The 2004–05 season was Stoke City's 98th season in the Football League and the 38th in the second tier, now re-branded as the Football League Championship.

With supporter expectation now rising there were hopes that Stoke could soon begin to mount a serious attempt to return to the top flight. But after a poor summer in terms of transfer activity those hopes subsided, but soon returned after a good start to the season with Stoke going top of the table in early September. But any hopes of a promotion push soon vanished with some poor performances and most notably a lack of goals being scored. In fact Stoke went on a dull run of 'binary' results, from 23 October 2004 to 22 February 2005 the only score line was that of 0–0, 1–0, 0–1 and 1–1. Supporters began to vent their anger at the lack of entertainment on offer as the side fell into mid-table obscurity and a final finish of 12th the outcome of a forgettable season.

Season review

League Prior to the start of the season the Football League went through a re-branding process with the First Division been renamed the Football League Championship. Stoke had a poor summer in the transfer market with only Dave Brammer and Steve Simonsen joining the club before the start of the season. However these worries were forgotten with a fine pre-season victory over Spanish giants Valencia. Stoke began the 2004–05 season very well beating promotion favourites Wolverhampton Wanderers 2–1 on the opening day. Victories over Gillingham, Cardiff City and Derby County followed and after a thrilling win over Ipswich Town Stoke went top of the table.

However Stoke then lost their form and went seven matches without a win before beating Millwall 1–0 on Halloween. Prior to that on 22 October Stoke drew 1–1 away at Leicester City a result which sparked a dull run of results. Through until 22 February the only score line was that of 0–0, 1–0, 0–1 and 1–1 which saw manager Tony Pulis come under heavy criticism from supporters form the lack of attacking football and entertainment on offer. New signings again failed to arrive with Michael Duberry from Leeds United and Lewis Buxton from Portsmouth the only mainstays from a series of loans, however both players were defenders. Ade Akinbiyi was sold to Burnley despite there being a lack of goalscoring. The 'binary' run of results finally ended with a 3–2 win over Leicester City which prompted an upturn in results but any hopes of a late push for a play-off place was ended with an awful defeat at home to rock bottom Rotherham United.

FA Cup Stoke drew Premier League side Arsenal away in the third round and took the lead through Wayne Thomas. But Stoke could not hold out and Arsenal scored twice to go through 2–1.

League Cup Stoke made another poor exit in the first round losing against League One side Oldham Athletic.

Final league table

Results Stoke's score comes first

Legend WinDrawLoss

Pre-season friendlies MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers111 July 2004Newcastle TownA4–1Noel-Williams, Clarke, Akinbiyi, Neal213 July 2004WrexhamA1–11,821Noel-Williams 40'317 July 2004Mansfield TownA1–0Russell 28'422 July 2004AS RomaA0–2525 July 2004Levski SofiaA1–1Taggart628 July 2004ValenciaH1–09,905Asaba 30'731 July 2004West Bromwich AlbionH2–1Brammer 16', Akinbiyi 32'

Football League Championship

MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReport1 8 August 2004 Wolverhampton WanderersH2–117,066Russell 50', Clarke 70' (pen)Report2 10 August 2004 Sheffield UnitedA0–019,723Report3 14 August 2004 Rotherham UnitedA1–15,925Akinbiyi 85'Report4 21 August 2004 GillinghamH2–013,234Noel-Williams 42', Akinbiyi 72'Report5 28 August 2004 Cardiff CityA1–012,929Noel-Williams 37'Report6 30 August 2004 Derby CountyH1–018,673Hall 90+3'Report7 11 September 2004 Preston North EndA0–312,759Report8 14 September 2004 Ipswich TownH3–223,029Thomas (2) 45', 75', Akinbiyi 85'Report9 18 September 2004 Nottingham ForestH0–021,115Report10 25 September 2004 BurnleyA2–212,981Akinbiyi (2) 34', 50'Report11 28 September 2004 Leeds UnitedA0–025,759Report12 2 October 2004 Queens Park RangersH0–116,877Report13 16 October 2004 ReadingH0–115,574Report14 19 October 2004 West Ham UnitedA0–229,808Report15 23 October 2004 Leicester CityA1–122,882Asaba 37'Report16 30 October 2004 MillwallH1–014,125Greenacre 86'Report17 2 November 2004 Wigan AthleticH0–115,882Report18 6 November 2004 ReadingA0–114,831Report19 13 November 2004 Crewe AlexandraH1–017,640Noel-Williams 64'Report20 20 November 2004 Plymouth ArgyleA0–015,264Report21 27 November 2004 SunderlandH0–116,980Report22 4 December 2004 WatfordA1–012,169Noel-Williams 24'Report23 11 December 2004 Coventry CityH1–015,744Akinbiyi 21'Report24 17 December 2004 Brighton & Hove AlbionA1–06,028Akinbiyi 85'Report25 26 December 2004 Preston North EndH0–020,350Report26 28 December 2004 Ipswich TownA0–126,217Report27 1 January 2005 Nottingham ForestA0–122,051Report28 3 January 2005 BurnleyH0–115,689Report29 14 January 2005 Queens Park RangersA0–113,559Report30 22 January 2005 Leeds UnitedH0–118,372Report31 5 February 2005 Wigan AthleticA1–09,938Noel-Williams 39'Report32 19 February 2005 MillwallA1–011,036Jones 15'Report33 22 February 2005 Leicester CityH3–214,076Brammer 24', Noel-Williams 34', Taggart 59'Report34 26 February 2005 Coventry CityA0–013,871Report35 5 March 2005 Brighton & Hove AlbionH2–014,908Noel-Williams (2) 39', 44' (2 pen)Report36 12 March 2005 Sheffield UnitedH2–017,019Noel-Williams (2) 57', 59'Report37 15 March 2005 GillinghamA1–27,766Jones 54'Report38 19 March 2005 Wolverhampton WanderersA1–128,103Noel-Williams 41'Report39 2 April 2005 Rotherham UnitedH1–216,552Noel-Williams 83'Report40 5 April 2005 Cardiff CityH1–312,785Hill 40'Report41 9 April 2005 Derby CountyA1–327,640Taggart 7'Report42 16 April 2005 Plymouth ArgyleH2–013,017Jones 28', Russell 41'Report43 19 April 2005 West Ham UnitedH0–114,534Report44 23 April 2005 Crewe AlexandraA2–09,166Neal 79', Noel-Williams 89'Report45 30 April 2005 WatfordH0–115,229Report46 8 May 2005 SunderlandA0–147,350Report

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReportR3 9 January 2005 ArsenalA1–236,579Thomas 44'Report

League Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReportR124 August 2004 Oldham AthleticA1–22,861Asaba 24'Report

Squad statistics

No.Pos.NameLeagueFA CupLeague CupTotalDisciplineAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals1GK Ed de Goey1700000170002DF Wayne Thomas3521110373613DF Clive Clarke4211010441714MF John Eustace2(5)00(1)0002(6)0305DF Michael Duberry2500000250416DF Clint Hill31(1)1001032(1)1717FW Carl Asaba14(19)10(1)01015(20)2408MF Dave Brammer42(1)100(1)0042(2)1809FW Gifton Noel-Williams41(5)13000(1)041(6)132110FW Ade Akinbiyi29710003076011MF Kevin Harper8(1)000008(1)01014GK Ben Foster000000000015GK Steve Simonsen29(2)0101031(2)02016DF Marcus Hall19(1)1101021(1)12017MF Darel Russell45210104727018MF Lewis Neal10(13)1001011(13)10019FW Chris Greenacre18(14)1101020(14)12020DF Richard Keogh000000000021MF John Halls20(2)0101022(2)05122MF Steve Guppy 0(4)000000(4)00022DF Lewis Buxton14(2)0100015(2)04023MF Karl Henry14(20)00(1)01015(21)03024DF Chris Clark1(2)000001(2)01025DF Gareth Owen0(2)000000(2)00027DF Chris Barker 400000400027FW Jason Jarrett201000300027FW Kenwyne Jones13300001331028DF Andy Wilkinson0(1)000000(1)00029FW Michael Ricketts1(10)000001(10)02030FW Martin Paterson0(3)000000(3)00031FW Jermaine Palmer0(1)000000(1)00032DF Gerry Taggart312100032210133MF Þórður Guðjónsson0(2)000000(2)00034MF Tryggvi Guðmundsson000000000035MF Jay Denny000000000036DF Carl Dickinson0(1)000000(1)000

References