The 1973–74 season was Stoke City's 67th season in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

and the 43rd in the First Division. The season started well for Stoke as they won the short lived

Watney Cup The Watney Mann Invitation Cup (normally referred to as simply the Watney Cup) was a short-lived English football tournament held in the early 1970s. It was held before the start of the season, and was contested by the teams that had scored th ...

prior to the start of the new campaign. But their league form was poor and by January they were in the bottom six. But the signing of Alan Hudson from

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

sparked an upturn in results which accumulated in beating

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

3–2 in February ending their 29 match un-beaten run. Stoke continued to climb the table and after remaining unbeaten in their final nine fixtures they took 5th position in the table and qualified for the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

Season review

League

Stoke, with no major summer signings, kicked off the 1973–74 season with

George Eastham George Edward Eastham, OBE (born 23 September 1936) is an English former footballer. He is known for playing for Newcastle United, Arsenal and Stoke City, as well as a member of England's 1966 World Cup-winning squad. However, he is also nota ...

as assistant manager and the team got off to a fine start, winning the

by beating

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

2–0 in the final. The opening league form though, was poor although there was a glimmer of hope as

Nantwich Nantwich ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It has among the highest concentrations of listed buildings in England, with notably good examples of Tudor and Georgian architecture. ...

born Dave Goodwin made a goal-scoring debut against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

. By January 1974 Stoke were struggling in 17th position and the home support was slowly falling and

Tony Waddington Anthony Waddington (9 November 1924 – 21 January 1994) was an English football manager at both Crewe Alexandra and Stoke City. Waddington had a seven-year playing career with Crewe Alexandra before becoming a coach at Stoke City. He progre ...

decided to sell the promising

Stewart Jump Stewart Jump (born 27 January 1952) is an English former footballer in the Football League for Crystal Palace, Fulham and Stoke City. He also had a successful career playing in the United States, and was chosen as the MVP of the 1975 Soccer ...

to Malcolm Allison's

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

for £75,000 which raised a few questions from the supporters. But there was method to the manager's apparent madness as he pulled off another major transfer swoop when he paid £240,000 for

's Alan Hudson. Hudson was an instant hit with the Stoke fans and in his debut against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

he was named as

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

, helping Stoke to a 1–1 draw. Stoke's next home match against Hudson's old team Chelsea was the first League match to be played on a Sunday, Stoke winning 1–0 in front of 31,985. Another big attendance, saw City's next home match against high-flying

who had gone 29 matches without defeat. At the time

Don Revie Donald George Revie OBE (10 July 1927 – 26 May 1989) was an England international footballer and manager, best known for his successful spell with Leeds United from 1961 until 1974, which immediately preceded his appointment as England manage ...

's side were nine points clear at the top and they looked to be increasing their lead as they raced into a 2–0 lead, but Stoke rising to the challenge levelled before half time before Denis Smith grabbed the winner and Leeds' magnificent run was over, but they still took the First Division title. Stoke lost just twice in the final 23 matches and raised up the table to claim 5th place and so qualifying for next season's

FA Cup

Despite scoring twice at Bolton Wanderers Stoke lost 3–2 in the third round.

League Cup

After narrow wins over

and

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

knocked Stoke out with a narrow victory of their own.

Final league table

Results

''Stoke's score comes first''

Legend

Football League First Division

FA Cup

League Cup

Texaco Cup The Texaco Cup, officially known as the International League Board Competition, was an association football competition started in 1970, involving sides from England, Scotland, and Ireland that had not qualified for European competitions. It wa ...

Watney Cup The Watney Mann Invitation Cup (normally referred to as simply the Watney Cup) was a short-lived English football tournament held in the early 1970s. It was held before the start of the season, and was contested by the teams that had scored th ...

Friendlies

Squad statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1973-74 Stoke City F.C. season Stoke City F.C. seasons

Stoke Stoke is a common place name in the United Kingdom. Stoke may refer to: Places United Kingdom The largest city called Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. See below. Berkshire * Stoke Row, Berkshire Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stok ...