The 1980–81 season was Stoke City's 74th 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 48th in the First Division. The 1980–81 campaign was a transitional one for Stoke with a number of players coming and going. The team made a poor start and in their first four matches conceded twelve goals. They slowly recovered and were easily able to pull themselves away from any fears of being involved in a relegation battle and finished in a mid-table position of 11th. It was a pretty uneventful season, and with 18 draws often a boring one, for the supporters.

Season review

League

In the Summer of 1980 there were some more comings and goings. Firstly Mr Percy Axon became chairman while striker

Garth Crooks Garth Anthony Crooks, (born 10 March 1958) is an English football pundit and former professional player. He played from 1976 to 1990, for Stoke City, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, West Bromwich Albion and Charlton Athletic. Throughout h ...

moved to

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

for a club record £650,000 and goalkeeper Roger Jones joined Derby County. With cash in the bank, Durban signed left back

Peter Hampton Peter John Hampton (12 September 195425 September 2020) was an English footballer who played as a left back in the Football League for Leeds United, Stoke City, Burnley, Rochdale and Carlisle United. Career Hampton was born in Oldham and almo ...

from

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 ...

for £170,000 and

Paul Maguire Paul Leo Maguire (born August 22, 1938) is a former American professional football player and television sportscaster. Early sports career Maguire attended Ursuline High School in Youngstown, Ohio where he was an All State wide receiver and ...

joined from

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

for £262,000.

Iain Munro Alexander Iain Fordyce Munro (born 24 August 1951) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager. Playing career Munro was born in Uddingston and began his career at St Mirren making 103 league appearances for the Buddies in ...

and

Peter Griffiths Peter Harry Steve Griffiths (24 May 1928 – 20 November 2013) was a British Conservative politician best known for gaining the Smethwick seat by defeating the Shadow Foreign Secretary Patrick Gordon Walker in the 1964 general election, agai ...

also joined the club. The team made an awful start to the 1980–81 season losing 5–1 at

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

and then 5–0 at

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

. Stoke soon started to grind out results and

Alan Durban William Alan Durban (born 7 July 1941) is a Welsh former international footballer and manager, whose career was at its peak between the 1970s and 1990s. He played in the Football League for Cardiff City, Derby County and was player-manager of ...

's well drilled side picked up the points they needed to pull away from any danger and they finished the season in 11th place with 42 points.

FA Cup

Stoke drew Staffordshire rivals

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

in the third round and after a 2–2 draw at home Wolves won 2–1 in the replay.

League Cup

Stoke lost to Manchester City 4–1 over two legs, drawing 1–1 at home but suffering a 3–0 defeat at

Maine Road Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City F.C. from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest a ...

Season review

League

FA Cup

League Cup

Final league table

Results

Legend

Football League First Division

FA Cup

League Cup

Friendlies

Squad statistics

References