1966–67 Stoke City F.C. season


The 1966–67 season was Stoke City's 60th season in the Football League and the 36th in the First Division.
England won the 1966 World Cup and one of the winners, Gordon Banks joined Stoke in April 1967 in what was a master stroke signing by Tony Waddington he also brought in Arsenal winger George Eastham. On the pitch Stoke continued to finish in mid table this time in 12th spot.

Season review

League

1966 saw Albert Henshall return to the club as chairman and England won the World Cup, two of Alf Ramsey's squad would sign for Stoke within the next twelve months. In the summer of 1966 Waddington secured the services of former Newcastle United winger George Eastham from Arsenal for £35,000. The other was goalkeeper Gordon Banks who was snapped up for a bargain £52,000 from Leicester City in April 1967. Matt Gillies, the Leicester manager was coming under considerable pressure to play his young reserve Peter Shilton and decided to sell the 29-year-old Banks to Stoke. It is widely considered that this was a 'steal' as Banks carried on to play for England for another five years. Banks left English football in 1972 and ironically Stoke signed Shilton as his replacement.
Stoke had a fine, enterprising squad in 1966–67 and they ran up some fine results, beating eventual champions Manchester United 3–0 as well as Tottenham Hotspur, Nottingham Forest, Everton and West Bromwich Albion all before October. However, with Stoke looking forward to a potentially great season the fans were shocked when John Ritchie was sold to Sheffield Wednesday for £70,000 in November 1966. Whilst Wednesday paid a lot of money for Ritchie it came as a surprise as a month before Stoke had sold unsuccessful reserve striker John Woodward to Aston Villa for £30,000. But Ritchie's departure was soon forgotten as the team battled on holding on to a mid-table position.

FA Cup

Stoke failed to make it past the third round losing by two goals to nil against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

League Cup

Walsall again proved to Stoke's cup bogey side beating Stoke 2–1 at Fellows Park.

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 First Division

MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
120 August 1966Nottingham ForestA2–121,949Dobing, Palmer
224 August 1966Tottenham HotspurH2–033,086Burrows, Ritchie
327 August 1966FulhamH1–226,333Burrows
431 August 1966Tottenham HotspurA0–237,983
53 September 1966EvertonA1–044,005Dobing
67 September 1966Manchester UnitedH3–044,337Ritchie, Palmer
710 September 1966West Ham UnitedH1–127,274Dobing
817 September 1966Sheffield UnitedH3–021,374Dobing, Wagstaff
924 September 1966West Bromwich AlbionA1–025,483Ritchie
101 October 1966Leeds UnitedH0–028,987
118 October 1966Sheffield WednesdayA3–128,047Dobing, Ritchie, Burrows
1215 October 1966SouthamptonH3–225,554Dobing, Ritchie, Palmer
1325 October 1966SunderlandA1–223,320Viollet
1429 October 1966LiverpoolH2–037,933Dobing, Ritchie
155 November 1966SouthamptonA2–323,270Viollet, Ritchie
1612 November 1966Manchester CityH0–127,803
1719 November 1966BlackpoolA1–016,172Burrows
1826 November 1966ChelseaH1–128,446Dobing
193 December 1966Leicester CityA2–426,079Burrows, Vernon
2010 December 1966Aston VillaH6–120,232Burrows, Vernon, Dobing, Eastham
2117 December 1966Nottingham ForestH1–223,304Burrows
2226 December 1966BurnleyA2–029,990Burrows, Setters
2327 December 1966BurnleyH4–338,402Burrows, Dobing, Bridgwood
2431 December 1966FulhamA1–424,851Vernon
257 January 1967EvertonH2–127,650Dobing, Palmer
2614 January 1967West Ham UnitedA1–133,293Burrows
2722 January 1967Sheffield UnitedA1–221,486Dobing
284 February 1967West Bromwich AlbionH1–126,211Dobing
2911 February 1967Leeds UnitedA0–337,370
3025 February 1967Sheffield WednesdayH0–227,164
314 March 1967LiverpoolA1–248,591Dobing
3218 March 1967SunderlandH3–017,171Palmer, Dobing, Burrows
3324 March 1967Newcastle UnitedA1–339,408Burrows
3425 March 1967Aston VillaA1–220,996Mahoney
3527 March 1967Newcastle UnitedH0–117,802
361 April 1967ArsenalH2–214,606Burrows, Dobing
3712 April 1967Manchester CityA1–325,753Dobing
3815 April 1967BlackpoolH2–012,259Burrows, Mahoney
3922 April 1967ChelseaA0–123,973
4029 April 1967Leicester CityH3–117,870Dobing, Burrows, Mahoney
416 May 1967ArsenalA1–324,611Bridgwood
4213 May 1967Manchester UnitedA0–061,071

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
R328 January 1967Manchester UnitedA0–263,497

League Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
R29 September 1966WalsallA1–213,600Ritchie

Cleveland Stokers

Stoke were one of a number of teams exported to the USA to play in the United Soccer Association in 1967 to help promote the sport in the country. Stoke represented Cleveland, Ohio and went under the name of the Cleveland Stokers and finished 2nd in their group.
In the travelling Stoke party included the likes of Gordon Banks, Peter Dobing, George Eastham, Maurice Setters and Roy Vernon as well as manager Tony Waddington. The team started well going undefeated in their first seven matches defeating Washington Whips 2–1, Boston Rovers 1–0, San Francisco Golden Gate Gales and Dallas Tornado both 4–1. They then suffered back to back 2–1 defeats to New York Skyliners and Houston Stars before a 2–0 win over Toronto City put them back on track for a play-off place. However a goalless draw with Detroit Cougars and a 3–1 defeat in the final match against Vancouver Royals saw the Stokers miss out on a play-off spot by a single point.
MatchDateOpponentVenueResultScorers
127 May 1967Washington WhipsA2–1Setters, Vernon
231 May 1967Chicago MustangsH1–1Bernard
33 June 1967Boston RoversH1–0Setters
47 June 1967Los Angeles WolvesH0–0
510 June 1967San Francisco Golden Gate GalesH4–1Dobing, Setters, Vernon
613 June 1967Washington WhipsH2–2Dobing, Eastham
717 June 1967Dallas TornadoA4–1Dobing, Skeels, Burrows
825 June 1967New York SkylinersH1–2Bloor
927 June 1967Houston StarsA1–2Burrows
101 July 1967Toronto CityH2–0Dobing, Burrows
115 July 1967Detroit CougarsA0–0
129 July 1967Vancouver RoyalsA1–3Dobing

Friendlies

Squad statistics