1993–94 Stoke City F.C. season


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

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

Football League First Division

MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
114 August 1993MillwallH1–218,766McCarthy 28'
221 August 1993Bolton WanderersA1–111,328Stein 69'
328 August 1993West Bromwich AlbionH1–017,948Stein 68'
44 September 1993PortsmouthA3–312,552Stein 17', 65', Regis 84'
511 September 1993Tranmere RoversH1–217,296Martindale 25'
614 September 1993MiddlesbroughA2–113,189Carruthers 42', Foley 84'
719 September 1993Nottingham ForestA3–220,843Regis 16', Stein 25', 49'
825 September 1993Southend UnitedH0–116,145
92 October 1993Crystal PalaceA1–412,880Stein 75'
1010 October 1993Oxford UnitedA0–16,489
1116 October 1993Grimsby TownH1–014,696Örlygsson 69'
1223 October 1993Wolverhampton WanderersA1–120,421Stein 33'
1330 October 1993BarnsleyH5–414,674, Gleghorn 50', Overson 55', Carruthers 64'
143 November 1993SunderlandH1–013,551Örlygsson 86'
156 November 1993WatfordA3–17,767Örlygsson 10', Carruthers 53', Regis 84'
1614 November 1993Leicester CityH1–015,984Gleghorn 43'
1720 November 1993Notts CountyA0–29,815
1827 November 1993Luton TownA2–67,384Regis 3', Linton 41'
194 December 1993WatfordH2–013,465Bannister 53', Regis 63'
2011 December 1993MiddlesbroughH3–113,777Bannister 18', Örlygsson 32', 69'
2119 December 1993MillwallA0–28,930
2226 December 1993Birmingham CityH2–116,584Örlygsson 21', Sandford 69'
2328 December 1993Charlton AthleticA0–28,416
241 January 1994Derby CountyH2–120,307Foley 35', Örlygsson 49'
253 January 1994Bristol CityA0–011,132
2615 January 1994Grimsby TownA0–08,577
2722 January 1994Oxford UnitedH1–114,689Regis 12'
285 February 1994Wolverhampton WanderersH1–122,579Overson 53'
2912 February 1994BarnsleyA0–37,561
3019 February 1994Peterborough UnitedA1–17,428Gleghorn 45'
3123 February 1994Bolton WanderersH2–014,257Örlygsson 45', Regis 85'
3226 February 1994PortsmouthH2–014,506Örlygsson 45', Carruthers 84'
335 March 1994West Bromwich AlbionA0–016,060
3412 March 1994Nottingham ForestH0–120,550
3515 March 1994Tranmere RoversA0–26,346
3619 March 1994Southend UnitedA0–04,542
3726 March 1994Crystal PalaceH0–218,071
3830 March 1994Bristol CityH3–013,208Adams 8', 78', Biggins 59'
391 April 1994Birmingham CityA1–313,568Carruthers 33'
404 April 1994Charlton AthleticH1–013,569Örlygsson 31'
419 April 1994Derby CountyA2–416,593Biggins 77', Adams 81'
4213 April 1994Peterborough UnitedH3–010,181Regis 14', Biggins 36', Walters 79'
4316 April 1994SunderlandA1–017,406Walters 28'
4423 April 1994Notts CountyH0–016,470
4530 April 1994Leicester CityA1–119,291Regis 48'
468 May 1994Luton TownH2–215,911Biggins 16', Regis 32'

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
R38 January 1994Bath CityH0–014,159
R3 Replay18 January 1994Bath CityA4–16,213Regis 5', 57', Cranson 38', Örlygsson 83'
R429 January 1994Oldham AthleticA0–014,465
R4 Replay9 February 1994Oldham AthleticH0–119,871

League Cup

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

Anglo-Italian Cup

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

Friendlies

Squad statistics