1957–58 Stoke City F.C. season

Stoke City
1957–58 season
ChairmanMr C. Salmon
ManagerFrank Taylor
StadiumVictoria Ground
Football League Second Division11th (42 Points)
FA CupFifth Round
Top goalscorerLeague: George Kelly
(22)
All: George Kelly
(24)
Highest home attendance27,568 vs Leyton Orient
(28 December 1957)
Lowest home attendance10,879 vs Derby County
(26 April 1958)
Average home league attendance20,511

The 1957–58 season was Stoke City's 51st season in the Football League and the 18th in the Second Division.

The pressure was now beginning to increase on Frank Taylor with the club gearing up for another season in the second tier. Taylor believed he was building a useful and settled squad however the supporters were starting to get impatient with him. The 1957–58 season was again a huge disappointment as after a good first half of the season was followed up by a poor second half and they ended up in 11th position.[1]

Season review

League

Prior to the start of the 1957–58 season both George Bourne and John Malkin had to retire from playing due to injury.[1] Despite this the management left the transfer market alone during the summer of 1957 with Frank Taylor saying: I am slowly getting together a useful squad and building a settled side.[1] However the club was still short on forward players with only five available these of Frank Bowyer, Neville Coleman, Johnny King, George Kelly and Harry Oscroft.[1] Yet to their credit these five kept the goals flowing with Kelly top scoring with 24 to his name.

The 1957–58 season again proved to be a big disappointment and whilst until December Stoke were in the top two, they ended up in 11th place with absolutely nothing to show for the early efforts.[1] Taylor did go out and spend £11,000 on Dennis Wilshaw from Wolverhampton Wanderers and long serving Frank Mountford bowed out after eight years and took up a coaching role a position he would keep until 1980.[1]

The fruits of the club's youth policy were slowly play dividends with the emergence this season of Tony Allen a quality full back who go on to win international honours with England.[1] Peter Bullock also came through the youth team whilst he did not have a very successful career with Stoke he made his debut against Swansea Town at the age of 16 and 163 days old and he scored becoming the club's youngest player and goalscorer.[1]

FA Cup

Stoke made in-roads in the FA Cup overcoming Aston Villa in a 2nd replay and then Middlesbrough to reach the fifth round where they came up against a powerful Bolton Wanderers side who with the help of Nat Lofthouse beat Stoke 3–1 as they went on to lift the cup.[1]

Final league table

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GAv Pts
9 Huddersfield Town 42 14 16 12 63 66 0.955 44
10 Bristol Rovers 42 17 8 17 85 80 1.063 42
11 Stoke City 42 18 6 18 75 73 1.027 42
12 Leyton Orient 42 18 5 19 77 79 0.975 41
13 Grimsby Town 42 17 6 19 86 83 1.036 40
Source: [citation needed]
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Goals scored

Results

Stoke's score comes first

Legend

Win Draw Loss

Football League Second Division

Main article: 1957–58 Football League
Match Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
1 24 August 1957 Middlesbrough H 4–1 23,286 Oscroft, King (2), Kelly
2 26 August 1957 Bristol City H 3–0 23,001 King, Kelly, Bowyer
3 31 August 1957 Leyton Orient A 2–0 17,497 Kelly, Oscroft
4 3 September 1957 Bristol City A 1–2 25,432 Kelly
5 7 September 1957 Charlton Athletic H 2–2 26,848 Kelly, Oscroft
6 9 September 1957 Bristol Rovers H 3–5 23,090 Kelly, Coleman, Asprey
7 14 September 1957 Doncaster Rovers A 1–0 9,157 King
8 16 September 1957 Bristol Rovers A 0–2 20,022
9 21 September 1957 Rotherham United H 4–1 20,487 Kelly (3), Anderson
10 23 September 1957 Liverpool H 1–2 23,231 Twentyman (o.g.)
11 28 September 1957 Huddersfield Town A 0–1 12,467
12 5 October 1957 Grimsby Town H 4–1 18,540 Kelly (2), Ratcliffe, King
13 12 October 1957 Lincoln City H 1–1 20,791 King
14 19 October 1957 Notts County A 2–1 13,400 King, Kelly
15 26 October 1957 Ipswich Town H 5–1 17,469 Acres (o.g.), Kelly (2), Oscroft (2)
16 2 November 1957 Blackburn Rovers A 0–1 26,100
17 4 November 1957 Cardiff City H 3–0 20,116 Coleman (2), Bowyer
18 9 November 1957 Sheffield United H 2–3 21,602 Coleman, Bowyer
19 16 November 1957 West Ham United A 0–5 23,230
20 23 November 1957 Barnsley H 3–1 17,555 King, Kelly, Ratcliffe
21 30 November 1957 Fulham A 4–3 19,781 King, Coleman (3)
22 9 December 1957 Swansea Town H 6–2 24,113 King (2), Bowyer, Kelly (3)
23 14 December 1957 Derby County A 0–0 24,358
24 21 December 1957 Middlesbrough A 3–1 19,220 Kelly (2), Coleman
25 26 December 1957 Cardiff City A 2–5 30,240 Kelly (2)
26 28 December 1957 Leyton Orient H 1–3 27,568 Coleman
27 11 January 1958 Charlton Athletic A 0–3 20,157
28 18 January 1958 Doncaster Rovers H 0–0 21,466
29 1 February 1958 Rotherham United A 2–0 7,921 Bowyer, Ratcliffe
30 8 February 1958 Huddersfield Town H 1–1 16,489 Kelly
31 22 February 1958 Barnsley A 2–1 14,182 Bowyer, Short (o.g.)
32 1 March 1958 Notts County H 0–1 13,425
33 8 March 1958 Ipswich Town A 3–1 17,169 Coleman (2), Wilshaw
34 15 March 1958 Blackburn Rovers H 2–4 24,107 Coleman, Wilshaw
35 22 March 1958 Sheffield United A 0–3 19,540
36 29 March 1958 West Ham United H 1–4 14,514 King
37 5 April 1958 Lincoln City A 3–1 8,169 Oscroft, Wilshaw (2)
38 7 April 1958 Liverpool A 0–3 39,449
39 12 April 1958 Fulham H 1–2 18,918 King (pen)
40 19 April 1958 Swansea Town A 1–4 23,345 Bullock
41 22 April 1958 Grimsby Town A 0–0 10,579
42 26 April 1958 Derby County H 2–1 10,879 Wilshaw (2)

FA Cup

Main article: 1957–58 FA Cup
Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
R3 4 January 1958 Aston Villa H 1–1 45,800 Kelly
R3 Replay 8 January 1958 Aston Villa A 3–3 (aet) 38,939 Oscroft, Coleman, Kelly
R3 2nd Replay 13 January 1958 Aston Villa N 2–0 37,702 Coleman, Cairns
R4 25 January 1958 Middlesbrough H 3–1 43,756 Wilshaw (3)
R5 15 February 1958 Bolton Wanderers A 1–3 56,667 Cairns

Squad statistics

Pos. Name League FA Cup Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
GK England Wilf Hall 24 0 5 0 29 0
GK England Ken Hancock 0 0 0 0 0 0
GK England Bill Robertson 18 0 0 0 18 0
DF England Tony Allen 34 0 5 0 39 0
DF England Ron Andrew 5 0 0 0 5 0
DF England John McCue 33 0 5 0 38 0
DF England Peter Ford 5 0 0 0 5 0
DF Scotland Ken Thomson 37 0 5 0 42 0
MF England Bill Asprey 28 1 0 0 28 1
MF Scotland Bobby Cairns 20 0 5 2 25 2
MF England Frank Mountford 11 0 0 0 11 0
MF England John Sellars 27 0 5 0 32 0
FW Australia John Anderson 4 1 0 0 4 1
FW England Frank Bowyer 36 5 5 0 41 5
FW England Peter Bullock 3 1 0 0 3 1
FW England Neville Coleman 33 12 4 2 37 14
FW England Peter Hall 0 0 0 0 0 0
FW England Colin Hutchinson 2 0 0 0 2 0
FW Scotland George Kelly 33 22 5 2 38 24
FW England Johnny King 38 15 3 0 41 15
FW England Harry Oscroft 21 6 1 1 22 7
FW England Don Ratcliffe 31 3 2 0 33 3
FW England Dennis Wilshaw 19 6 5 3 24 9
– Own goals – 3 – 0 – 3

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.