1976–77 Stoke City F.C. season
# 1976–77 Stoke City F.C. season

The 1976–77 season was Stoke City's 70th season in the Football League and the 46th in the First Division.

The roof of the Butler Street Stand was rebuilt at a massive cost of £250,000 and with the club unable to pay off the insurers they turned to the playing staff to generate the required funds and with the likes of Jimmy Greenhoff, Alan Hudson and Mike Pejic being sold off Tony Waddington had a threadbare squad and he left the club in March 1977. Former player George Eastham took over but was unable to prevent Stoke losing their First Division status, going down by a single point.

## Season review

### League

The 1976–77 season opened with a new all steel Butler Street roof in place which would cost the sum of £250,000. With the club struggling to pay the cost they had to begin a fire sale of their best players. Those who left the club included Sean Haslegrave to Nottingham Forest for £35,000, Ian Moores to Tottenham Hotspur for £75,000, Jimmy Greenhoff to Manchester United for £100,000, Alan Hudson to Arsenal for £200,000 and Mike Pejic to Everton for £140,000. These were indeed, body blows none more so than Jimmy Greenhoff leaving after he scored just over 100 goals for the club and was idolised by the supporters.

The Stoke fans were totally confused at what was happening to their team and looked for someone to blame. Goals were again in short supply, Stoke failed to find the back of the net for five successive league matches from late November to early January and in fact they managed just 28 goals all season, 21 at home and seven away. Waddington's gambles on experienced player like John Tudor and Alan Suddick were not successful and after an awful defeat at home to Leicester City on 19 March 1977 Waddington's time at Stoke City was up. He had spent 25 years at the Victoria Ground as manager, assistant and coach and is considered to be the club's greatest manager having helped them win their first major trophy in 1972. He remained an avid supporter of the club until his death in 1994.

Waddington's assistant George Eastham was put in temporary charge with coach Alan A'Court his assistant. With the transfer deadline passed with no new players arrived, so Eastham turned towards the youth team to try to advert the drop, all to no avail and on a sad Monday evening at Villa Park in front of 29,000 fans, Stoke needing a win to stay up, lost 1–0 and were duly relegated to the second tier.

### FA Cup

Everton beat Stoke 2–0 in the third round on their way to the semi-final.

### League Cup

Stoke beat Leeds United 2–1 and then lost badly 3–0 to Newcastle United.

## Final league table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 18 | Bristol City | 42 | 11 | 13 | 18 | 38 | 48 | −10 | 35 | |
| 19 | Coventry City | 42 | 10 | 15 | 17 | 48 | 59 | −11 | 35 | |
| 20 | Sunderland (R) | 42 | 11 | 12 | 19 | 46 | 54 | −8 | 34 | Relegation to the Second Division |
| 21 | Stoke City (R) | 42 | 10 | 14 | 18 | 28 | 51 | −23 | 34 | Relegation to the Second Division |
| 22 | Tottenham Hotspur (R) | 42 | 12 | 9 | 21 | 48 | 72 | −24 | 33 | Relegation to the Second Division |

## Results

Stoke's score comes first

### Legend

| Win | Draw | Loss |
| - | - | - |

### Football League First Division

| Match | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 21 August 1976 | Sunderland | H | 0–0 | 27,244 | |
| 2 | 24 August 1976 | Bristol City | A | 1–1 | 25,316 | Smith 86' |
| 3 | 28 August 1976 | Manchester City | A | 0–0 | 39,875 | |
| 4 | 4 September 1976 | West Ham United | H | 2–1 | 19,131 | Crooks 32', Conroy 52' |
| 5 | 11 September 1976 | Everton | A | 0–3 | 22,277 | |
| 6 | 18 September 1976 | Ipswich Town | H | 2–1 | 20,171 | Tudor (2) 2', 19' |
| 7 | 25 September 1976 | Queens Park Rangers | A | 0–2 | 21,621 | |
| 8 | 29 September 1976 | Leicester City | A | 0–1 | 15,391 | |
| 9 | 2 October 1976 | Aston Villa | H | 1–0 | 26,652 | Conroy 37' |
| 10 | 16 October 1976 | Arsenal | A | 0–2 | 28,507 | |
| 11 | 23 October 1976 | Derby County | H | 1–0 | 20,916 | Tudor 70' |
| 12 | 30 October 1976 | Newcastle United | A | 0–1 | 28,251 | |
| 13 | 6 November 1976 | Middlesbrough | H | 3–1 | 16,068 | Waddington 20', Greenhoff (2) 47', 54' |
| 14 | 10 November 1976 | Leeds United | A | 1–1 | 29,199 | Dodd 86' |
| 15 | 20 November 1976 | Birmingham City | H | 1–0 | 21,486 | Crooks 70' |
| 16 | 27 November 1976 | Tottenham Hotspur | A | 0–2 | 22,230 | |
| 17 | 18 December 1976 | West Bromwich Albion | H | 0–2 | 15,989 | |
| 18 | 27 December 1976 | Liverpool | A | 0–4 | 50,371 | |
| 19 | 1 January 1977 | Middlesbrough | A | 0–0 | 21,140 | |
| 20 | 22 January 1977 | Sunderland | A | 0–0 | 22,901 | |
| 21 | 29 January 1977 | Norwich City | A | 1–1 | 18,408 | Salmons 48' |
| 22 | 5 February 1977 | Manchester City | H | 0–2 | 27,139 | |
| 23 | 12 February 1977 | West Ham United | A | 0–1 | 20,106 | |
| 24 | 16 February 1977 | Coventry City | H | 2–0 | 12,255 | Conroy (2) 1', 55' (pen) |
| 25 | 19 February 1977 | Everton | H | 0–1 | 19,586 | |
| 26 | 26 February 1977 | Ipswich Town | A | 1–0 | 25,865 | Goodwin 37' |
| 27 | 5 March 1977 | Queens Park Rangers | H | 1–0 | 15,454 | Bowers 47' |
| 28 | 15 March 1977 | Newcastle United | H | 0–0 | 12,708 | |
| 29 | 19 March 1977 | Leicester City | H | 0–1 | 14,087 | |
| 30 | 23 March 1977 | Arsenal | H | 1–1 | 13,951 | Conroy 7' |
| 31 | 2 April 1977 | Derby County | A | 0–2 | 23,161 | |
| 32 | 9 April 1977 | Manchester United | A | 0–3 | 53,102 | |
| 33 | 11 April 1977 | Liverpool | H | 0–0 | 29,905 | |
| 34 | 12 April 1977 | Leeds United | H | 2–1 | 17,960 | Crooks (2) 67', 76' |
| 35 | 16 April 1977 | Birmingham City | A | 0–2 | 19,554 | |
| 36 | 20 April 1977 | Bristol City | H | 2–2 | 12,277 | Smith 56', Bloor 70' |
| 37 | 23 April 1977 | Tottenham Hotspur | H | 0–0 | 15,641 | |
| 38 | 30 April 1977 | Coventry City | A | 2–5 | 15,720 | Ruggiero (2) 40', 66' (pen) |
| 39 | 7 May 1977 | Norwich City | H | 0–0 | 13,202 | |
| 40 | 11 May 1977 | Manchester United | H | 3–3 | 24,632 | Crooks (2) 40', 65', Bloor 49' |
| 41 | 14 May 1977 | West Bromwich Albion | A | 1–3 | 22,772 | Suddick 22' |
| 42 | 16 May 1977 | Aston Villa | A | 0–1 | 28,931 | |

### FA Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| R3 | 8 January 1977 | Everton | A | 0–2 | 32,981 | |

### League Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| R2 | 1 September 1976 | Leeds United | H | 2–1 | 22,550 | Conroy 75', Greenhoff 89' |
| R3 | 22 September 1976 | Newcastle United | A | 0–3 | 25,126 | |

### Friendlies

| Match | Opponent | Venue | Result |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Śląsk Wrocław | A | 1–0 |
| 2 | Indonesia XI | A | 1–1 |
| 3 | Persebaya Surabaya | A | 2–0 |
| 4 | Ajax | A | 1–2 |
| 5 | AS Cannes | A | 2–0 |
| 6 | AS Monaco | A | 0–1 |
| 7 | Olympique Lyonnais | A | 1–2 |
| 8 | FC Porto | A | 0–1 |
| 9 | Genoa | A | 0–0 |
| 10 | Chirk AAA | A | 6–0 |
| 11 | Hibernian | A | 1–0 |
| 12 | Blackpool | A | 4–2 |
| 13 | Hereford United | A | 0–1 |

## Squad statistics

| Pos. | Name | League | League | FA Cup | FA Cup | League Cup | League Cup | Total | Total |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Pos. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| GK | Roger Jones | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| GK | Peter Shilton | 40 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 43 | 0 |
| DF | Alan Bloor | 37 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 40 | 2 |
| DF | Danny Bowers | 13(2) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1(1) | 0 | 15(3) | 1 |
| DF | Alan Dodd | 42 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 45 | 1 |
| DF | Paul Johnson | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| DF | John Lumsdon | 12(1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12(1) | 0 |
| DF | Jackie Marsh | 16(1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 19(1) | 0 |
| DF | Mike Pejic | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 23 | 0 |
| DF | Denis Smith | 30 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 2 |
| MF | Brian Bithell | 16(1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17(1) | 0 |
| MF | Terry Conroy | 34(2) | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 36(2) | 6 |
| MF | Alan Hudson | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| MF | John Mahoney | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 24 | 0 |
| MF | Jimmy Robertson | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| MF | Kevin Sheldon | 7(2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7(2) | 0 |
| MF | Alan Suddick | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 |
| MF | John Tudor | 28(2) | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29(2) | 3 |
| MF | Steve Waddington | 11(1) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12(1) | 1 |
| FW | Geoff Salmons | 33(2) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 36(2) | 1 |
| FW | Garth Crooks | 20(3) | 6 | 0(1) | 0 | 1(1) | 0 | 21(5) | 6 |
| FW | Dave Goodwin | 12(1) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12(1) | 1 |
| FW | Jimmy Greenhoff | 14 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 3 |
| FW | John Ruggiero | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 2 |
| FW | Dennis Thorley | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
