The 1981–82 season was

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

's 75th season in

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, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

and the 49th in the First Division. In the Summer of 1981 Alan Durban quit as Stoke manager to take up the same position at

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

. His former assistant at

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...

, Ritchie Barker was appointed as manager and despite a good start the team were involved in a relegation battle. The arrival of

Sammy McIlroy Samuel Baxter McIlroy (born 2 August 1954) is a Northern Irish retired footballer who played for Manchester United, Stoke City, Manchester City, Örgryte (Sweden), Bury, VfB Mödling (Austria), Preston North End and the Northern Ireland na ...

from

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

helped Stoke to scrape to survival finishing two points away from the drop zone.

Season review

League

Alan Durban's ambitions were bigger than Stoke's and in the summer of 1981 he was tempted by

's cash to become their manager. Durban's former assistant at

, Ritchie Barker was appointed as manager 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. Histor ...

and he inherited a reasonable squad of players but he also knew that the club had financial problems, which to a certain extent were eased when for the first time players wore shirts with a sponsor's name across their chests,

Ricoh is a Japanese multinational imaging and electronics company. It was founded by the now-defunct commercial division of the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (Riken) known as the ''Riken Concern'', on 6 February 1936 as . Ricoh's hea ...

. By this time Barker had sold Kevin Sheldon, Paul Johnson, Paul Richardson and Iain Munro. The 1981–82 season saw the introduction of three points for a win and Stoke got their first trio of points on the opening day of the season away at

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 ...

. This was followed by a 4–0 win at home against

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

. However results and performances declined and after picking up just four more wins by January Stoke found themselves in a fight against relegation. Youth team product

Adrian Heath Adrian Paul Heath (born 11 January 1961) is an English football manager and former player. He most recently served as head coach of Major League Soccer club Minnesota United until October 2023. As a player, he is best known for his six season ...

was fast becoming one of the most talked about midfielders in the division and so Barker allowed him to join Everton for a healthy £700,000. He brought in England international David Watson from

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

for £50,000 to replace the ageing Denis Smith and

for £350,000. Mike Doyle left soon after Watson's arrival following an argument with Barker. Despite an upturn in the results in February Stoke managed just a point in their next nine matches. With Stoke looking destined for relegation McIlroy proved to be a calming influence and Stoke managed to survive by two points.

FA Cup

A poor crowd of 12,805 saw

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

beat Stoke 1–0 in the third round.

League Cup

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

again knocked Stoke out of the League Cup at the second round this time on penalties.

Final league table

Results

''Stoke's score comes first''

Legend

Football League First Division

FA Cup

League Cup

Friendlies

Squad statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1981-82 Stoke City F.C. season Stoke City F.C. seasons

Stoke Stoke may refer to: Places Canada * Stoke, Quebec New Zealand * Stoke, New Zealand United Kingdom Berkshire * Stoke Row Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stoke Gifford * Bradley Stoke * Little Stoke * Harry Stoke * Stoke Lodge Bucking ...