1997–98 Stoke City F.C. season

March 2015 March 2015 Stoke City 1997–98 Chic Bates, Chris Kamara, Alan Durban Peter Coates Britannia Stadium Football League First Division 23rd (46 Points) FA Cup Third Round League Cup Third Round Peter Thorne (12) Peter Thorne (16) 26,664 vs Manchester City (3 May 1998) 8,423 vs Oxford United (4 November 1997) 15,015 1996–97 1998–99 _red_stripes _red_stripes _red_stripes _hoops_red FFFFFF FFFFFF The 1997–98 season was Stoke City's 91st season in the Football League and the 35th in the second tier. It was also Stoke's first season at the Britannia Stadium. With Stoke now at a new home after 119 years at the Victoria Ground the hope was it would be the start of a new era for the club. Following Lou Macari's departure, his assistant Chic Bates was appointed as manager but the first league match in the Britannia Stadium was lost 2–1 against Swindon Town. Results were generally quite good and by the end of October Stoke were in a play-off position. However performances completely dropped off and the club dropped down the table like a stone and on 10 January 1998 Birmingham City beat Stoke 7–0 at home which sparked ugly scenes from some angry supporters. Bates and Peter Coates left as Stoke headed for relegation. Chris Kamara came in but was sacked after winning just one of his 14 matches in charge. Former manager Alan Durban returned for the final few matches which saw Stoke needing to beat Manchester City on the final day to stay up. They lost 5–2 and fell into the third tier.Lowe Simon Stoke City The Modern Era - A Complete Record 2000 Desert Island Books 1-874287-39-2 Season review League The dawn of a new era at the Britannia Stadium should have been full of hope, but the departure of Lou Macari still not fully explained plus the farcical search for a replacement, left fans wondering what exactly was going on. Many felt the delay in announcing the new manager was a way of boosting season ticket sales with many expecting Sammy McIlroy to be named as the new boss but the silence was deafening and caretaker Chic Bates was left to take care of pre-season training. It soon became clear that Bates was going to be give the role full-time and in July he duly was much to the disappointment of many. Former manager Alan Durban made a return to the club as Bates' assistant to help take away some of his responsibilities. If Stoke had bid farewell to the Victoria Ground in a blaze of glory then the fiasco in opening the Britannia Stadium was a pit of despair. There was transport problems, ticket problems and the opening ceremony against Swindon Town was awful. The only major signing was that of striker Peter Thorne for £550,000 whilst a small spattering of players arrived from Europe following Jean-Marc Bosman's court victory for footballers contracts. Chairman Peter Coates was now very unpopular with the supporters and there were many protests against him due to Coates not spending his money. Attendances at the new ground were poor and by Christmas Stoke had lost their early season form and were in serious trouble. The slump was brought to head early in the new year when Birmingham City beat Stoke 7–0 at home which prompted ugly scenes at the final whistle as around 2,000 fans invaded the pitch and attempted to enter the directors box. The next match live on TV against Bradford City saw more fan protests and Coates resigned as chairman. On the pitch Bates was clearly not cut to be a manager and so was replaced by former Bradford boss Chris Kamara. He arrived with bold intentions claiming that he would build a squad good enough to take Stoke into the Premiership, But he sold the only real player of value, Andy Griffin and in his 14 matches in charge only one was won and after an awful 3–0 defeat against Tranmere Rovers he lost his job. Kamara's time at Stoke was a disaster and with Stoke heading for relegation Alan Durban took over for the remaining matches. Three wins in four home matches gave Stoke some hope, but a 5–2 defeat against Manchester City on the final day saw the inevitable happen (albeit results elsewhere meant both teams would have been relegated irrespective of the result) and Stoke were relegated as were Man City despite their big win. FA Cup Stoke lost to West Bromwich Albion 3–1 in the third round. League Cup Stoke beat Rochdale and Burnley before being knocked out by Leeds United. Final league table y STK Results Stoke's score comes first Legend WinDrawLoss Football League First Division 1997–98 Football League MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers1 9 August 1997 Birmingham CityA0–220,6082 15 August 1997 Bradford CityA0–013,8233 23 August 1997 MiddlesbroughA1–030,122Stewart 60'4 30 August 1997 Swindon TownH1–223,000Forsyth 34'5 3 September 1997 West Bromwich AlbionH0–017,5006 13 September 1997 Stockport CountyH2–111,743Wallace 28', Thorne 50'7 20 September 1997 Ipswich TownA3–210,665Thorne (2) 13' 30', Stewart 55'8 27 September 1997 Nottingham ForestA0–119,0189 4 October 1997 BuryH3–211,760Andrade 63', Forsyth 69', Thorne 73'10 12 October 1997 Port ValeH2–120,125Forsyth 5', Keen 34'11 19 October 1997 Charlton AthleticA1–112,345Wallace 51'12 22 October 1997 Manchester CityA1–025,333Wallace 63'13 25 October 1997 SunderlandH1–214,587Stewart 81'14 1 November 1997 Huddersfield TownA1–310,916Griffin 79'15 4 November 1997 Oxford UnitedH0–08,42316 8 November 1997 Wolverhampton WanderersH3–018,490Kavanagh (2) 8', 23' (pen), Forsyth 60'17 15 November 1997 Queens Park RangersA1–111,923Forsyth 7'18 22 November 1997 Tranmere RoversA1–38,009Kavanagh 35' (pen)19 29 November 1997 ReadingH1–211,103Thorne 81'20 2 December 1997 Sheffield UnitedA2–314,347Thorne (2) 8', 63'21 6 December 1997 PortsmouthA0–27,07222 13 December 1997 Crewe AlexandraH0–214,62323 20 December 1997 Norwich CityA0–012,26524 26 December 1997 Sheffield UnitedH2–219,723Forsyth 66', Thorne 86'25 28 December 1997 West Bromwich AlbionA1–117,690Thorne 47'26 10 January 1998 Birmingham CityH0–714,94027 16 January 1998 Bradford CityH2–110,459Forsyth 65' (pen), Thorne 42'28 28 January 1998 Swindon TownA0–16,68329 1 February 1998 MiddlesbroughH1–213,242Kavanagh 35' (pen)30 7 February 1998 Ipswich TownH1–111,416Holsgrove 15'31 14 February 1998 Stockport CountyA0–18,70132 17 February 1998 BuryA0–05,80233 21 February 1998 Nottingham ForestH1–116,899Crowe 32'34 25 February 1998 Charlton AthleticH1–210,027Kavanagh 42'35 1 March 1998 Port ValeA0–013,85336 4 March 1998 Wolverhampton WanderersA1–121,058Crowe 89'37 7 March 1998 Huddersfield TownH1–212,594Tiatto 90'38 14 March 1998 Oxford UnitedA1–57,300Crowe 69'39 21 March 1998 Queens Park RangersH2–111,051Dowie (o.g.) 21', Crowe 51'40 28 March 1998 Tranmere RoversH0–316,69241 4 April 1998 ReadingA0–210,44842 11 April 1998 PortsmouthH2–115,569Pickering 78', Lightbourne 90'43 13 April 1998 Crewe AlexandraA0–25,75944 18 April 1998 Norwich CityH2–013,098Sigurðsson 19', Lightbourne 50'45 25 April 1998 SunderlandA0–341,21446 3 May 1998 Manchester CityH2–526,664Thorne (2) 62', 87' FA Cup 1997–98 FA Cup RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR313 January 1998 West Bromwich AlbionA1–317,598Gabbiadini 61' League Cup 1997–98 Football League Cup RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR1 1st Leg12 August 1997 RochdaleA3–12,509Kavanagh 26', Thorne 67', Forsyth 70'R1 2nd Leg27 August 1997 RochdaleH1–112,768Kavanagh 85'R2 1st Leg16 September 1997 BurnleyA4–04,175Thorne (2) 37', 62', Kavanagh (2) 68', 80'R2 2nd Leg24 September 1997 BurnleyH2–06,041Keen 36', Thorne 71'R315 November 1997 Leeds UnitedH1–316,203Kavanagh 66' (pen) Squad statistics Pos.NameLeagueFA CupLeague CupTotalDisciplineAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals13px13pxGKENG Carl Muggleton340105040000GKWAL Neville Southall120000012000DFENG Andy Griffin231104028110DFSCO Tosh McKinlay3000003001DFSCO Mark McNally3(1)000003(1)000DFENG Ally Pickering421105048180DFISL Lárus Sigurðsson431105049180DFSCO Steven Tweed35(3)0105041(3)060DFENG Ray Wallace36(3)3105042(3)370DFENG Justin Whittle15(5)0100(4)016(9)031DFENG Steve Woods0(1)000000(1)000MFENG Richard Forsyth377104142830MFENG Robert Heath4(2)000004(2)000MFENG Paul Holsgrove11(1)1000011(1)120MFIRE Graham Kavanagh445004(1)548(1)1070MFENG Kevin Keen37(3)1105143(3)230MFENG Neil MacKenzie7(5)0001(1)08(6)000MFNIR Gerry McMahon7(10)0002(1)09(11)000MFENG Kofi Nyamah9(1)0001(1)010(2)020MFNED Dick Schreuder00000(2)00(2)000MFIRE Tony Scully7000007000MFGER Jörg Sobiech3000003000FWCPV José Andrade4(8)100206(8)100FWENG Richard Burgess0000000000FWENG Dean Crowe10(6)4001(1)011(7)420FWENG O'Neill Donaldson2000002000FWENG Marco Gabbiadini2(6)011003(6)100FWBER Kyle Lightbourne9(4)200009(4)200FWSCO Paul Macari0(3)000000(3)000FWENG Paul Stewart223102025350FWENG Simon Sturridge0(1)0000(1)00(2)000FWENG Steven Taaffe0(3)000000(3)000FWENG Peter Thorne33(3)120(1)04437(4)1650FWAUS Danny Tiatto11(4)1000011(4)160FWCAN Davide Xausa1000001000–Own goals–1–0–0–1–– References Category:Stoke City F.C. seasons Stoke City