1995–96 Stoke City F.C. season

March 2015 March 2015 Stoke City 1995–96 Lou Macari Peter Coates Victoria Ground Football League First Division 4th (73 Points) Play-offs Semi-final FA Cup Third Round League Cup Fourth Round Anglo-Italian Cup Group Stage Mike Sheron (16) Mike Sheron (16) 18,897 vs Southend United (5 May 1996) 8,618 vs Tranmere Rovers (16 September 1995) 12,279 1994–95 1996–97 _red_stripes _red_stripes _red_stripes _band_red FFFFFF FFFFFF The 1995–96 season was Stoke City's 89th season in the Football League and 33rd in the second tier. Prior to the start of the 1995–96 season, the possibility of building a new stadium to bring Stoke up to the requirements of the Taylor Report was discussed. On the pitch Stoke enjoyed their most successful season for quite a long time as they mounted a push for promotion to the Premier League and made the end-of-season play-offs against Leicester City. However, Leicester scored the only goal in the two-legged tie and they were the team that went on to be promoted.Lowe Simon Stoke City The Modern Era - A Complete Record 2000 Desert Island Books 1-874287-39-2 Season review League There were few transactions taking place in the summer of 1995 with the main talk being about a change of home. The Taylor Report had come to the conclusion that all football stadia in England should be all-seater and the best option for Stoke would be to build a new stadium rather than convert the Victoria Ground. The season began slowly with one win picked up in the first eight matches and with Icelandic midfielder Toddy Orlygsson leaving for Oldham Athletic after a contract dispute. But wins over Midlands rivals West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers kick started Stoke's season and after a 5–0 win at home against Luton Town, City went on a run of six wins in seven and took the team into the play-off zone. In November Stoke completed a master-stroke signing swapping Keith Scott, for Mike Sheron at Norwich City. He formed a great partnership with Simon Sturridge and the pair scored 29 goals between them this season. Fielding a settled side, Stoke continued to remain in the hunt for promotion and after a 2–0 win at home to rivals Barnsley at the start of March Stoke put distance between themselves and 7th. But on transfer deadline day Paul Peschisolido was controversially sold back to Birmingham City with Macari claiming not to have been aware of any deal. Attention was diverted by Sheron's club record run of seven goals in seven games as five wins out the last seven cemented Stoke place in the play-offs. By this time it was agreed and ratified that in two years Stoke would be moving to a new purpose-built all-seater stadium. Stoke's opponents in the play-offs were Martin O'Neill's Leicester City whom Stoke had already beaten twice in the league. The first leg at Filbert Street ended 0–0. In the second leg, Stoke produced a poor performance and Leicester scored the only goal, Garry Parker's left-foot volley ending Stoke's hopes of promotion. FA Cup Stoke outplayed Premier League Nottingham Forest but fell to a 2–0 defeat in a replay. League Cup Stoke drew Chelsea in the second round and after a 0–0 draw at home Stoke produced a brilliant performance away at Stamford Bridge and came away with a memorable 1–0 victory thanks to a 75th-minute goal from Paul Peschisolido. Alas Stoke couldn't match another Premiership side, Newcastle United, who eased to a 4–0 win. Final league table First Division y STK Results Legend WinDrawLoss Football League First Division 1995–96 Football League MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers1 12 August 1995 ReadingH1–111,932Wallace 12'2 19 August 1995 Leicester CityA3–217,719Peschisolido (2) 9', 23', Gleghorn 33'3 27 August 1995 Port ValeH0–114,2834 30 August 1995 Ipswich TownA1–410,848Peschisolido 83'5 2 September 1995 Oldham AthleticH0–18,6636 9 September 1995 WatfordA0–37,1307 12 September 1995 Birmingham CityA1–119,005Carruthers 52'8 16 September 1995 Tranmere RoversH0–08,6189 24 September 1995 West Bromwich AlbionH2–19,612Peschisolido 14', Keen 51'10 28 September 1995 Crystal PalaceA1–114,613Carruthers 36'11 7 October 1995 Norwich CityH1–112,016Wallace 67'12 14 October 1995 Wolverhampton WanderersA4–126,486Gleghorn 36', Potter 41', Wallace 85', Carruthers 90'13 22 October 1995 Derby CountyH1–19,436Keen 66'14 28 October 1995 Grimsby TownA0–15,47715 4 November 1995 Luton TownH5–09,382Peschisolido 14', Sturridge (2) 73', 87', Gayle 75', Gleghorn 90'16 11 November 1995 Southend UnitedA4–25,967Sturridge (3) 32', 63', 75', Gleghorn 65'17 18 November 1995 PortsmouthA3–38,030Gayle (2) 29', 61', Sturridge 63'18 22 November 1995 SunderlandH1–011,754Wallace 21'19 25 November 1995 MillwallH1–012,590Gleghorn 62'20 2 December 1995 Norwich CityA1–015,707Gleghorn 53'21 9 December 1995 West Bromwich AlbionA1–014,819Peschisolido 35'22 16 December 1995 Crystal PalaceH1–212,090Sheron 87'23 23 December 1995 Sheffield UnitedH2–212,265Gleghorn 27', Sheron 46'24 26 December 1995 BarnsleyA1–39,229Gleghorn 68'25 30 December 1995 Huddersfield TownA1–115,669Sheron 57'26 13 January 1996 Leicester CityH1–015,071Sheron 47'27 20 January 1996 ReadingA0–18,08228 10 February 1996 Ipswich TownH3–112,239Sheron (2) 37', 75', Gleghorn 65'29 17 February 1996 Birmingham CityH1–015,716Sturridge 25'30 24 February 1996 Tranmere RoversA0–018,31231 28 February 1996 WatfordH2–010,114Cranson 48', Wallace 62'32 2 March 1996 BarnsleyH2–012,663Keen 39', Sheron 70'33 9 March 1996 Sheffield UnitedA0–014,46834 12 March 1996 Port ValeA0–116,73735 16 March 1996 Huddersfield TownH1–113,157Sturridge 66'36 23 March 1996 Charlton AthleticA1–212,770Sheron 41'37 30 March 1996 Derby CountyA1–317,245Sheron 22'38 1 April 1996 Wolverhampton WanderersH2–016,361Sheron 3', Sturridge 58'39 6 April 1996 Grimsby TownH1–212,524Sheron 35'40 9 April 1996 Luton TownA2–17,689Sturridge 86', Sheron 90'41 13 April 1996 PortsmouthH2–111,471Wallace 7', Sheron 90'42 17 April 1996 Charlton AthleticH1–012,969Sheron 29'43 21 April 1996 SunderlandA0–021,27644 27 April 1996 MillwallA3–210,105Sheron 28', Sturridge (2) 32', 70 (pen)45 30 April 1996 Oldham AthleticA0–210,27146 5 May 1996 Southend UnitedH1–018,897Sheron 12' First Division play-offs 1996 Football League play-offs RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersSemi-final 1st Leg 12 May 1996 Leicester CityA0–020,325Semi-final 2nd Leg 15 May 1996 Leicester CityH0–121,037 FA Cup 1995–96 FA Cup RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR36 January 1996 Nottingham ForestH1–117,947Sturridge 27'R3 Replay17 January 1996 Nottingham ForestA0–217,372 League Cup 1995–96 Football League Cup RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR2 1st Leg20 September 1995 ChelseaH0–015,574R2 2nd Leg4 October 1995 ChelseaA1–016,272Peschisolido 75'R325 October 1995 Newcastle UnitedH0–423,000 Anglo-Italian Cup 1995–96 Anglo-Italian Cup Note: The final group match against Reggiana was postponed and never replayed the result defaulted at 0–0. RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersGroup Match 15 September 1995 FoggiaA1–14,200Peschisolido 65'Group Match 211 October 1995 SalernitanaH2–25,071Peschisolido 3', Wallace 47'Group Match 38 November 1995 BresciaH1–14,193Dreyer 90'Group Match 413 December 1995 ReggianaA0–0 Squad statistics Pos.NameLeagueFA CupLeague CupAnglo-Italian CupPlay-offsTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGKENG Phil Morgan000000000000GKENG Carl Muggleton600000000060GKENG Mark Prudhoe39020302020480GKSCO Ronnie Sinclair100000100020DFENG Mark Birch000000000000DFENG David Brightwell0(1)0000010001(1)0DFENG Ian Clarkson43020302020520DFENG Ian Cranson23(1)1100(1)0100025(2)1DFENG John Dreyer4(15)010001(1)1006(16)1DFENG Graham Potter38(3)12030302048(3)1DFENG Lee Sandford46020302020550DFISL Lárus Sigurðsson46020302020550DFENG Ray Wallace44620303120547DFENG Justin Whittle7(1)0000000209(1)0MFENG Carl Beeston13(3)00000000013(3)0MFSCO Mark Devlin5(5)000000(2)0207(7)0MFENG Nigel Gleghorn46920303020569MFENG Kevin Keen27(6)32020200033(6)3MFSCO Chris McDonald000000000000MFISL Toddy Orlygsson6(1)0000020008(1)0MFENG Vince Overson18000301000220FWENG Martin Carruthers10(14)31030200(1)016(15)3FWENG John Gayle5(5)30(1)0001(1)0006(7)3FWCAN Paul Peschisolido20(6)61031220026(6)9FWENG Keith Scott6(1)000000(1)0006(2)0FWENG Mike Sheron23(5)160000002025(5)16FWENG Simon Sturridge30(11)122110202037(11)13 References Category:Stoke City F.C. seasons Stoke City F.C.