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.
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.

Season review

League

The 1962–63 season saw Stoke officially celebrate its centenary and the hope from the supporters was that it would be marked by promotion. 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. Keith Bebbington and Eddie Clamp joined the club as well as Stoke's first African footballer, Eddie Stuart from South Africa.
From late August to 8 December Stoke went 18 matches unbeaten and were now regarded as one of the promotion favourites. 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. After two months without football Stoke played again on 2 March and easily beat Walsall 3–0. 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. But his debut for Stoke ended in disaster as Stoke crashed to a 6–0 defeat at Norwich City. 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.
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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
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.

FA Cup

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.

League Cup

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

Final league table

Key: P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points

Results

Stoke's score comes first

Legend

Football League Second Division

MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
118 August 1962Leeds UnitedH0–127,118
222 August 1962Derby CountyA1–124,408Skeels
325 August 1962Swansea TownA1–216,474Griffiths
429 August 1962Derby CountyH3–319,009Asprey, Viollet
51 September 1962ChelseaH0–019,286
68 September 1962Luton TownA0–06,878
712 September 1962Charlton AthleticH6–311,596Viollet, Ratcliffe, Bebbington
815 September 1962SouthamptonH3–116,062Bebbington, Mudie
918 September 1962Charlton AthleticA3–017,872Bebbington, Mudie, Asprey
1022 September 1962Scunthorpe UnitedA0–011,364
1129 September 1962BuryH2–024,480Viollet, Mudie
126 October 1962Newcastle UnitedH3–126,775Viollet,, Skeels
1313 October 1962WalsallA0–015,862
1420 October 1962Norwich CityH3–020,375Viollet, G Matthews
1527 October 1962Grimsby TownA1–114,419Mudie
163 November 1962Plymouth ArgyleH2–224,281Mudie, Skeels
1710 November 1962Preston North EndA1–114,677Bebbington
1817 November 1962PortsmouthH3–121,142Mudie, Viollet
1924 November 1962Cardiff CityA1–121,900Mudie
201 December 1962Huddersfield TownH2–129,856Viollet, Stuart
218 December 1962MiddlesbroughA2–211,799Viollet, Thompson
2215 December 1962Leeds UnitedA1–319,331Mudie
2326 December 1962Rotherham UnitedA2–111,717Viollet, Asprey
242 March 1963WalsallH3–025,462Mudie
259 March 1963Norwich CityA0–625,950
2616 March 1963Grimsby TownH4–124,626Viollet, Mudie, Asprey
2723 March 1963Plymouth ArgyleA1–022,956Ratcliffe
2827 March 1963Swansea TownH2–026,532Mudie
2930 March 1963Preston North EndH3–021,863Mudie, Viollet
301 April 1963Rotherham UnitedH3–131,226Viollet, Ratcliffe, McIlroy
316 April 1963PortsmouthA3–019,256Mudie, Ratcliffe, McIlroy
3212 April 1963SunderlandA0–062,138
3313 April 1963Cardiff CityH1–030,419Viollet
3415 April 1963SunderlandH2–142,366Viollet
3520 April 1963Huddersfield TownA3–327,779Viollet, McIlroy, Skeels
3627 April 1963MiddlesbroughH0–125,733
371 May 1963Newcastle UnitedA2–525,900McIlroy
384 May 1963Scunthorpe UnitedH2–325,530Ratcliffe, Stuart
3911 May 1963ChelseaA1–066,199McIlroy
4014 May 1963BuryA1–225,376Mudie
4118 May 1963Luton TownH2–033,644Mudie, S Matthews
4222 May 1963SouthamptonA0–218,295

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
R36 March 1963Leeds UnitedA1–336,873Bebbington

League Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
R225 September 1962WalsallA2–110,583G Matthews, Bebbington
R310 October 1962Aston VillaA1–320,373G Matthews

Friendlies

Squad statistics