# 1966–67 Stoke City F.C. season

The 1966–67 season was Stoke City's 60th season in the Football League and the 36th in the First Division.
England won the 1966 World Cup and one of the winners, Gordon Banks joined Stoke in April 1967 in what was a master stroke signing by Tony Waddington he also brought in Arsenal winger George Eastham. On the pitch Stoke continued to finish in mid table this time in 12th spot.

## Season review
### League

1966 saw Albert Henshall return to the club as chairman and England won the World Cup, two of Alf Ramsey's squad would sign for Stoke within the next twelve months. In the summer of 1966 Waddington secured the services of former Newcastle United winger George Eastham from Arsenal for £35,000. The other was goalkeeper Gordon Banks who was snapped up for a bargain £52,000 from Leicester City in April 1967. Matt Gillies, the Leicester manager was coming under considerable pressure to play his young reserve Peter Shilton and decided to sell the 29-year-old Banks to Stoke. It is widely considered that this was a 'steal' as Banks carried on to play for England for another five years. Banks left English football in 1972 and ironically Stoke signed Shilton as his replacement.
Stoke had a fine, enterprising squad in 1966–67 and they ran up some fine results, beating eventual champions Manchester United 3–0 as well as Tottenham Hotspur, Nottingham Forest, Everton and West Bromwich Albion all before October. However, with Stoke looking forward to a potentially great season the fans were shocked when John Ritchie was sold to Sheffield Wednesday for £70,000 in November 1966. Whilst Wednesday paid a lot of money for Ritchie it came as a surprise as a month before Stoke had sold unsuccessful reserve striker John Woodward to Aston Villa for £30,000. But Ritchie's departure was soon forgotten as the team battled on holding on to a mid-table position.

### FA Cup

Stoke failed to make it past the third round losing by two goals to nil against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

### League Cup

Walsall again proved to Stoke's cup bogey side beating Stoke 2–1 at Fellows Park.

## Final league table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GAv | Pts |
| 10 | Sheffield United | 42 | 16 | 10 | 16 | 52 | 59 | 0.881 | 42 |
| 11 | Sheffield Wednesday | 42 | 14 | 13 | 15 | 56 | 47 | 1.191 | 41 |
| 12 | Stoke City | 42 | 17 | 7 | 18 | 63 | 58 | 1.086 | 41 |
| 13 | West Bromwich Albion | 42 | 16 | 7 | 19 | 77 | 73 | 1.055 | 39 |
| 14 | Burnley | 42 | 15 | 9 | 18 | 66 | 76 | 0.868 | 39 |

## Results

Stoke's score comes first

### Legend

| Win | Draw | Loss |

### Football League First Division

| Match | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 1 | 20 August 1966 | Nottingham Forest | A | 2–1 | 21,949 | Dobing, Palmer |
| 2 | 24 August 1966 | Tottenham Hotspur | H | 2–0 | 33,086 | Burrows, Ritchie |
| 3 | 27 August 1966 | Fulham | H | 1–2 | 26,333 | Burrows |
| 4 | 31 August 1966 | Tottenham Hotspur | A | 0–2 | 37,983 | |
| 5 | 3 September 1966 | Everton | A | 1–0 | 44,005 | Dobing |
| 6 | 7 September 1966 | Manchester United | H | 3–0 | 44,337 | Ritchie (2), Palmer |
| 7 | 10 September 1966 | West Ham United | H | 1–1 | 27,274 | Dobing |
| 8 | 17 September 1966 | Sheffield United | H | 3–0 | 21,374 | Dobing (2), Wagstaff (o.g.) |
| 9 | 24 September 1966 | West Bromwich Albion | A | 1–0 | 25,483 | Ritchie |
| 10 | 1 October 1966 | Leeds United | H | 0–0 | 28,987 | |
| 11 | 8 October 1966 | Sheffield Wednesday | A | 3–1 | 28,047 | Dobing, Ritchie, Burrows |
| 12 | 15 October 1966 | Southampton | H | 3–2 | 25,554 | Dobing, Ritchie, Palmer |
| 13 | 25 October 1966 | Sunderland | A | 1–2 | 23,320 | Viollet |
| 14 | 29 October 1966 | Liverpool | H | 2–0 | 37,933 | Dobing, Ritchie |
| 15 | 5 November 1966 | Southampton | A | 2–3 | 23,270 | Viollet, Ritchie |
| 16 | 12 November 1966 | Manchester City | H | 0–1 | 27,803 | |
| 17 | 19 November 1966 | Blackpool | A | 1–0 | 16,172 | Burrows |
| 18 | 26 November 1966 | Chelsea | H | 1–1 | 28,446 | Dobing |
| 19 | 3 December 1966 | Leicester City | A | 2–4 | 26,079 | Burrows, Vernon |
| 20 | 10 December 1966 | Aston Villa | H | 6–1 | 20,232 | Burrows (3), Vernon, Dobing, Eastham |
| 21 | 17 December 1966 | Nottingham Forest | H | 1–2 | 23,304 | Burrows |
| 22 | 26 December 1966 | Burnley | A | 2–0 | 29,990 | Burrows, Setters |
| 23 | 27 December 1966 | Burnley | H | 4–3 | 38,402 | Burrows (2), Dobing, Bridgwood |
| 24 | 31 December 1966 | Fulham | A | 1–4 | 24,851 | Vernon |
| 25 | 7 January 1967 | Everton | H | 2–1 | 27,650 | Dobing, Palmer |
| 26 | 14 January 1967 | West Ham United | A | 1–1 | 33,293 | Burrows |
| 27 | 22 January 1967 | Sheffield United | A | 1–2 | 21,486 | Dobing |
| 28 | 4 February 1967 | West Bromwich Albion | H | 1–1 | 26,211 | Dobing |
| 29 | 11 February 1967 | Leeds United | A | 0–3 | 37,370 | |
| 30 | 25 February 1967 | Sheffield Wednesday | H | 0–2 | 27,164 | |
| 31 | 4 March 1967 | Liverpool | A | 1–2 | 48,591 | Dobing |
| 32 | 18 March 1967 | Sunderland | H | 3–0 | 17,171 | Palmer, Dobing, Burrows |
| 33 | 24 March 1967 | Newcastle United | A | 1–3 | 39,408 | Burrows |
| 34 | 25 March 1967 | Aston Villa | A | 1–2 | 20,996 | Mahoney |
| 35 | 27 March 1967 | Newcastle United | H | 0–1 | 17,802 | |
| 36 | 1 April 1967 | Arsenal | H | 2–2 | 14,606 | Burrows, Dobing |
| 37 | 12 April 1967 | Manchester City | A | 1–3 | 25,753 | Dobing |
| 38 | 15 April 1967 | Blackpool | H | 2–0 | 12,259 | Burrows, Mahoney |
| 39 | 22 April 1967 | Chelsea | A | 0–1 | 23,973 | |
| 40 | 29 April 1967 | Leicester City | H | 3–1 | 17,870 | Dobing, Burrows, Mahoney |
| 41 | 6 May 1967 | Arsenal | A | 1–3 | 24,611 | Bridgwood |
| 42 | 13 May 1967 | Manchester United | A | 0–0 | 61,071 | |

### FA Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| R3 | 28 January 1967 | Manchester United | A | 0–2 | 63,497 | |

### League Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| R2 | 9 September 1966 | Walsall | A | 1–2 | 13,600 | Ritchie |

### Cleveland Stokers

Stoke were one of a number of teams exported to the USA to play in the United Soccer Association in 1967 to help promote the sport in the country. Stoke represented Cleveland, Ohio and went under the name of the Cleveland Stokers and finished 2nd in their group.
In the travelling Stoke party included the likes of Gordon Banks, Peter Dobing, George Eastham, Maurice Setters and Roy Vernon as well as manager Tony Waddington. The team started well going undefeated in their first seven matches defeating Washington Whips 2–1, Boston Rovers 1–0, San Francisco Golden Gate Gales and Dallas Tornado both 4–1. They then suffered back to back 2–1 defeats to New York Skyliners and Houston Stars before a 2–0 win over Toronto City put them back on track for a play-off place. However a goalless draw with Detroit Cougars and a 3–1 defeat in the final match against Vancouver Royals saw the Stokers miss out on a play-off spot by a single point.
| Match | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Scorers |
| 1 | 27 May 1967 | Washington Whips | A | 2–1 | Setters, Vernon |
| 2 | 31 May 1967 | Chicago Mustangs | H | 1–1 | Bernard |
| 3 | 3 June 1967 | Boston Rovers | H | 1–0 | Setters |
| 4 | 7 June 1967 | Los Angeles Wolves | H | 0–0 | |
| 5 | 10 June 1967 | San Francisco Golden Gate Gales | H | 4–1 | Dobing (2), Setters, Vernon |
| 6 | 13 June 1967 | Washington Whips | H | 2–2 | Dobing, Eastham |
| 7 | 17 June 1967 | Dallas Tornado | A | 4–1 | Dobing (2), Skeels, Burrows |
| 8 | 25 June 1967 | New York Skyliners | H | 1–2 | Bloor |
| 9 | 27 June 1967 | Houston Stars | A | 1–2 | Burrows |
| 10 | 1 July 1967 | Toronto City | H | 2–0 | Dobing, Burrows |
| 11 | 5 July 1967 | Detroit Cougars | A | 0–0 | |
| 12 | 9 July 1967 | Vancouver Royals | A | 1–3 | Dobing |

### Friendlies

| Match | Opponent | Venue | Result |
| 1 | Home Farm | A | 2–1 |
| 2 | Cork Celtic | A | 4–1 |
| 3 | Limerick | A | 3–1 |
| 4 | Portsmouth | A | 1–1 |
| 5 | Oldham Athletic | A | 5–0 |
| 6 | Millwall | A | 2–1 |
| 7 | Exeter City | A | 2–2 |
| 8 | Plymouth Argyle | A | 1–2 |
| 9 | Rangers | H | 3–1 |
| 10 | England XI | H | 5–7 |

## 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 | Gordon Banks | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| GK | John Farmer | 34 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 36 | 0 |
| GK | Harry Gregg | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| GK | Paul Shardlow | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| DF | Tony Allen | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 0 |
| DF | Bill Bentley | 6(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6(1) | 0 |
| DF | Alan Bloor | 30(1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 32(1) | 0 |
| DF | Calvin Palmer | 38 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 40 | 5 |
| DF | Eric Skeels | 40 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 42 | 0 |
| MF | Mike Bernard | 4(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4(1) | 0 |
| MF | Gerry Bridgwood | 24(1) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 25(1) | 2 |
| MF | George Eastham | 41 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 43 | 1 |
| MF | John Mahoney | 11 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 3 |
| MF | Alan Philpott | 23(3) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24(3) | 0 |
| MF | Maurice Setters | 28 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 30 | 1 |
| MF | John Woodward | 1(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1(1) | 0 |
| FW | Harry Burrows | 42 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 44 | 17 |
| FW | Peter Dobing | 41 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 43 | 19 |
| FW | Gerry Jones | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| FW | John Ritchie | 14 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 9 |
| FW | Dennis Viollet | 33(1) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 35(1) | 2 |
| FW | Roy Vernon | 20 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 4 |
| – | Own goals | – | 1 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | 1 |