1964–65 Stoke City F.C. season

The 1964–65 season was Stoke City's 58th season in the Football League and the 34th in the First Division.

Stoke City

1964–65 season
Chairman	Mr G. Taylor
Manager	Tony Waddington
Stadium	Victoria Ground
Football League First Division	11th (42 Points)
FA Cup	Fourth Round
League Cup	Fourth Round
Top goalscorer	League: John Ritchie (25) All: John Ritchie (29)
Highest home attendance	43,431 vs Everton (22 August 1964)
Lowest home attendance	12,899 vs Birmingham City (17 March 1965)
Average home league attendance	25,787
Home colours
← 1963–64 1965–66 →

Stoke's main aim for the 1964–65 season was to consolidate themselves in the First Division and despite having not the greatest run of results Stoke finished in a comfortable position of 11th. Stanley Matthews called time on his long and famous career on 6 February 1965 against Fulham at the age of 50 and 5 days.^[1]

Season review

League

Manager Tony Waddington continued to improve the squad prior to the start of 1964–65 season with experienced players.^[1] This policy found favour with the fans, the quality of an attack that included Peter Dobing, Dennis Viollet and Jimmy McIlroy was there for all too see, and local prospects flourished alongside this impressive forward line.^[1] One of whom was John Ritchie who was top scorer in 1964–65 with 25 league goals including four against Sheffield Wednesday who would sign Ritchie in 1966.^[1]

On 6 February 1965 Stanley Matthews again entered the record books when at the age of 50 years and five days he turned out for Stoke one last time against Fulham, Stoke won the match 3–1.^[1] To say thank you to Matthews, Stoke arranged a match against a team of international star players which was broadcast live to an estimated worldwide audience of 112 million.^[1]

More players arrived at Stoke during the season with the arrivals of Maurice Setters, Roy Vernon and Harry Burrows helping Stoke to finish in 11th position, winning and losing 16 matches.^[1]

FA Cup

After an impressive 4–1 win against Blackpool Stoke drew 0–0 with Manchester United before losing 1–0 at a foggy Old Trafford.^[1]

League Cup

Stoke, last season's runners-up, had a poor League Cup campaign this season as they needed a replay to beat Shrewsbury Town, then edged past Southend United before losing 3–1 away at Plymouth Argyle in a replay.^[1]

Final league table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts	Qualification or relegation
9	West Ham United	42	19	4	19	82	71	1.155	42	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1965–66 First round^[a]
10	Blackburn Rovers	42	16	10	16	83	79	1.051	42
11	Stoke City	42	16	10	16	67	66	1.015	42
12	Burnley	42	16	10	16	70	70	1.000	42
13	Arsenal	42	17	7	18	69	75	0.920	41

Source:^{[citation needed]}
Notes:

1. West Ham United qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup as winners of this season's competition.

Results

Stoke's score comes first

Legend

Win

Draw

Loss

Football League First Division

Main article: 1964–65 Football League

Match	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
1	22 August 1964	Everton	H	0–2	43,431
2	26 August 1964	Sheffield United	A	1–0	17,368	Viollet
3	29 August 1964	Birmingham City	A	2–1	20,692	Ritchie, Bebbington
4	2 September 1964	Sheffield United	H	0–1	27,489
5	5 September 1964	West Ham United	H	3–1	26,420	Viollet, Dobing, Bebbington
6	9 September 1964	Tottenham Hotspur	H	2–0	36,897	Viollet (2)
7	12 September 1964	West Bromwich Albion	A	3–5	36,897	Viollet, Ritchie (2)
8	16 September 1964	Tottenham Hotspur	A	1–2	33,350	Ritchie
9	19 September 1964	Manchester United	H	1–2	40,031	Ritchie
10	26 September 1964	Fulham	A	4–1	15,177	Ritchie (2), Viollet, Dobing
11	3 October 1964	Nottingham Forest	H	1–1	28,913	Philpott
12	7 October 1964	Blackburn Rovers	A	1–1	12,509	Palmer
13	10 October 1964	Leeds United	H	2–3	27,651	Ritchie, Kinnell
14	17 October 1964	Chelsea	A	0–4	28,650
15	24 October 1964	Leicester City	H	3–3	24,551	Ritchie (2), Palmer
16	31 October 1964	Sunderland	A	2–2	33,303	Dobing, Palmer
17	7 November 1964	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	0–2	27,776
18	14 November 1964	Aston Villa	A	0–3	19,789
19	21 November 1964	Liverpool	H	1–1	28,816	Ritchie
20	28 November 1964	Sheffield Wednesday	A	1–1	17,266	Ritchie
21	5 December 1964	Blackpool	H	4–2	17,360	Palmer (2), Dobing, Viollet
22	12 December 1964	Everton	A	1–1	31,713	Palmer
23	26 December 1964	Arsenal	A	2–3	26,663	Ritchie (2)
24	28 December 1964	Arsenal	H	4–1	20,491	Ritchie (2) (1 pen), Viollet, McIlroy
25	2 January 1965	West Ham United	A	1–0	23,913	Viollet
26	16 January 1965	West Bromwich Albion	H	2–0	25,405	Palmer, Viollet
27	23 January 1965	Manchester United	A	1–1	50,392	Bloor
28	6 February 1965	Fulham	H	3–1	28,585	Viollet (2), Ritchie
29	13 February 1965	Nottingham Forest	A	1–3	21,829	Palmer
30	27 February 1965	Chelsea	H	0–2	27,965
31	13 March 1965	Blackburn Rovers	H	1–1	19,284	Viollet
32	17 March 1965	Birmingham City	H	2–1	12,899	Ritchie, Bebbington
33	20 March 1965	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	1–3	20,945	Burrows
34	27 March 1965	Aston Villa	H	2–1	20,375	Woodward, Vernon
35	3 April 1965	Liverpool	A	2–3	40,315	Burrows, Vernon
36	5 April 1965	Leeds United	A	1–3	38,133	Setters
37	10 April 1965	Sheffield Wednesday	H	4–1	16,047	Ritchie (4)
38	17 April 1965	Blackpool	A	1–1	18,263	Ritchie
39	19 April 1965	Burnley	H	2–0	19,781	Ritchie, Vernon
40	20 April 1965	Burnley	A	0–1	13,398
41	24 April 1965	Sunderland	H	3–1	20,593	Burrows, Ritchie, Vernon
42	26 April 1965	Leicester City	A	1–0	8,717	Vernon

FA Cup

Main article: 1964–65 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
R3	9 January 1965	Blackpool	H	4–1	38,651	Ritchie (2), Viollet (2)
R4	30 January 1965	Manchester United	H	0–0	49,032
R4 Replay	3 February 1965	Manchester United	A	0–1	50,874

League Cup

Main article: 1964–65 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
R2	23 September 1964	Shrewsbury Town	H	1–1	13,531	Viollet
R2 Replay	29 September 1964	Shrewsbury Town	A	1–0	15,304	Palmer
R3	10 October 1964	Southend United	H	3–1	8,284	Ritchie, Bebbington, Bridgwood
R4	4 November 1964	Plymouth Argyle	H	1–1	10,968	Ritchie
R4 Replay	11 November 1964	Plymouth Argyle	A	1–3	15,381	Dobing

Friendlies

Match	Opponent	Venue	Result
1	Glentoran	A	2–1
2	Ballymena United	A	6–0
3	Manchester City	A	2–1
4	Heart of Midlothian	A	2–1
5	Bristol Rovers	A	1–2
6	Greenock Morton	A	1–2
7	Crewe Alexandra	A	2–2
8	Sir Stanley Matthews XI	H	6–4
9	Stævnet	A	4–1
10	Stockholm XI	A	1–0
11	Spartak Moscow	A	0–1
12	Zenit Leningrad	A	3–2
13	Finland XI	A	9–1
14	IFK Eskilstuna	A	3–1

Squad statistics

Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Bobby Irvine	1	0	0	0	1	0	2	0
GK	Lawrie Leslie	41	0	3	0	4	0	48	0
DF	Tony Allen	37	0	3	0	3	0	43	0
DF	Bill Asprey	35	0	3	0	5	0	43	0
DF	Alan Bloor	15	1	2	0	4	0	21	1
DF	John Flowers	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
DF	George Kinnell	40	1	3	0	3	0	46	1
DF	Eric Skeels	42	0	3	0	5	0	50	0
MF	Gerry Bridgwood	8	0	0	0	4	1	12	1
MF	Calvin Palmer	36	8	3	0	3	1	42	9
MF	Alan Philpott	12	1	0	0	4	0	16	1
MF	Maurice Setters	16	1	3	0	0	0	19	1
MF	John Woodward	3	1	0	0	0	0	3	1
FW	Keith Bebbington	23	3	0	0	4	1	27	4
FW	Harry Burrows	10	3	0	0	0	0	10	3
FW	Peter Dobing	23	4	1	0	4	1	28	5
FW	Gerry Jones	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
FW	Jimmy McIlroy	31	1	3	0	2	0	36	1
FW	Stanley Matthews	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
FW	John Ritchie	41	25	3	2	5	2	49	29
FW	Roy Vernon	10	5	0	0	0	0	10	5
FW	Dennis Viollet	34	13	3	2	3	1	40	16

References

1. Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.