The 1976–77 season was Stoke City's 70th season in the Football League and the 46th in the First Division.
The roof of the Butler Street Stand was rebuilt at a massive cost of £250,000 and with the club unable to pay off the insurers they turned to the playing staff to generate the required funds and with the likes of Jimmy Greenhoff, Alan Hudson and Mike Pejic being sold off Tony Waddington had a threadbare squad and he left the club in March 1977. Former player George Eastham took over but was unable to prevent Stoke losing their First Division status, going down by a single point.
Season review
League The 1976–77 season opened with a new all steel Butler Street roof in place which would cost the sum of £250,000. With the club struggling to pay the cost they had to begin a fire sale of their best players. Those who left the club included Sean Haslegrave to Nottingham Forest for £35,000, Ian Moores to Tottenham Hotspur for £75,000, Jimmy Greenhoff to Manchester United for £100,000, Alan Hudson to Arsenal for £200,000 and Mike Pejic to Everton for £140,000. These were indeed, body blows none more so than Jimmy Greenhoff leaving after he scored just over 100 goals for the club and was idolised by the supporters.
The Stoke fans were totally confused at what was happening to their team and looked for someone to blame. Goals were again in short supply, Stoke failed to find the back of the net for five successive league matches from late November to early January and in fact they managed just 28 goals all season, 21 at home and seven away. Waddington's gambles on experienced player like John Tudor and Alan Suddick were not successful and after an awful defeat at home to Leicester City on 19 March 1977 Waddington's time at Stoke City was up. He had spent 25 years at the Victoria Ground as manager, assistant and coach and is considered to be the club's greatest manager having helped them win their first major trophy in 1972. He remained an avid supporter of the club until his death in 1994.
Waddington's assistant George Eastham was put in temporary charge with coach Alan A'Court his assistant. With the transfer deadline passed with no new players arrived, so Eastham turned towards the youth team to try to advert the drop, all to no avail and on a Monday evening at Villa Park in front of 29,000 fans, Stoke needing a win to stay up, lost 1–0 and were duly relegated to the second tier.
FA Cup Everton beat Stoke 2–0 in the third round on their way to the semi-final.
League Cup Stoke beat Leeds United 2–1 and then lost badly 3–0 to Newcastle United.
Final league table
Results
Stoke's score comes first
Legend WinDrawLoss
Football League First Division
MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers1 21 August 1976 SunderlandH0–027,2442 24 August 1976 Bristol CityA1–125,316Smith 86'3 28 August 1976 Manchester CityA0–039,8754 4 September 1976 West Ham UnitedH2–119,131Crooks 32', Conroy 52'5 11 September 1976 EvertonA0–322,2776 18 September 1976 Ipswich TownH2–120,171Tudor (2) 2', 19'7 25 September 1976 Queens Park RangersA0–221,6218 29 September 1976 Leicester CityA0–115,3919 2 October 1976 Aston VillaH1–026,652Conroy 37'10 16 October 1976 ArsenalA0–228,50711 23 October 1976 Derby CountyH1–020,916Tudor 70'12 30 October 1976 Newcastle UnitedA0–128,25113 6 November 1976 MiddlesbroughH3–116,068Waddington 20', Greenhoff (2) 47', 54'14 10 November 1976 Leeds UnitedA1–129,199Dodd 86'15 20 November 1976 Birmingham CityH1–021,486Crooks 70'16 27 November 1976 Tottenham HotspurA0–222,23017 18 December 1976 West Bromwich AlbionH0–215,98918 27 December 1976 LiverpoolA0–450,37119 1 January 1977 MiddlesbroughA0–021,14020 22 January 1977 SunderlandA0–022,90121 29 January 1977 Norwich CityA1–118,408Salmons 48'22 5 February 1977 Manchester CityH0–227,13923 12 February 1977 West Ham UnitedA0–120,10624 16 February 1977 Coventry CityH2–012,255Conroy (2) 1', 55' (pen)25 19 February 1977 EvertonH0–119,58626 26 February 1977 Ipswich TownA1–025,865Goodwin 37'27 5 March 1977 Queens Park RangersH1–015,454Bowers 47'28 15 March 1977 Newcastle UnitedH0–012,70829 19 March 1977 Leicester CityH0–114,08730 23 March 1977 ArsenalH1–113,951Conroy 7'31 2 April 1977 Derby CountyA0–223,16132 9 April 1977 Manchester UnitedA0–353,10233 11 April 1977 LiverpoolH0–029,90534 12 April 1977 Leeds UnitedH2–117,960Crooks (2) 67', 76'35 16 April 1977 Birmingham CityA0–219,55436 20 April 1977 Bristol CityH2–212,277Smith 56', Bloor 70'37 23 April 1977 Tottenham HotspurH0–015,64138 30 April 1977 Coventry CityA2–515,720Ruggiero (2) 40', 66' (pen)39 7 May 1977 Norwich CityH0–013,20240 11 May 1977 Manchester UnitedH3–324,632Crooks (2) 40', 65', Bloor 49'41 14 May 1977 West Bromwich AlbionA1–322,772Suddick 22'42 16 May 1977 Aston VillaA0–128,931
FA Cup
RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR38 January 1977 EvertonA0–232,981
League Cup
RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR21 September 1976 Leeds UnitedH2–122,550Conroy 75', Greenhoff 89'R322 September 1976 Newcastle UnitedA0–325,126
Friendlies MatchOpponentVenueResult1Śląsk WrocławA1–02Indonesia XIA1–13Persebaya SurabayaA2–04AjaxA1–25AS CannesA2–06AS MonacoA0–17Olympique LyonnaisA1–28FC PortoA0–19GenoaA0–010Chirk AAAA6–011HibernianA1–012BlackpoolA4–213Hereford UnitedA0–1
Squad statistics Pos.NameLeagueFA CupLeague CupTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGK Roger Jones20000020GK Peter Shilton4001020430DF Alan Bloor3721020402DF Danny Bowers13(2)1101(1)015(3)1DF Alan Dodd4211020451DF Paul Johnson80000080DF John Lumsdon12(1)0000012(1)0DF Jackie Marsh16(1)0102019(1)0DF Mike Pejic2100020230DF Denis Smith3021000312MF Brian Bithell16(1)0100017(1)0MF Terry Conroy34(2)5002136(2)6MF Alan Hudson1100020130MF John Mahoney2200020240MF Jimmy Robertson1401000150MF Kevin Sheldon7(2)000007(2)0MF Alan Suddick91000091MF John Tudor28(2)3100029(2)3MF Steve Waddington11(1)1100012(1)1FW Geoff Salmons33(2)1102036(2)1FW Garth Crooks20(3)60(1)01(1)021(5)6FW Dave Goodwin12(1)1000012(1)1FW Jimmy Greenhoff1420021163FW John Ruggiero92000092FW Dennis Thorley10000010
References
External links