1959–60 Stoke City F.C. season

Stoke City
1959–60 season
ChairmanAlbert Henshall
ManagerFrank Taylor
StadiumVictoria Ground
Football League Second Division17th (35 Points)
FA CupThird Round
Top goalscorerLeague: Dennis Wilshaw
& Frank Bowyer
(13)
All: Frank Bowyer
(14)
Highest home attendance27,212 vs Aston Villa
(30 September 1959)
Lowest home attendance4,070 vs Ipswich Town
(30 April 1960)
Average home league attendance14,506

The 1959–60 season was Stoke City's 53rd season in the Football League and the 20th in the Second Division.

Stoke had a very poor end to an uneventful 1950s as for most of the season the side looked capable of mounting a promotion challenge but a truly awful run of results in March and April (10 straight defeats) meant that Stoke dropped down the table and only avoided relegation by five points as they finished in 17th position. At the end of the season new chairman Albert Hensall decided that a change of manager was needed and so sacked Frank Taylor and replaced him with Tony Waddington who would bring a new era to the club.[1]

Season review

League

The 1959–60 season began well with new signing from Burnley, Doug Newlands tormenting the Sunderland defence in a 3–1 victory.[1] But thereafter their form rate was erratic although Lincoln City were beaten 6–1 with Dennis Wilshaw grabbing a fine hat trick.[1] Soon after that win over Lincoln a 19-year-old Tony Allen won his first England cap.[1] But it was proving difficult on the pitch for Stoke as after a 1–0 home win against Plymouth Argyle on 27 February 1960 Stoke sat in 6th position in the table looking to start a push for promotion, but 10 matches later they were in 17th five points away from relegation.[1]

It was in defence where the problems lay as manager Frank Taylor used four different keepers one of which was Tommy Younger a fine keeper for Liverpool but in his ten matches for Stoke he lost nine of them conceding 22 goals and he quickly left.[1] Ken Thomson was sold to Middlesbrough and legendary striker Frank Bowyer decided to retire.[1]

However the biggest move at the end of the season was made by new chairman Albert Henshall who decided that after eight years at the club it was time for a change of manager and so Frank Taylor was sacked.[1] In truth Stoke were as far away from top flight football than ever with crowds dropping and overall performances on the pitch had been the biggest disappointment.[1] Despite this Taylor was shocked at being fired and vowed never to be associated with football again.[1] In his place Henshall appointed Taylor's assistant Tony Waddington and Len Graham became Waddington's assistant.[1]

FA Cup

Stoke failed to make it past the third round this season losing 3–1 away at Preston North End in a replay.[1]

Final league table

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GAv Pts
15 Scunthorpe United 42 13 10 19 57 71 0.803 36
16 Sunderland 42 12 12 18 52 65 0.800 36
17 Stoke City 42 14 7 21 66 83 0.795 35
18 Derby County 42 14 7 21 61 77 0.792 35
19 Plymouth Argyle 42 13 9 20 61 89 0.685 35
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: 1959–60 Football League
Match Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
1 22 August 1959 Sunderland H 3–1 20,471 Cairns (pen), Bowyer, Newlands
2 27 August 1959 Leyton Orient A 1–2 13,606 King
3 29 August 1959 Portsmouth A 2–2 24,627 Bentley (2)
4 2 September 1959 Leyton Orient H 2–1 19,124 Bentley (2)
5 5 September 1959 Derby County H 2–1 21,906 Bowyer, Wilshaw
6 9 September 1959 Lincoln City A 0–3 8,868
7 12 September 1959 Brighton & Hove Albion H 1–3 17,630 Wilshaw
8 16 September 1959 Lincoln City H 6–1 13,453 Bentley (2), Wilshaw (3), Cunliffe
9 19 September 1959 Swansea Town A 2–2 14,626 Bentley, Newlands
10 26 September 1959 Bristol Rovers H 0–1 17,990
11 30 September 1959 Aston Villa H 3–3 27,212 Newlands (pen), King, Bowyer
12 3 October 1959 Ipswich Town A 0–4 16,103
13 10 October 1959 Plymouth Argyle A 3–2 20,087 King (2), Wilshaw
14 17 October 1959 Liverpool H 1–1 17,703 Newlands (pen)
15 24 October 1959 Charlton Athletic A 2–1 18,412 Bowyer, King
16 31 October 1959 Bristol City H 1–3 14,439 Newlands
17 7 November 1959 Scunthorpe United A 1–1 10,827 Newlands
18 14 November 1959 Rotherham United H 2–3 10,238 Bowyer, King
19 21 November 1959 Cardiff City A 4–4 21,500 Bowyer, King (2), Newlands
20 28 November 1959 Hull City H 3–1 12,481 King, Wilshaw (2)
21 5 December 1959 Sheffield United A 1–0 15,994 Bowyer
22 12 December 1959 Middlesbrough H 2–5 15,212 Bowyer, Howitt
23 19 December 1959 Sunderland A 2–0 12,221 Newlands, Cunliffe
24 26 December 1959 Huddersfield Town H 1–1 20,183 Cunliffe
25 28 December 1959 Huddersfield Town A 3–2 25,783 Bowyer, King, Howitt
26 2 January 1960 Portsmouth H 4–0 16,653 Bowyer (2), King, Howitt
27 16 January 1960 Derby County A 0–2 13,639
28 23 January 1960 Brighton & Hove Albion A 0–1 12,811
29 6 February 1960 Swansea Town H 4–2 11,713 Ward (2), Howitt, Asprey
30 13 February 1960 Bristol Rovers A 1–3 11,421 Ratcliffe
31 27 February 1960 Plymouth Argyle H 1–0 9,961 Bentley
32 5 March 1960 Liverpool A 1–5 35,101 Bentley
33 12 March 1960 Charlton Athletic H 1–3 9,947 Bowyer
34 17 March 1960 Hull City A 0–4 11,750
35 26 March 1960 Scunthorpe United H 1–3 6,223 King
36 30 March 1960 Ipswich Town H 1–2 4,070 Wilshaw
37 2 April 1960 Rotherham United A 0–3 8,522
38 9 April 1960 Cardiff City H 0–1 9,548
39 16 April 1960 Middlesbrough A 0–1 17,161
40 18 April 1960 Aston Villa A 1–2 25,000 Bowyer
41 23 April 1960 Sheffield United H 1–2 7,995 Wallace
42 30 April 1960 Bristol City A 2–1 8,722 King, Williams (o.g.)

FA Cup

Main article: 1959–60 FA Cup
Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
R3 9 January 1960 Preston North End H 1–1 38,465 Howitt
R3 Replay 13 January 1960 Preston North End A 1–3 35,352 Bowyer

Squad statistics

Pos. Name League FA Cup Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
GK England Wilf Hall 3 0 0 0 3 0
GK England Geoff Hickson 10 0 0 0 10 0
GK England Bill Robertson 19 0 2 0 21 0
GK Scotland Tommy Younger 10 0 0 0 10 0
DF England Tony Allen 39 0 2 0 41 0
DF England Ron Andrew 30 0 2 0 32 0
DF England Terry Lowe 0 0 0 0 0 0
DF England John McCue 25 0 2 0 27 0
DF England Terry Ward 3 0 0 0 3 0
DF England Eric Skeels 2 0 0 0 2 0
DF Scotland Ken Thomson 7 0 0 0 7 0
DF England Denis Wilson 10 0 0 0 10 0
DF Scotland Ron Wilson 7 0 0 0 7 0
MF England Bill Asprey 36 1 2 0 38 1
MF Scotland Bobby Cairns 28 1 2 0 30 1
MF England Edward Rayner 2 0 0 0 2 0
FW Australia John Anderson 4 0 0 0 4 0
FW England Tony Bentley 13 9 0 0 13 9
FW England Frank Bowyer 31 13 1 1 32 14
FW England John Cunliffe 25 3 2 0 27 3
FW England Derek Edge 0 0 0 0 0 0
FW Scotland Bobby Howitt 21 4 2 1 23 5
FW England Johnny King 42 13 2 0 44 13
FW Scotland Doug Newlands 32 8 2 0 34 8
FW England Don Ratcliffe 31 1 0 0 31 1
FW England Jimmy Wallace 2 1 0 0 2 1
FW England Derrick Ward 9 2 0 0 9 2
FW England Dennis Wilshaw 21 9 1 0 22 9
– Own goals – 1 – 0 – 1

References

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