It was March 4 1972, Stoke City gained first important victory by winning League Cup Final beating Chelsea 2-1 at Wembley stadium before a crowd of 97,852. Before this wonderful victory, Stoke had progressed through 11 games to reach the final, including matches with West Ham United in the semi-final, -legged match was played twice,well performance in FA Cup, Stoke also progressed to the semi-final stage,but unfortunately, they had to face a defeat against Arsenlas in a replay, in both the 1970–71 and 1971–72 seasons.
Waddington had to face a dilemma as both George Eastham and Peter Dobing retired not long after the club's League Cup win. Waddington responded by paying £240,000 to Chelsea for the services of Alan Hudson in early 1974. So the Geoff Salmons arrived from Sheffield United for £160,000 in same year. Later,Waddington paid £325,000, which is a world record fee for a goalkeeper, to sign Peter Shilton from Leicester City. The coming of Peter Shilton added impetus to Waddington's side and it was due to his presence that stoke were absolutely close to a winning position in the League title in 1974–75,but a hard luck was waiting for Stoke that season slump led to a fifth-place finish, four points off the champions, at Derby.
First time in Stoke’s history, that the year 1970 saw them competing European League and qualifying the UEFA Cup in 1972–73 as a result of their League Cup victory. In the first round, Stoke won with 3-1 over Kaiserslautern of Germany at the Victoria Ground, with a crowd of over 22,000. the club lost the second leg 4–0, therefore losing 5–3 on aggregate. Stoke qualified for the UEFA Cup two years later, due to their fifth place finish in the First Division in the 1973–74 season. With a great bad luck, Stoke were again knocked out in early round and they drew both legs against Dutch side Ajax,1-1 and 0-0 respectively,a good luck again went against them due to the away goals rule.
Due to the Butler Stand roof was blown off in a storm in January 1976,Stoke had to manage their next game against at Vale Park, , the home of local rivals Port Vale.The repair bill reach to £250,000, put the club in financial problem,which was eased by the sale of Alan Hudson, Mike Pejic and Jimmy Greenhoff for a combined sum of £440,000. With the team depleted, relegation proved inevitable in the 1976–77 season. Waddington left the club spending a 17 years tenure, after a home defeat 1-0 in March 1977.
The 2010–11 season was the 148th season in Stoke City F.C.'s history, their third in the Premier League and 111th in the league system of English football. Their 11th place finish in the 2009–10 season means it is their third successive season in the Premier League. Stoke City Premier League Tickets are available at FootballTicketExchangeOnline.com at affordable price. Football fans can buy or sell Football Tickets especially Stoke City Premiership Football Tickets at FootballTicketExchangeOnline.com conveniently.
No comments:
Post a Comment