1976–77 Stoke City F.C. season

March 2015 March 2015 Stoke City 1976–77 Tony Waddington, George Eastham Albert Henshall Victoria Ground Football League First Division 21st (34 Points) FA Cup Third Round League Cup Third Round Garth Crooks (6) Garth Crooks (6) 29,905 vs Liverpool (11 April 1977) 12,225 vs Coventry City (16 February 1977) 19,027 1975–76 1977–78 _red_stripes _red_stripes _red_stripes _red_stripes FFFFFF FFFFFF The 1976–77 season was Stoke City's 70th season in the Football League and the 46th in the First Division. The roof of the Butler Street Stand was rebuilt at a massive cost of £250,000 and with the club unable to pay off the insurers they turned to the playing staff to generate the required funds and with the likes of Jimmy Greenhoff, Alan Hudson and Mike Pejic being sold off Tony Waddington had a threadbare squad and he left the club in March 1977. Former player George Eastham took over but was unable to prevent Stoke losing their First Division status, going down by a single point.Matthews Tony The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City 1994 Lion Press 0-9524151-0-0 Season review League The 1976–77 season opened with a new all steel Butler Street roof in place which would cost the sum of £250,000. With the club struggling to pay the cost they had to begin a fire sale of their best players. Those who left the club included Sean Haslegrave to Nottingham Forest for £35,000, Ian Moores to Tottenham Hotspur for £75,000, Jimmy Greenhoff to Manchester United for £100,000, Alan Hudson to Arsenal for £200,000 and Mike Pejic to Everton for £140,000. These were indeed, body blows none more so than Jimmy Greenhoff leaving after he scored just over 100 goals for the club and was idolised by the supporters. The Stoke fans were totally confused at what was happening to their team and looked for someone to blame. Goals were again in short supply, Stoke failed to find the back of the net for five successive league matches from late November to early January and in fact they managed just 28 goals all season, 21 at home and seven away. Waddington's gambles on experienced player like John Tudor and Alan Suddick were not successful and after an awful defeat at home to Leicester City on 19 March 1977 Waddington's time at Stoke City was up. He had spent 25 years at the Victoria Ground as manager, assistant and coach and is considered to be the club's greatest manager having helped them win their first major trophy in 1972. He remained an avid supporter of the club until his death in 1994. Waddington's assistant George Eastham was put in temporary charge with coach Alan A'Court his assistant. With the transfer deadline passed with no new players arrived, so Eastham turned towards the youth team to try to advert the drop, all to no avail and on a Monday evening at Villa Park in front of 29,000 fans, Stoke needing a win to stay up, lost 1–0 and were duly relegated to the second tier. FA Cup Everton beat Stoke 2–0 in the third round on their way to the semi-final. League Cup Stoke beat Leeds United 2–1 and then lost badly 3–0 to Newcastle United. Final league table y STK Results Stoke's score comes first Legend WinDrawLoss Football League First Division 1976–77 Football League MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers1 21 August 1976 SunderlandH0–027,2442 24 August 1976 Bristol CityA1–125,316Smith 86'3 28 August 1976 Manchester CityA0–039,8754 4 September 1976 West Ham UnitedH2–119,131Crooks 32', Conroy 52'5 11 September 1976 EvertonA0–322,2776 18 September 1976 Ipswich TownH2–120,171Tudor (2) 2', 19'7 25 September 1976 Queens Park RangersA0–221,6218 29 September 1976 Leicester CityA0–115,3919 2 October 1976 Aston VillaH1–026,652Conroy 37'10 16 October 1976 ArsenalA0–228,50711 23 October 1976 Derby CountyH1–020,916Tudor 70'12 30 October 1976 Newcastle UnitedA0–128,25113 6 November 1976 MiddlesbroughH3–116,068Waddington 20', Greenhoff (2) 47', 54'14 10 November 1976 Leeds UnitedA1–129,199Dodd 86'15 20 November 1976 Birmingham CityH1–021,486Crooks 70'16 27 November 1976 Tottenham HotspurA0–222,23017 18 December 1976 West Bromwich AlbionH0–215,98918 27 December 1976 LiverpoolA0–450,37119 1 January 1977 MiddlesbroughA0–021,14020 22 January 1977 SunderlandA0–022,90121 29 January 1977 Norwich CityA1–118,408Salmons 48'22 5 February 1977 Manchester CityH0–227,13923 12 February 1977 West Ham UnitedA0–120,10624 16 February 1977 Coventry CityH2–012,255Conroy (2) 1', 55' (pen)25 19 February 1977 EvertonH0–119,58626 26 February 1977 Ipswich TownA1–025,865Goodwin 37'27 5 March 1977 Queens Park RangersH1–015,454Bowers 47'28 15 March 1977 Newcastle UnitedH0–012,70829 19 March 1977 Leicester CityH0–114,08730 23 March 1977 ArsenalH1–113,951Conroy 7'31 2 April 1977 Derby CountyA0–223,16132 9 April 1977 Manchester UnitedA0–353,10233 11 April 1977 LiverpoolH0–029,90534 12 April 1977 Leeds UnitedH2–117,960Crooks (2) 67', 76'35 16 April 1977 Birmingham CityA0–219,55436 20 April 1977 Bristol CityH2–212,277Smith 56', Bloor 70'37 23 April 1977 Tottenham HotspurH0–015,64138 30 April 1977 Coventry CityA2–515,720Ruggiero (2) 40', 66' (pen)39 7 May 1977 Norwich CityH0–013,20240 11 May 1977 Manchester UnitedH3–324,632Crooks (2) 40', 65', Bloor 49'41 14 May 1977 West Bromwich AlbionA1–322,772Suddick 22'42 16 May 1977 Aston VillaA0–128,931 FA Cup 1976–77 FA Cup RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR38 January 1977 EvertonA0–232,981 League Cup 1976–77 Football League Cup RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR21 September 1976 Leeds UnitedH2–122,550Conroy 75', Greenhoff 89'R322 September 1976 Newcastle UnitedA0–325,126 Friendlies MatchOpponentVenueResult1Śląsk WrocławA1–02Indonesia XIA1–13Persebaya SurabayaA2–04AjaxA1–25AS CannesA2–06AS MonacoA0–17Olympique LyonnaisA1–28FC PortoA0–19GenoaA0–010Chirk AAAA6–011HibernianA1–012BlackpoolA4–213Hereford UnitedA0–1 Squad statistics Pos.NameLeagueFA CupLeague CupTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGKENG Roger Jones20000020GKENG Peter Shilton4001020430DFENG Alan Bloor3721020402DFENG Danny Bowers13(2)1101(1)015(3)1DFENG Alan Dodd4211020451DFENG Paul Johnson80000080DFENG John Lumsdon12(1)0000012(1)0DFENG Jackie Marsh16(1)0102019(1)0DFENG Mike Pejic2100020230DFENG Denis Smith3021000312MFENG Brian Bithell16(1)0100017(1)0MFIRE Terry Conroy34(2)5002136(2)6MFENG Alan Hudson1100020130MFWAL John Mahoney2200020240MFSCO Jimmy Robertson1401000150MFENG Kevin Sheldon7(2)000007(2)0MFENG Alan Suddick91000091MFENG John Tudor28(2)3100029(2)3MFENG Steve Waddington11(1)1100012(1)1FWENG Geoff Salmons33(2)1102036(2)1FWENG Garth Crooks20(3)60(1)01(1)021(5)6FWENG Dave Goodwin12(1)1000012(1)1FWENG Jimmy Greenhoff1420021163FWENG John Ruggiero92000092FWENG Dennis Thorley10000010 References External links -epdnkI_tcs Stoke City 2–1 West Ham United Category:Stoke City F.C. seasons Stoke