# 1965–66 Stoke City F.C. season

The 1965–66 season was Stoke City's 59th season in the Football League and the 35th in the First Division.
Stoke had an inconsistent season as they found themselves being able to score a good number of goals but at the same time conceded many as well, scoring 65 goals and conceding 64. Stoke's final league position in 1965–66 was 10th, a modest improvement on the previous campaign.

## Season review
### League

The manager, chairman, directors and the supporters, all seemed happy with the squad for the 1965–66 season. But problems arose in defence as they started to concede a worrying number of goals with West Bromwich Albion hitting six while Burnley, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday all put four past a leaky Stoke defence. However Stoke were also scoring an equal number of goals themselves as Northampton Town were beaten 6–2 with Ritchie again scoring four goals. Stoke finished the season in a respectable position of 10th. At the end of the season both Jimmy McIlroy and Bill Asprey left the club after having a good careers at the Victoria Ground. The 1965–66 season also saw the introduction of the substitute, Stoke's first sub being Keith Bebbington.
Tony Waddington tried to sign Swedish international Sven-Gunnar Larsson early in the season and actually played him in a friendly against Dynamo Moscow, but permission was denied by the FA and Stoke were fined £100.

### FA Cup

Stoke were drawn at home to Third Division side Walsall in the third round and were to shock Stoke with a 2–0 win. Bobby Irvine played in the match and a produced a woeful performance and his mistake cost Stoke the match and also his Stoke career as he never played for the club again.

### League Cup

Stoke went out of this season's League Cup in the fourth round losing 2–1 away at Burnley after knocking out both Norwich City and Chesterfield.

## Final league table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 8 | Tottenham Hotspur | 42 | 16 | 12 | 14 | 75 | 66 | 1.136 | 44 | |
| 9 | Sheffield United | 42 | 16 | 11 | 15 | 56 | 59 | 0.949 | 43 | |
| 10 | Stoke City | 42 | 15 | 12 | 15 | 65 | 64 | 1.016 | 42 | |
| 11 | Everton | 42 | 15 | 11 | 16 | 56 | 62 | 0.903 | 41 | Qualification for the European Cup Winners' Cup first round |
| 12 | West Ham United | 42 | 15 | 9 | 18 | 70 | 83 | 0.843 | 39 | |
* ↑ Everton qualified for the European Cup Winners' Cup as the 1965–66 FA Cup winners.

## Results

Stoke's score comes first

### Legend

| Win | Draw | Loss |

### Football League First Division

| Match | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 1 | 21 August 1965 | Arsenal | A | 1–2 | 30,100 | Ritchie |
| 2 | 25 August 1965 | Chelsea | H | 2–2 | 28,154 | Viollet (2) |
| 3 | 28 August 1965 | Everton | H | 1–1 | 30,014 | Ritchie (pen) |
| 4 | 1 September 1965 | Chelsea | A | 2–1 | 25,071 | Viollet, Setters |
| 5 | 4 September 1965 | Manchester United | A | 1–1 | 37,603 | Dobing |
| 6 | 8 September 1965 | Blackburn Rovers | H | 3–2 | 12,375 | Vernon, Ritchie (pen), Newton (o.g.) |
| 7 | 11 September 1965 | Newcastle United | H | 4–0 | 25,702 | Vernon (2), Dobing, Bebbington |
| 8 | 15 September 1965 | Blackburn Rovers | A | 1–0 | 9,565 | Bebbington |
| 9 | 18 September 1965 | West Bromwich Albion | A | 2–6 | 24,374 | Vernon, Dobing |
| 10 | 25 September 1965 | Nottingham Forest | H | 1–0 | 21,079 | Setters |
| 11 | 9 October 1965 | Leicester City | H | 1–0 | 24,025 | Dobing |
| 12 | 16 October 1965 | Sheffield United | A | 2–3 | 22,649 | Dobing, Kinnell |
| 13 | 23 October 1965 | Leeds United | H | 1–2 | 30,893 | Viollet |
| 14 | 30 October 1965 | West Ham United | A | 0–0 | 18,570 | |
| 15 | 6 November 1965 | Sunderland | H | 1–1 | 22,814 | Kinnell |
| 16 | 13 November 1965 | Aston Villa | A | 1–0 | 22,031 | Burrows |
| 17 | 20 November 1965 | Liverpool | H | 0–0 | 28,622 | |
| 18 | 27 November 1965 | Tottenham Hotspur | A | 2–2 | 25,552 | Dobing, Vernon (pen) |
| 19 | 4 December 1965 | Fulham | H | 3–2 | 14,871 | Vernon, Setters, Bloor |
| 20 | 11 December 1965 | Blackpool | A | 1–1 | 11,837 | Burrows |
| 21 | 27 December 1965 | Burnley | H | 3–1 | 35,923 | Burrows (2), Vernon |
| 22 | 28 December 1965 | Burnley | A | 1–4 | 23,216 | Dobing |
| 23 | 1 January 1966 | Leicester City | A | 0–1 | 26,067 | |
| 24 | 8 January 1966 | Blackpool | H | 4–1 | 20,276 | Burrows, Dobing, Vernon, Bebbington |
| 25 | 15 January 1966 | Leeds United | A | 2–2 | 34,802 | Dobing, Palmer |
| 26 | 29 January 1966 | Arsenal | H | 1–3 | 21,883 | Ritchie (pen) |
| 27 | 5 February 1966 | Everton | A | 1–2 | 24,999 | Viollet |
| 28 | 12 February 1966 | Northampton Town | H | 6–2 | 16,525 | Vernon, Dobing, Ritchie (4) |
| 29 | 19 February 1966 | Manchester United | H | 2–2 | 36,667 | Vernon, Ritchie |
| 30 | 26 February 1966 | Newcastle United | A | 1–3 | 26,192 | Burrows |
| 31 | 12 March 1966 | West Bromwich Albion | H | 1–1 | 23,261 | Ritchie |
| 32 | 19 March 1966 | Nottingham Forest | A | 3–4 | 21,175 | Ritchie, Burrows, Dobing |
| 33 | 25 March 1966 | Sheffield United | H | 2–0 | 17,101 | Ritchie, Bloor |
| 34 | 31 March 1966 | Sheffield Wednesday | A | 1–4 | 19,895 | Viollet |
| 35 | 2 April 1966 | Sunderland | A | 0–2 | 20,108 | |
| 36 | 9 April 1966 | Aston Villa | H | 2–0 | 15,186 | Burrows (2) |
| 37 | 12 April 1966 | Northampton Town | A | 0–1 | 20,680 | |
| 38 | 16 April 1966 | Liverpool | A | 0–2 | 41,106 | |
| 39 | 23 April 1966 | Tottenham Hotspur | H | 0–1 | 19,148 | |
| 40 | 30 April 1966 | Fulham | A | 1–1 | 25,491 | Bridgwood |
| 41 | 4 May 1966 | Sheffield Wednesday | H | 3–1 | 11,602 | Ritchie, Palmer, Bernard |
| 42 | 7 May 1966 | West Ham United | H | 1–0 | 15,670 | Bridgwood |

### FA Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| R3 | 22 January 1966 | Walsall | H | 0–2 | 32,676 | |

### League Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| R2 | 23 September 1965 | Norwich City | H | 2–1 | 12,896 | Vernon, Burrows |
| R3 | 3 October 1965 | Chesterfield | A | 2–2 | 12,235 | Burrows, Philpott |
| R3 Replay | 20 October 1965 | Chesterfield | H | 2–1 | 12,595 | Viollet, Dobing |
| R4 | 3 November 1965 | Burnley | H | 0–0 | 14,413 | |
| R4 Replay | 9 November 1965 | Burnley | A | 1–2 (aet) | 13,466 | Dobing |

### Friendlies

| Match | Opponent | Venue | Result |
| 1 | Home Farm | A | 2–1 |
| 2 | Feyenoord | A | 1–1 |
| 3 | Ajax | A | 3–5 |
| 4 | Oxford United | A | 2–5 |
| 5 | Coventry City | A | 1–5 |
| 6 | Stockport County | A | 6–4 |
| 7 | Congleton Town | A | 3–4 |
| 8 | Southend United | A | 3–2 |
| 9 | Crewe Alexandra | A | 4–2 |
| 10 | Crystal Palace | A | 0–4 |
| 11 | Dynamo Moscow | H | 0–2 |
| 12 | Hong Kong League | A | 7–0 |
| 13 | Hong Kong XI | A | 4–2 |

## Squad statistics

| Pos. | Name | League | League | FA Cup | FA Cup | League Cup | League Cup | Total | Total |
| Pos. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| GK | John Farmer | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 0 |
| GK | Bobby Irvine | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 17 | 0 |
| GK | Lawrie Leslie | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| DF | Tony Allen | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 0 |
| DF | Bill Asprey | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| DF | Bill Bentley | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| DF | Mike Bernard | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| DF | Alan Bloor | 29(2) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 34(2) | 2 |
| DF | George Kinnell | 25(2) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 29(2) | 2 |
| DF | Eric Skeels | 41 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 47 | 0 |
| MF | Gerry Bridgwood | 14(1) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 15(1) | 2 |
| MF | John Flowers | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| MF | Calvin Palmer | 38 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 44 | 2 |
| MF | Alan Philpott | 1(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2(1) | 2 |
| MF | Maurice Setters | 39 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 45 | 3 |
| MF | John Woodward | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| FW | Keith Bebbington | 21(1) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 25(1) | 3 |
| FW | Harry Burrows | 36 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 42 | 11 |
| FW | Peter Dobing | 37(1) | 11 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 43(1) | 13 |
| FW | Gerry Jones | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| FW | Jimmy McIlroy | 15(2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 17(2) | 0 |
| FW | John Ritchie | 23 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 13 |
| FW | Roy Vernon | 31 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 36 | 11 |
| FW | Dennis Viollet | 32 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 38 | 7 |
| – | Own goals | – | 1 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | 1 |