1963–64 Stoke City F.C. season


The 1963–64 season was Stoke City's 57th season in the Football League and the 33rd in the First Division.
With the club now on a high after gaining promotion back to England's top tier, Tony Waddington wasted no time in bringing in new signings to make sure relegation was avoided. He broke the transfer record and despite some concern during the season Stoke stayed up comfortably in 17th position. Stoke enjoyed success in the League Cup reaching the final against Leicester City before losing 4–3 over two legs.

Season review

League

With the euphoria of winning promotion over, Waddington knew that his side had to be strengthened to have any hope of surviving in the First Division. The first big name signing he made was that of Peter Dobing for a club record fee of £37,500 from Manchester City and £6,000 for Bobby Irvine a young goalkeeper from Linfield. Also signed by Stoke this season was John Ritchie a centre forward signed from non-league Kettering Town for a small fee of £2,500. Ritchie scored 30 goals in his first season and went on to become Stoke's best ever goalscorer.
Stoke made a dream start to the 1963–64 season beating Tottenham Hotspur 2–1 at home on the opening match of the season, Jimmy McIlroy scoring both goals, and then accounting for Aston Villa 3–1 two days later. There followed though, a run of 10 matches without a win and Stoke found themselves at the wrong end of the table. Waddington was not happy with his defence and went out and bought Calvin Palmer from Nottingham Forest for £30,000 and George Kinnell from Aberdeen for £27,000 and another 'keeper Lawrie Leslie from West Ham United. On the other hand, he released Don Ratcliffe, and Ron Wilson. John Ritchie was introduced into the first team by October and he made an instant impression as he started scoring the first few of his 171 for the club. With Ritchie in full flow, things improved and in nine matches from early October to mid November, Stoke remained unbeaten. However around Christmas time the team again went through a bad spell losing eight times including some heavy defeats.
Stoke recovered well in the second half of the season and began to pull themselves away from the danger zone. A huge 9–1 win over Ipswich Town in March gave the team the confidence they needed and five wins in their last nine fixtures lifted Stoke to a final position of 17th, 10 points above relegated Bolton Wanderers.

FA Cup

Stoke beat Portsmouth 4–1 in the third round and then edged past Ipswich in a replay before losing in a replay to Swansea.

League Cup

Away from the league Stoke had a great run in this seasons League Cup having made an unspectacular start to the competition which started in 1960. In 1963–64 they made it through to the final where they met Leicester City. Stoke's run had seen them knock-out Scunthorpe United after three matches, Bolton Wanderers, Bournemouth, Rotherham United and then Manchester City in the semi final. The final itself was played over two legs, Stoke drawing 1–1 at the Victoria Ground in the first clash. This proved to be insufficient as Leicester won the return leg at Filbert Street 3–2 giving them a 4–3 aggregate win and with it the League Cup.

Final league table

Key: P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points

Results

Stoke's score comes first

Legend

Football League First Division

MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
124 August 1963Tottenham HotspurH2–140,017McIlroy
226 August 1963Aston VillaA3–139,041Dobing, Mudie
331 August 1963Wolverhampton WanderersA1–243,217Viollet
44 September 1963Aston VillaH2–236,649Viollet, Dobing
57 September 1963Leicester CityH3–334,453Viollet, Asprey
611 September 1963Sheffield UnitedA1–425,347McIlroy
714 September 1963Nottingham ForestH0–134,458
818 September 1963Sheffield UnitedH0–230,230
921 September 1963Blackburn RoversA0–130,517
1028 September 1963BlackpoolH1–227,244Clamp
115 October 1963ChelseaA3–329,204Mudie, Harris
129 October 1963ArsenalH1–231,014McIlroy
1312 October 1963Bolton WanderersA4–317,366McIlroy, Ritchie
1419 October 1963FulhamH1–124,464Ritchie
1526 October 1963West Bromwich AlbionA3–223,800Ritchie, Dobing, Palmer
162 November 1963BurnleyH4–437,279Ritchie, Dobing, Bebbington
179 November 1963Ipswich TownA2–015,006Ritchie, Dobing
1816 November 1963Sheffield WednesdayH4–430,695Ritchie, Dobing
1923 November 1963EvertonA0–247,143
2030 November 1963Birmingham CityH4–127,308Ritchie, Dobing, Kinnell
217 December 1963Manchester UnitedA2–552,232Ritchie, Dobing
2214 December 1963Tottenham HotspurA1–236,209Palmer
2321 December 1963Wolverhampton WanderersH0–227,070
2426 December 1963LiverpoolA1–649,948Ritchie
2511 January 1964Leicester CityA1–223,333Clamp
2618 January 1964Nottingham ForestA0–017,872
271 February 1964Blackburn RoversH3–132,275Bridgwood, Bebbington
288 February 1964BlackpoolA0–114,452
2922 February 1964Bolton WanderersH0–120,488
3029 February 1964ArsenalA1–126,208Kinnell
314 March 1964ChelseaH2–021,264Palmer, Dobing
327 March 1964West Bromwich AlbionH1–125,021Viollet
3321 March 1964Ipswich TownH9–116,166Viollet, Dobing, McIlroy, Bebbington, Ritchie
3427 March 1964West Ham UnitedA1–429,484Dobing
3528 March 1964BurnleyA0–123,869
3631 March 1964West Ham UnitedH3–024,990Dobing, McIlroy, Palmer
374 April 1964EvertonH3–235,315Bebbington, Viollet
388 April 1964Sheffield WednesdayA0–230,201
3911 April 1964Birmingham CityA1–019,890Kinnell
4018 April 1964Manchester UnitedH3–145,697Palmer, Viollet, Ritchie
4125 April 1964FulhamA3–315,748Dobing, Bridgwood
4229 April 1964LiverpoolH3–132,149Dobing, Ritchie, Bebbington

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
R34 January 1964PortsmouthH4–128,966Ritchie, Viollet
R425 January 1964Ipswich TownA1–121,894McIlroy
R4 Replay29 January 1964Ipswich TownH1–034,612McIlroy
R515 February 1964Swansea CityH2–240,095McIlroy, Matthews
R5 Replay18 February 1964Swansea CityA0–229,582

League Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
R225 September 1963Scunthorpe UnitedA2–26,945Dobing
R2 Replay16 October 1963Scunthorpe UnitedH3–311,060Dobing, Ritchie
R2 2nd Replay22 October 1963Scunthorpe UnitedN1–04,297Ritchie
R329 October 1963Bolton WanderersH3–011,285Ritchie, Bebbington
R427 November 1963Bournemouth and Boscombe AthleticH2–19,766Ritchie
Quarter Final16 December 1963Rotherham UnitedH3–212,988Ritchie, Kinnell
Semi Final 1st Leg15 January 1964Manchester CityH2–021,019Ritchie, Asprey
Semi Final 2nd Leg2 February 1964Manchester CityA0–116,894
Final 1st Leg15 April 1964Leicester CityH1–122,369Bebbington
Final 2nd Leg22 April 1964Leicester CityA2–325,372Kinnell, Viollet

Friendlies

Squad statistics