The 1988–89 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 82nd 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 29th 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 ...

. With the sale of both

Lee Dixon Lee Michael Dixon (born 17 March 1964) is an English pundit and retired professional footballer who played as a right-back. Dixon was also capped 22 times for England. His father Roy was a goalkeeper with Manchester City and many of Dixon's f ...

and

Steve Bould Stephen Andrew Bould (born 16 November 1962) is an English football coach and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a defender from 1980 until 2000. Bould began his football career with his hometown club Stoke City where he g ...

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 ...

manager

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 Town's ...

was able to enter the transfer market where he bought

Peter Beagrie Peter Sidney Beagrie (born 28 November 1965) is an English former professional footballer, sports television pundit and commentator. As a player, he was a left-winger in a career that lasted from 1983 to 2006. He played for ten different clubs ...

and

Chris Kamara Christopher Kamara (born 25 December 1957) is an English former professional footballer 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. He joi ...

. The hope now would be that Stoke could mount a serious promotion challenge but again results were far too inconsistent and Stoke ended the season in mid-table for a third straight season.

Season review

League

During the summer of 1988

Phil Heath Phillip Jerrod Heath (born December 18, 1979) is an American IFBB Pro League professional bodybuilder. Known as 'the Gift', he is a seven-time Mr. Olympia winner, having won the competition every year from 2011 to 2017. Heath is tied with Ar ...

moved to

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club () is a professional association football, football club based in Oxford, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English football. Founded as Headingto ...

for £80,000 and that, combined with the fee received for

and

, allowed manager Mills to bring in some new faces. He brought to the club

signed from

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

for £215,000 and midfielder

from

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

as well as veteran

John Gidman John Gidman (born 10 January 1954) is an English former footballer who played for Aston Villa, Everton, Manchester United, Manchester City, Stoke City and Darlington. Gidman was a product of the Liverpool and Aston Villa youth systems. He repr ...

. Stoke started the 1988–89 season with a 1–1 draw at home to

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

and it took until their seventh match against

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

to claim their first victory of the season. By this time two defenders Mark Higgins and

John Butler John Butler may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John "Picayune" Butler (died 1864), American banjo performer; may have been used by a number of performers * John Butler (artist) (1890–1976), American artist * John Butler (author) (born 1937), ...

had been added to the ranks and with Stoke's back line more secure results started to improve and after a 4–0 win against

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

in mid-November Stoke lay in 7th position. However performances dropped and by the new year Stoke had fallen into 13th in the table. And that is where Stoke remained despite a rather worrying end to the season which saw Stoke register just one win in their last 14 matches. This prompted rumours that Mills' contract would not be extended for another year but the board eventually agreed to give him another chance, a decision that they would go on to regret.

FA Cup

Stoke beat

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

1–0 thanks to a goal from Graham Shaw and after an entertaining 3–3 with

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

, the "Tykes" won the replay 2–1.

League Cup

Fourth Division

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

knocked Stoke out in the second round via a penalty shoot-out after a 3–3 aggregated draw.

Full Members' Cup

Stoke were well beaten 3–0 by

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, ...

in the first round at The Dell,

Danny Wallace Daniel, Dan or Danny Wallace may refer to: * Daniel Wallace (politician) (1801–1859), U.S. Congressman from South Carolina * Daniel B. Wallace (born 1952), professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary * Daniel Wallace (aut ...

scoring a hat trick.

Final league table

Results

Legend

Football League Second Division

FA Cup

League Cup

Full Members' Cup

Friendlies

Squad statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1988-89 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 ...