Stoke City F.C.
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Template:Football club infobox Stoke City Football Club (known as Stoke Football Club until 1925) is a football club from Stoke-on-Trent in England (the other league club in the city being Port Vale F.C.). The club is reputedly the second-oldest football league club in the world, after Notts County F.C., and claims to have been formed in 1863 (disputed by some, who claim it to be 1868).
The club’s nickname is The Potters (after the pottery industry in Stoke-on-Trent at the time) and its home kit consists of a red & white vertical-striped shirt with white shorts and white socks.
The club is managed by Johan Boskamp, since previous manager Tony Pulis' sacking in the summer of 2005, for failing to implement the clubs' owner's 'foreign transfer policy'. It plays in the Football League Championship and is one of the twelve founder-members of The Football League.
The club is owned by Stoke Holding, which is in turn owned by a consortium of Icelandic businessmen. When he became chairman in 1999, Gunnar Gislason was the youngest chairman in the Football League.
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History
- It played (and lost) its first game against West Bromwich Albion F.C. on 8 September 1888.
- Its controversial 0-0 draw with Burnley on April 30, 1898 led to the test match format of promotion & relegation being replace by automatic promotion/relegation.
- In 1967 it played in the United Soccer Association as the Cleveland Stokers.
- In 1997 the club moved from its traditional home at the Victoria Ground to its new home at the 28,383 all-seater Britannia Stadium. Maximum allocation for visiting supporters is 4,800.
- It finished the 2004-05 season in 12th place in The Championship.
Milestones
Stoke City's only major trophy to date is the League Cup, which it won in 1972 under the management of Tony Waddington. Until the 1980s it was a regular competitor in the First Division, but was relegated at the end of the 1984-85 season with just three wins and 17 points from 42 fixtures, and has not been in the top division since. The 17 points gained in that season set the record for the lowest tally of points ever in English football. However, this record looks set to be beaten at the end of the 2005/2006 season by Sunderland, who currently have 12 points in the English (Barclaycard) Premiership.
It went down to the Third Division at the end of the 1989-90 season, won the new Division Two title in 1992-93 season - only to slip back down in 1997-98 - its first season at the new 28,000-seat Britannia Stadium. Stoke's relegation was confirmed on the final day of the league season by a 5-2 home defeat against Manchester City, who were also relegated.
It was promoted again in 2001-02 thanks to a 2-0 victory in the Division Two playoff final against Brentford F.C. Stoke's only serious challenge for a return to the top flight came in 1995-96 when it finished fourth in Division One and lost to eventual winners Leicester City in the playoff semi-final.
Potted History
Source: StokeChat - http://www.stokechat.co.uk/stokechat/
In 1990 the SCFC board consisted of six directors. All agreed that a new share issue was needed, with the majority wanting the supporters to be free to purchase. Two vehemently disagreed and so Weetman and co walked out. By '94 the plan had worked, two replacements having also stood down after more arguments. This left only C, H and Moors who stood down the next year, saying that, as part of the deal, his lips were sealed.
Coates finally has a board consisting of himself and two friends. The two of them own over 95% of the shares and David Edwards buys 25. At the princely sum of £1 each, as had always been the cost of SCFC shares, Coates had his man on board and no more opposition.
Nov 5th 1999, a few days before the Icelandic takeover, an EGM was called, quote, "the holders of not less than 95% of the issued share capital having consented to short notice". In plain language, they could tread all over anyone else and they did. The main purpose of the short but fatal meeting - and extraordinary it certainly was, as witnessed - was to pass a special resolution, "that 1 of the 'A' Ordinary shares shall become a 'V' Ordinary Share with immediate effect. Ditto a 'B'Share to become a 'W' Share.
At this time KH was the chairman and he actually seconded the resolution, even though he was to be one of the two beneficiaries! It was questioned from the floor but he produced his solicitor from out of the hat to confirm its legality.
Thus, with the Articles of Association now containing the extraordinary clause "in the event of a resolution being proposed at any general meeting of the company, for the removal from office of a 'V' director or a 'W' director, any shares held by that director shall, in respect, of any such resolution, carry the right to one more vote than the total number of votes cast by all other members who voted." Also C's share passes on to his son etc.
They don't have to be on the board for life. Chairman Gunnar Gislason recently referred to it as the golden seal. They can be encouraged to step down, of their own volition, for the benefit of the club; and PC can be denied his place on the FA Council.
Other Information
Despite having a relative lack of success for a club who played top-flight football for many years, the club has seen some famous names play for the club over the years, which can be seen below, including Sir Stanley Matthews, who played for the club in two terms from a youth player to his retirement at 50 years of age.
Stoke have a history of management casualties, few British clubs have seen a higher turnover of managers from the mid 80's till the mid 2000's. Leeds United are a notable exception.
It is rumored in local circles (to the delight of Port Vale supporters) that the Britannia Stadium is built on marshland and the stadium is sinking at the rate of 1/2 centimetre per annum.
Stoke's record purchase is Sambegou Bangoura who cost the Potters £900,000. Their record sale was Mike Sheron to QPR for the sum of £2.5m, a huge sum in 1997.
Peter Coates sits on the board of directors at Stoke. He has a vested interest in the club as a former chairman, owner of the catering company which supplies to the majority of Northern Englands football grounds aswell as being the chairman of Bet 365, the betting company which provides services in many sporting venues, including the Britannia Stadium.
Stoke became the first Icelandic owned football club outside of Iceland in 2000, with a consortium purchasing the majority share of the club from Michael Humphries and Peter Coates.
Stan Clarke of horse racing and propert develping fame sat on the board of directors for a brief period, his highlight being the supervision of the move from the Victoria Ground to the Britannia stadium.
Stoke have an unfortunate history of hooliganism, along with Cardiff, Millwall and Leeds, trouble is automatically expected when visiting fans with any history meet. This has, however, been significantly reduced since the introduction of an Away Travel ID scheme.
Club Honours
- League Cup winners 1972
- Autoglass Trophy winners 1992
- Auto Windscreens Shield winners 2000
- FA Cup semi-finalists 1899, 1971 & 1972
- Watney Cup winners 1973
Records
Attendance records:
- 51,380 (Victoria Ground) vs. Arsenal F.C. 29 March 1937
- 28,218 (Britannia Stadium) vs. Everton F.C. 5 January 2002
Highest league position and record results:
- Highest league position at the end of season: 4th in Division 1 (1947)
- Record league victory: 10-3 v. West Bromwich Albion F.C. (1937)
- Record league defeat: 0-10 v. Preston North End F.C. (1889)
Current Squad
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Famous Players
- Sir Stanley Matthews
- Sir Geoff Hurst
- Gordon Banks (most capped player, 73)
- Peter Shilton
- Alan Hudson
- Jimmy Greenhoff
- John Ritchie (all-time top scorer, with 171 goals in league and cup)
- Eric Skeels (most appearances, 575)
- Neil Franklin
- Mike Pejic
- Leigh Richmond Roose (early 20th century goalkeeper)
- Frank Soo (first non-white person to play for England)
- Frank Bowyer
- Denis Smith
Famous Fans
External Links
General:
Chat and messageboards:
Regional:
- Merseyside Potters - Liverpool-based supporters
- Manchester and Northern - Stokies in the North
- Ninety Miles From Home - City supporters from Leeds
- Southern Stokies - Potters fans in the South
Supporters clubs:
Fanzines:
- The Oatcake - fanzine
- A View To A Kiln [?]
Template:Original Football League clubsde:Stoke City F.C. fr:Stoke City Football Club he:סטוק סיטי nl:Stoke City FC no:Stoke City FC simple:Stoke City F.C. sv:Stoke City FC zh:斯托克城足球俱乐部