1956–57 Stoke City F.C. season

Stoke City
1956–57 season
Chairman Mr G. Taylor
Manager Frank Taylor
Stadium Victoria Ground
Football League Second Division 5th (48 Points)
FA Cup Third Round
Top goalscorer League: Neville Coleman (26)
All: Neville Coleman (27)
Highest home attendance 38,729 vs Port Vale (10 October 1956)
Lowest home attendance 11,083 vs Bury (22 April 1957)
Average home league attendance 22,146
Home colours

The 1956–57 season was Stoke City's 50th season in the Football League and the 17th in the Second Division.

With Stoke now entering a fourth season of Second tier football there was a lot of pressure placed on both manager Frank Taylor and the squad for 1956–57. And Stoke made a great effort in an attempt to gain promotion with a fine home record and new floodlights which saw Lincoln City beaten 8–0 with Neville Coleman scoring 7. However after this Stoke bizarrely failed to find the back of the net in six straight defeats and this poor run of form cost Stoke promotion and in the end they finished in 5th position with 48 points.[1]

Season review

League

In the 1956–57 season, with the pressure on both the manager and players, Stoke made a great effort at winning promotion back to the First Division.[1] A string of fine home results over Notts County (6–0), Leyton Orient (7–1) and Rotherham United (6–0) raised the fans hopes.[1] Floodlights were installed in October 1956 and the first match under the lights was in the Potteries derby against Port Vale.[1] A crowd of 38,729 turned up to see Stoke win 3–1 to maintain their good form.[1]

Neville Coleman was getting the bulk of Stoke goals which accumulated on 23 February 1957 when Lincoln City arrived at the Victoria Ground.[1] That day Stoke hammered luckless Lincoln 8–0 with Coleman scoring a record seven of the goals.[1] At this stage of the season promotion looked like it could be achieved but all of a sudden Stoke's form completely dropped, after a 1–1 draw with Sheffield United Stoke lost their next six matches and failed to score in any of them and their hopes of promotion died.[1]

FA Cup

Stoke were drawn away at First Division side Arsenal in the third round and were beaten 4–2 by the "Gunners".[1]

Final league table

PosClubPWDLFAGAPts
1Leicester City4225116109671.62761
2Nottingham Forest4222101094551.70954
3Liverpool4221111082541.51953
4Blackburn Rovers4221101183751.10752
5Stoke City422081483581.43148
6Middlesbrough4219101384601.40048
7Sheffield United421981587761.14546
8West Ham United421981559630.93746
9Bristol Rovers421891581671.20945
10Swansea Town421971690901.00045
11Fulham421941984761.10542
12Huddersfield Town421861868740.91942
13Bristol City421691774790.93741
14Doncaster Rovers4215101777771.00040
15Leyton Orient4215101766840.78640
16Grimsby Town421752061620.98439
17Rotherham United4213111874750.98737
18Lincoln City421462254800.67534
19Barnsley4212102059890.66334
20Notts County429122158860.67430
21Bury42892560960.62525
22Port Vale428628571010.56422

Key: P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points

Results

Stoke's score comes first

Legend

Win Draw Loss

Football League Second Division

MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
1 18 August 1956 MiddlesbroughA1–113,116Cairns (pen)
2 20 August 1956 Grimsby TownH1–020,921Coleman
3 25 August 1956 Leicester CityH3–123,675Coleman, Cairns (pen), Oscroft
4 28 August 1956 Grimsby TownA1–417,722Bowyer
5 1 September 1956 Bristol RoversA0–425,430
6 3 September 1956 Doncaster RoversH1–114,497King
7 8 September 1956 Notts CountyH6–018,564Kelly, Oscroft, Bowyer, Coleman (2), Cairns (pen)
8 10 September 1956 Doncaster RoversA0–414,674
9 15 September 1956 LiverpoolA2–047,119Kelly, King
10 22 September 1956 Leyton OrientH7–119,957Kelly, King, Cairns (pen), Coleman, Oscroft (2), Bowyer
11 29 September 1956 Huddersfield TownA2–216,202Oscroft, Bowyer
12 6 October 1956 Rotherham UnitedH6–021,589Oscroft, Bowyer, King (2), Coleman (2)
13 10 October 1956 Port ValeH3–138,729Coleman (2), Kelly
14 13 October 1956 Lincoln CityA1–013,066Coleman
15 20 October 1956 Sheffield UnitedH3–326,849Coleman (2), Kelly
16 27 October 1956 FulhamA0–129,748
17 3 November 1956 Nottingham ForestH2–132,637Bowyer, Oscroft
18 10 November 1956 West Ham UnitedA0–117,500
19 17 November 1956 Blackburn RoversH4–121,067Bowyer, King, Coleman, Kelly
20 24 November 1956 Bristol CityA2–117,796Coleman, Kelly
21 1 December 1956 Swansea TownH4–123,409Coleman, King, Bowyer (2)
22 8 December 1956 BarnsleyA2–211,626Bowyer, Kelly
23 15 December 1956 MiddlesbroughH3–120,679Coleman (3)
24 22 December 1956 Leicester CityA2–328,178Kelly (2)
25 29 December 1956 Bristol RoversH2–130,936Bowyer, Graver
26 1 January 1957 BuryA1–013,180Graver
27 12 January 1957 Notts CountyA0–513,620
28 19 January 1957 LiverpoolH1–031,144Oscroft
29 2 February 1957 Leyton OrientA2–218,705Kelly (2)
30 9 February 1957 Huddersfield TownH5–127,503Oscroft (2), Bowyer, Coleman, Cairns (pen)
31 16 February 1957 Rotherham UnitedA0–111,511
32 23 February 1957 Lincoln CityH8–010,790Coleman (7), King
33 1 March 1957 Sheffield UnitedA1–120,277Kelly
34 9 March 1957 FulhamH0–224,766
35 16 March 1957 Nottingham ForestA0–432,294
36 23 March 1957 West Ham UnitedH0–119,875
37 30 March 1957 Blackburn RoversA0–127,600
38 6 April 1957 Bristol CityH0–213,397
39 13 April 1957 Swansea TownA0–115,000
40 20 April 1957 BarnsleyH3–011,600Bowyer (2), Graver
41 22 April 1957 BuryH2–011,083Bowyer, Oscroft
42 27 April 1957 Port ValeA2–218,753Graver, King

FA Cup

Main article: 1956–57 FA Cup
RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
R35 January 1957 ArsenalA2–456,173Oscroft, Coleman

Friendlies

MatchOpponentVenueResult
1
Manchester City
H
4–1
2
FK Radnički Niš
H
3–1
3
Rot-Weiss Essen
H
5–0
4
Schwenningen
A
1–3
5
SSV Ulm 1846
A
4–0
6
Forbach
A
4–3
7
FC Singen 04
A
4–2
8
Forbach
A
4–3
9
OGC Nice
A
1–2

Squad statistics

Pos. Name League FA Cup Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
GKEngland Bill Robertson 42010430
DFEngland Peter Ford 200020
DFEngland John McCue 39010400
DFEngland Frank Mountford 39010400
DFScotland Ken Thomson 40010410
DFEngland Donald Whiston 300030
MFEngland Bill Asprey 900090
MFScotland Bobby Cairns 36510375
MFEngland Edward Raynor 200020
MFEngland John Sellars 40010410
FWEngland Frank Bowyer 3814103914
FWEngland Neville Coleman 4226114327
FWEngland Andy Graver 13500135
FWEngland Colin Hutchinson 100010
FWScotland Joe Hutton 700070
FWScotland George Kelly 3013103113
FWEngland Johnny King 34910359
FWEngland Harry Oscroft 4111114212
FWEngland Don Ratcliffe 100010
FWEngland Derrick Ward 300030

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.
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