1962 Aston Villa A 1–3 20,373 G Matthews

Friendlies

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Match Opponent Venue Result
1 Shamrock Rovers & Bohemian XI A 3–4
2 Limerick A 5–2
3 Sheffield United A 0–2
4 Real Madrid H 2–2
5 Israel XI A 1–0
6 Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv 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   Jimmy O'Neill 42 0 1 0 2 0 45 0
DF   Ron Andrew 2 0 1 0 0 0 3 0
DF   Tony Allen 41 0 1 0 2 0 44 0
DF   Alan Bloor 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
DF   Eric Skeels 38 4 1 0 2 0 41 4
DF   Eddie Stuart 40 2 0 0 1 0 41 2
DF   Terry Ward 9 0 0 0 1 0 10 0
DF   Ron Wilson 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
MF   Bill Asprey 42 5 1 0 1 0 44 5
MF   Gerry Bridgwood 4 0 1 0 1 0 6 0
MF   Eddie Clamp 32 0 1 0 1 0 34 0
MF   Bobby Howitt 10 0 0 0 1 0 11 0
MF   Alan Philpott 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
FW   Keith Bebbington 19 4 1 1 2 1 22 6
FW   Graham Matthews 4 1 0 0 2 2 6 3
FW   Stanley Matthews 31 1 0 0 0 0 31 1
FW   Jimmy McIlroy 18 6 0 0 0 0 18 6
FW   Jackie Mudie 39 20 0 0 1 0 40 20
FW   Jack Nibloe 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
FW   Don Ratcliffe 42 5 1 0 2 0 45 5
FW   John Ritchie 3 0 1 0 1 0 5 0
FW   Tommy Thompson 5 1 0 0 0 0 5 1
FW   Dennis Viollet 37 23 1 0 1 0 39 23
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 Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.
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