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.
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
Results Stoke's score comes first
Legend WinDrawLoss
Football League First Division
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
RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR313 January 1998 West Bromwich AlbionA1–317,598Gabbiadini 61'
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 CupTotalDisciplineAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGK Carl Muggleton340105040000GK Neville Southall120000012000DF Andy Griffin231104028110DF Tosh McKinlay3000003001DF Mark McNally3(1)000003(1)000DF Ally Pickering421105048180DF Lárus Sigurðsson431105049180DF Steven Tweed35(3)0105041(3)060DF Ray Wallace36(3)3105042(3)370DF Justin Whittle15(5)0100(4)016(9)031DF Steve Woods0(1)000000(1)000MF Richard Forsyth377104142830MF Robert Heath4(2)000004(2)000MF Paul Holsgrove11(1)1000011(1)120MF Graham Kavanagh445004(1)548(1)1070MF Kevin Keen37(3)1105143(3)230MF Neil MacKenzie7(5)0001(1)08(6)000MF Gerry McMahon7(10)0002(1)09(11)000MF Kofi Nyamah9(1)0001(1)010(2)020MF Dick Schreuder00000(2)00(2)000MF Tony Scully7000007000MF Jörg Sobiech3000003000FW José Andrade4(8)100206(8)100FW Richard Burgess0000000000FW Dean Crowe10(6)4001(1)011(7)420FW O'Neill Donaldson2000002000FW Marco Gabbiadini2(6)011003(6)100FW Kyle Lightbourne9(4)200009(4)200FW Paul Macari0(3)000000(3)000FW Paul Stewart223102025350FW Simon Sturridge0(1)0000(1)00(2)000FW Steven Taaffe0(3)000000(3)000FW Peter Thorne33(3)120(1)04437(4)1650FW Danny Tiatto11(4)1000011(4)160FW Davide Xausa1000001000–Own goals–1–0–0–1––
References