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.

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. 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. Goalkeeper Carl Muggleton came in from Leicester City and Kevin Russell joined Burnley for £120,000.

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. 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. Stein had become an idol amongst the supporters and felt let down by the board for accepting Chelsea's offer. 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. The new manager was another former Scottish international with a similar career to that of Macari, Joe Jordan. Stoke supporters felt that the appointment of Jordan was the wrong decision with club legend Denis Smith the preferred man to take the position.

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. 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. Stoke huffed and puffed as they tried to claim a play-off place but missed out and finished an eventful season in 10th place.

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.

League Cup Stoke knocked out Mansfield Town which set up a clash with Manchester United. 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.

Final league table

Results

Legend WinDrawLoss

Football League First Division

MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers1 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 UnitedH0–116,1459 2 October 1993 Crystal PalaceA1–412,880Stein 75'10 10 October 1993 Oxford UnitedA0–16,48911 16 October 1993 Grimsby TownH1–014,696Örlygsson 69'12 23 October 1993 Wolverhampton WanderersA1–120,421Stein 33'13 30 October 1993 BarnsleyH5–414,674Fleming 23' (o.g.), Bishop 25' (o.g.), 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 CountyA0–29,81518 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 MillwallA0–28,93022 26 December 1993 Birmingham CityH2–116,584Örlygsson 21', Sandford 69'23 28 December 1993 Charlton AthleticA0–28,41624 1 January 1994 Derby CountyH2–120,307Foley 35', Örlygsson 49'25 3 January 1994 Bristol CityA0–011,13226 15 January 1994 Grimsby TownA0–08,57727 22 January 1994 Oxford UnitedH1–114,689Regis 12'28 5 February 1994 Wolverhampton WanderersH1–122,579Overson 53'29 12 February 1994 BarnsleyA0–37,56130 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 AlbionA0–016,06034 12 March 1994 Nottingham ForestH0–120,55035 15 March 1994 Tranmere RoversA0–26,34636 19 March 1994 Southend UnitedA0–04,54237 26 March 1994 Crystal PalaceH0–218,07138 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 CountyH0–016,47045 30 April 1994 Leicester CityA1–119,291Regis 48'46 8 May 1994 Luton TownH2–215,911Biggins 16', Regis 32'

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR38 January 1994 Bath CityH0–014,159R3 Replay18 January 1994 Bath CityA4–16,213Regis (2) 5', 57', Cranson 38', Örlygsson 83'R429 January 1994 Oldham AthleticA0–014,465R4 Replay9 February 1994 Oldham AthleticH0–119,871

League Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR1 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

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersQualifying Match 131 August 1993Wolverhampton WanderersA3–39,092Carruthers (2) 23', 38', Gleghorn 68'Qualifying Match 27 September 1993Birmingham CityH2–08,633Cranson 4', Stein 51' (pen)Group Match 112 October 1993CosenzaH2–15,183Carruthers 18', Örlygsson 78'Group Match 210 November 1993FiorentinaH0–08,616Group Match 316 November 1993PadovaA0–31,495Group Match 422 December 1993PescaraA1–21,850Regis 43'

Friendlies MatchOpponentVenueResult1Simba SCA3–12PambaA2–13Young AfricansA4–04Tanzamia BreweriesA3–25Real SociedadH2–06Newcastle TownA4–07Telford UnitedA11–18Northwich VictoriaA1–1

Squad statistics Pos.NameLeagueFA CupLeague CupAnglo-Italian CupTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGK Gordon Marshall100200010130GK Carl Muggleton6000102090GK Mark Prudhoe300203030380DF John Butler34(1)040205045(1)0DF John Clark120000000120DF Ian Clarkson14010201(1)018(1)0DF Tom Cowan140001030180DF Ian Cranson440413061572DF Graham Harbey2000002040DF Graham Potter2(1)02000004(1)0DF Vince Overson392404050522DF Lee Sandford41(1)140305053(1)1MF Micky Adams103000000103MF Steve Foley42(1)240403053(1)2MF Nigel Gleghorn38(2)340416152(2)5MF Micky Gynn14(7)0002(2)03(1)019(10)0MF Dave Kevan1000100(1)02(1)0MF Kenny Lowe3(6)00020207(6)0MF Toddy Orlygsson42(3)1041405155(3)12MF Paul Ware1000000010MF Brett Williams2000000020MF Simon Winstone0000000000FW Gary Bannister10(5)220000(1)012(6)2FW Wayne Biggins104000000104FW Martin Carruthers24(10)5201(2)14(1)331(13)9FW Tony Kelly0000000(1)00(1)0FW Dave Regis33(5)1042214143(5)14FW Graham Shaw2(2)00(1)0000(1)02(4)0FW Mark Stein1280044311913FW Simon Sturridge5(8)01(1)0102(2)09(11)0FW Mark Walters9200000092–Own goals–5–0–0–0–5

References