# 1959–60 Stoke City F.C. season

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.

## 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. But thereafter their form rate was erratic although Lincoln City were beaten 6–1 with Dennis Wilshaw grabbing a fine hat trick. Soon after that win over Lincoln a 19-year-old Tony Allen won his first England cap. 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.
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. Ken Thomson was sold to Middlesbrough and legendary striker Frank Bowyer decided to retire.
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. 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. Despite this Taylor was shocked at being fired and vowed never to be associated with football again. In his place Henshall appointed Taylor's assistant Tony Waddington and Len Graham became Waddington's assistant.

### FA Cup

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

## Final league table

| Pos | Teamvte | 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 |

## Results

Stoke's score comes first

### Legend

| Win | Draw | Loss |

### Football League Second Division

| 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

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