Stoke City F.C.

Stoke City Football Club (known as Stoke Football Club until 1925) is a football club from Stoke-on-Trent in England (the other league club in the city being Port Vale F.C.). They play in the Championship. The club is reputedly the second-oldest football league club in the world, after Notts County F.C., and claims to have been formed in 1863 (disputed by some, who claim it to be 1868).

The club’s nickname is The Potters (after the pottery industry in Stoke-on-Trent at the time) and its home kit consists of a red & white vertical-striped shirt with white shorts and white socks.

The club was led to a 13th placed finish by Dutch manager Johan Boskamp in 2005/06. However, after a series of arguments with the club's owners he departed at the end of the season, leaving the club's manager's position vacant.

The club was owned by Stoke Holding, which was in turn owned by a consortium of Icelandic businessmen. When he became chairman in 1999, Gunnar Gislason was the youngest chairman in the Football League. The club logo was re-designed shortly after the Icelanders' arrival in the City.

Stoke Holding has since agreed to sell their 66% share in Stoke City Football Club to Peter Coates. The takeover by Peter Coates happened on May 22 2006. The new regime re-appointed former manager Tony Pulis on June 14th 2006.

Their only major trophy to date was the League Cup, which was won in 1972 under the management of Tony Waddington.

Stoke were relegated from the First Division with just 3 wins and 17 points from 42 games in 1985 and have not played at the highest level since. The closest they have come to regaining their top flight status was an appearance in the Division One playoffs in 1996.

Famous former managers of Stoke City include Alan Ball, Alan Durban, Tony Waddington, Lou Macari, Joe Jordan, Brian Little and Gary Megson. Famous former players include Stanley Matthews, Gordon Banks, Peter Shilton, Neil Franklin and Alan Hudson.

History

It played (and lost) its first game against West Bromwich Albion F.C. on 8 September 1888.
Its controversial 0-0 draw with Burnley on April 30, 1898 led to the test match format of promotion & relegation being replace by automatic promotion/relegation.
In 1967 it played in the United Soccer Association as the Cleveland Stokers.
In 1997 the club moved from its traditional home at the Victoria Ground to its new home at the 28,383 all-seater Britannia Stadium. Maximum allocation for visiting supporters is 4,800.
1999 saw an Icelandic takeover by Stoke Holding.
It finished the 2005-06 season in 13th place in The Championship.
On May 22 2006, Peter Coates bought the club back from Stoke Holding for an estimated £1.7million.

Milestones

Stoke City's only major trophy to date is the League Cup, which it won in 1972 under the management of Tony Waddington. Until the 1980s it was a regular competitor in the First Division, but was relegated at the end of the 1984-85 season with just three wins and 17 points from 42 fixtures, and has not been in the top division since. The 17 points gained in that season set the record for the lowest tally of points ever in English football under the 3 points for a win system introduced in 1981. However, this record was beaten at the end of the 2005/2006 season by Sunderland, who finished with 15 points from 38 fixtures in the English (Barclaycard) Premiership.

It went down to the Third Division at the end of the 1989-90 season, won the new Division Two title in 1992-93 season - only to slip back down in 1997-98 - its first season at the new 28,000-seat Britannia Stadium. Stoke's relegation was confirmed on the final day of the league season by a 5-2 home defeat against Manchester City, who were also relegated.

It was promoted again in 2001-02 thanks to a 2-0 victory in the Division Two playoff final against Brentford F.C. Stoke's only serious challenge for a return to the top flight came in 1995-96 when it finished fourth in Division One and lost to eventual winners Leicester City in the playoff semi-final.

Other Information

Despite having a relative lack of success for a club who played top-flight football for many years, the club has seen some famous names play for the club over the years, which can be seen below, including Sir Stanley Matthews, who played for the club in two terms from a youth player to his retirement at 50 years of age.

Stoke have a history of management casualties, few British clubs have seen a higher turnover of managers from the mid 80's till the mid 2000's. Leeds United are a notable exception.

It is rumored in local circles (to the delight of Port Vale supporters) that the Britannia Stadium is built on old mine shafts and the Main Stand is drifiting away from the stadium at the rate of 1/2 centimetre per annum. These reports are unconfirmed and likely to be false, although the ground is built over mineshafts.

Stoke's record purchase is Sambegou Bangoura who cost the Potters £900,000. Their record sale was Mike Sheron to QPR for the sum of £2.5m, a huge sum in 1997.

Peter Coates sits on the board of directors at Stoke. He has a vested interest in the club as a former chairman, a former shareholder of the catering company which supplies to the majority of Northern Englands football grounds, Stadia Catering, as well as being the chairman of Bet 365, the betting company which provides services in many sporting venues, however, not the Britannia Stadium.

Stoke became the first Icelandic owned football club outside of Iceland in 2000, with a consortium purchasing the majority share of the club from Michael Humphries and Peter Coates.

Stan Clarke of horse racing and property development fame sat on the board of directors for a brief period, his highlight being the supervision of the move from the Victoria Ground to the Britannia Stadium.

Stoke have an unfortunate history of hooliganism, along with Cardiff, Millwall and Leeds, trouble is automatically expected when visiting fans with any history meet. This has, however, been significantly reduced since the introduction of an Away Travel ID scheme.

Club Honours

League Cup winners 1972
Autoglass Trophy winners 1992
Auto Windscreens Shield winners 2000
FA Cup semi-finalists 1899, 1971 & 1972
Watney Cup winners 1973

Records

Attendance records:

51,380 (Victoria Ground) vs. Arsenal F.C. 29 March 1937
28,218 (Britannia Stadium) vs. Everton F.C. 5 January 2002

Highest league position and record results:

Highest league position at the end of season: 4th in Division 1 (1947)
Record league victory: 10-3 v. West Bromwich Albion F.C. (1937)
Record league defeat: 0-10 v. Preston North End F.C. (1889)

Current Squad

Past Managers

Tony Pulis (June 2006 - )
Johan Boskamp (June 2005 - May 2006)
Tony Pulis (Nov 2002 - June 2005)
Dave Kevan (October 2002) Caretaker Manager
Steve Cotterill (May 2002 - October 2002)
Gudjon Thordarson (November 1999 - May 2002)
Gary Megson (July 1999 - November 1999)
Brian Little (June 1998 - June 1999)
Alan Durban (April 1998 - June 1998) Caretaker Manager
Chris Kamara (Jan 1998 - April 1998)
Chic Bates (July 1997 - Jan 1998)
Lou Macari (October 1994 - July 1997)
Asa Hartford (Sept 1994) Caretaker Manager
Joe Jordan (Nov 1993 - Sep 1994)
Lou Macari (May 1991 - Oct 1993)
Graham Paddon (Feb 1991 - May 1991) Caretaker Manager
Alan Ball (Nov 1989 - Feb 1991)
Mick Mills (May 1985 - November 1989
Tony Lacey (April 1985) - Caretaker
Bill Asprey (Dec 1983 - April 1985)
Richie Barker (June 1981 - Dec 1983)
Alan Durban (Feb 1978 - June 1981)
Alan a'Court (Jan 1978) - Caretaker
George Eastham (Feb 1977 - Jan 1978)
Tony Waddington (June 1960 - March 1977)
Frank Taylor (June 1952 - June 1960)
Bob McGrory (June 1935 - May 1952)
Tom Mather (Oct 1923 - June 1935)
John Rutherford (March 1923 - April 1923)
Arthur Shallcross (Feb 1919 - March 1923)
Joseph Schofield(April 1915 - Feb 1919)
Peter Hodge (June 1914 - April 1915)
Alfred Barker (May 1908 - June 1914)
Horace Austerberry (Sept 1897 - March 1908)
William Rowley (May 1895 - Sept 1897)
Arthur Reeves (Jan 1892 - May 1895)
Joseph Bradshaw (Aug 1890 - Jan 1892)
Harry Lockett (April 1884 - Aug 1890)
Walter Cox (Jun 1883 - April 1884)
Thomas Slaney (August 1874 - June 1883)

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