The 1982–83 season was Stoke City's 76th season in the Football League and 50th in the First Division.
More transfer activity took place in the summer of 1982 with club legend Denis Smith departing the club after 14 seasons at the Victoria Ground. Mark Chamberlain arrived from City rivals Port Vale and the 1982–83 season saw Stoke produce some high quality football. They were involved in a number of exciting matches most notably a 4–4 draw with Luton Town in September. Stoke were neither in a fight for a top half finish nor relegation and finished in a safe mid-table position of 13th.
Season review
League After one season at the helm manager Ritchie Barker continued to clear out with Denis Smith becoming the last member of the 1972 League Cup winning squad to leave the Victoria Ground. Also released were Paul A. Johnson and Steve Kirk. Barker then went to his old club Wolverhampton Wanderers and brought in Derek Parkin and George Berry to fill the gap in defence. With the 1982–83 season fast approaching he sold last season's top goalscorer Lee Chapman to Arsenal for £500,000 and used £200,000 of that to bring in Mickey Thomas. He also turned to near neighbours Port Vale and signed Mark Harrison plus the Chamberlain brothers Mark and Neville in a triple signing.
Former defender Bill Asprey was appointed as assistant manager and with the new arrivals Stoke produced some eye catching performances. Their attacking style of play won many admirers and with Mark Chamberlain catching the eye he earned himself an England call-up during the season, unfortunately his brother, Neville, failed to make an impact. There were some terrific team performances during the course of the season with the most notable being a classic 4–4 draw with Luton Town in September. Stoke finished an entertaining season in 13th place with 57 points. Chairman Percy Axon died at the end of the season. He was replaced by Frank Edwards who also died two years later.
FA Cup Stoke beat Sheffield United 3–2 in an entertaining replay but were then ousted 2–0 by Liverpool at Anfield.
League Cup Stoke again failed to make it past the second round this time West Ham United knocking City out of the League Cup.
Final league table
Results
Stoke's score comes first
Legend WinDrawLoss
Football League First Division
MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers1 28 August 1982 ArsenalH2–115,504Berry 5', O'Callaghan 50'2 1 September 1982 Manchester CityA0–127,8473 4 September 1982 Birmingham CityA4–114,412Hawker 20' (o.g.), Chamberlain (2) 33', 36', Griffiths 43'4 8 September 1982 West Bromwich AlbionH0–317,4475 11 September 1982 Swansea CityH4–114,056Watson 15', Thomas 25', Davies 55' (o.g.), Maguire 80' (pen)6 18 September 1982 Ipswich TownA3–219,119Thomas 12', Maguire (2) 18', 47' (pen)7 25 September 1982 Luton TownH4–418,475Berry (2) 10', 22', Bracewell 50', O'Callaghan 84'8 2 October 1982 Nottingham ForestA0–117,1229 9 October 1982 Manchester UnitedA0–143,13210 16 October 1982 Brighton & Hove AlbionH3–013,936Thomas 4', Chamberlain 41' McIlroy 50'11 23 October 1982 LiverpoolH1–129,401Thomas 36'12 30 October 1982 SunderlandA2–216,406Maguire 5', Chamberlain 70'13 6 November 1982 West Ham UnitedH5–217,589O'Callaghan 13', Hampton 29', Thomas 41', McIlroy (2) 44', 76'14 13 November 1982 WatfordA0–118,71315 20 November 1982 Norwich CityA2–413,658McIlroy 21', O'Callaghan 76'16 27 November 1982 Aston VillaH0–318,88617 4 December 1982 SouthamptonA0–117,19818 11 December 1982 Tottenham HotspurH2–015,849Watson 4', McIlroy 68'19 18 December 1982 Coventry CityA0–210,06520 27 December 1982 EvertonH1–025,427Chamberlain 77'21 28 December 1982 Notts CountyA0–411,60022 1 January 1983 Norwich CityH1–015,669McIlroy 32'23 3 January 1983 Birmingham CityH1–115,428Painter 76'24 15 January 1983 ArsenalA0–319,42825 22 January 1983 Ipswich TownH1–014,026Painter 58'26 5 February 1983 West Bromwich AlbionA1–111,486Berry 7'27 26 February 1983 Brighton & Hove AlbionA2–114,937Thomas 33', Painter 43'28 2 March 1983 Manchester UnitedH1–020,950O'Callaghan 75'29 5 March 1983 LiverpoolA1–530,020Bracewell 50'30 12 March 1983 SunderlandH0–112,80631 16 March 1983 Nottingham ForestH1–010,880Thomas 67'32 19 March 1983 West Ham UnitedA1–116,446Thomas 69'33 26 March 1983 WatfordH4–014,276Thomas 10', Painter 63', Chamberlain 70', McAughtrie 82'34 2 April 1983 Notts CountyH1–016,314McIlroy 54' (pen)35 4 April 1983 EvertonA1–315,360Thomas 54'36 9 April 1983 Manchester CityH1–015,372McIlroy 61'37 16 April 1983 Swansea CityA1–110,100Thomas 58'38 23 April 1983 SouthamptonH1–114,903Berry 60'39 30 April 1983 Aston VillaA0–420,94440 2 May 1983 Luton TownA0–011,87741 7 May 1983 Coventry CityH0–312,04842 14 May 1983 Tottenham HotspurA1–433,691Maguire 67' (pen)
FA Cup
RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR38 January 1983 Sheffield UnitedA0–023,239R3 Replay12 January 1983 Sheffield UnitedH3–218,315McAughtrie 42', Painter 48', Henderson (o.g.) 68'R429 January 1983 LiverpoolA0–236,666
League Cup
RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR2 1st Leg6 October 1982 West Ham UnitedH1–118,079Thomas 70'R2 2nd Leg26 October 1982 West Ham UnitedA1–218,349Watson 62'
Friendlies MatchOpponentVenueResult1Parkway ClaytonA2–12WorkingtonA1–23Viking FKA1–24Rosenborg BKA2–05Port ValeA1–06LinfieldA0–27Wigan AthleticA1–08Cardiff CityA2–29Leek TownA5–010Shepshed CharterhouseA3–0
Squad statistics Pos.NameLeagueFA CupLeague CupTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGK Peter Fox3503010390GK Mark Harrison70001080GK Phil Pritchard00000000DF Alan Dodd1(2)000001(2)0DF Steve Bould11(3)0000011(3)0DF Steve Davis00000000DF Peter Hampton38(2)1302043(2)1DF David McAughtrie17(3)1111019(3)2DF Derek Parkin3003020350DF Dave Watson3523021403MF George Berry27(4)5201030(4)5MF Paul Bracewell4123020462MF Peter Griffiths11(4)1000(1)011(5)1MF Steve Lennox1(1)000001(1)0MF Chris Maskery3(4)010004(4)0MF Paul Maddy00000000MF Sammy McIlroy4183020468MF Steve Parkin20000020MF Loek Ursem0(2)000000(2)0FW Mark Chamberlain3661020396FW Neville Chamberlain40000040FW Phil Heath0(1)000000(1)0FW Paul Maguire22(2)5202026(2)5FW Brendan O'Callaghan3753020425FW Ian Painter2242(1)10024(1)5FW Carl Saunders0(1)000000(1)0FW Mickey Thomas411130214612–Own goals–2–1–0–3
References
External links