1976–77 Stoke City F.C. season

The 1976–77 season was Stoke City's 70th season in the Football League and the 46th in the First Division.

Stoke City
1976–77 season
ChairmanAlbert Henshall
ManagerTony Waddington,
George Eastham
StadiumVictoria Ground
Football League First Division21st (34 Points)
FA CupThird Round
League CupThird Round
Top goalscorerLeague: Garth Crooks
(6)

All: Garth Crooks
(6)
Highest home attendance29,905 vs Liverpool
(11 April 1977)
Lowest home attendance12,225 vs Coventry City
(16 February 1977)
Average home league attendance19,027

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.[1]

Season review

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League

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The 1976–77 season opened with a new all steel Butler Street roof in place which would cost the sum of £250,000.[1] 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.[1] 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.[1]

The Stoke fans were totally confused at what was happening to their team and looked for someone to blame.[1] 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.[1] 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.[1] 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.[1] He remained an avid supporter of the club until his death in 1994.[1]

Waddington's assistant George Eastham was put in temporary charge with coach Alan A'Court his assistant.[1] 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 sad 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.[1]

FA Cup

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Everton beat Stoke 2–0 in the third round on their way to the semi-final.[1]

League Cup

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Stoke beat Leeds United 2–1 and then lost badly 3–0 to Newcastle United.[1]

Final league table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
18 Bristol City 42 11 13 18 38 48 −10 35
19 Coventry City 42 10 15 17 48 59 −11 35
20 Sunderland (R) 42 11 12 19 46 54 −8 34 Relegation to the Second Division
21 Stoke City (R) 42 10 14 18 28 51 −23 34
22 Tottenham Hotspur (R) 42 12 9 21 48 72 −24 33
Source: World Football
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(R) Relegated

Results

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Stoke's score comes first

Legend

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Win Draw Loss

Football League First Division

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Match Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
1 21 August 1976 Sunderland H 0–0 27,244
2 24 August 1976 Bristol City A 1–1 25,316 Smith 86'
3 28 August 1976 Manchester City A 0–0 39,875
4 4 September 1976 West Ham United H 2–1 19,131 Crooks 32', Conroy 52'
5 11 September 1976 Everton A 0–3 22,277
6 18 September 1976 Ipswich Town H 2–1 20,171 Tudor (2) 2', 19'
7 25 September 1976 Queens Park Rangers A 0–2 21,621
8 29 September 1976 Leicester City A 0–1 15,391
9 2 October 1976 Aston Villa H 1–0 26,652 Conroy 37'
10 16 October 1976 Arsenal A 0–2 28,507
11 23 October 1976 Derby County H 1–0 20,916 Tudor 70'
12 30 October 1976 Newcastle United A 0–1 28,251
13 6 November 1976 Middlesbrough H 3–1 16,068 Waddington 20', Greenhoff (2) 47', 54'
14 10 November 1976 Leeds United A 1–1 29,199 Dodd 86'
15 20 November 1976 Birmingham City H 1–0 21,486 Crooks 70'
16 27 November 1976 Tottenham Hotspur A 0–2 22,230
17 18 December 1976 West Bromwich Albion H 0–2 15,989
18 27 December 1976 Liverpool A 0–4 50,371
19 1 January 1977 Middlesbrough A 0–0 21,140
20 22 January 1977 Sunderland A 0–0 22,901
21 29 January 1977 Norwich City A 1–1 18,408 Salmons 48'
22 5 February 1977 Manchester City H 0–2 27,139
23 12 February 1977 West Ham United A 0–1 20,106
24 16 February 1977 Coventry City H 2–0 12,255 Conroy (2) 1', 55' (pen)
25 19 February 1977 Everton H 0–1 19,586
26 26 February 1977 Ipswich Town A 1–0 25,865 Goodwin 37'
27 5 March 1977 Queens Park Rangers H 1–0 15,454 Bowers 47'
28 15 March 1977 Newcastle United H 0–0 12,708
29 19 March 1977 Leicester City H 0–1 14,087
30 23 March 1977 Arsenal H 1–1 13,951 Conroy 7'
31 2 April 1977 Derby County A 0–2 23,161
32 9 April 1977 Manchester United A 0–3 53,102
33 11 April 1977 Liverpool H 0–0 29,905
34 12 April 1977 Leeds United H 2–1 17,960 Crooks (2) 67', 76'
35 16 April 1977 Birmingham City A 0–2 19,554
36 20 April 1977 Bristol City H 2–2 12,277 Smith 56', Bloor 70'
37 23 April 1977 Tottenham Hotspur H 0–0 15,641
38 30 April 1977 Coventry City A 2–5 15,720 Ruggiero (2) 40', 66' (pen)
39 7 May 1977 Norwich City H 0–0 13,202
40 11 May 1977 Manchester United H 3–3 24,632 Crooks (2) 40', 65', Bloor 49'
41 14 May 1977 West Bromwich Albion A 1–3 22,772 Suddick 22'
42 16 May 1977 Aston Villa A 0–1 28,931

FA Cup

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Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
R3 8 January 1977 Everton A 0–2 32,981

League Cup

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Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
R2 1 September 1976 Leeds United H 2–1 22,550 Conroy 75', Greenhoff 89'
R3 22 September 1976 Newcastle United A 0–3 25,126

Friendlies

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Match Opponent Venue Result
1 Śląsk Wrocław A 1–0
2 Indonesia XI A 1–1
3 Persebaya Surabaya A 2–0
4 Ajax A 1–2
5 AS Cannes A 2–0
6 AS Monaco A 0–1
7 Olympique Lyonnais A 1–2
8 FC Porto A 0–1
9 Genoa A 0–0
10 Chirk AAA A 6–0
11 Hibernian A 1–0
12 Blackpool A 4–2
13 Hereford United A 0–1

Squad statistics

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Pos. Name League FA Cup League Cup Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
GK   Roger Jones 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
GK   Peter Shilton 40 0 1 0 2 0 43 0
DF   Alan Bloor 37 2 1 0 2 0 40 2
DF   Danny Bowers 13(2) 1 1 0 1(1) 0 15(3) 1
DF   Alan Dodd 42 1 1 0 2 0 45 1
DF   Paul Johnson 8 0 0 0 0 0 8 0
DF   John Lumsdon 12(1) 0 0 0 0 0 12(1) 0
DF   Jackie Marsh 16(1) 0 1 0 2 0 19(1) 0
DF   Mike Pejic 21 0 0 0 2 0 23 0
DF   Denis Smith 30 2 1 0 0 0 31 2
MF   Brian Bithell 16(1) 0 1 0 0 0 17(1) 0
MF   Terry Conroy 34(2) 5 0 0 2 1 36(2) 6
MF   Alan Hudson 11 0 0 0 2 0 13 0
MF   John Mahoney 22 0 0 0 2 0 24 0
MF   Jimmy Robertson 14 0 1 0 0 0 15 0
MF   Kevin Sheldon 7(2) 0 0 0 0 0 7(2) 0
MF   Alan Suddick 9 1 0 0 0 0 9 1
MF   John Tudor 28(2) 3 1 0 0 0 29(2) 3
MF   Steve Waddington 11(1) 1 1 0 0 0 12(1) 1
FW   Geoff Salmons 33(2) 1 1 0 2 0 36(2) 1
FW   Garth Crooks 20(3) 6 0(1) 0 1(1) 0 21(5) 6
FW   Dave Goodwin 12(1) 1 0 0 0 0 12(1) 1
FW   Jimmy Greenhoff 14 2 0 0 2 1 16 3
FW   John Ruggiero 9 2 0 0 0 0 9 2
FW   Dennis Thorley 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.
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