The 1968–69 season was Stoke City's 62nd season in the Football League and the 38th in the First Division.
Stoke failed to improve on last season's near miss and again were involved in a relegation scrap. Stoke won just nine matches all season and scored just 40 goals as they narrowly avoided relegation by three points.
Season review
League To address last season's lack of goals Waddington brought in Scottish international David Herd on a free transfer from Manchester United. There was tragedy in October 1968 as reserve team goalkeeper Paul Shardlow suffered a heart attack in a training match and died.
As the 1968–69 season began, once again Stoke found goals hard to come by, they only scored eight in their opening eleven league matches and although the feeling amongst the supporters was that the team was too good to be relegated they were lucky in the fact that Queens Park Rangers and Leicester City had poor seasons. Stoke could only manage 19th place in a very uneventful season which saw champions Leeds United gain revenge for last season by beating Stoke 5–1 at the Victoria Ground. It had been a nerve-racking season with Stoke seemingly involved in a relegation battle from the start, and thanks to some determined performances Stoke scrambled three points clear of the drop zone. The 1968–69 season did, however mark the debut of Denis Smith who was later to become club captain and would have a major impact on the club's fortunes during the 1970s.
At the end of the season in May 1969 Stoke City embarked on an end of season tour which saw them play against Congo Kinshasa (drew 1–1) and then on to Spain where they played against Catalonia giants Barcelona. The match was played in front of 65,000 at the Camp Nou and Stoke shocked the prestigious hosts with a 3–2 victory. David Herd scored twice and Harry Burrows hit a third to put Stoke into a 3–0 lead at half-time. Barcelona fought back scoring twice through Carles Rexach and Pedro Zabalza but a Stoke held on for a splendid victory.
FA Cup After unspectacular wins over Fourth Division sides York City and Halifax Town, Stoke lost 3–2 away at Chelsea.
League Cup Blackburn Rovers eliminated Stoke in a second round replay 1–0 after a 1–1 draw at Ewood Park, John Mahoney scoring for the "Potters".
Final league table
Results
Stoke's score comes first
Legend WinDrawLoss
Football League First Division
MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers1 10 August 1968 SunderlandH2–122,475Dobing, Stevenson2 14 August 1968 West Ham UnitedH0–222,1313 17 August 1968 Leeds UnitedA0–230,3834 20 August 1968 LiverpoolA1–246,674Conroy5 24 August 1968 Leicester CityH1–016,633Mahoney6 28 August 1968 SouthamptonA0–220,7127 31 August 1968 Wolverhampton WanderersA1–131,034Elder8 7 September 1968 Manchester CityH1–022,013Conroy9 14 September 1968 ArsenalA0–128,27310 21 September 1968 Queens Park RangersH1–115,273Skeels11 28 September 1968 Ipswich TownA1–320,943Dobing12 5 October 1968 Nottingham ForestA3–321,510Stevenson, Burrows, Herd13 9 October 1968 SouthamptonH1–014,105Allen14 12 October 1968 BurnleyH1–314,160Mahoney15 19 October 1968 EvertonA1–242,887Herd16 26 October 1968 ChelseaH2–016,786Herd, Dobing17 2 November 1968 Tottenham HotspurA1–133,309Herd18 9 November 1968 Coventry CityH0–316,11719 16 November 1968 West Bromwich AlbionA1–222,134Dobing20 23 November 1968 Manchester UnitedH0–030,63021 30 November 1968 Sheffield WednesdayA1–223,027Burrows22 7 December 1968 Newcastle UnitedH1–011,594Herd23 14 December 1968 BurnleyA1–110,003Herd24 21 December 1968 EvertonH0–020,49125 26 December 1968 Nottingham ForestH3–120,331Dobing, Conroy, Eastham26 11 January 1969 Tottenham HotspurH1–121,728Conroy27 1 February 1969 West Bromwich AlbionH1–120,567Conroy28 1 March 1969 SunderlandA1–416,092Conroy29 5 March 1969 ChelseaA0–119,85630 8 March 1969 Leeds UnitedH1–524,327Burrows (pen)31 15 March 1969 Leicester CityA0–024,98732 18 March 1969 Coventry CityA1–125,097Herd33 22 March 1969 Wolverhampton WanderersH4–119,574Herd, Conroy, Dobing (2)34 24 March 1969 Manchester UnitedA1–139,931Stevenson35 29 March 1969 Manchester CityA1–327,311Marsh36 5 April 1969 Ipswich TownH2–115,022Herd, Dobing37 7 April 1969 LiverpoolH0–027,38938 8 April 1969 West Ham UnitedA0–026,57739 12 April 1969 Queens Park RangersA1–212,489Hunt (o.g.)40 19 April 1969 ArsenalH1–314,989Burrows41 22 April 1969 Sheffield WednesdayH1–18,826Vernon42 30 April 1969 Newcastle UnitedA0–527,526
FA Cup
RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR34 January 1969 York CityA2–011,129Burrows (2)R425 February 1969 Halifax TownH1–130,283DobingR4 Replay28 February 1969 Halifax TownA3–024,981Conroy (2), BurrowsR512 February 1969 ChelseaA2–339,191Burrows, Dobing
League Cup
RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR24 September 1968 Blackburn RoversA1–112,464MahoneyR2 Replay11 September 1968 Blackburn RoversH0–113,747
Friendlies MatchOpponentVenueResult1Oldham AthleticA3–12Exeter CityA1–03Plymouth ArgyleA1–04Derby CountyH1–35BlackpoolA5–86Congo KinshasaA1–17GranadaA4–18PontevedraA0–29BarcelonaA3–2
Squad statistics Pos.NameLeagueFA CupLeague CupTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGK Gordon Banks3004000340GK John Farmer1200020140DF Tony Allen17(3)1002019(3)1DF Bill Bentley3(1)000003(1)0DF Alan Bloor2904020350DF Alex Elder3814020441DF Tony Lacey2(1)000103(1)0DF Jackie Marsh28(2)1401033(2)1DF Mike Pejic10000010DF Eric Skeels35(1)1400(1)039(2)1DF Denis Smith1400000140MF Mike Bernard21(3)0400025(3)0MF Gerry Bridgwood4(2)000105(2)0MF Terry Conroy30(1)7421035(1)9MF George Eastham26(1)1402032(1)1MF John Mahoney23(3)2002125(3)3MF Willie Stevenson30(2)3002032(2)3FW Harry Burrows3544400398FW Peter Dobing40842204610FW David Herd3594000399FW Roy Vernon5(3)100207(3)1FW John Worsdale40000040–Own goals–1–0–0–1
References