The 1983–84 season was Stoke City's 77th season in the Football League and the 51st in the First Division.
Manager Ritchie Barker decided to change his tactics prior to the start of the season which was seen a strange decision as Stoke played well in the previous season playing good football. He change to the long ball style of play and whilst it worked with other sides in the Division it didn't with Stoke and results were poor. Barker was sacked and his assistant Bill Asprey took over and he brought back club legend Alan Hudson which sparked a revival with a 4–0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on the final day of the season seeing Stoke stay up by two points.
Season review
League It was apparent during the summer of 1983 at a coaching course at Lilleshall that manager Ritchie Barker was converted to the long ball game. In truth it was used by several sides with great success in 1983–84, but not with Stoke. Another youth team product Paul Bracewell was sold to Sunderland for £250,000 and that money was spent on Paul Dyson and Robbie James. Stoke used their new style of play in their pre-season friendlies which drew some interesting results but was quite clear that the players were unhappy at the change and once the season started they struggled desperately out on the pitch. In their first 24 matches they managed just three wins and in deep relegation trouble and it was no surprise to see Barker sacked by the board.
Bill Asprey was put in charge of the team and his task was to get Stoke out of trouble and his first move was to bring back Alan Hudson and sell Mickey Thomas. Hudson inspired a great recovery and Stoke's latter season performances were of a high standard yet the threat of relegation was still there but Stoke's fine efforts saw them take the relegation battle all the way to the final day of the season. Stoke came up against already relegated Wolverhampton Wanderers. It turned out to be an easy game for Stoke as they won 4–0 with Paul Magurie scoring all the goals leaving Stoke safe in 18th place with 50 points two more than Birmingham City.
FA Cup No progress was made in the FA Cup, Stoke losing 2–0 at home to Everton who would go on to lift the cup.
League Cup Stoke beat Peterborough United and Huddersfield Town before losing to Sheffield Wednesday in the fourth round.
Final league table
Results
Stoke's score comes first
Legend WinDrawLoss
Football League First Division
MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers1 27 August 1983 EvertonA0–122,6582 29 August 1983 West Bromwich AlbionH3–116,156Painter (2) 26', 35', Maguire 57'3 3 September 1983 Manchester UnitedH0–123,7044 6 September 1983 Birmingham CityA0–113,7285 10 September 1983 Ipswich TownA0–516,3156 17 September 1983 WatfordH0–412,6197 24 September 1983 Leicester CityA2–210,215Painter 11', Maguire 25'8 1 October 1983 West Ham UnitedH3–113,825McAughtrie 30', Chamberlain 70', Thomas 80'9 15 October 1983 SunderlandA2–211,923James (2) 27', 70'10 22 October 1983 Notts CountyA1–17,684Bould 74'11 29 October 1983 Coventry CityH1–311,836Thomas 40'12 5 November 1983 Tottenham HotspurH1–114,727Thomas 25'13 12 November 1983 Aston VillaA1–119,272Chamberlain 44'14 19 November 1983 LiverpoolA0–126,52915 26 November 1983 Nottingham ForestH1–111,655Chamberlain 7'16 3 December 1983 SouthamptonA1–315,301James 13'17 10 December 1983 Luton TownH2–410,329James (2) 36', 65', (1 pen)18 17 December 1983 Wolverhampton WanderersA0–08,67919 26 December 1983 Norwich CityH2–012,049Maguire 23', James 82'20 31 December 1983 Manchester UnitedA0–140,16421 2 January 1984 Leicester CityH0–113,72822 14 January 1984 EvertonH1–18,435Heath 68'23 17 January 1984 Queens Park RangersA0–69,32024 21 January 1984 WatfordA0–214,07625 28 January 1984 ArsenalH1–012,840Maguire 75' (pen)26 4 February 1984 West Ham UnitedA0–318,77527 11 February 1984 Ipswich TownH1–010,315Painter 87'28 18 February 1984 Coventry CityA3–27,937Hampton 41', Chamberlain 67', O'Callaghan 81'29 25 February 1984 Notts CountyH1–011,725Chamberlain 8'30 3 March 1984 Tottenham HotspurA0–118,27131 10 March 1984 Aston VillaH1–013,967Painter 73'32 17 March 1984 Birmingham CityH2–113,506Dyson 21', Bould 56'33 24 March 1984 West Bromwich AlbionA0–313,68134 31 March 1984 SunderlandH2–111,047Painter 22', Dyson 28'35 7 April 1984 ArsenalA1–321,211Chamberlain 70'36 14 April 1984 LiverpoolH2–024,372Painter 21', Russell 50'37 21 April 1984 Norwich CityA2–216,084McIlroy 5', Chamberlain 70'38 23 April 1984 Queens Park RangersH1–213,735Russell 2'39 28 April 1984 Nottingham ForestA0–013,62540 5 May 1984 SouthamptonH1–112,171Maguire 80'41 7 May 1984 Luton TownA1–09,867Painter 5'42 12 May 1984 Wolverhampton WanderersH4–018,977Maguire (4) 17', 41', 49', 89' (2 pens)
FA Cup
RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR37 January 1984 EvertonH0–216,462
League Cup
RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR2 1st Leg5 October 1983 Peterborough UnitedH0–011,085R2 2nd Leg26 October 1983 Peterborough UnitedA2–19,898O'Callaghan 41', James 61'R3 1st Leg8 November 1983 Huddersfield TownH0–014,175R3 2nd Leg22 November 1983 Huddersfield TownA2–014,191Bould 8', Maguire 52'R430 November 1983 Sheffield WednesdayH0–118,633
Friendlies MatchOpponentVenueResult1Parkway ClaytonA4–02WokinghamA8–43Oswestry TownA1–04Shrewsbury TownA1–15IFK MariehamnA7–26LydsdalA4–07OviksalliansenA4–48StrömsundA10–09KramforsA6–1
FA Youth Cup
RoundOpponentVenueResultRound 2Chester CityA2–1Round 3WalsallH3–0Round 4Luton TownH3–2Quarter FinalChelseaA2–1Semi Final 1st LegArsenalH3–2Semi Final 2nd LegArsenalA3–0Final 1st LegEvertonA2–2Final 2nd LegEvertonH0–2
Squad statistics Pos.NameLeagueFA CupLeague CupTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGK Mervyn Cawston00000000GK Richard Dawson00000000GK Peter Fox4201050480DF Steve Bould3821041433DF Paul Dyson3821050442DF Peter Hampton31(1)1105037(1)1DF Chris Hemming30000030DF Robbie James4061051467DF David McAughtrie1711050231DF Robbie Savage5(2)000005(2)0MF George Berry80001090MF Peter Griffiths3(1)0000(1)03(2)0MF Alan Hudson1600000160MF Chris Maskery16(3)00(1)02(1)018(5)0MF Sammy McIlroy39(1)1103043(1)1MF Steve Parkin10000010MF Dennis Tueart2(1)000103(1)0FW Mark Chamberlain39(1)7105045(1)7FW Neville Chamberlain30000030FW Phil Heath3(1)100003(1)1FW Paul Maguire24(9)9103(1)128(10)10FW Brendan O'Callaghan37(1)1105143(1)2FW Ian Painter30(4)8101032(4)8FW Colin Russell1120000112FW Mickey Thomas1630050213
References