The 1961–62 season was

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

's 55th season in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

and the 22nd in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. Attendances were now at a worrying all-time low and so the Stoke board and manager

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 progress ...

decided something needed to be done to bring the supporters back to the

Victoria Ground The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League. History ...

. And Waddington pulled off a master stroke after paying £3,000 to

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

for the returning 46-year-old

Stanley Matthews Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English footballer who played as an outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the British game, he is the only player to have been knighted while stil ...

. Crowds instantly arrived in large numbers with Matthews first match back against

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...

more than 35,000 turned up a good 15,000 more than the last home match. Stoke could not sustain a push for promotion, but the feeling around the club had changed dramatically.

Season review

League

Attendances remained stubbornly poor as the 1961–62 season commenced, Stoke losing 2–1 at home to

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

in front of 11,000 fans. The club's finances were seriously in question with the worrying decline in support. To regress the slide Stoke brought back

at the age of 46 some 14 years after he left for

. It certainly had the desired effect as the crowds quickly returned and traffic jams stretched for miles on the day he made his second debut for Stoke City at the

against

when 35,974 fans assembled to welcome back their hero and see him inspire Stoke to a 3–0 win, the attendance in Stoke's previous home match was just 8,409. The resurgence was on as Stoke slowly but surely picked up some good results and climbed the table as they went on a seven match unbeaten run in December.

Dennis Viollet Dennis Sydney Viollet (20 September 1933 – 6 March 1999) was an English footballer who played for Manchester United and Stoke City as well as the England national team. He was famous as one of the Busby Babes and survived the Munich air disa ...

a fine centre forward joined from

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

for a fee of £22,000. By March Stoke's form fell away and they ended the season in eighth spot but the feeling was that Stoke had renewed confidence for the future.

FA Cup

Stoke were drawn away at last season's winners

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

. The match ended in a 1–1 draw but in the replay Stoke knocked out the "Foxes" 5–2 to set up a fourth round meeting with

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

. A crowd of 49,486 saw Rovers win 1–0 thanks to a controversial penalty, the referees decision enraged one Stoke supporter so much he started legal action against him.

League Cup

Stoke recorded their first victory in the League Cup at

Roots Hall A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusing ...

beating

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

1–0. In the next round they were easily beaten 4–1 at

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

Final league table

Results

''Stoke's score comes first''

Legend

Football League Second Division

FA Cup

League Cup

Friendlies

Squad statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1961-62 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 ...