1956–57 Stoke City F.C. season

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

Stoke City
1956–57 season
ChairmanMr G. Taylor
ManagerFrank Taylor
StadiumVictoria Ground
Football League Second Division5th (48 Points)
FA CupThird Round
Top goalscorerLeague: Neville Coleman (26)
All: Neville Coleman (27)
Highest home attendance38,729 vs Port Vale (10 October 1956)
Lowest home attendance11,083 vs Bury (22 April 1957)
Average home league attendance22,146

With Stoke now entering a fourth season of Second tier football there was much 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

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GAv Pts
3 Liverpool 42 21 11 10 82 54 1.519 53
4 Blackburn Rovers 42 21 10 11 83 75 1.107 52
5 Stoke City 42 20 8 14 83 58 1.431 48
6 Middlesbrough 42 19 10 13 84 60 1.400 48
7 Sheffield United 42 19 8 15 87 76 1.145 46
Source:

Results

Stoke's score comes first

Legend

Win Draw Loss

Football League Second Division

MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
118 August 1956MiddlesbroughA1–113,116Cairns (pen)
220 August 1956Grimsby TownH1–020,921Coleman
325 August 1956Leicester CityH3–123,675Coleman, Cairns (pen), Oscroft
428 August 1956Grimsby TownA1–417,722Bowyer
51 September 1956Bristol RoversA0–425,430
63 September 1956Doncaster RoversH1–114,497King
78 September 1956Notts CountyH6–018,564Kelly, Oscroft, Bowyer, Coleman (2), Cairns (pen)
810 September 1956Doncaster RoversA0–414,674
915 September 1956LiverpoolA2–047,119Kelly, King
1022 September 1956Leyton OrientH7–119,957Kelly, King, Cairns (pen), Coleman, Oscroft (2), Bowyer
1129 September 1956Huddersfield TownA2–216,202Oscroft, Bowyer
126 October 1956Rotherham UnitedH6–021,589Oscroft, Bowyer, King (2), Coleman (2)
1310 October 1956Port ValeH3–138,729Coleman (2), Kelly
1413 October 1956Lincoln CityA1–013,066Coleman
1520 October 1956Sheffield UnitedH3–326,849Coleman (2), Kelly
1627 October 1956FulhamA0–129,748
173 November 1956Nottingham ForestH2–132,637Bowyer, Oscroft
1810 November 1956West Ham UnitedA0–117,500
1917 November 1956Blackburn RoversH4–121,067Bowyer, King, Coleman, Kelly
2024 November 1956Bristol CityA2–117,796Coleman, Kelly
211 December 1956Swansea TownH4–123,409Coleman, King, Bowyer (2)
228 December 1956BarnsleyA2–211,626Bowyer, Kelly
2315 December 1956MiddlesbroughH3–120,679Coleman (3)
2422 December 1956Leicester CityA2–328,178Kelly (2)
2529 December 1956Bristol RoversH2–130,936Bowyer, Graver
261 January 1957BuryA1–013,180Graver
2712 January 1957Notts CountyA0–513,620
2819 January 1957LiverpoolH1–031,144Oscroft
292 February 1957Leyton OrientA2–218,705Kelly (2)
309 February 1957Huddersfield TownH5–127,503Oscroft (2), Bowyer, Coleman, Cairns (pen)
3116 February 1957Rotherham UnitedA0–111,511
3223 February 1957Lincoln CityH8–010,790Coleman (7), King
331 March 1957Sheffield UnitedA1–120,277Kelly
349 March 1957FulhamH0–224,766
3516 March 1957Nottingham ForestA0–432,294
3623 March 1957West Ham UnitedH0–119,875
3730 March 1957Blackburn RoversA0–127,600
386 April 1957Bristol CityH0–213,397
3913 April 1957Swansea TownA0–115,000
4020 April 1957BarnsleyH3–011,600Bowyer (2), Graver
4122 April 1957BuryH2–011,083Bowyer, Oscroft
4227 April 1957Port ValeA2–218,753Graver, King

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
R35 January 1957ArsenalA2–456,173Oscroft, 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
GK Bill Robertson 42010430
DF Alec Acton 000000
DF Peter Ford 200020
DF John McCue 39010400
DF Frank Mountford 39010400
DF Ken Thomson 40010410
DF Donald Whiston 300030
MF Bill Asprey 900090
MF Bobby Cairns 36510375
MF Edward Rayner 200020
MF John Sellars 40010410
FW Frank Bowyer 3814103914
FW Neville Coleman 4226114327
FW Andy Graver 13500135
FW Colin Hutchinson 100010
FW Joe Hutton 700070
FW George Kelly 3013103113
FW Johnny King 34910359
FW Harry Oscroft 4111114212
FW Peter Phoenix 000000
FW Don Ratcliffe 100010
FW Derrick Ward 300030

References

  1. Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.
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