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ALMOST 300 Stoke City supporters filled the Tony Waddington Suite to capacity on Sunday evening... to celebrate the 40-year anniversary of the Club's League Cup Final triumph over Chelsea.
The black tie gala dinner at the Britannia Stadium, which was compèred by Nigel Johnson, featured eleven players from the 1971/72 squad - nine of whom starred for the side during the famous 2-1 victory at the old Wembley Stadium.
Goal-scoring heroes Terry Conroy and George Eastham were both in attendance, as were the likes of World Cup winning 'keeper Gordon Banks, defensive lynchpin Denis Smith and fan-favourite Jimmy Greenhoff.
Chairman Peter Coates and current Potters captain Ryan Shawcross were also there to pay homage to the players who secured the trophy against the Londoners four decades ago.
"You saw the reception we got out there, and I'm sure if we had a bigger room I am certain that we would have filled in tonight," Terry Conroy told Stoke City Player. "The affection for the lads who played in '72 is still as strong as it was and long may that continue."
Once the players had been individually introduced into the suite by Nigel Johnson at the start of the evening, Peter Coates delivered a short speech in which he led the tributes to Tony Waddington's squad, prior to recalling some of his memories from what he described as 'an historic afternoon'.
A luscious four-course silver service meal followed, with extended highlights of the match being screened throughout, before the main event of the evening - a question and answer session with each of the players - took place on stage.
Following an hour of hugely entertaining dialogue between Nigel Johnson and the players, a presentation was made by the squad in which they handed over a signed limited edition print -produced by Sid Kirkham, entitled 'Bringing The Cup Home' - firstly to Chairman Peter Coates, and then to Shirley Ritchie, the wife of the late John Ritchie.
The curtain was brought down on a memorable evening with all of the players, including modern day star Ryan Shawcross, taking to the stage together to give a rousing rendition of the '72 Cup Final classic 'We'll Be With You'.
"It's an honour to be here amongst so many football legends this evening," Shawcross said. "We are all here to rightly remember their achievements of 40 years ago, and celebrate those with them.
"The fact that so many supporters have turned up tonight speaks volumes about how big an impact winning the League Cup has had on the Club, and I for one would love to one day go on to emulate them, by walking up those steps at Wembley to lift a trophy."
The full list of players in attendance was as follows:
Gordon Banks
Mike Bernard
Terry Conroy
George Eastham
Jimmy Greenhoff
Sean Haslegrave
John Mahoney
Jackie Marsh
Mike Pejic
Denis Smith
Willie Stevenson
!!
- I wish
