# 1972–73 Stoke City F.C. season

The 1972–73 season was Stoke City's 66th season in the Football League and the 42nd in the First Division.
After the jubilation of last season's success the club was able to sign world cup winner Geoff Hurst which boosted season ticket sales. They also entered European competition for the first time losing 5–3 on aggregate to German side 1. FC Kaiserslautern. Stoke failed to build on last season and had to settle for a mid table position of 15th.

## Season review
### League

After winning the League Cup last season there was a number of notable departures during the early part of the season. They sold Mike Bernard to Everton for a record £140,000, with the money being spent on Jimmy Robertson from Ipswich Town and World Cup winner Geoff Hurst from West Ham United. Stoke now had an abundance of attacking talent but both Harry Burrows and Peter Dobing decided to retire during the season.
The arrival of Hurst certainly boosted season ticket sales and a record takings were banked before a ball was kicked prior to the start of the 1972–73 season. It proved that the public of Stoke-on-Trent were now right behind the team but despite high hopes and expectations, the "Potters" started the new campaign rather poorly and found themselves in the bottom six. Stoke's immediate plans were hit when on the Sunday morning of 22 October 1972 after visiting the Victoria Ground for treatment Gordon Banks crashed his car on the way home and effectively ended his career. Such was the scale of Banks' presence his condition was headline news. Realising that Banks was to be out of action for quite some time Waddington moved in for Scotland international Bobby Clark, but the deal fell through as he failed to impress the Stoke directors. Mike McDonald was signed instead from Clydebank as cover for John Farmer after it was learnt that Banks had lost an eye and would never play competitive football again.
George Eastham returned to the club in February after spending time doing coaching work in South Africa, he added his experience to the cause as he helped Stoke to recover and take 15th place. Three players reached double figures in the league scoring charts this term, Jimmy Greenhoff (16), John Ritchie (14) and Geoff Hurst (10) as Stoke scored 61 goals. They ended the season with a tour of Oceania.

### FA Cup

In the FA Cup Stoke went out in the third round losing 3–2 to Manchester City at Maine Road.

### League Cup

As holders of the League Cup, Stoke started off with high hopes of retaining the trophy and they began with good wins over Sunderland (3–0) and Ipswich Town (2–1) but a bad night at Notts County (1–3) in the fourth round put paid to any hopes of a return to Wembley.

### UEFA Cup

Their success in the 1972 Football League Cup Final, had placed them into a European competition for the first time, and they drew little known West German side 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the first round. A comfortable 3–1 home win was achieved in the first leg and two weeks later Waddington favoured a defensive team for the match at the Fritz-Walter-Stadion. The plan backed fired and Stoke were crushed 4–0 with John Ritchie being sent-off just seconds after being brought on as a substitute without even touching the ball.

## Final league table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 13 | Southampton | 42 | 11 | 18 | 13 | 47 | 52 | 0.904 | 40 | |
| 14 | Sheffield United | 42 | 15 | 10 | 17 | 51 | 59 | 0.864 | 40 | |
| 15 | Stoke City | 42 | 14 | 10 | 18 | 61 | 56 | 1.089 | 38 | Qualification for the Watney Cup |
| 16 | Leicester City | 42 | 10 | 17 | 15 | 40 | 46 | 0.870 | 37 | |
| 17 | Everton | 42 | 13 | 11 | 18 | 41 | 49 | 0.837 | 37 | |
* ↑ West Ham United and Stoke City qualified for the Watney Cup as the two teams with the most goals that had not already qualified for a European competition.

## Results

Stoke's score comes first

### Legend

| Win | Draw | Loss |

### Football League First Division

| Match | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 1 | 12 August 1972 | Crystal Palace | H | 2–0 | 22,564 | Smith 32', Ritchie 64' |
| 2 | 15 August 1972 | Southampton | A | 0–1 | 18,242 | |
| 3 | 19 August 1972 | Arsenal | A | 0–2 | 42,164 | |
| 4 | 23 August 1972 | Sheffield United | H | 2–2 | 20,402 | Smith 55', Hurst 68' |
| 5 | 26 August 1972 | Everton | H | 1–1 | 26,360 | Ritchie 12' |
| 6 | 30 August 1972 | Norwich City | A | 0–2 | 30,069 | |
| 7 | 2 September 1972 | Coventry City | A | 1–2 | 14,317 | Pejic 85' |
| 8 | 9 September 1972 | Leeds United | H | 2–2 | 26,709 | Hurst 59', Conroy 80' |
| 9 | 16 September 1972 | Ipswich Town | A | 0–2 | 17,810 | |
| 10 | 23 September 1972 | Manchester City | H | 5–1 | 26,448 | Conroy 6', Greenhoff (3) 13', 68', 82', Hurst 57' |
| 11 | 30 September 1972 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | A | 3–5 | 24,133 | Hurst 3' (pen), Greenhoff 24', Bloor 75' |
| 12 | 7 October 1972 | Tottenham Hotspur | A | 3–4 | 31,951 | Ritchie 32', 51', Bloor 82' |
| 13 | 14 October 1972 | Newcastle United | H | 2–0 | 21,205 | Hurst 77', Robertson 90' |
| 14 | 21 October 1972 | Liverpool | A | 1–2 | 43,604 | Greenhoff 34' |
| 15 | 28 October 1972 | Leicester City | H | 1–0 | 24,421 | Hurst 9' |
| 16 | 4 November 1972 | Sheffield United | A | 0–0 | 19,322 | |
| 17 | 11 November 1972 | Southampton | H | 3–3 | 17,772 | Smith 5', Ritchie 45', Conroy 50' |
| 18 | 18 November 1972 | Birmingham City | H | 1–2 | 23,046 | Greenhoff 3' |
| 19 | 25 November 1972 | West Bromwich Albion | A | 1–2 | 13,316 | Hurst 38' |
| 20 | 2 December 1972 | Chelsea | H | 1–1 | 21,274 | Conroy 65' |
| 21 | 9 December 1972 | Manchester United | A | 2–0 | 41,347 | Pejic 17', Ritchie 42' |
| 22 | 16 December 1972 | West Ham United | A | 2–3 | 23,269 | Hurst 8', Ritchie 89' |
| 23 | 23 December 1972 | Derby County | H | 4–0 | 23,084 | Ritchie (2) 10', 58', Hurst 30', Greenhoff 36' |
| 24 | 26 December 1972 | Manchester City | A | 1–1 | 36,334 | Mahoney 65' |
| 25 | 30 December 1972 | Arsenal | H | 0–0 | 24,586 | |
| 26 | 6 January 1973 | Everton | A | 0–2 | 26,818 | |
| 27 | 27 January 1973 | Leeds United | A | 0–1 | 33,487 | |
| 28 | 14 February 1973 | Derby County | A | 3–0 | 22,106 | Mahoney 19', Robertson 44', Greenhoff 80' |
| 29 | 17 February 1973 | Crystal Palace | A | 2–3 | 32,099 | Greenhoff 56', Smith 68' |
| 30 | 24 February 1973 | West Ham United | H | 2–0 | 21,885 | Greenhoff 4', Robertson 15' |
| 31 | 10 March 1973 | Newcastle United | A | 0–1 | 23,570 | |
| 32 | 14 March 1973 | Tottenham Hotspur | H | 1–1 | 23,351 | Greenhoff 87' |
| 33 | 17 March 1973 | Liverpool | H | 0–1 | 33,540 | |
| 34 | 24 March 1973 | Leicester City | A | 0–2 | 18,473 | |
| 35 | 26 March 1973 | Coventry City | H | 2–1 | 20,218 | Ritchie 47', Haslegrave 64' |
| 36 | 31 March 1973 | West Bromwich Albion | H | 2–0 | 21,296 | Greenhoff 68', Hurst 70' |
| 37 | 4 April 1973 | Ipswich Town | H | 1–0 | 18,319 | Ritchie 13' |
| 38 | 7 April 1973 | Chelsea | A | 3–1 | 19,706 | Greenhoff 23', Ritchie 39', Haslegrave 78' |
| 39 | 14 April 1973 | Manchester United | H | 2–2 | 36,051 | Greenhoff 75', Ritchie 82' |
| 40 | 21 April 1973 | Birmingham City | A | 1–3 | 32,513 | Robertson 85' |
| 41 | 24 April 1973 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | H | 2–0 | 25,251 | Robertson 29', Greenhoff 87' |
| 42 | 28 April 1973 | Norwich City | H | 2–0 | 19,350 | Greenhoff 25', Ritchie 58' |

### FA Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| R3 | 13 January 1973 | Manchester City | A | 2–3 | 38,648 | Greenhoff (2) 22', 55' |

### League Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| R2 | 6 September 1972 | Sunderland | H | 3–0 | 16,706 | Greenhoff (2) 8', 70', Hurst 90' |
| R3 | 3 October 1972 | Ipswich Town | A | 2–1 | 14,602 | Hurst 64', Ritchie 88' |
| R4 | 31 October 1972 | Notts County | A | 1–3 | 20,297 | Bloor 80' |

### UEFA Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 1st Round 1st Leg | 13 September 1972 | 1. FC Kaiserslautern | H | 3–1 | 22,182 | Conroy 51', Hurst 72', Ritchie 85' |
| 1st Round 2nd Leg | 27 September 1972 | 1. FC Kaiserslautern | A | 0–4 | 18,000 | |

### Friendlies

| Match | Opponent | Venue | Result |
| 1 | Doncaster Rovers | A | 2–1 |
| 2 | Carlisle United | A | 3–3 |
| 3 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | A | 1–2 |
| 4 | Crewe Alexandra | A | 4–2 |
| 5 | Brighton & Hove Albion | A | 2–0 |
| 6 | Persepolis | A | 1–1 |
| 7 | Western Australia | A | 3–0 |
| 8 | Southern Australia | A | 2–2 |
| 9 | New South Wales | A | 3–1 |
| 10 | Auckland | A | 1–3 |
| 11 | Wellington | A | 5–1 |
| 12 | Christchurch | A | 4–2 |
| 13 | Otago | A | 8–1 |
| 14 | New Caledonia | A | 1–0 |
| 15 | Tahiti | A | 3–1 |

## Squad statistics

| Pos. | Name | League | League | FA Cup | FA Cup | League Cup | League Cup | UEFA Cup | UEFA Cup | Total | Total |
| Pos. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| GK | Gordon Banks | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
| GK | John Farmer | 33 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 35 | 0 |
| GK | Mike McDonald | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| DF | Alan Bloor | 28 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 33 | 3 |
| DF | Alan Dodd | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| DF | Alex Elder | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| DF | Kevin Lewis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| DF | Jackie Marsh | 38 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 44 | 0 |
| DF | Mike Pejic | 38 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 44 | 2 |
| DF | Eric Skeels | 30(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 33(1) | 0 |
| DF | Denis Smith | 38(1) | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 43(1) | 4 |
| MF | Terry Conroy | 29(4) | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2(1) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 34(5) | 5 |
| MF | George Eastham | 17(1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18(1) | 0 |
| MF | Sean Haslegrave | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 |
| MF | Stewart Jump | 7(3) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8(3) | 0 |
| MF | Terry Lees | 7(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8(1) | 0 |
| MF | John Mahoney | 33(1) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 38(1) | 2 |
| MF | Jimmy Robertson | 27(4) | 5 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 33(4) | 5 |
| MF | Willie Stevenson | 1(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2(1) | 0 |
| FW | Harry Burrows | 0(2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(2) | 0 |
| FW | Peter Dobing | 8(2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8(3) | 0 |
| FW | Jimmy Greenhoff | 41 | 16 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 46 | 20 |
| FW | Geoff Hurst | 38 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 43 | 13 |
| FW | John Ritchie | 29(2) | 14 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 35(2) | 16 |