Stoke City Football Club is a professional
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
club based in
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...
,
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke-on-Trent was granted
city status City status is a symbolic and legal designation given by a national or subnational government. A municipality may receive city status because it already has the qualities of a city, or because it has some special purpose.
Historically, city status ...
. Stoke's home ground is the 30,089 capacity
bet365 Stadium
The Bet365 Stadium (stylised as ''bet365 Stadium'') is an All-seater stadium, all-seater Association football, football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England and the home of EFL Championship club Stoke City F.C., Stoke City. The stad ...
. Before it was opened in 1997, the club was based at the
Victoria Ground
The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League.
History
...
, which was their home ground since 1878. The club's nickname is The Potters, after the
pottery industry in Stoke-on-Trent, and their traditional home kit is a red-and-white vertically striped shirt, white shorts and stockings. Their traditional rivals are Midlands clubs
West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...
and
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...
, whilst their local rivals are
Port Vale
Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...
with whom they contest the
Potteries derby
In Football in England, English football, the Potteries derby is the List of sports rivalries, local derby between the two major clubs in the city of Stoke-on-Trent – Port Vale F.C., Port Vale and Stoke City F.C., Stoke City, first contested i ...
.
Stoke were one of the twelve founding members of the
Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
in
1888. They failed re-election in 1890, but were re-admitted after winning the 1890–91
Football Alliance
The Football Alliance was an association football league in England which ran for three seasons, from 1889–90 to 1891–92.
History
In 1888, the same year the Football League was founded, The Combination was established by clubs who had been ...
title. The club were relegated from the
First Division in 1907 and entered liquidation the following year. Though the club was saved, they were not re-elected until 1915, and instead spent the intervening years in the
Birmingham & District League and
Southern League. Promoted from the
Second Division
In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...
in 1921–22, the club were relegated twice in four years by 1926. Stoke won the
Third Division North
The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...
in 1926–27 and then the Second Division title in 1932–33. They remained in the top-flight for twenty years and then spent a decade in the Second Division, before winning promotion as champions in 1962–63.
Under the stewardship of
Tony Waddington
Anthony Waddington (9 November 1924 – 21 January 1994) was an English football manager at both Crewe Alexandra and Stoke City.
Waddington had a seven-year playing career with Crewe Alexandra before becoming a coach at Stoke City. He progre ...
, Stoke won the
League Cup
In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...
in
1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...
with a 2–1 victory over
Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
. Stoke had also been beaten finalists in
1964
Events January
* January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved.
* January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...
. The club spent fourteen years in the top-flight, and would secure promotion in 1978–79 after being relegated two years earlier. Stoke remained in the top-flight from 1979 to 1985, though were relegated to the
Third Division in 1990. Having won the
Football League Trophy
The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...
in
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
, they were promoted as champions in 1992–93. Relegation in 1998 allowed the club to win another Football League Trophy title in
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
, before promotion was secured with victory in the
2002 play-off final. Manager
Tony Pulis
Anthony Richard Pulis (; born 16 January 1958) is a Welsh football manager and former footballer who last managed Sheffield Wednesday.
Pulis obtained his FA coaching badge at age 19, followed by his UEFA 'A' licence aged 21 – making him on ...
took Stoke into the
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
at the end of the 2007–08 campaign. They played in the
final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
of the
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
in
2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
, finishing runners-up to
Manchester City
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...
, which saw the club qualify for
European football
UEFA competitions (french: competitions de l'UEFA), referred improperly by the mass media as European football, are the set of tournaments organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), generally in professional and amateur assoc ...
. Ten years of Premier League football culminated in relegation to the
Championship
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this system ...
in 2018.
History
Formation and the early years (1868–1919)
![Note of the third season of the Stoke football club, 1870](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Note_of_the_third_season_of_the_Stoke_football_club%2C_1870.png)
Although there are reports of the game being played in Stoke in 1863,
the Stoke Ramblers club was formed in 1868 by
Henry Almond, who had been a student at Charterhouse school where a dribbling form of the game was popular. Almond arrived in the region to become an apprentice with the North Staffordshire Railway Company and, wishing to continue playing the game that he had enjoyed whilst at school, established the first formal association football club in the region.
The club's first documented match was in October 1868, against a scratch team brought together for the occasion by E.W May. Harry Almond captained the Stoke Ramblers team and also scored the club's first goal.
The club's first recorded away match was at Congleton, a rugby club that were convinced to play a one-off fixture under association rules, in December 1868. From the 1860s, the club played at the Victoria Cricket Club ground; however they switched to a nearby ground at Sweetings Field in 1875 to cope with rising attendances.
![Stoke city fc 1877-78](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Stoke_city_fc_1877-78.jpg)
In 1870, after two seasons as the Ramblers, the club dropped the suffix from its title and became known as Stoke Football Club. It became closely aligned with Stoke Victoria Cricket Club, sharing facilities and some administrative responsibilities.
The club played at the Athletic Club ground, which soon became known as the
Victoria Ground
The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League.
History
...
.
It was around this time that the club adopted their traditional red-and-white striped kit. In August 1885, the club turned professional.
Stoke were one of the twelve founding members of
the Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
when it was introduced in 1888.
The club struggled in their first two seasons,
1888–89 and
1889–90, finishing bottom on both occasions.
In 1890 Stoke failed to be
re-elected and joined the
Football Alliance
The Football Alliance was an association football league in England which ran for three seasons, from 1889–90 to 1891–92.
History
In 1888, the same year the Football League was founded, The Combination was established by clubs who had been ...
, which they won and thus were re-elected to the Football League. Stoke spent the next 15 seasons in the First Division and reached the FA Cup Semi-final in the
1898–99 season before being relegated in 1907 with severe financial problems. Stoke went bankrupt at the end of the
1907–08 season and entered non-league football, playing in the
Birmingham & District League and
Southern League until 1914, when the First World War meant the Football League was suspended for four years. During the wartime period, Stoke entered the
Lancashire Primary and Secondary leagues.
When football recommenced in August 1919, Stoke re-joined the league.
Victoria Ground and Stanley Matthews (1919–1937)
The club became owners of the
Victoria Ground
The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League.
History
...
in 1919. This was followed by the construction of the Butler Street stand, which increased the overall capacity of the ground to 50,000.
In 1925, Stoke-on-Trent was granted
city status City status is a symbolic and legal designation given by a national or subnational government. A municipality may receive city status because it already has the qualities of a city, or because it has some special purpose.
Historically, city status ...
and this led the club to change its name to Stoke City F.C.
The 1930s saw the debut of club's most celebrated player,
Stanley Matthews
Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English footballer who played as an outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the British game, he is the only player to have been knighted while stil ...
. Matthews, who grew up in
Hanley, was an apprentice at the club and made his first appearance in March 1932, against
Bury
Bury may refer to:
*The burial of human remains
*-bury, a suffix in English placenames
Places England
* Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village
* Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire
** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...
, at the age of 17.
By end of the decade, Matthews had established himself as an
England international
The England national football team has represented England in international football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in England, which is affilia ...
and as one of the best footballers of his generation. Stoke achieved promotion from the Second Division in
1932–33 – as champions – however Matthews only featured in fifteen games in this season. He did however score his first goal for the club in a 3–1 win against local rivals
Port Vale
Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...
.
By 1934, the club's average attendance had risen to over 23,000, which in turn allowed the club to give the manager
Tom Mather
Tom or TOM may refer to:
* Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name)
Characters
* Tom Anderson, a character in '' Beavis and Butt-Head''
* Tom Beck, a character ...
increased transfer funds. The club was now considered one of the top teams in the country. It was in this period that the club recorded its record league win, a 10–3 win over
West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...
in February 1937. In April of that year, the club achieved its record league crowd – 51,373 against
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
.
Freddie Steele's 33 league goals in the
1936–37 season remains a club record.
Title challenge and league decline (1937–1960)
Following the resumption of the
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, tragedy struck on 9 March 1946, as 33 fans died and 520 were injured during a 6th round tie away against
Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...
. This came known as the
Burnden Park disaster
The Burnden Park disaster was a human crush that occurred on 9 March 1946 at Burnden Park football stadium, then the home of Bolton Wanderers. The crush resulted in the deaths of 33 people and injuries to hundreds of Bolton fans. It was the de ...
.
In
1946–47, Stoke mounted a serious title challenge. The club needed a win in their final game of the season to win the First Division title. However, a 2–1 defeat to
Sheffield United
Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...
meant the title went to
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
instead. Stanley Matthews left with 3 games remaining of the 1946–47 season, opting to join
Blackpool
Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...
at the age of 32.
Stoke were relegated from the
First Division in
1952–53; during the season
Bob McGrory
Robert Gerald McGrory (17 October 1891 – 24 May 1954) was a Scottish footballer who played in the Football League for Burnley and Stoke City with whom he later had a long spell as manager.
McGrory played football with Dumbarton before joining ...
resigned as the club's manager after 17 years in the role.
Former
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...
defender
Frank Taylor took over at the club looking to gain promotion back to the First Division. However, after seven seasons in the
Second Division
In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...
without promotion, Taylor was sacked. Taylor was shocked at being fired and vowed never to be associated with football again.
Tony Waddington years (1960–1977)
Tony Waddington
Anthony Waddington (9 November 1924 – 21 January 1994) was an English football manager at both Crewe Alexandra and Stoke City.
Waddington had a seven-year playing career with Crewe Alexandra before becoming a coach at Stoke City. He progre ...
was appointed as the club's manager in June 1960. He joined the club in 1952 as a coach, before being promoted to assistant manager in 1957. Waddington pulled off a significant coup by enticing Stanley Matthews – then 46 years old – back to the club, 14 years after he had departed.
The return of Matthews helped Stoke to an improved eighth position in
1961–62. Promotion was achieved in the
following season, with Stoke finishing as champions.
In their first season back in the top flight,
1963–64, Waddington guided Stoke to a mid-table finish. Stoke reached the
1964 Football League Cup Final, which they lost 4–3 to
Leicester City
Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...
over two legs.
Waddington counted on experience;
Dennis Viollet
Dennis Sydney Viollet (20 September 1933 – 6 March 1999) was an English footballer who played for Manchester United and Stoke City as well as the England national team. He was famous as one of the Busby Babes and survived the Munich air disa ...
,
Jackie Mudie
John Knight Mudie (10 April 1930 – 2 March 1992) was a Scottish international footballer who played as a forward. He won seventeen caps for his country, helping the Scotland national team to qualify for the 1958 FIFA World Cup.
Startin ...
,
Roy Vernon
Thomas Royston "Roy" Vernon (14 April 1937 – 4 December 1993) was a Welsh international footballer who played for Blackburn Rovers, Everton and Stoke City. Vernon won 32 caps for Wales, scoring eight goals in total, and representing his cou ...
,
Maurice Setters
Maurice Edgar Setters (16 December 1936 – 22 November 2020) was an English football player and manager. As a player, he made more than 400 appearances in the Football League for Exeter City, West Bromwich Albion, Manchester United, Stoke City, ...
and
Jimmy McIlroy
James McIlroy (25 October 1931 – 20 August 2018) was a Northern Ireland international footballer, who played for Glentoran, Burnley, Stoke City and Oldham Athletic. He was regarded as one of Burnley's greatest players, having played 497 matc ...
were all players signed in the latter stages of their careers. Matthews was awarded a
knighthood
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...
for services to football in the 1965 New Year's Honours list. This was followed by his final appearance for the club against
Fulham
Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...
in February 1965, shortly after his 50th birthday.
Gordon Banks
Gordon Banks (30 December 1937 – 12 February 2019) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he made 679 appearances during a 20-year professional caree ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
's
1966 World Cup-winning
goalkeeper
In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...
, joined in 1967 for
£52,000 from Leicester.
Regarded as the best goalkeeper in the world, Banks proved to be a shrewd signing for Waddington as he helped the club maintain stability in the First Division.
During the close season of 1967, Stoke City played in the one-off
United Soccer Association
The United Soccer Association was a professional soccer league featuring teams based in the United States and Canada. The league survived only one season before merging with the National Professional Soccer League to form the North American S ...
which imported clubs from Europe and South America. Stoke played as the
Cleveland Stokers
The Cleveland Stokers were a soccer team based in Cleveland, Ohio that played in the United Soccer Association during 1967 and the North American Soccer League in 1968. Their home field was Cleveland Stadium.
History United Soccer Association
...
and finished as runner-up of the Eastern Division.
The club won its first major trophy on
4 March 1972 in the League Cup Final against
Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
. Stoke won 2–1 in front of a crowd of 97,852 at
Wembley
Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...
with goals from
Terry Conroy
Gerard Anthony Francis Conroy (born 2 October 1946) is an Irish former professional footballer. A winger and forward, he scored 74 goals in 372 league and cup appearances in a 14-year career in the English Football League from 1967 to 1981. ...
and
George Eastham
George Edward Eastham, OBE (born 23 September 1936) is an English former footballer. He is known for playing for Newcastle United, Arsenal and Stoke City, as well as a member of England's 1966 World Cup-winning squad. However, he is also nota ...
.
Preceding this victory, Stoke had progressed through 11 games in order to reach the final. This included four games with
West Ham United
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...
in the
semi-final
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...
; the
two-legged tie
In sports (particularly association football), a two-legged tie is a contest between two teams which comprises two matches or "legs", with each team as the home team in one leg. The winning team is usually determined by aggregate score, the sum o ...
was
replayed twice. Stoke fared well in the
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
; the club progressed to the semi-final stage in both the
1970–71 and
1971–72 seasons. However, on both occasions Stoke lost to
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
in a
replay.
Stoke also competed in the
UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...
in 1972 and 1974 losing at the first attempt to
1. FC Kaiserslautern and
Ajax
Ajax may refer to:
Greek mythology and tragedy
* Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea
* Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris
* ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...
respectively.
In January 1976, the roof of the Butler Street Stand was blown off in a storm.
The repair bill of nearly £250,000 put the club in financial trouble; key players such as
Alan Hudson,
Mike Pejic and
Jimmy Greenhoff
James Greenhoff (born 19 June 1946) is an English former footballer. He was a skilful forward and although capped five times at under-23 level, once as an over-age player, he never played for the full side, and is labelled as the finest Englis ...
were sold to cover the repairs. With the team depleted, Stoke were relegated in the
1976–77 season. Waddington, after a spell of 17 years in charge, left the club after a 1–0 home defeat to Leicester in March 1977.
Managerial roundabout (1977–1997)
Waddington was replaced by
George Eastham
George Edward Eastham, OBE (born 23 September 1936) is an English former footballer. He is known for playing for Newcastle United, Arsenal and Stoke City, as well as a member of England's 1966 World Cup-winning squad. However, he is also nota ...
in March 1977. However, he could not prevent the club's relegation to the Second Division in
1976–77. Eastham left in January 1978 after only ten months in charge, and was replaced by
Alan Durban
William Alan Durban (born 7 July 1941) is a Welsh former international footballer and manager, whose career was at its peak between the 1970s and 1990s. He played in the Football League for Cardiff City, Derby County and was player-manager of ...
from
Shrewsbury Town
Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...
. Durban achieved promotion to the First Division in the
1978–79 season,
but after consolidating the club's position in the First Division, he left to manage
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
in 1981.
Richie Barker was appointed for the
1981–82 season, but was sacked in December 1983 and was replaced by
Bill Asprey
William Asprey (born 11 September 1936) is an English former football player and manager. A defender, he made 418 league appearances in a 15-year career in the Football League. He then had a 25-year career as a coach.
He spent 1953 to 1965 at ...
. Asprey decided to bring back veteran
Alan Hudson, and the decision paid off as an improved second half of the season saw Stoke avoid relegation on the final day of the
1983–84 season.
The
1984–85 season proved to be disastrous. Stoke finished the season with only 17 points, with just three wins all season.
Mick Mills
Michael Dennis Mills MBE (born 4 January 1949) is an English former footballer who played for Ipswich Town, Southampton and Stoke City. He managed Stoke City, Colchester United and Birmingham City. During his career he achieved Ipswich To ...
was appointed
player-manager
A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...
for the
1985–86 season,
but was unable to sustain a challenge for promotion in his four seasons as manager and was sacked in November 1989. His successor,
Alan Ball Jr.
Alan James Ball (12 May 1945 – 25 April 2007) was an English professional football player and manager. He was the youngest member of England's 1966 World Cup winning team and played as a midfielder for various clubs, scoring more than 180 l ...
, became the club's fifth manager in ten years.
Ball struggled in his first season in charge,
1989–90, and Stoke were relegated to the third tier of English football after finishing bottom of the Second Division. Ball kept his job for the start of the following season,
1990–91, but departed during February 1991, in an indifferent season that saw Stoke finish 14th in the
Third Division, Stoke's lowest league position.
Ball's successor,
Lou Macari
Luigi Macari (born 7 June 1949) is a Scottish former footballer and manager. He began his playing career at Celtic where he was one of the Quality Street Gang, the outstanding reserve team that emerged in the late 1960s that also included Ken ...
, was appointed in May 1991, prior to the start of the
1991–92 season. He clinched silverware for the club; the
1992 Football League Trophy was won with a 1–0 victory against
Stockport County
Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...
at Wembley, with
Mark Stein scoring the only goal of the match. The following season,
1992–93, promotion was achieved from the third tier. Macari left for his boyhood club
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
in October 1993 to be replaced by
Joe Jordan
Joseph Jordan (born 15 December 1951) is a Scottish football player, coach and manager. He is currently a first-team coach at AFC Bournemouth.
A former striker, he played for Leeds United, Manchester United, and Milan, among others at club ...
; Stein also departed, in a club record £1.5 million move to Chelsea.
Jordan's tenure in charge was short, leaving the club less than a year after joining, and Stoke opted to re-appoint Lou Macari only 12 months after he had left. Stoke finished fourth in
1995–96 but were defeated in the play-off semi-final by Leicester City. Macari left the club at the end of the following season. His last match in charge was the final league game at the
Victoria Ground
The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League.
History
...
.
Mike Sheron
Michael Nigel Sheron (born 11 January 1972) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who is under-23's head coach at Blackburn Rovers.
As a player, he was a striker who notably played in the Premier League for Manchest ...
, who was signed two years previously from
Norwich City
Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...
, was sold for a club record fee of £2.5 million in 1997.
Britannia Stadium and the Icelandic takeover (1997–2008)
1997–98 saw Stoke move to its new ground, the
Britannia Stadium
The Bet365 Stadium (stylised as ''bet365 Stadium'') is an all-seater football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England and the home of EFL Championship club Stoke City. The stadium was previously called the Britannia Stadium but was ...
, after 119 years at the Victoria Ground.
Chic Bates
Philip Desmond "Chic" Bates (born 28 November 1949) is an English former footballer and manager.
Bates played non-league football with Stourbridge before becoming a professional with Shrewsbury Town in 1974. He had a fine debut season scoring 1 ...
, Macari's assistant, was appointed manager for the club's first season in the new ground. He did not last long though, and was replaced by
Chris Kamara
Christopher Kamara (born 25 December 1957) is an English former professional football player and manager who worked as a presenter and football analyst at Sky Sports from 1992 to 2022.
As a player, he was known as a tough-tackling midfielder. H ...
in January 1998. Kamara could not improve the club's fortunes either, and he too left in April.
Alan Durban
William Alan Durban (born 7 July 1941) is a Welsh former international footballer and manager, whose career was at its peak between the 1970s and 1990s. He played in the Football League for Cardiff City, Derby County and was player-manager of ...
, previously Stoke's manager two decades earlier, took charge for the remainder of season. Despite his best efforts, Durban was unable to keep the club up, as defeat against
Manchester City
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...
on the final day of the season consigned Stoke to relegation to the third tier.
Brian Little, formerly manager of
Aston Villa
Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...
, took charge for the
1998–99 season. Despite an impressive start, the team's form tailed off dramatically in the latter stages of the season, which led to Little leaving the club at the end of the season. His successor,
Gary Megson
Gary John Megson (born 2 May 1959) is an English former football player and manager.
He has previously managed Norwich City, Blackpool, Stockport County, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion, Nottingham Forest, Leicester City, Bolton Wanderers ...
, was only in the job for four months. Megson was forced to depart following a takeover by
Stoke Holding, an
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
ic consortium, who purchased a 66% share in Stoke City F.C. for £6.6 million.
Stoke became the first Icelandic-owned football club outside of Iceland. They appointed the club's first foreign manager,
Guðjón Þórðarson
Guðjón Þórðarson (; born 14 September 1955) is an Icelandic footballer manager and former player. He has previously been manager of Iceland, Icelandic clubs ÍA, KA, KR, Keflavík, BÍ/Bolungarvík and Grindavík, English clubs Notts Cou ...
, who helped Stoke win the
Football League Trophy
The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...
in the
1999–2000 season, with a
2–1 win over
Bristol City
Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...
in front of a crowd of 85,057 at Wembley.
Þórðarson achieved promotion at the third time of asking in
2001–02 after previous play-off defeats against
Gillingham and
Walsall
Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...
.
Cardiff City were defeated in the semi-final before a
2–0 win against
Brentford
Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross.
Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...
at the
Millennium Stadium
The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rug ...
secured promotion. Despite achieving the goal of promotion, Þórðarson was sacked by
Gunnar Gíslason just five days later.
Steve Cotterill
Stephen John Cotterill (born 20 July 1964) is an English former footballer who played as a striker. He is currently the manager of side Shrewsbury Town.
Cotterill had a nine-year career as a footballer playing for Burton Albion, Wimbledon, ...
was drafted in as Thordarson's replacement prior to the start of the
2002–03 season,
but resigned in October 2002 after only four months in charge.
Tony Pulis
Anthony Richard Pulis (; born 16 January 1958) is a Welsh football manager and former footballer who last managed Sheffield Wednesday.
Pulis obtained his FA coaching badge at age 19, followed by his UEFA 'A' licence aged 21 – making him on ...
was appointed as Stoke's new manager shortly after.
Pulis steered Stoke clear of relegation,
with a 1–0 win over
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...
on the final day of the season keeping the club in the division. However, Pulis was sacked at the end of the
2004–05 season, following disagreement between himself and the club's owners.
Dutch manager
Johan Boskamp
Johannes "Johan/Jan" Boskamp (born 21 October 1948) is a Dutch former football player and manager.
He played the majority of his career for hometown club Feyenoord and Belgian side RWDM and managed primarily in the Belgian leagues. Currently he ...
was named as Pulis' successor on 29 June 2005, only one day after Pulis was sacked. Boskamp brought in a number of new players from Europe, but his side was inconsistent and only a mid-table finish was achieved. Boskamp left at the end of the
2005–06 season amidst a takeover bid by former chairman
Peter Coates
Peter Coates (born 13 January 1938) is an English businessman, the co-founder of bet365, and the chairman of Stoke City Football Club. He has been listed as the 25th-richest person in British football. He founded Stadia Catering in the 1960s an ...
. On 23 May 2006, Coates completed his takeover of Stoke City, marking the end of Gunnar Gíslason's chairmanship of the club. Coates chose former manager Tony Pulis as Boskamp's successor in June 2006. Pulis took Stoke close to a play-off place, but an eventual eighth-place finish was achieved in the
2006–07 season.
Ten years in the Premier League (2008–2018)
Stoke won automatic promotion to the
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
on the final day of the
2007–08 season, finishing in second place in the
Championship
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this system ...
. A 3–1 defeat to
Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...
on the opening day of the
2008–09 season saw Stoke written off by many media outlets as relegation certainties. Stoke managed to turn the Britannia Stadium into a "fortress", making it difficult for teams to pick up points there. In their first home match, Stoke defeated Aston Villa 3–2, and wins also came against
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...
, Arsenal, Sunderland and
West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...
. After a 2–1 win at
Hull City
Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...
, Stoke confirmed their place in the
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
as the ''Potters'' finished 12th in their return to the top flight, with a total of 45 points. Stoke finished the following
2009–10 season in a respectable 11th place, with 47 points. Stoke also made it to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup for the first time since 1972, defeating
York City
York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...
, Arsenal and Manchester City before losing out to eventual winners Chelsea.
Stoke reached the
FA Cup Final
The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football ev ...
for the first time, beating Cardiff City,
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...
,
Brighton & Hove Albion
Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...
,
West Ham United
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...
and a famous 5–0 win against Bolton, the largest post-war FA Cup semi-final victory. However, they lost the
final 1–0 to Manchester City. By reaching the final, Stoke qualified for the
2011–12 UEFA Europa League
The 2011–12 UEFA Europa League was the third season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 41st edition overall including its predecessor, the UEFA Cup. It began on 30 June 2011 with t ...
. In the
Europa League
The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...
, Stoke advanced past
Hajduk Split
Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, t ...
,
Thun
, neighboring_municipalities= Amsoldingen, Heiligenschwendi, Heimberg, Hilterfingen, Homberg, Schwendibach, Spiez, Steffisburg, Thierachern, Uetendorf, Zwieselberg
, twintown =
, website = www.thun.ch
Thun (french: Thoune) ...
and a tough group containing
Beşiktaş
Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and ...
,
Dynamo Kyiv
Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Union, Soviet Dynamo Sports Club, Dynamo Sports Soc ...
and
Maccabi Tel Aviv
Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...
which Stoke managed to progress through finishing in second position. City's reward was a tie against Spanish giants
Valencia
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
and despite putting up a spirited second leg performance, Stoke went out 2–0 on aggregate. In the Premier League, Stoke made the high-profile signing of
Peter Crouch
Peter James Crouch (born 30 January 1981) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was capped 42 times by the England national team between 2005 and 2010, scoring 22 goals for his country during that time, and ...
as they finished in a mid-table position for a fourth time. The
2012–13 season saw Stoke make little progress, and Pulis left the club by mutual consent on 21 May 2013.
Pulis was replaced by fellow Welshman
Mark Hughes
Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former player who is the manager of Bradford City.
During his playing career he usually operated as a forward or midfielder. He had two spells at Manchester United, an ...
, who signed a three-year contract on 30 May 2013. Hughes led Stoke to a ninth-place finish in
2013–14, their highest position in the Premier League and best finish since
1974–75. The
2014–15 season saw Stoke again finish in ninth position this time, with 54 points. Despite breaking their transfer record twice on
Xherdan Shaqiri
Xherdan Shaqiri (; born 10 October 1991) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club Chicago Fire and the Switzerland national team.
Shaqiri began his career at FC Basel, winning honours including ...
and then
Giannelli Imbula
Gilbert Imbula Wanga (born 12 September 1992) is a professional footballer who last played as a defensive midfielder for Portuguese club Portimonense. Born in Belgium, Imbula played youth football for France, before changing international allegi ...
, in
2015–16, Stoke did not make any progress and finished in ninth position for a third season running. Stoke declined in
2016–17, finishing in 13th position. In January 2018, Hughes was sacked after a poor run left the club in the relegation zone. He was replaced by
Paul Lambert
Paul Lambert (born 7 August 1969) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player, who was most recently the manager of Ipswich Town.
Lambert played as a midfielder and won the Scottish Cup in 1987 with St Mirren as a 17-year-ol ...
, who could not prevent the club ending their 10-year spell in the Premier League.
Return to the Championship (2018–present)
Following their relegation to the Championship, Lambert was replaced with former Derby County boss
Gary Rowett
Gary Rowett (born 6 March 1974) is an English professional football manager and former player, who is currently manager of Championship club Millwall.
As a player, he was a defender, and played in the Premier League for Everton, Derby County, ...
. Despite spending nearly £50 million on players in the summer transfer window, results and performances were poor and Rowett was subsequently sacked on 8 January 2019 with the team 14th in the table. He was replaced with Luton Town boss
Nathan Jones. Stoke went on to end an uneventful
2018–19 season in 16th place with a record number of draws (22).
After achieving just two wins in the opening 14 games of the following season, Jones was sacked on 1 November 2019 with the team in the relegation zone. Northern Ireland boss
Michael O'Neill was confirmed as his replacement a week later. Results improved under O'Neill and the team managed to avoid relegation, finishing in 15th. Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
the entire
2020–21
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...
campaign was played without supporters present as Stoke again finished in mid-table. The following campaign started brightly with the team challenging for the playoffs, though a poor finish to the season saw them finish in 14th. A slow start to the
2022–23 season marked the end for O'Neill's time in charge and he was dismissed in August 2022, with Sunderland boss
Alex Neil replacing him.
Stadium
![Stoke City FC V Arsenal 09](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Stoke_City_FC_V_Arsenal_09.jpg)
It is not clear where Stoke's original playing fields were located. Their first pitch was certainly in the site of a present burial ground in Lonsdale Street, although there is evidence that they also played on land near to the Copeland Arms public house on Campbell Road.
In 1875, they moved to Sweetings Field, which was owned by the mayor of Stoke, Alderman Sweeting.
It is estimated that as many as 200–250 spectators were attending home matches at Sweetings Field, paying one penny for admission. Stoke were to stay at Sweetings Field until a merger with the Stoke Victoria Cricket Club in March 1878, when Stoke moved to the
Victoria Ground
The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League.
History
...
.
The first match to be played at the Victoria Ground was a friendly against Talke Rangers on 28 March 1878; Stoke won 1–0 in front of 2,500 fans.
The ground was originally an oval shape to cater for athletics, and this shape was retained for the next 30 years. Major development work began in the 1920s, and by 1930 the ground had lost its original shape.
By 1935, the ground capacity was up to 50,000. A record crowd of 51,380 packed into the Ground on 29 March 1937 to watch a league match against Arsenal.
Floodlights were installed in 1956 and another new main stand was built. Over the weekend of the 3/4 in January 1976, gale-force winds blew the roof off the Butler Street Stand.
Stoke played a home League match against
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area.
Until the early 1800s, the a ...
at
Vale Park
Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has been the home ground of Port Vale F.C. since 1950.
The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49, ...
whilst repair work was on-going.
The Stoke End Stand was improved in 1979 and through the 1980s more improvements were made. By 1995, Stoke drew up plans to make the ground an all seater stadium, to comply with the
Taylor Report
The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster Inquiry report is the report of an inquiry which was overseen by Lord Justice Taylor, into the causes of the Hillsborough disaster in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989, as a result of which, ...
. However, the club decided it would be better to leave the Victoria Ground and re-locate to a new site.
In 1997, Stoke left the Victoria Ground after 119 years, and moved to the modern 28,384 all seater
Britannia Stadium
The Bet365 Stadium (stylised as ''bet365 Stadium'') is an all-seater football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England and the home of EFL Championship club Stoke City. The stadium was previously called the Britannia Stadium but was ...
at a cost of £14.7 million. Stoke struggled at first to adjust to their new surroundings and were relegated to the third tier in the first season at the new ground. In 2002, a record 28,218 attended an FA Cup match against
Everton. With Stoke gaining promotion to the Premier League in 2008, attendances increased. However, the capacity was reduced to 27,500 due to segregation. The name of the ground was changed to the Bet365 Stadium in June 2016. Work began on expanding the stadium to over 30,000 in February 2017 and was concluded in the summer of 2017.
Supporters
![2011FACupFinalAbideWithMe](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/2011FACupFinalAbideWithMe.JPG)
While much of the support that the club enjoys is from the local
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...
area, there are a number of exile fan clubs, notably in London and stretching from Scandinavia to countries farther afield such as Russia, the United States and Australia. A capacity crowd regularly turned out to see them in the Premier League.
Stoke have had problems with
football hooliganism
Football hooliganism, also known as soccer hooliganism, football rioting or soccer rioting, constitutes violence and other destructive behaviours perpetrated by spectators at association football events. Football hooliganism normally involves ...
in the 1970s through the early 2000s, due to the actions of the
"Naughty Forty" firm which associated itself with the club and was formed by supporter Mark Chester. Chester reformed himself and now works as a youth inclusion promoter. In 2003, the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
described Stoke City as having "one of the most active and organised football hooligan firms in England". In response to these criticisms, the club introduced an Away Travel ID scheme. It was subsequently suspended in 2008 as a result of improved behaviour and an enhanced reputation. More recently, Stoke City's fans and stadium have been perceived as loud, friendly, passionate and modern,
. There is in the media now "genuine admiration for the volume and volatility of the club's loyal support".
Stoke announced that they would offer supporters free bus travel to every Premier League away game in the 2013–14 and 2014–15 seasons.
In November 2008, a group of Stoke fans was forced by the
. The human rights group
took up their case, and the Greater Manchester police eventually apologised for their actions and the fans received compensation.
Supporters of the club have adopted "
" as their anthem since the 1970s, when a supporter was heard singing it in a local pub. Some of the song's lyrics have been adapted for the terraces, but most remain the same. Stoke's official club anthem is "We'll be with you", which was recorded by the Stoke players prior to the
.
Between 2008 and 2011, local fan "Pottermouth" contributed a series of raps to
.
area of Stoke-on-Trent. As the two clubs have regularly been in different divisions, there have only been 46 league matches between the two sides, with the last match being in 2002. Regardless of the lack of matches, the
is often a tight and close game of football with few goals being scored. Stoke have won 19 matches while Vale have won 15.
Due to the rarity of this fixture, Stoke have more established rivalries with Midlands clubs
.
where the sides played each other in the Second Division play-offs.
Stoke's traditional kit is red and white striped shirts with white shorts and socks.
and hooped stockings.
This changed to black and blue hoops before the club settled on red and white stripes in 1883.
were allowed to take red and white stripes. So between 1891 and 1908 Stoke used a variety of kits with plain
being the most common.
In 1908, Stoke lost their League status and were able to finally revert to red and white and when they re-joined the league in 1919 the rule was scrapped.
Since then, Stoke have forever used red and white striped shirts, with the only time when they diverted from this was for two seasons in the mid-1980s, which saw them wear a pin-striped shirt.
Stoke's first club crest was a stylised "S" which was used by players in 1882 who would stitch the crest on to their shirts; however, this practice soon faded away.
In the 1950s Stoke began using the shield from the Stoke-on-Trent coat-of-arms which was used infrequently until 1977.
and pottery kiln represented local tradition while red and white stripes were also added.
This lasted until 1992 when the club decided to use the entire Stoke-on-Trent coat-of-arms which included the club's name at the top of the crest.
They changed their crest in 2001 to the current version which includes their nickname "The Potters". For the 2012–13 season, they used a special version to mark the club's 150th anniversary which included the club's Latin motto "''Vis Unita Fortior''" ("United Strength is Stronger").
: £20 million (22 July 2017)
Record results:
* Record win: 26–0 v. Mow Cop (1877)
* Record
victory: 10–3 v.
defeat: 0–10 v.
victory: 11–0 v.
defeat: 0–8 v.
victory: 6–2 v.
defeat: 0–8 v.
win: 6–1 v.
defeat: 0–7 v.
v.
v.
*Vice-chairman: Richard Smith
*Chief Operating Officer: Simon King
;First Team Management
*Manager:
*Technical Director: Ricky Martin
*Head of Football Operations: Andy Cousins
*Head of Sports Science: Paul Walsh
*Kit Manager: Max Shapland
;Academy Staff
*Academy Director:
: 19
*Winners: 1877–78, 1878–79, 1903–04, 1913–14, 1920–21, 1929–30, 1933–34, 1938–39, 1947–48, 1964–65, 1968–69, 1970–71, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1981–82, 1992–93, 1994–95, 1998–99, 2016–17
* Runners-up: 1882–83, 1885–86, 1890–91, 1895–96, 1896–97, 1900–01, 1901–02, 1902–03, 1923–24, 1925–26, 1934–35, 1951–52, 1971–72, 1973–74, 1980–81, 2002–03, 2005–06, 2010–11
: 2
*Winners: 1901, 1914
*Runners-up: 1910, 1915, 1920, 1921
Isle of Man Trophy: 3
*Winners: