1973–74 Stoke City F.C. season

March 2015 March 2015 Stoke City 1973–74 Tony Waddington Albert Henshall Victoria Ground Football League First Division 5th (46 Points) FA Cup Third Round League Cup Fourth Round Texaco Cup First Round Watney Cup Winners John Ritchie (14) Geoff Hurst & John Ritchie (15) 39,598 vs Leeds United (23 February 1974) 13,843 vs Wolverhampton Wanderers (15 December 1973) 21,587 1972–73 1974–75 _red_stripes _red_stripes _red_stripes FFFFFF FFFFFF The 1973–74 season was Stoke City's 67th season in the Football League and the 43rd in the First Division. The season started well for Stoke as they won the short lived Watney Cup prior to the start of the new campaign. But their league form was poor and by January they were in the bottom six. But the signing of Alan Hudson from Chelsea sparked an upturn in results which accumulated in beating Leeds United 3–2 in February ending their 29 match un-beaten run. Stoke continued to climb the table and after remaining unbeaten in their final nine fixtures they took 5th position in the table and qualified for the UEFA Cup.Matthews Tony The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City 1994 Lion Press 0-9524151-0-0 Season review League Stoke, with no major summer signings, kicked off the 1973–74 season with George Eastham as assistant manager and the team got off to a fine start, winning the Watney Cup by beating Hull City 2–0 in the final. The opening league form though, was poor although there was a glimmer of hope as Nantwich born Dave Goodwin made a goal-scoring debut against West Ham United. By January 1974 Stoke were struggling in 17th position and the home support was slowly falling and Tony Waddington decided to sell the promising Stewart Jump to Malcolm Allison's Crystal Palace for £75,000 which raised a few questions from the supporters. But there was method to the manager's apparent madness as he pulled off another major transfer swoop when he paid £240,000 for Chelsea's Alan Hudson. Hudson was an instant hit with the Stoke fans and in his debut against Liverpool he was named as man of the match, helping Stoke to a 1–1 draw. Stoke's next home match against Hudson's old team Chelsea was the first League match to be played on a Sunday, Stoke winning 1–0 in front of 31,985. Another big attendance, saw City's next home match against high-flying Leeds United who had gone 29 matches without defeat. At the time Don Revie's side were nine points clear at the top and they looked to be increasing their lead as they raced into a 2–0 lead, but Stoke rising to the challenge levelled before half time before Denis Smith grabbed the winner and Leeds' magnificent run was over, but they still took the First Division title. Stoke lost just twice in the final 23 matches and raised up the table to claim 5th place and so qualifying for next season's UEFA Cup. FA Cup Despite scoring twice at Bolton Wanderers Stoke lost 3–2 in the third round. League Cup After narrow wins over Chelsea and Middlesbrough, Coventry City knocked Stoke out with a narrow victory of their own. Final league table First Division y STK Results Stoke's score comes first Legend WinDrawLoss Football League First Division 1973–74 Football League MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers1 25 August 1973 LiverpoolA0–152,9382 29 August 1973 Manchester UnitedA0–143,6143 1 September 1973 Manchester CityH1–122,436Greenhoff 21'4 5 September 1973 EvertonH0–022,4355 8 September 1973 Queens Park RangersA3–318,118Hurst (2) 26', 67', Smith 64'6 11 September 1973 EvertonA1–120,242Greenhoff 65'7 15 September 1973 Ipswich TownH1–117,096Hurst 72'8 22 September 1973 ArsenalA1–230,578Greenhoff 35'9 29 September 1973 West Ham UnitedH2–016,395Goodwin 40', Hurst 68'10 6 October 1973 Leeds UnitedA1–136,562Smith 89'11 13 October 1973 Sheffield UnitedH1–217,975Colquhoun 30' (o.g.) 12 20 October 1973 SouthamptonA0–315,52113 27 October 1973 Coventry CityH3–017,421Greenhoff (2) 6', 75', Hurst 72' (pen)14 3 November 1973 Newcastle UnitedA1–227,941Ritchie 52'15 10 November 1973 Norwich CityH2–015,363Ritchie 33', Goodwin 87'16 17 November 1973 Birmingham CityH5–219,179Ritchie (2) 10' 83', Robertson 25', Hurst 60', Mahoney 70'17 24 November 1973 BurnleyA0–114,47818 8 December 1973 Tottenham HotspurA1–214,034Ritchie 62'19 15 December 1973 Wolverhampton WanderersH2–313,843Smith 63', Robertson 62'20 22 December 1973 West Ham UnitedA2–016,513Robertson 49', Greenhoff 84'21 26 December 1973 Derby CountyH0–024,04522 29 December 1973 Queens Park RangersH4–118,910Mahoney 49', Pejic 60', Ritchie 79', Greenhoff 85'23 1 January 1974 Manchester CityA0–035,00924 12 January 1974 Ipswich TownA1–118,581Hurst 70'25 19 January 1974 LiverpoolH1–132,789Hurst 67'26 27 January 1974 ChelseaH1–031,985Hurst 80' (pen)27 2 February 1974 Wolverhampton WanderersA1–130,128Ritchie 68'28 16 February 1974 Sheffield UnitedA0–019,97229 23 February 1974 Leeds UnitedH3–239,598Pejic 27', Hudson 35', Smith 68'30 2 March 1974 Derby CountyA1–128,176Ritchie 55'31 9 March 1974 Coventry CityA0–225,13632 16 March 1974 SouthamptonH4–120,415Hurst 13', Ritchie (3) 50', 75', 80'33 23 March 1974 Norwich CityA0–419,84234 30 March 1974 ArsenalH0–018,53235 3 April 1974 Newcastle UnitedH2–116,437Greenhoff 23', Mahoney 57'36 6 April 1974 BurnleyH4–019,253Ritchie 28' 80' (2 pen), Greenhoff 31', Hudson 77'37 13 April 1974 Birmingham CityA0–029,46738 15 April 1974 Leicester CityH1–021,468Hurst 87'39 16 April 1974 Leicester CityA1–121,682Hurst 40'40 20 April 1974 Tottenham HotspurH1–020,189Haslegrave 44'41 27 April 1974 ChelseaA1–017,150Hudson 50'42 29 April 1974 Manchester UnitedH1–027,392Ritchie 30' FA Cup 1973–74 FA Cup RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR36 January 1974 Bolton WanderersA2–339,138Ritchie 65', Haslegrave 84' League Cup 1973–74 Football League Cup RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR28 October 1973 ChelseaH1–017,281Smith 48'R331 October 1973 MiddlesbroughH1–119,194Pejic 50'R3 Replay6 November 1973 MiddlesbroughA2–1 (aet)26,063Greenhoff 39', Pejic 106'R420 November 1973 Coventry CityA1–217,483Hurst 35' Texaco Cup 1973–74 Texaco Cup RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR1 1st leg19 September 1973 Birmingham CityH0–09,530R1 2nd leg2 October 1973 Birmingham CityA0–0 (1–3 pens)13,433 Watney Cup RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers Quarter Final11 August 1973 Plymouth ArgyleA1–017,500Hurst 62' Semi Final15 August 1973 Bristol CityH4–113,812Hurst, Pejic, Greenhoff, Conroy Final18 August 1973 Hull CityH2–018,159Greenhoff (2) 16', 67' Friendlies GameOpponentVenueResult1Manchester UnitedH1–22Manchester CityA1–33Hamilton AcademicalA2–14AnorthosisA7–15Aris LimassolA3–26EPA LarnacaA5–17Levski SpartakA0–1 Squad statistics Pos.NameLeagueFA CupLeague CupTexaco CupWatney CupTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGKENG John Farmer38010301030460GKSCO Mike McDonald4000101(1)0006(1)0DFENG Alan Bloor27010000030310DFENG Alan Dodd31010402000380DFENG Jackie Marsh31000402030400DFENG Mike Pejic41210422031515DFENG Eric Skeels1501010000(1)017(1)0DFENG Denis Smith41410312030505MFIRE Terry Conroy5(4)00000203110(4)1MFENG George Eastham200000101040MFENG Sean Haslegrave2710(1)140203036(1)2MFENG Alan Hudson18300000000183MFENG Stewart Jump2(1)000100(1)0003(2)0MFENG Terry Lees3(1)0000000003(1)0MFWAL John Mahoney35310401030443MFENG Kenny Raper000000000000MFSCO Jimmy Robertson37310201030443FWENG Dave Goodwin4(1)2001010006(1)2FWENG Jimmy Greenhoff399104110234713FWENG Geoff Hurst3512104120324515FWENG Ian Moores100000000010FWENG John Ritchie26(4)141140200033(4)15–Own goals–1–0–0–0–0–1 References Category:Stoke City F.C. seasons Stoke