1971–72 Stoke City F.C. season

March 2015 March 2015 Stoke City 1971–72 Tony Waddington Albert Henshall Victoria Ground Football League First Division 17th (35 points) FA Cup Semi-final League Cup Winners Texaco Cup Second round Anglo-Italian Cup Group Stage John Ritchie (12) John Ritchie (21) 43,007 vs Manchester City (27 December 1971) 13,920 vs Nottingham Forest (10 April 1972) 24,204 1970–71 1972–73 _red_stripes _red_stripes _red_stripes FFFFFF FFFFFF 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.Matthews Tony The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City 1994 Lion Press 0-9524151-0-0 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. 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. 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. Villa Park hosted the tie and thanks to an own goal from Peter Simpson, Stoke scraped a 1–1 draw in a close match. The replay at Goodison Park was controversial. Stoke took an early lead through a penalty, but the "Gunners" won a controversial penalty of their own for a handball after a corner that was given despite Gordon Banks appearing to have been fouled beforehand. Arsenal converted the penalty. The "Gunners" then started controlling the match and scored a second goal, which nevertheless looked suspiciously offside, and that was how the match ended, as Stoke went down 2–1 and their hopes of achieving a Wembley double disappeared. 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. The replay attracted almost 41,000 fans to the Victoria Ground but this time there was no goals and third game was required. This was again staged at Stoke and two late goals sealed a 2–1 victory and passage to the last eight. 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. Not only was this to be a memorable cup tie for Stoke, the encounter has also been described as "epic".Bagchi Bob Stoke City target West Ham, and ending 128 years of FA Cup pain https://www.theguardian.com/football/2011/mar/13/stoke-city-west-ham-fa-cup 15 October 2020 The Observer 13 March 2011Smith Peter The utterly brilliant moment when Stoke City superstar denied England teammate https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/gordon-banks-geoff-hurst-stoke-933504 15 October 2020 Stoke Sentinel 15 December 2017Edwards Richard The most mental semi-final ever: when Bobby Moore went in goal... and saved a penalty https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/most-mental-semi-final-ever-when-bobby-moore-went-goal-and-saved-penalty FourFourTwo 15 October 2020 26 January 2016 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 remaining 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.Banks's happy memories of Upton Park http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Stoke-City-Banks-s-happy-memories-Upton-Park/story-12479280-detail/story.html The Sentinel 21 June 2012 And so to a third match, a replay at Hillsborough, was a tense 0–0 draw. 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 goal. 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. 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 and 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. Final league table First Division y STK Results Stoke's score comes first Legend WinDrawLoss Football League First Division 1971–72 Football League MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers1 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 ForestA0–019,0177 4 September 1971 Wolverhampton WanderersH0–120,0218 11 September 1971 Derby CountyA0–432,5489 18 September 1971 Huddersfield TownH1–016,463Conroy 25'10 25 September 1971 West Ham UnitedA1–219,193Ritchie 58'11 2 October 1971 LiverpoolH0–029,69812 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 ChelseaH0–122,19618 20 November 1971 Leeds UnitedA0–133,01219 27 November 1971 Newcastle UnitedH3–316,815Ritchie 22', Conroy (2) 65', 70'20 4 December 1971 EvertonA0–035,46921 11 December 1971 Manchester UnitedH1–133,807Mahoney 27'22 13 December 1971 Wolverhampton WanderersA0–225,61923 27 December 1971 Manchester CityH1–343,007Smith 90'24 4 January 1972 Huddersfield TownA0–012,66525 8 January 1972 ArsenalH0–018,96526 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 HotspurA0–232,84130 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 UnitedH0–024,68835 8 April 1972 Leeds UnitedH0–335,12335 10 April 1972 Nottingham ForestH0–213,92037 22 April 1972 EvertonH1–116,796Lyons 30' (o.g.)38 24 April 1972 ChelseaA0–223,44339 26 April 1972 Crystal PalaceA0–224,55040 29 April 1972 Manchester UnitedA0–334,95941 5 May 1972 West Bromwich AlbionH1–116,206Burrows 68'42 8 May 1972 Newcastle UnitedA0–021,350 FA Cup 1971–72 FA Cup RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR315 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 Place play-off5 August 1972 Birmingham CityA0–0 (3–4 pens)23,841 League Cup 1971–72 Football League Cup 1972 Football League Cup Final RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR28 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)40,829R4 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 UnitedN0–046,916Semi-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 1971–72 Texaco Cup RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR1 1st Leg15 September 1971 MotherwellA1–08,213BernardR1 2nd Leg29 September 1971 MotherwellH4–112,072Ritchie (2), Greenhoff, HaslegraveR2 1st Leg20 October 1971 Derby CountyA2–321,487Mahoney, SmithR2 2nd Leg11 November 1971 Derby CountyH1–123,461Smith Anglo-Italian Cup 1972 Anglo-Italian Cup RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersGroup stage1 June 1972 CatanzaroA3–014,147Greenhoff 60', Dobing 66', Marsh 75'Group stage5 June 1972 RomaA0–219,960Group stage7 June 1972 CatanzaroH2–08,345Ritchie 43', Greenhoff 90'Group stage10 June 1972 RomaH1–25,446Ritchie 46' Friendlies MatchOpponentVenueResult1PorthmadogA5–22MotherwellA0–03Southend UnitedA4–24OlympiacosA2–15OlympiacosA0–1 Squad statistics Pos.NameLeagueFA CupLeague CupTexaco CupAnglo-Italian CupTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGKENG Gordon Banks360801104000590GKENG John Farmer6010100040120DFENG Alan Bloor350901104040630DFNIR Alex Elder6020000030110DFENG Jackie Marsh410801204041691DFENG Mike Pejic320401203010520DFENG Denis Smith285919242405410DFENG Eric Skeels13(6)0501(1)0000(1)019(8)0MFENG Mike Bernard362811224100606MFIRE Terry Conroy2746411320004611MFENG George Eastham13(1)0806(2)1100028(3)1MFENG Sean Haslegrave17(1)0002(1)1310022(2)2MFENG George Jackson8000000(1)01(2)09(3)0MFENG Stewart Jump17(2)02050304031(2)0MFENG Terry Lees3(2)00000000(1)03(3)0MFWAL John Mahoney25(4)4204(2)0310034(6)5MFSCO Jimmy Robertson001000000010MFSCO Willie Stevenson12(5)000103(1)04020(6)0FWENG Harry Burrows1010(2)000004014(2)1FWENG Peter Dobing27(1)1911031(1)04151(2)6FWENG Jimmy Greenhoff3587512321325919FWENG Geoff Hurst001000000010FWENG John Ritchie32129212432426022FWENG Terry Smith100000000010FWENG Tommy Walker200000000020–Own goals–2–1–0–0–0–3 References Category:Stoke City F.C. seasons Stoke