The 1961–62 season was Stoke City's 55th season in the Football League and the 22nd in the Second Division.

Attendances were now at a worrying all-time low and so the Stoke board and manager Tony Waddington decided something needed to be done to bring the supporters back to the Victoria Ground. And Waddington pulled off a master stroke after paying £3,000 to Blackpool for the returning 46-year-old Stanley Matthews. Crowds instantly arrived in large numbers with Matthews first match back against Huddersfield Town more than 35,000 turned up a good 15,000 more than the last home match. Stoke could not sustain a push for promotion, but the feeling around the club had changed dramatically.

Season review

League Attendances remained stubbornly poor as the 1961–62 season commenced, Stoke losing 2–1 at home to Rotherham United in front of 11,000 fans. The club's finances were seriously in question with the worrying decline in support. To regress the slide Stoke brought back Stanley Matthews at the age of 46 some 14 years after he left for Blackpool. It certainly had the desired effect as the crowds quickly returned and traffic jams stretched for miles on the day he made his second debut for Stoke City at the Victoria Ground against Huddersfield Town when 35,974 fans assembled to welcome back their hero and see him inspire Stoke to a 3–0 win, the attendance in Stoke's previous home match was just 8,409.

The resurgence was on as Stoke slowly but surely picked up some good results and climbed the table as they went on a seven match unbeaten run in December. Dennis Viollet a fine centre forward joined from Manchester United for a fee of £22,000. By March Stoke's form fell away and they ended the season in eighth spot but the feeling was that Stoke had renewed confidence for the future.

FA Cup Stoke were drawn away at last season's winners Leicester City in the FA Cup. The match ended in a 1–1 draw but in the replay Stoke knocked out the "Foxes" 5–2 to set up a fourth round meeting with Blackburn Rovers. A crowd of 49,486 saw Rovers win 1–0 thanks to a controversial penalty, the referees decision enraged one Stoke supporter so much he started legal action against him.

League Cup Stoke recorded their first victory in the League Cup at Roots Hall beating Southend United 1–0. In the next round they were easily beaten 4–1 at Charlton Athletic.

Final league table

Results

Stoke's score comes first

Legend WinDrawLoss

Football League Second Division

MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers1 19 August 1961 Rotherham UnitedH1–211,071Thompson (pen)2 22 August 1961 Charlton AthleticA2–27,861G Matthews, Mudie3 26 August 1961 SunderlandA1–234,183Adam4 28 August 1961 Charlton AthleticH4–011,005G Matthews, Thompson (2), Bullock5 2 September 1961 Derby CountyH1–113,834Mudie6 5 September 1961 Brighton & Hove AlbionA1–212,515Skeels7 9 September 1961 Bristol RoversH2–19,075Thompson (2) (1 pen)8 16 September 1961 Leeds UnitedA1–39,578Thompson9 18 September 1961 Brighton & Hove AlbionH0–19,13510 23 September 1961 Norwich CityH3–18,646Thompson, Adam (2)11 29 September 1961 Scunthorpe UnitedA2–210,347Thompson, Asprey12 7 October 1961 Leyton OrientA0–310,62113 14 October 1961 Preston North EndH1–18,409Adam14 21 October 1961 Plymouth ArgyleA1–310,283Adam15 28 October 1961 Huddersfield TownH3–035,974Adam, Thompson (2) (1 pen)16 4 November 1961 Swansea TownA0–119,90617 11 November 1961 WalsallH2–124,869Thompson, Bullock18 18 November 1961 Luton TownA0–015,16319 25 November 1961 Newcastle UnitedH3–122,009Thompson, Mudie, S Matthews20 2 December 1961 MiddlesbroughA2–220,809Thompson, Asprey21 9 December 1961 SouthamptonH3–218,353Thompson (2) (1 pen), Ratcliffe22 16 December 1961 Rotherham UnitedA2–115,537Andrew, S Matthews23 23 December 1961 SunderlandH1–024,682Asprey24 26 December 1961 BuryA2–015,699Mudie, Ratcliffe25 13 January 1962 Derby CountyA0–218,93726 20 January 1962 Bristol RoversA2–08,852Pyle (o.g.), Sykes (o.g.)27 3 February 1962 Leeds UnitedH2–121,921Mudie, Allen28 10 February 1962 Norwich CityA0–131,30429 17 February 1962 Scunthorpe UnitedH1–016,569Nibloe30 24 February 1962 Leyton OrientH0–121,84631 3 March 1962 Preston North EndA2–119,091Viollet, Mudie32 10 March 1962 Plymouth ArgyleH2–018,033Thompson, Asprey33 17 March 1962 Huddersfield TownA0–320,26134 24 March 1962 Swansea TownH0–014,75235 30 March 1962 WalsallA1–316,570Nibloe36 7 April 1962 Luton TownH2–17,506Nibloe, Adam37 11 April 1962 BuryH1–38,324Nibloe38 14 April 1962 Newcastle UnitedA0–220,58039 21 April 1962 MiddlesbroughH2–08,369Viollet (2)40 23 April 1962 LiverpoolA1–241,005Viollet41 24 April 1962 LiverpoolH0–015,47242 28 April 1962 SouthamptonA1–59,558Viollet

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR310 January 1962 Leicester CityA1–135,545MudieR3 Replay15 January 1962 Leicester CityH5–238,515S Matthews, Allen, Bullock, Thompson, Nibloe R427 January 1962 Blackburn RoversH0–149,486

League Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR113 September 1961 Southend UnitedA1–07,389BullockR210 October 1961 Charlton AthleticA1–46,119Bullock

Friendlies MatchOpponentVenueResult1John McCue's XIH6–22GVAVA3–13FenerbahçeA0–14FenerbahçeA1–05GalatasarayA0–26İzmirsporA1–17MKE AnkaragücüA1–0

Squad statistics Pos.NameLeagueFA CupLeague CupTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGK Jimmy O'Neill4103020460GK Brian Sherratt10000010DF Tony Allen4213120472DF Ron Andrew3513010391DF Alan Bloor60001070DF Eric Skeels4213020471DF Terry Ward40000040MF Bill Asprey4243020474MF Gerry Bridgwood50000050MF Tony Coleman00000000MF Bobby Howitt4003020450MF Alan Philpott20000020FW Jimmy Adam2270020247FW Peter Bullock1122122155FW Jack Nibloe1843100215FW Graham Matthews1020020122FW Stanley Matthews1823100213FW Jackie Mudie3261120357FW Tommy Randles20000020FW Don Ratcliffe3923010432FW Tommy Thompson371631104117FW Dennis Viollet1350000135FW Brian Westlake00000000–Own goals–2–0–0–2

References