1971–72 Stoke City F.C. season


The 1971–72 season was Stoke City's 65th season in the Football League and the 41st in the First Division.
After 109 years of trying Stoke City finally won their first major trophy in March 1972 beating Chelsea 2–1 in the League Cup final at Wembley. They also reached the semi final of the FA Cup for the second season running and again lost out to Arsenal. Their league campaign obviously took a hit with all the cup matches being played, Stoke finished in 17th position with 35 points. In total Stoke played 71 matches during a very busy season.

Season review

League

The Stoke fans were confident of seeing more good exciting attacking football again as the 1971–72 season commenced but overall league performances were bitterly disappointing, however in the cup competitions Stoke did themselves proud. With the cup matches obviously taking priority Stoke had a back-log of fixtures to play and they failed to win any of them as they finished in 17th position with 35 points.

FA Cup

Stoke had another run to the semi-final of the FA Cup after beating lower league sides, Chesterfield, Tranmere Rovers, Hull City and another two matches against Manchester United, Stoke faced Arsenal again. Villa Park hosted the tie and thanks to an own goal from Peter Simpson, an unimpressive Stoke scraped to a 1–1 draw. The replay at Goodison Park was controlled by the "Gunners" and although Stoke battled hard they went down 2–1 and their hopes of achieving a Wembley double disappeared.

League Cup

In the League Cup Stoke ousted Southport and Oxford United and then in the fourth round Stoke visited Old Trafford and held Manchester United to a 1–1 draw with John Ritchie cancelling out a goal from Alan Gowling. The replay attracted almost 41,000 fans to the Victoria Ground but this time there was no goals and third game was required. This was again staged at Stoke and two late goals sealed a 2–1 victory and passage to the last eight. At this stage of the season matches were coming thick and fast and a 4–2 win over Bristol Rovers saw Stoke enter the semi finals of the League Cup where they met West Ham United over two legs.
Not only was this to be a memorable cup tie for Stoke, it is also once of the best encounters in the history of the League Cup competition. In the 1st leg Stoke's hopes of reaching the final seemed to have disappeared when they lost 2–1 to home. However at West Ham, Ritchie levelled the aggregated score with 20 minutes left, and with just three of those remaining West Ham were awarded a penalty, a decision which angered Gordon Banks immensely. The England 'keeper was so psyched up that he dived and saved Geoff Hurst's spot kick superbly, Banks says that it was his most significant save of his career. And so to a third match, a replay at Hillsborough, was a tense 0–0 draw. The fourth meeting was staged at Old Trafford and another bumper crowd turned out to see the two sides do battle in a match that seemed to have everything. Bobby Ferguson, the "Hammers" goalkeeper was accidentally kicked on the head by Terry Conroy and Bobby Moore went in goal. He saved a Mike Bernard penalty but was beaten on the rebound. Ferguson returned and the game ebbed and flowed, and either side could have won. In the end it was Stoke with Conroy scoring the winning goal to send City through to their first major final.
The final took place on 4 March 1972 at Wembley against Chelsea in front of a crowd 97,852. Stoke showed no big match nerves at took an early lead through Terry Conroy, this prompted a response by Chelsea and just before the interval a rare mistake from Alan Bloor allowed Peter Osgood to level the scores. Stoke were not to be denied and on 73 minutes the veteran George Eastham scored the winning goal to earn Stoke their first major trophy.

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
114 August 1971Coventry CityA1–120,739Ritchie 46'
217 August 1971SouthamptonA1–318,382Greenhoff 82'
321 August 1971Crystal PalaceH3–118,756Ritchie 20', Mahoney 44', Greenhoff 52'
425 August 1971Leicester CityH3–121,678Ritchie 64', Bernard 78', Dobing 80'
528 August 1971ArsenalA1–036,637Ritchie 20'
631 August 1971Nottingham ForestA0–019,017
74 September 1971Wolverhampton WanderersH0–120,021
811 September 1971Derby CountyA0–432,548
918 September 1971Huddersfield TownH1–016,463Conroy 25'
1025 September 1971West Ham UnitedA1–219,193Ritchie 58'
112 October 1971LiverpoolH0–029,698
129 October 1971Sheffield UnitedA3–235,371Ritchie 15', Smith 51', Conroy 81'
1316 October 1971Coventry CityH1–020,040Smith 82'
1423 October 1971Ipswich TownA1–217,678Bernard 33'
1530 October 1971Tottenham HotspurH2–028,348Mahoney 49', 55'
166 November 1971West Bromwich AlbionA1–019,207Greenhoff 42'
1713 November 1971ChelseaH0–122,196
1820 November 1971Leeds UnitedA0–133,012
1927 November 1971Newcastle UnitedH3–316,815Ritchie 22', Conroy 65', 70'
204 December 1971EvertonA0–035,469
2111 December 1971Manchester UnitedH1–133,807Mahoney 27'
2213 December 1971Wolverhampton WanderersA0–225,619
2327 December 1971Manchester CityH1–343,007Smith 90'
244 January 1972Huddersfield TownA0–012,665
258 January 1972ArsenalH0–018,965
2622 January 1972SouthamptonH3–117,480Ritchie 12', Greenhoff 51', 82'
2729 January 1972Leicester CityA1–226,931Greenhoff 13'
2812 February 1972Ipswich TownH3–320,247Ritchie 55', Greenhoff 75', Smith 87'
2919 February 1972Tottenham HotspurA0–232,841
3011 March 1972Sheffield UnitedH2–231,667Smith 65', Ritchie 85'
3125 March 1972Derby CountyH1–133,592Greenhoff 48'
3228 March 1972LiverpoolA1–242,489Ritchie 35'
331 April 1972Manchester CityA2–149,392Doyle 35, Ritchie 53'
344 April 1972West Ham UnitedH0–024,688
358 April 1972Leeds UnitedH0–335,123
3510 April 1972Nottingham ForestH0–213,920
3722 April 1972EvertonH1–116,796Lyons 30'
3824 April 1972ChelseaA0–223,443
3926 April 1972Crystal PalaceA0–224,550
4029 April 1972Manchester UnitedA0–334,959
415 May 1972West Bromwich AlbionH1–116,206Burrows 68'
428 May 1972Newcastle UnitedA0–021,350

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
R315 January 1972ChesterfieldH2–126,559Conroy 15', Dobing 67'
R45 February 1972Tranmere RoversA2–224,424Conroy 68', Ritchie 75'
R4 Replay9 February 1972Tranmere RoversH2–035,352Bernard 31', Greenhoff 70'
R526 February 1972Hull CityH4–134,558Greenhoff 44', 45', Conroy 79', Ritchie 87'
Quarter Final18 March 1972Manchester UnitedA1–153,558Greenhoff 58'
Quarter Final Replay22 March 1972Manchester UnitedH2–1 49,091Smith 74', Conroy 102'
Semi Final15 April 1972ArsenalN1–156,570Simpson 65'
Semi Final Replay19 April 1972ArsenalN1–235,976Greenhoff 19'
3rd Place play-off5 August 1972Birmingham CityA0–0 23,841

League Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
R28 September 1971SouthportA2–110,225Smith 10', Greenhoff 70'
R36 October 1971Oxford UnitedA1–115,024Greenhoff 13'
R3 Replay18 October 1971Oxford UnitedH2–011,757Ritchie 30', Haslegrave 86'
R427 October 1971Manchester UnitedA1–147,062Ritchie 72'
R4 Replay8 November 1971Manchester UnitedH0–0 40,829
R4 2nd Replay15 November 1971Manchester UnitedH2–142,233Dobing 70', Ritchie 88'
Quarter Final23 November 1971Bristol RoversA4–233,626Greenhoff 7', Smith 20', Bernard 61', Conroy 64'
Semi Final 1st Leg8 December 1971West Ham UnitedH1–236,407Dobing 14'
Semi Final 2nd Leg15 December 1971West Ham UnitedA1–038,771Ritchie 72'
Semi Final Replay5 January 1972West Ham UnitedN0–046,916
Semi Final 2nd Replay26 January 1972West Ham UnitedN3–249,247Bernard 32', Dobing 45', Conroy 49'
Final4 March 1972ChelseaN2–197,852Conroy 5', Eastham 73'

[Texaco Cup]

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
R1 1st Leg15 September 1971MotherwellA1–08,213Bernard
R1 2nd Leg29 September 1971MotherwellH4–112,072Ritchie, Greenhoff, Haslegrave
R2 1st Leg20 October 1971Derby CountyA2–321,487Mahoney, Smith
R2 2nd Leg11 November 1971Derby CountyH1–123,461Smith

Anglo-Italian Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
Group Stage1 June 1972CatanzaroA3–014,147Greenhoff 60', Dobing 66', Marsh 75'
Group Stage5 June 1972RomaA0–219,960
Group Stage7 June 1972CatanzaroH2–08,345Ritchie 43', Greenhoff 90'
Group Stage10 June 1972RomaH1–25,446Ritchie 46'

Friendlies

Squad statistics