 He made 194 league appearances for Stoke City in total, ten of them as a substitute, scoring four goals.Eastham retired from playing in 1974, having been appointed an OBE for services to football the previous year.Eastham became Tony Waddington's assistant at Stoke, and succeeded Waddington as Stoke manager after the latter resigned in March 1977, becoming only the club's fourth manager since 1935.