After the jubilation of last season's success the club was able to sign world cup winner Geoff Hurst which boosted season ticket sales. They also entered European competition for the first time losing 5–3 on aggregate to German side 1. FC Kaiserslautern. Stoke failed to build on last season and had to settle for a mid table position of 15th.

After winning the League Cup last season there was a number of notable departures during the early part of the season. They sold Mike Bernard to Everton for a record £140,000, with the money being spent on Jimmy Robertson from Ipswich Town and World Cup winner Geoff Hurst from West Ham United. Stoke now had an abundance of attacking talent but both Harry Burrows and Peter Dobing decided to retire during the season.

The arrival of Hurst certainly boosted season ticket sales and a record takings were banked before a ball was kicked prior to the start of the 1972–73 season. It proved that the public of Stoke-on-Trent were now right behind the team but despite high hopes and expectations, the "Potters" started the new campaign rather poorly and found themselves in the bottom six. Stoke's immediate plans were hit when on the Sunday morning of 22 October 1972 after visiting the Victoria Ground for treatment Gordon Banks crashed his car on the way home and effectively ended his career. Such was the scale of Banks' presence his condition was headline news. Realising that Banks was to be out of action for quite some time Waddington moved in for Scotland international Bobby Clark, but the deal fell through as he failed to impress the Stoke directors.Mike McDonald was signed instead from Clydebank as cover for John Farmer after it was learnt that Banks had lost an eye and would never play competitive football again.

...
Wikipedia