1993–94 Stoke City F.C. season
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The 1993–94 season was
Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, 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 ...
's 87th season in the Football League and 31st in the second tier, now known as the First Division following the formation of the Premier League. Stoke, now back in the second tier for the first time since 1990, were now looking to gain promotion back to English football's top tier and with
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 Kenny ...
in charge it seemed to be a real possibility. Icelandic international Toddy Örlygsson arrived from Nottingham Forest which signalled the club's intentions but they were rocked in October when manager Macari decided to join 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 ...
and another Scotsman,
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 le ...
was appointed manager. Unlike Macari, Jordan was not a popular person with the supporters due to his lack of passion and style of play. Results were okay and a 10th-place finish was the final outcome.


Season review


League

In the summer of 1993 brewer Carling was signed up as the new shirt sponsor and in the build-up to the 1993–94 season Macari sought out to strengthen his squad in readiness for a tough looking First Division. In came Icelandic international midfielder Toddy Örlygsson and proven goalscorer
Gary Bannister Gary Bannister (born 22 July 1960) is an English former professional Association football, footballer who played for Coventry City F.C., Coventry City (two spells), Sheffield Wednesday F.C., Sheffield Wednesday, Queens Park Rangers F.C., Queens ...
both from Nottingham Forest,
Simon Sturridge Simon Andrew Sturridge (born 9 December 1969) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He made more than 250 appearances in the Football League for Birmingham City, Stoke City, Blackpool, Northampton Town and Shrew ...
from Birmingham City, goalkeeper
Mark Prudhoe Mark Prudhoe (born 8 November 1963) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for 17 different Football League clubs. Career Prudhoe was born in Washington, County Durham, and began his career with Sunderland and b ...
from
Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...
and
Martin Carruthers Martin George Carruthers (born 7 August 1972) is an English former footballer who played as a forward for Aston Villa, Hull City, Stoke City, Peterborough United, York City, Darlington, Southend United, Scunthorpe United, Macclesfield Town, Bos ...
from
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 ...
, whilst
Micky Gynn Michael Gynn (born 19 August 1961) is an English former footballer who played as a midfielder in the Football League for Peterborough United, Coventry City and Stoke City. Career Gynn began his career with his hometown club, Peterborough Uni ...
and Kenny Lowe arrived on free transfers. Goalkeeper
Carl Muggleton Carl David Muggleton (born 13 September 1968) is an English professional football goalkeeper who made over 550 appearances in the Football League and Scottish Premier League for a number of clubs, most notably Leicester City, Stoke City, Celtic ...
came in from Leicester City and Kevin Russell joined Burnley for £120,000. A good crowd of 18,766 attended the opening match of the season as Stoke fell to a poor 2–1 defeat to Millwall and questions were asked about the quality of Macari's players in the much tougher First Division. And with Stoke failing to find any real form despite a fantastic victory against
Manchester United 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 City of Salford, Salford to ...
in the League Cup the fans were shocked when star striker Mark Stein, who by October had already scored 13 goals, was allowed to join Chelsea for a club record fee of £1.4 million. Stein had become an idol amongst the supporters and felt let down by the board for accepting Chelsea's offer. Come November and Stoke were struggling in the bottom half of the table and soon after manager
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 Kenny ...
left for one of his former club's,
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 ...
. The new manager was another former Scottish international with a similar career to that of Macari,
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 le ...
. Stoke supporters felt that the appointment of Jordan was the wrong decision with club legend Denis Smith the preferred man to take the position. They eventually accepted Jordan as the new manager although his style of play soon began to cause grumblings from the terraces but the side slowly got results going if not the quality of football. In early 1994 the club was rocked by news that former manager Tony Waddington had died and thousands of supporters lined the streets on the day of his funeral to pay their respects to Stoke's most successful manager. Stoke huffed and puffed as they tried to claim a play-off place but missed out and finished an eventful season in 10th place.


FA Cup

After overcoming plucky non-league Bath City in a third round replay, 4–1 at
Twerton Park Twerton Park is a football stadium in the Twerton suburb of Bath, England. The stadium is named after the surrounding area, Twerton. The stadium has a physical capacity of 8,884, 1,066 of which are seats. It has been the home of Bath City F.C ...
, Stoke lost to Premiership side Oldham Athletic.


League Cup

Stoke knocked out
Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...
which set up a clash with
Manchester United 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 City of Salford, Salford to ...
. Stoke produced a fantastic first leg performance and won 2–1 thanks to two goals from Stein, but they could not repeat the feat in the second leg and lost 2–0.


Final league table


Results


Legend


Football League First Division


FA Cup


League Cup


Anglo-Italian Cup


Friendlies


Squad statistics


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1993-94 Stoke City F.C. season Stoke City F.C. seasons
Stoke City F.C. Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, 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 ...