Stoke City Football Club The Potters

Stoke City History

2006-07 Season

8th in the Championship
League Cup: 1st round: Darlington h. 1-2
FA Cup: 4th round: Fulham a. 0-3

Highlight:
3-1 win at West Bromwich Albion, 7/4/07

Low Spot:
0-1 defeat at home to Barnsley, 26/2/07

Good:
Lee Hendrie
Spent much of the season at the club on loan from Aston Villa and was a class apart. Good touch, good movement, good passer, creative, tenacious.
Inspired Stoke to their best season in donkeys years and transformed the quality of football to an unrecognisable degree.
Liam Lawrence
Signed from Sunderland this strong, pacy, direct winger offered a consistent outlet for the team and steady service into the front players. Few frills but effective.

Bad:
Peter Sweeney
Another nondescript season for the ex Millwall midfielder and it was no surprise to see him loaned out to Yeovil.
Seems too content to stay in the background.
Vincent Pericard
This was a totally unconvincing season from the forward signed in the summer from Portsmouth. Got his two league goals early on but then remained goalless for the rest of the campaign.
Does not look likely to ever become a prolific scorer. Whether he's a good enough targetman to justify a place at this level is debatable.

In Brief:
There was little real surprise to see the club struggle early on under new boss Tony Pulis and by the end of September they were in a precarious 20th position in the table.
Then came the most inspired loan signing of the season as Lee Hendrie arrived from Aston Villa. Hendrie was a revelation and the Stoke team quickly responded to his scheming by winning eight of the next ten games.
Form remained good throughout the campaign as other newcomers came in and did well, notably Lawrence and Fuller, and the club remained in serious play off contention right up to the final day of the season.
In the end City were left to rue too many drawn games and just missed out. To emphasise the point three of the last four games ended in stalemate.
This effort was a significant improvement on anything managed by the club in a long time and next season is now obviously a cause for optimism.
It is almost certain that Hendrie will not be on hand to pull the strings, however, and whether the team will be capable of challenging in his absence remains to be seen.

Stoke City FC - Club History

Stoke City Football Club was thought to have been formed in 1863 but contemporary research suggests 1868 is a more likely date. It was in that year that a team known as Stoke Ramblers was formed by workers from the North Staffordshire Railway Company.

In 1870 the club dropped the Ramblers tag and in 1888 they became founder members of the Football League. Stoke certainly struggled in those early years.

Having finished bottom of the league in each of the first two seasons Stoke were not re-elected in 1890. It was only a one year exile as they returned in 1891 when the league was increased in size by two teams.

Although Stoke generally struggled they retained first division status until suffering relegation in 1907. During this spell the club reached the FA Cup semi finals in 1899. They knocked out The Wednesday, Small Heath and Tottenham Hospur before losing to Derby County 3-1 in the last four.

After finishing 10th in the second division in 1908 the club actually went bankrupt and had to re-form. Again league status was lost.

The club returned to the second division after the First World War and after a spell of fluctuating fortunes finally managed to stabilize.

In 1922 Stoke were promoted to Division One but were relegated the very next season.

Having changed their name to Stoke City in 1925 the club then dropped into Division Three North in 1926. The Potters were champions in that division in 1927 and after six seasons in Division Two were promoted to Division One as champions in 1933.

Stoke made their highest league finish in 1936 when they claimed 4th place in the first division. They equalled that effort in 1947 but were left disappointed that the league title had eluded them. The Potters went into their final game knowing that victory at Sheffield United would give them the title. The 2-1 defeat they suffered was a dreadful anti-climax.

The backbone of this team quickly disappeared, however. Stan Matthews was inexplicably sold to Blackpool, Freddie Steele retired and Neil Franklin bailed out on an ill fated venture to Columbia.

In 1954 Stoke dropped into the second division where they remained until 1963 when they won the Division Two championship ahead of Chelsea. Remarkably Matthews had returned to the Victoria Ground by that time and would go on to represent the club in the first division at 50 years of age.

Stoke City managed a fourteen year stay in the first division before relegation in 1977.

The club enjoyed a strong period early in the 1970's before suddenly fading. They reached the FA Cup semi finals in both 1971 and 1972.

In 1971 the Potters defeated Millwall, Huddersfield Town (after two replays), Ipswich Town and Hull City before meeting Arsenal at Hillsborough for a place at Wembley. Stoke were only a minute away from victory before Arsenal saved themselves with a penalty. The Gunners won the replay at Villa Park 2-0 on the way to the Double.

The following year it was again Arsenal who broke Stoke hearts with a 2-1 replay victory after a 1-1 draw in the first game.

Consolation came in the form of a League Cup triumph in 1972. Stoke knocked out Southport, Oxford United, Manchester United (after two replays) and Bristol Rovers before meeting West Ham in an epic semi final.

It needed a last minute penalty save by Gordon Banks from Geoff Hurst to keep the aggregate scores level at the end of the two legs. The teams then had to replay twice before Stoke prevailed 3-2 in a game that saw Bobby Moore have to go in goal for the Hammers.

In the final Stoke defeated Chelsea 2-1 with goals from Terry Conroy and George Eastham.

Stoke also managed 5th placed finishes in the first division in 1974 and 1975. On the latter occasion the title was again a distinct possibility until another defeat at Sheffield United with just three games to go.

These performances saw the club twice qualify for the UEFA Cup although they could not negotiate tough first round draws on either occasion.

In 1973 the Potters crashed out to Kaiserslautern despite a 3-1 victory at home in the first leg and in 1975 they went out on away goals to Ajax.

The club were well served during this period by illustrious names such as Gordon Banks, Peter Shilton, Dennis Smith, Mike Pejic, Peter Dobing, John Mahoney, Terry Conroy, Alan Hudson, Geoff Salmons and Jimmy Greenhoff. Heady times.

Stoke suffered relegation in 1977 but bounced back into the top flight in 1979. The emergence of young forwards Garth Crooks, Adrian Heath and Lee Chapman suggested a hopeful future but these players were all sold in turn and in 1985 the club suffered an embarrassing relegation after winning only three games and collecting a meagre 17 points. Incredibly that was the lowest points total in the first division since 1894 when Newton Heath manged just 14. It was only two points for a win in those days, however, and 12 fewer games were played.

In 1990 the club suffered another relegation to fall into Division Three. After losing in the play off semi final to Stockport County in 1992 the Potters claimed the championship in 1993 to return to the second tier.

Stoke missed the opportunity to win a place in the Premier League in 1996 when they lost in the play off semi finals to Leicester City but two years later they were again relegated after a 5-2 home defeat to Manchester City on the final day of the season which saw both clubs going down.

Stoke reached the play offs in three successive seasons before winning back a place in the second tier of English football in 2002 after a 2-0 play off final victory over Brentford and the club are now in their fourth season at that level.

During their recent spells outside the top two divisions Stoke have enjoyed two cup successes. They won the Autoglass Trophy in 1992 after beating Stockport County 1-0 at Wembley thanks to a Mark Stein goal and in 2000 they won the Autowindscreens Shield with victory over Bristol City. Graham Kavanagh and Peter Thorne grabbed the goals on that occasion.

Freddie Steele holds the clubs overall goalscoring record after finding the net 142 times despite losing seven years of his career to the Second World War. Five of these goals came in Stoke's record victory, a 10-3 drubbing of West Bromwich Albion in 1937.

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