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'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.

Season review

League Manager Tony Waddington continued to improve the squad prior to the start of 1964–65 season with experienced players. 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. 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.

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. 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.

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.

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.

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.

Final league table

Results

Stoke's score comes first

Legend WinDrawLoss

Football League First Division

MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers1 22 August 1964 EvertonH0–243,4312 26 August 1964 Sheffield UnitedA1–017,368Viollet3 29 August 1964 Birmingham CityA2–120,692Ritchie, Bebbington4 2 September 1964 Sheffield UnitedH0–127,4895 5 September 1964 West Ham UnitedH3–126,420Viollet, Dobing, Bebbington6 9 September 1964 Tottenham HotspurH2–036,897Viollet (2)7 12 September 1964 West Bromwich AlbionA3–536,897Viollet, Ritchie (2)8 16 September 1964 Tottenham HotspurA1–233,350Ritchie9 19 September 1964 Manchester UnitedH1–240,031Ritchie10 26 September 1964 FulhamA4–115,177Ritchie (2), Viollet, Dobing11 3 October 1964 Nottingham ForestH1–128,913Philpott12 7 October 1964 Blackburn RoversA1–112,509Palmer13 10 October 1964 Leeds UnitedH2–327,651Ritchie, Kinnell14 17 October 1964 ChelseaA0–428,65015 24 October 1964 Leicester CityH3–324,551Ritchie (2), Palmer16 31 October 1964 SunderlandA2–233,303Dobing, Palmer17 7 November 1964 Wolverhampton WanderersH0–227,77618 14 November 1964 Aston VillaA0–319,78919 21 November 1964 LiverpoolH1–128,816Ritchie20 28 November 1964 Sheffield WednesdayA1–117,266Ritchie21 5 December 1964 BlackpoolH4–217,360Palmer (2), Dobing, Viollet22 12 December 1964 EvertonA1–131,713Palmer 23 26 December 1964 ArsenalA2–326,663Ritchie (2)24 28 December 1964 ArsenalH4–120,491Ritchie (2) (1 pen), Viollet, McIlroy25 2 January 1965 West Ham UnitedA1–023,913Viollet26 16 January 1965 West Bromwich AlbionH2–025,405Palmer, Viollet27 23 January 1965 Manchester UnitedA1–150,392Bloor28 6 February 1965 FulhamH3–128,585Viollet (2), Ritchie29 13 February 1965 Nottingham ForestA1–321,829Palmer30 27 February 1965 ChelseaH0–227,96531 13 March 1965 Blackburn RoversH1–119,284Viollet32 17 March 1965 Birmingham CityH2–112,899Ritchie, Bebbington33 20 March 1965 Wolverhampton WanderersA1–320,945Burrows34 27 March 1965 Aston VillaH2–120,375Woodward, Vernon35 3 April 1965 LiverpoolA2–340,315Burrows, Vernon36 5 April 1965 Leeds UnitedA1–338,133Setters37 10 April 1965 Sheffield WednesdayH4–116,047Ritchie (4)38 17 April 1965 BlackpoolA1–118,263Ritchie39 19 April 1965 BurnleyH2–019,781Ritchie, Vernon40 20 April 1965 BurnleyA0–113,39841 24 April 1965 SunderlandH3–120,593Burrows, Ritchie, Vernon42 26 April 1965 Leicester CityA1–08,717Vernon

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR39 January 1965 BlackpoolH4–138,651Ritchie (2), Viollet (2)R430 January 1965 Manchester UnitedH0–049,032R4 Replay3 February 1965 Manchester UnitedA0–150,874

League Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR223 September 1964 Shrewsbury TownH1–113,531ViolletR2 Replay29 September 1964 Shrewsbury TownA1–015,304PalmerR310 October 1964 Southend UnitedH3–18,284Ritchie, Bebbington, BridgwoodR44 November 1964 Plymouth ArgyleH1–110,968RitchieR4 Replay11 November 1964 Plymouth ArgyleA1–315,381Dobing

Friendlies MatchOpponentVenueResult1GlentoranA2–12Ballymena UnitedA6–03Manchester CityA2–14Heart of MidlothianA2–15Bristol RoversA1–26Greenock MortonA1–27Crewe AlexandraA2–28Sir Stanley Matthews XIH6–49StævnetA4–110Stockholm XIA1–011Spartak MoscowA0–112Zenit LeningradA3–213Finland XIA9–114IFK EskilstunaA3–1

Squad statistics Pos.NameLeagueFA CupLeague CupTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGK Bobby Irvine10001020GK Lawrie Leslie4103040480DF Tony Allen3703030430DF Bill Asprey3503050430DF Alan Bloor1512040211DF John Flowers00001010DF George Kinnell4013030461DF Eric Skeels4203050500MF Gerry Bridgwood800041121MF Calvin Palmer3683031429MF Alan Philpott1210040161MF Maurice Setters1613000191MF John Woodward31000031FW Keith Bebbington2330041274FW Harry Burrows1030000103FW Peter Dobing2341041285FW Gerry Jones30000030FW Jimmy McIlroy3113020361FW Stanley Matthews10000010FW John Ritchie412532524929FW Roy Vernon1050000105FW Dennis Viollet341332314016

References