The 1959–60 season was Stoke City's 53rd season in the Football League and the 20th in the Second Division.
Stoke had a very poor end to an uneventful 1950s as for most of the season the side looked capable of mounting a promotion challenge but a truly awful run of results in March and April (10 straight defeats) meant that Stoke dropped down the table and only avoided relegation by five points as they finished in 17th position. At the end of the season new chairman Albert Hensall decided that a change of manager was needed and so sacked Frank Taylor and replaced him with Tony Waddington who would bring a new era to the club.
Season review
League The 1959–60 season began well with new signing from Burnley, Doug Newlands tormenting the Sunderland defence in a 3–1 victory. But thereafter their form rate was erratic although Lincoln City were beaten 6–1 with Dennis Wilshaw grabbing a fine hat trick. Soon after that win over Lincoln a 19-year-old Tony Allen won his first England cap. But it was proving difficult on the pitch for Stoke as after a 1–0 home win against Plymouth Argyle on 27 February 1960 Stoke sat in 6th position in the table looking to start a push for promotion, but 10 matches later they were in 17th five points away from relegation.
It was in defence where the problems lay as manager Frank Taylor used four different keepers one of which was Tommy Younger a fine keeper for Liverpool but in his ten matches for Stoke he lost nine of them conceding 22 goals and he quickly left. Ken Thomson was sold to Middlesbrough and legendary striker Frank Bowyer decided to retire.
However the biggest move at the end of the season was made by new chairman Albert Henshall who decided that after eight years at the club it was time for a change of manager and so Frank Taylor was sacked. In truth Stoke were as far away from top flight football than ever with crowds dropping and overall performances on the pitch had been the biggest disappointment. Despite this Taylor was shocked at being fired and vowed never to be associated with football again. In his place Henshall appointed Taylor's assistant Tony Waddington and Len Graham became Waddington's assistant.
FA Cup Stoke failed to make it past the third round this season losing 3–1 away at Preston North End in a replay.
Final league table
Results
Stoke's score comes first
Legend WinDrawLoss
Football League Second Division
MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers1 22 August 1959 SunderlandH3–120,471Cairns (pen), Bowyer, Newlands2 27 August 1959 Leyton OrientA1–213,606King3 29 August 1959 PortsmouthA2–224,627Bentley (2)4 2 September 1959 Leyton OrientH2–119,124Bentley (2)5 5 September 1959 Derby CountyH2–121,906Bowyer, Wilshaw6 9 September 1959 Lincoln CityA0–38,8687 12 September 1959 Brighton & Hove AlbionH1–317,630Wilshaw8 16 September 1959 Lincoln CityH6–113,453Bentley (2), Wilshaw (3), Cunliffe9 19 September 1959 Swansea TownA2–214,626Bentley, Newlands10 26 September 1959 Bristol RoversH0–117,99011 30 September 1959 Aston VillaH3–327,212Newlands (pen), King, Bowyer12 3 October 1959 Ipswich TownA0–416,10313 10 October 1959 Plymouth ArgyleA3–220,087King (2), Wilshaw14 17 October 1959 LiverpoolH1–117,703Newlands (pen)15 24 October 1959 Charlton AthleticA2–118,412Bowyer, King16 31 October 1959 Bristol CityH1–314,439Newlands17 7 November 1959 Scunthorpe UnitedA1–110,827Newlands18 14 November 1959 Rotherham UnitedH2–310,238Bowyer, King19 21 November 1959 Cardiff CityA4–421,500Bowyer, King (2), Newlands20 28 November 1959 Hull CityH3–112,481King, Wilshaw (2)21 5 December 1959 Sheffield UnitedA1–015,994Bowyer22 12 December 1959 MiddlesbroughH2–515,212Bowyer, Howitt23 19 December 1959 SunderlandA2–012,221Newlands, Cunliffe24 26 December 1959 Huddersfield TownH1–120,183Cunliffe25 28 December 1959 Huddersfield TownA3–225,783Bowyer, King, Howitt26 2 January 1960 PortsmouthH4–016,653Bowyer (2), King, Howitt27 16 January 1960 Derby CountyA0–213,63928 23 January 1960 Brighton & Hove AlbionA0–112,81129 6 February 1960 Swansea TownH4–211,713Ward (2), Howitt, Asprey30 13 February 1960 Bristol RoversA1–311,421Ratcliffe31 27 February 1960 Plymouth ArgyleH1–09,961Bentley32 5 March 1960 LiverpoolA1–535,101Bentley33 12 March 1960 Charlton AthleticH1–39,947Bowyer34 17 March 1960 Hull CityA0–411,75035 26 March 1960 Scunthorpe UnitedH1–36,223King36 30 March 1960 Ipswich TownH1–24,070Wilshaw37 2 April 1960 Rotherham UnitedA0–38,52238 9 April 1960 Cardiff CityH0–19,54839 16 April 1960 MiddlesbroughA0–117,16140 18 April 1960 Aston VillaA1–225,000Bowyer41 23 April 1960 Sheffield UnitedH1–27,995Wallace42 30 April 1960 Bristol CityA2–18,722King, Williams (o.g.)
FA Cup
RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR39 January 1960 Preston North EndH1–138,465HowittR3 Replay13 January 1960 Preston North EndA1–335,352Bowyer
Squad statistics Pos.NameLeagueFA CupTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGK Wilf Hall300030GK Geoff Hickson10000100GK Bill Robertson19020210GK Tommy Younger10000100DF Tony Allen39020410DF Ron Andrew30020320DF Terry Lowe000000DF John McCue25020270DF Terry Ward300030DF Eric Skeels200020DF Ken Thomson700070DF Denis Wilson10000100DF Ron Wilson700070MF Bill Asprey36120381MF Bobby Cairns28120301MF Edward Rayner200020FW John Anderson400040FW Tony Bentley13900139FW Frank Bowyer3113113214FW John Cunliffe25320273FW Derek Edge000000FW Bobby Howitt21421235FW Johnny King4213204413FW Doug Newlands32820348FW Don Ratcliffe31100311FW Jimmy Wallace210021FW Derrick Ward920092FW Dennis Wilshaw21910229–Own goals–1–0–1
References