2001–02 Stoke City F.C. season
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The 2001–02 season was Stoke City's 95th season in
the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...
and the eighth in the third tier. After two failed attempts to gain promotion via the play-offs the pressure was now on Gudjon Thordarson to achieve automatic promotion.
Graham Kavanagh Graham Anthony Kavanagh (born 2 December 1973) is an Irish football manager and former professional player. Kavanagh had a 19-year-long career and played for Middlesbrough, Stoke City, Cardiff City, Wigan Athletic, Sunderland, Sheffield Wednes ...
was sold for £1 million as well as fan favourite Peter Thorne to Cardiff City and with the money raised Stoke went out and brought some useful additions. After a slow start City went on a 10 match unbeaten run which was brought to a halt by Wigan in November. In January Stoke lost their form and fell away from automatic promotion places and it became clear that it would be the play-offs again for Stoke. And it was Cardiff who were Stoke's opponents with the first leg ending in a 2–1 win for the "Bluebirds" and it seemed that in the second leg Cardiff would hold on for a goalless draw but two very late goals gave Stoke a famous victory and they went to secure promotion by beating Brentford 2–0 in the final. It was not enough however for Gudjon Thordarson to be offered a new contract.


Season review


League

The pressure was now on manager Gudjon Thordarson to finally end Stoke's spell in the Second Division with the owners wanting the club to start progressing through to the Premiership. First task Gudjon did was to sell key midfielder
Graham Kavanagh Graham Anthony Kavanagh (born 2 December 1973) is an Irish football manager and former professional player. Kavanagh had a 19-year-long career and played for Middlesbrough, Stoke City, Cardiff City, Wigan Athletic, Sunderland, Sheffield Wednes ...
to big spending Cardiff City for £1 million and with that money he brought in six new players, defender
Peter Handyside Peter David Handyside (born 31 July 1974) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a defender from 1992 until 2007. Despite being Scottish, Handyside played his entire career in England, having initially came through the y ...
from
Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...
who was made captain, goalkeeper Neil Cutler, Belarusian defender Sergei Shtanyuk, Belgian midfielder Jurgen Vandeurzen, David Rowson from
Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
and most impressively former Dutch international
Peter Hoekstra Cornelis Piet "Pete" Hoekstra (; born October 30, 1953) is a Dutch-American politician who served as the United States Ambassador to the Netherlands from January 10, 2018, to January 17, 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he previously serv ...
. The season didn't get off the best of starts with Stoke losing 1–0 away at
Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...
but two wins over Northampton and Cambridge kick started Stoke's season. Stoke then drew 1–1 at home to
Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...
with Peter Thorne scoring a 90th-minute equaliser, it proved to be his last act in a Stoke shirt as he left to join Kavanagh at Cardiff. With Stoke's main goal threat sold supporters questioned where the goals would come from, thankfully for Stoke they would be spread across the side. After the departure of Thorne Stoke went on a fine run of results going 10 matches unbeaten putting them firmly in the hunt for automatic promotion but the run was ended by a thumping 6–1 defeat at
Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...
. Stoke recovered well beating
Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their ho ...
5–1 but just three wins in 14 saw Stoke's grip on the top two loosen. Matters were not helped when
Souleymane Oularé Souleymane Oularé (born 16 October 1972) is a Guinean retired professional footballer who played as a forward. His son Obbi is also a professional footballer. Career Oularé was elected Footballer of the Year in Belgium in 1999, when he won ...
brought into replace Thorne suffered a life-threatening blood clot after just one appearance. With automatic promotion looking unlikely due to the form of
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 ...
and
Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...
, Stoke concentrated on cementing their position in the play-offs and that's what they managed finishing the season in 5th position. Their opponents in the play-offs were Cardiff City and the first leg at 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 ...
didn't go well for Stoke with
Leo Fortune-West Leopold Paul Osborne Fortune-West (born Leopold Paul Osborne West, 9 April 1971) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He played in the Football League for Gillingham, Leyton Orient, Lincoln City, Rotherham Un ...
and Robert Earnshaw putting Cardiff 2–0 up, but on loan striker
Deon Burton Deon John Burton (born 25 October 1976) is a football coach and former professional footballer who played as a striker and who is the current Under-23's Manager of EFL Championship club West Bromwich Albion. His numerous clubs in English footba ...
pulled one back for Stoke late on. So Stoke went into the second leg at the notoriously hostile
Ninian Park Ninian Park was a football stadium in the Leckwith area of Cardiff, Wales, that was the home of Cardiff City F.C. for 99 years. Opened in 1910 with a single wooden stand, it underwent numerous renovations during its lifespan and hosted fixtu ...
2–1 down and with both sides missing chances the match was 0–0 after 90 minutes and in the final minute of injury time James O'Connor scored to send the match into extra time. And Stoke scored again via an O'Connor shot which deflected in of
Souleymane Oularé Souleymane Oularé (born 16 October 1972) is a Guinean retired professional footballer who played as a forward. His son Obbi is also a professional footballer. Career Oularé was elected Footballer of the Year in Belgium in 1999, when he won ...
to give Stoke the most dramatic victory. 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 con ...
against Brentford was not as dramatic as Stoke won comfortably 2–0 thanks to goals from
Deon Burton Deon John Burton (born 25 October 1976) is a football coach and former professional footballer who played as a striker and who is the current Under-23's Manager of EFL Championship club West Bromwich Albion. His numerous clubs in English footba ...
and an own goal from Ben Burgess. So with Stoke celebrating a return to the second tier after a longer than hoped spell in the third tier the feeling around the club was good with hopes that it could be the start of a return to the top flight. However, despite finally achieving promotion via the play-offs at the third attempt manager Gudjon Thordarson's contract was not renewed.


FA Cup

After avoiding potential upsets against non-league Lewes and Third Division
Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...
Stoke were handed a third round tie against Everton. The "Toffees" won a close match 1–0 thanks to an Alan Stubbs free-kick in front of a capacity crowd of 28,218.


League Cup

Stoke lost to
Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...
in the first round via a penalty shoot-out.


League Trophy

With priorities on gaining promotion Gudjon decided to play a second string side against Blackpool giving debuts to some of the club's best academy players most notably Andy Wilkinson. They gave a decent account of themselves losing 3–2.


Final league table


Results

''Stoke's score comes first''


Legend


Pre-Season friendlies


Football League Second Division


Second Division play-offs


FA Cup


League Cup


League Trophy


Squad statistics


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2001-02 Stoke City F.C. season Stoke City F.C. seasons Stoke City