The Year We (Nearly) Won the League

Stoke City and the 1974/75 Season

Jonathan Baker

• Publisher: Pitch Publishing
• eBook ISBN:
  9781801502184
• Year: 2022

The Year We (Nearly) Won the League charts one of the closest ever top-flight title battles in English football. It was 1974/75 and with just four games to go, no fewer than ten clubs had a chance of winning. One was Stoke City, fielding the best team they had ever had. This book follows Stoke as they rise to the top spot, only to fall at the final hurdle. You'll discover the unorthodox methods of Tony Waddington, a manager with an eye for talent and a flair for sensational signings. Some of them are legends of English football: Banks, Hurst, Hudson and Shilton. This campaign was the final glorious hurrah of that team, before the club met near bankruptcy and relegation. Half a century on, the players themselves recall a time when hearts - and legs - were broken, when the football flowed and the drink did too. Although the focus is on one club, this story of Stoke's 'nearly men' will resonate with every fan whose team has promised much, but never quite scaled the summit.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• 1. Stuck with Stoke
• 2. Then and Now
• 3. The Dark Ages
• 4. Tony and Stanley
• 5. Banks and Ballet
• 6. Pothunters
• 7. 1974: January to April
• 8. May, June, July
• 9. August
• 10. September
• 11. October
• 12. November
• 13. December
• 14. 1975: January
• 15. February
• 16. March
• 17. April
• 18. Gone with the Wind
• 19. The Boys of ‘74
• Acknowledgements
• Sources
• Photos