1993–94 Stoke City F.C. season

Stoke City
1993–94 season
Chairman Peter Coates
Manager Lou Macari,
Joe Jordan
Stadium Victoria Ground
Football League First Division 10th (67 Points)
FA Cup Fourth Round
League Cup Second Round
Anglo-Italian Cup Group Stage
Top goalscorer League: Dave Regis, Toddy Örlygsson (10)
All: Dave Regis (14)
Highest home attendance 22,576 vs Wolverhampton Wanderers (5 February 1994)
Lowest home attendance 10,181 vs Peterborough United (13 April 1994)
Average home league attendance 15,968
Home colours

The 1993–94 season was Stoke City's 87th season in the Football League and 31st in the second tier, now known as the First Division following the formation of the Premier League.

Stoke, now back in the second tier for the first time since 1990, were now looking to gain promotion back to English football's top tier and with Lou Macari in charge it seemed to be a real possibility. Icelandic international Toddy Örlygsson arrived from Nottingham Forest which signalled the club's intentions but they were rocked in October when manager Macari decided to join boyhood club Celtic and another Scotsman, Joe Jordan was appointed manager. Unlike Macari, Jordan was not a popular person with the supporters due to his lack of passion and style of play. Results were okay and a 10th place finish was the final outcome.[1]

Season review

League

In the summer of 1993 brewer Carling was signed up as the new shirt sponsor and in the build-up to the 1993–94 season Macari sought out to strengthen his squad in readiness for a tough looking First Division.[1] In came Icelandic international midfielder Toddy Örlygsson and proven goalscorer Gary Bannister both from Nottingham Forest, Simon Sturridge from Birmingham City, goalkeeper Mark Prudhoe from Darlington and Martin Carruthers from Aston Villa, whilst Micky Gynn and Kenny Lowe arrived on free transfers.[1] Goalkeeper Carl Muggleton came in from Leicester City and Kevin Russell joined Burnley for £120,000.[1]

A good crowd of 18,766 attended the opening match of the season as Stoke fell to a poor 2–1 defeat to Millwall and questions were asked about the quality of Macari's players in the much tougher First Division.[1] And with Stoke failing to find any real form despite a fantastic victory against Manchester United in the League Cup the fans were shocked when star striker Mark Stein, who by October had already scored 13 goals, was allowed to join Chelsea for a club record fee of £1.4 million.[1] Stein had become an idol amongst the supporters and felt let down by the board for accepting Chelsea's offer.[1] Come November and Stoke were struggling in the bottom half of the table and soon after manager Lou Macari left for one of his former club's, Celtic.[1] The new manager was another former Scottish international with a similar career to that of Macari, Joe Jordan.[1] Stoke supporters felt that the appointment of Jordan was the wrong decision with club legend Denis Smith the preferred man to take the position.[1]

They eventually accepted Jordan as the new manager although his style of play soon began to cause grumblings from the terraces but the side slowly got results going if not the quality of football.[1] In early 1994 the club was rocked by news that former manager Tony Waddington had died and thousands of supporters lined the streets on the day of his funeral to pay their respects to Stoke's most successful manager.[1] Stoke huffed and puffed as they tried to claim a play-off place but missed out and finished an eventful season in 10th place.[1]

FA Cup

After overcoming plucky non-league Bath City in a third round replay, 4–1 at Twerton Park, Stoke lost to Premiership side Oldham Athletic.[1]

League Cup

Stoke knocked out Mansfield Town which set up a clash with Manchester United.[1] Stoke produced a fantastic first leg performance and won 2–1 thanks to two goals from Stein, but they could not repeat the feat in the second leg and lost 2–0.[1]

Final league table

PosClubPWDLFAGDPts
1 Crystal Palace 46 27 9 10 73 46 +27 90
2 Nottingham Forest 46 23 14 9 74 49 +25 83
3 Millwall 46 19 17 10 58 49 +9 74
4 Leicester City 46 19 16 11 72 59 +13 73
5 Tranmere Rovers 46 21 9 16 69 53 +16 72
6 Derby County 46 20 11 15 73 68 +5 71
7 Notts County 46 20 8 18 65 69 –4 68
8 Wolverhampton Wanderers 46 17 17 12 60 47 +13 68
9 Middlesbrough 46 18 13 15 66 54 +12 67
10 Stoke City 46 18 13 15 57 59 –2 67
11 Charlton Athletic 46 19 8 19 61 58 +3 65
12 Sunderland 46 19 8 19 54 57 –3 65
13 Bristol City 46 16 16 14 47 50 –3 64
14 Bolton Wanderers 46 15 14 17 63 64 –1 59
15 Southend United 46 17 8 21 63 67 –4 59
16 Grimsby Town 46 13 20 13 52 47 +4 59
17 Portsmouth 46 15 13 18 52 58 –6 58
18 Barnsley 46 16 7 23 55 67 –12 55
19 Watford 46 15 9 22 66 80 –24 54
20 Luton Town 46 14 11 21 56 60 –4 53
21 West Bromwich Albion 46 13 12 21 60 69 –9 51
22 Birmingham City 46 13 12 21 52 69 –17 51
23 Oxford United 46 13 10 23 54 75 –21 49
24 Peterborough United 46 8 13 25 48 76 –28 37

Key: P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

Results

Legend

Win Draw Loss

Football League First Division

MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
1 14 August 1993 MillwallH1 – 218,766McCarthy 28' (o.g.)
2 21 August 1993 Bolton WanderersA1 – 111,328Stein 69'
3 28 August 1993 West Bromwich AlbionH1 – 017,948Stein 68'
4 4 September 1993 PortsmouthA3 – 312,552Stein (2) 17', 65', Regis 84'
5 11 September 1993 Tranmere RoversH1 – 217,296Martindale 25' (o.g.)
6 14 September 1993 MiddlesbroughA2 – 113,189Carruthers 42', Foley 84'
7 19 September 1993 Nottingham ForestA3 – 220,843Regis 16', Stein (2) 25', 49' (pen)
8 25 September 1993 Southend UnitedH0 – 116,145
9 2 October 1993 Crystal PalaceA1 – 412,880Stein 75'
10 10 October 1993 Oxford UnitedA0 – 16,489
11 16 October 1993 Grimsby TownH1 – 014,696Örlygsson 69'
12 23 October 1993 Wolverhampton WanderersA1 – 120,421Stein 33'
13 30 October 1993 BarnsleyH5 – 414,674(o.g.) (2), Gleghorn 50', Overson 55', Carruthers 64'
14 3 November 1993 SunderlandH1 – 013,551Örlygsson 86'
15 6 November 1993 WatfordA3 – 17,767Örlygsson 10', Carruthers 53', Regis 84'
16 14 November 1993 Leicester CityH1 – 015,984Gleghorn 43'
17 20 November 1993 Notts CountyA0 – 29,815
18 27 November 1993 Luton TownA2 – 67,384Regis 3', Linton (o.g.) 41'
19 4 December 1993 WatfordH2 – 013,465Bannister 53', Regis 63'
20 11 December 1993 MiddlesbroughH3 – 113,777Bannister 18', Örlygsson (2) 32', 69'
21 19 December 1993 MillwallA0 – 28,930
22 26 December 1993 Birmingham CityH2 – 116,584Örlygsson 21', Sandford 69'
23 28 December 1993 Charlton AthleticA0 – 28,416
24 1 January 1994 Derby CountyH2 – 120,307Foley 35', Örlygsson 49'
25 3 January 1994 Bristol CityA0 – 011,132
26 15 January 1994 Grimsby TownA0 – 08,577
27 22 January 1994 Oxford UnitedH1 – 114,689Regis 12'
28 5 February 1994 Wolverhampton WanderersH1 – 122,579Overson 53'
29 12 February 1994 BarnsleyA0 – 37,561
30 19 February 1994 Peterborough UnitedA1 – 17,428Gleghorn 45'
31 23 February 1994 Bolton WanderersH2 – 014,257Örlygsson 45', Regis 85'
32 26 February 1994 PortsmouthH2 – 014,506Örlygsson 45' (pen), Carruthers 84'
33 5 March 1994 West Bromwich AlbionA0 – 016,060
34 12 March 1994 Nottingham ForestH0 – 120,550
35 15 March 1994 Tranmere RoversA0 – 26,346
36 19 March 1994 Southend UnitedA0 – 04,542
37 26 March 1994 Crystal PalaceH0 – 218,071
38 30 March 1994 Bristol CityH3 – 013,208Adams (2) 8', 78', Biggins 59' (pen)
39 1 April 1994 Birmingham CityA1 – 313,568Carruthers 33'
40 4 April 1994 Charlton AthleticH1 – 013,569Örlygsson 31'
41 9 April 1994 Derby CountyA2 – 416,593Biggins 77' (pen), Adams 81'
42 13 April 1994 Peterborough UnitedH3 – 010,181Regis 14', Biggins 36', Walters 79'
43 16 April 1994 SunderlandA1 – 017,406Walters 28'
44 23 April 1994 Notts CountyH0 – 016,470
45 30 April 1994 Leicester CityA1 – 119,291Regis 48'
46 8 May 1994 Luton TownH2 – 215,911Biggins 16', Regis 32'

FA Cup

Main article: 1993–94 FA Cup
RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
R38 January 1994 Bath CityH0 – 014,159
R3 Replay18 January 1994 Bath CityA4 – 16,213Regis (2) 5', 57', Cranson 38', Örlygsson 83'
R429 January 1994 Oldham AthleticA0 – 014,465
R4 Replay9 February 1994 Oldham AthleticH0 – 119,871

League Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
R1 1st Leg18 August 1993 Mansfield TownH2 – 28,976Gleghorn 2', Carruthers 80'
R1 2nd Leg24 August 1993 Mansfield TownA3 – 1 (aet)4,214Stein (2) 17', 93', Regis 117'
R2 1st Leg22 September 1993 Manchester UnitedH2 – 123,327Stein (2) 32', 74'
R2 2nd Leg6 October 1993 Manchester UnitedA0 – 241,387

Anglo-Italian Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
Qualifying Match 131 August 1994 Wolverhampton WanderersA3 – 39,092Gleghorn, Carruthers (2)
Qualifying Match 27 September 1994 Birmingham CityH2 – 08,633Cranson, Stein (pen)
Group Match 112 October 1994 CosenzaH2 – 15,183Carruthers, Örlygsson
Group Match 210 November 1994 FiorentinaH0 – 08,616
Group Match 316 November 1994 PadovaA0 – 31,495
Group Match 422 December 1994 PescaraA1 – 21,850Regis

Friendlies

MatchOpponentVenueResult
1Simba SCA3 – 1
2PambaA2 – 1
3Young AfricansA4 – 0
4Tanzamia BreweriesA3 – 2
5Real SociedadH2 – 0
6Newcastle TownA4 – 0
7Telford UnitedA11 – 1
8Northwich VictoriaA1 – 1

Squad statistics

Pos. Name League FA Cup League Cup Anglo-Italian Cup Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
GKScotland Gordon Marshall 100200010130
GKEngland Carl Muggleton 6000102090
GKEngland Mark Prudhoe 300203030380
DFEngland John Butler 34(1)040205045(1)0
DFScotland John Clark 120000000120
DFEngland Ian Clarkson 14010201(1)018(1)0
DFScotland Tom Cowan 140001030180
DFEngland Ian Cranson 440413061572
DFEngland Graham Harbey 2000002040
DFEngland Graham Potter 2(1)02000004(1)0
DFEngland Vince Overson 392404050522
DFEngland Lee Sandford 41(1)140305053(1)1
MFEngland Micky Adams 103000000103
MFEngland Steve Foley 42(1)240403053(1)2
MFEngland Nigel Gleghorn 38(2)340416152(2)5
MFEngland Micky Gynn 14(7)0002(2)03(1)019(10)0
MFScotland Dave Kevan 1000100(1)02(1)0
MFEngland Kenny Lowe 3(6)00020207(6)0
MFIceland Toddy Orlygsson 42(3)1041405155(3)12
MFEngland Paul Ware 1000000(1)01(1)0
MFEngland Brett Williams 2000000020
FWEngland Gary Bannister 10(5)220000(1)012(6)2
FWEngland Wayne Biggins 104000000104
FWEngland Martin Carruthers 24(10)5201(2)14(1)331(14)9
FWEngland Tony Kelly 0000000(1)00(1)0
FWEngland Dave Regis 33(5)1042214143(5)14
FWEngland Graham Shaw 2(2)00(2)000103(4)0
FWEngland Mark Stein 1280044311913
FWEngland Simon Sturridge 5(8)01(1)0102(2)09(11)0
FWEngland Mark Walters 9200000092
Own goals 50005

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.