The 2000–01 season was Stoke City's 94th season in the Football League and the seventh in the third tier.
Manager Gudjon Thordarson again brought in some of his fellow countrymen as Stoke were looking to gain promotion to the First Division. The close season saw Stoke beat higher placed teams in the form of Birmingham City and Liverpool but a goalless draw with Wycombe Wanderers emphasized that pre-season results mean nothing. Stoke's form was steady if not spectacular but two terrible cup exists, defeat to Nuneaton Borough in the FA Cup and a shocking 8–0 loss at home to Liverpool in the League Cup threatened to derail Stoke's season. But Stoke responded by going 12 matches unbeaten and for the second season running Stoke entered the lottery of the play-offs. Walsall were the opponents and after a 0–0 draw the "Saddlers" proved to be too strong at the Bescot Stadium and won the match 4–2 leaving Stoke facing a fourth season in the third tier.
Season review
League The Icelandic invasion of Stoke-on-Trent was now in full flow with no less than ten Scandinavian players agreeing to join the club. Amongst them were club record signing Brynjar Gunnarsson, the manager's son Bjarni Guðjónsson, Swedish full-back Mikael Hansson and new forwards Stefán Þórðarson and Ríkharður Daðason although Daðason took until October before he could complete his move from Norwegian football. Stoke went on a pre-season tour of Iceland and then had two impressive results against Birmingham City and Liverpool. Tony Dorigo and Wayne Thomas both joined the side before the season opener at home to Wycombe Wanderers with excitement rife after the good pre-season. But a frustrating 0–0 followed and those it seemed that pre-season results are pretty pointless.
Stoke soon started to get their act together and began to find the back of the net regularly with Peterborough United beaten 3–0 and Oxford United 4–0 and a 3–3 draw away at Reading. The first Potteries derby ended 1–1 but in the next match against Rotherham United on-loan striker Marvin Robinson broke his leg in a collision with the Rotherham goalkeeper. A last minute victory over Millwall was an important win against a promotion rival and with the arrival of Dadason it seemed that Stoke could continue their push for an automatic position but two defeats in the FA and League Cup saw the feeling around the club drop and after a 3–1 defeat at home to bottom of the table Luton Town there was a major danger that those results could affect their league form. But City bounced back and went on a 13 match unbeaten run cementing their place in the play-offs.
But Stoke not making life easy for themselves lost to several lowly placed sides increasing the risk of being caught but three wins at the end of the season saw Stoke finish in 5th position with 77 points and they come up against an impressive Walsall side. The first leg at the Britannia was a tense affair which saw Ben Petty 'sacrifice' himself to prevent a goal for Walsall and the match ended 0–0. The second leg started well enough for Stoke with Graham Kavanagh putting City into the lead but a goalkeeping howler from Gavin Ward gifted the "Saddlers" an equaliser. In a mad 15 minute spell in the second half Walsall scored three without reply and despite Peter Thorne scoring it was too little to late and Stoke would have to try again to gain that promotion out of the third tier.
FA Cup Stoke were on the receiving end of a cup shock against non-league side Nuneaton Borough. They drew the first tie 0-0, and in the replay Marc McGregor scored a late goal for Nuneaton to secure a 1-0 victory.
League Cup Stoke had a decent run to the fourth round after beating York City 5–1, Premier League Charlton Athletic on away goals after a thrilling 5–5 aggregate score and a 3–2 over Barnsley saw Stoke earn a glamour tie against Liverpool. But it quickly turned into a nightmare for Stoke as Liverpool ran riot scoring with every shot they took and ended up with an 8–0 victory, Stoke's worst home defeat.
League Trophy As holders Stoke were looking to retain the Football League Trophy and they made it to the northern section semi final against local rivals Port Vale after beating Scarborough (3–1), Halifax Town (3–2) and Walsall (4–0). The tie was originally scheduled to be played at Vale Park but with several failed attempts to play the match due to a waterlogged pitch the match was moved to the Britannia Stadium. Vale won a dour match 2–1 after extra time and they went on to lift the trophy.
Final league table
Results Stoke's score comes first
Legend WinDrawLoss
Pre-season friendlies MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers114 July 2000ÍA AkranesA1–1Lightbourne216 July 2000KA AkureyriA1–1Þórðarson317 July 2000VíkingurA2–2O'Connor, Guðjónsson422 July 2000LiverpoolH1–016,101Þórðarson 29'524 July 2000DarlingtonN3–1Heath, Lightbourne, Guðjónsson626 July 2000BuryN1–2O'Connor728 July 2000Isle of ManA5–1213Þórðarson, Thomas, Gunnarsson, Lightbourne (2)81 August 2000Birmingham CityH2–15,148Þórðarson 20', Connor 89'94 August 2000Newcastle TownA3–02,153Connor, Lightbourne, Georges Rossi
Football League Second Division
MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReport1 12 August 2000 Wycombe WanderersH0–014,532Report2 19 August 2000 Bristol CityA2–112,590Guðjónsson 76', O'Connor 87'Report3 26 August 2000 Notts CountyH0–113,041Report4 29 August 2000 ReadingA3–310,668Hunter (o.g.) 17', Þórðarson 22', Fenton 75'Report5 9 September 2000 Peterborough UnitedH3–013,011Lightbourne 53', Þórðarson 87', Kavanagh 90'Report6 13 September 2000 Oxford UnitedH4–09,600Þórðarson 22', Guðjónsson 32', O'Connor 45', Robinson 71'Report7 13 September 2000 Port ValeA1–18,948Lightbourne 15'Report8 23 September 2000 Rotherham UnitedH1–113,472Thorne 81'Report9 30 September 2000 Colchester UnitedA1–03,758Thorne 14'Report10 14 October 2000 Swansea CityA1–26,498Lightbourne 88'Report11 17 October 2000 Cambridge UnitedA1–14,433Thorne 41'Report12 21 October 2000 MillwallH3–213,752Thorne (2) 8', 13', Iwelumo 90'Report13 24 October 2000 WalsallA0–36,996Report14 28 October 2000 BournemouthH2–111,572Guðjónsson 9', O'Connor 13'Report15 4 November 2000 WrexhamA2–16,447Thorne 16', Þórðarson 27' (pen)Report16 7 November 2000 Northampton TownA2–25,475Kavanagh 10', O'Connor 24'Report17 11 November 2000 Oldham AthleticH0–112,503Report18 25 November 2000 Swindon TownA3–04,904Dryden 8' (o.g.), Lightbourne (2) 11', 78'Report19 2 December 2000 Luton TownH1–312,389Mohan 35'Report20 16 December 2000 Bristol RoversA3–06,338Thorne (3) 3', 19', 40'Report21 23 December 2000 Wigan AthleticA1–18,957O'Connor 65'Report22 26 December 2000 BuryH2–116,499Daðason 39', Gunnarsson 84'Report23 30 December 2000 Bristol CityH1–014,629Guðjónsson 81'Report24 1 January 2001 Notts CountyA2–29,125Guðjónsson 1', Cooke 80'Report25 13 January 2001 ReadingH0–014,154Report26 17 January 2001 BrentfordH1–09,350Daðason 22'Report27 27 January 2001 Wigan AthleticH2–016,859Cooke 18', Thorne 60'Report28 3 February 2001 Northampton TownH1–113,235Cooke 59'Report29 10 February 2001 Peterborough UnitedA4–07,568Thorne 2', Guðjónsson 45', Daðason 72', O'Connor 89'Report30 17 February 2001 Port ValeH1–122,133O'Connor 55'Report31 20 February 2001 Oxford UnitedA1–14,856Cooke 69'Report32 24 February 2001 Rotherham UnitedA1–28,211Thorne 53'Report33 3 March 2001 Colchester UnitedH3–111,714Thorne (2) 9', 40', Kavanagh 88'Report34 7 March 2001 Swansea CityH1–210,091O'Connor 81'Report35 10 March 2001 BrentfordA2–25,518Cooke 17', Daðason 90'Report36 13 March 2001 Wycombe WanderersA1–05,385Kavanagh 11' (pen)Report37 17 March 2001 Cambridge UnitedH2–311,939Kavanagh 56', (pen), O'Connor 57'Report38 27 March 2001 BuryA0–14,224Report39 31 March 2001 Bristol RoversH4–112,274Hansson (2) 4', 15', Thorne (2) 71', 86'Report40 3 April 2001 MillwallA0–211,639Report41 7 April 2001 Luton TownA2–16,456Taylor (o.g.) 30', Kavanagh 40'Report42 14 April 2001 WalsallH0–016,603Report43 17 April 2001 BournemouthA0–15,373Report44 21 April 2001 WrexhamH3–112,687Hardy (o.g) 6', Gunnarsson (2) 44', 56'Report45 28 April 2001 Oldham AthleticA2–19,359Gunnarsson 73', Daðason 84'Report46 5 May 2001 Swindon TownH4–120,591O'Halloran 1' (o.g.), Gunnarsson 12', Cooke 32', Kavanagh 45' (pen)Report
Second Division play-offs
RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReportSemi-final 1st Leg 13 May 2001 WalsallH0–021,482ReportSemi-final 2nd Leg 16 May 2001 WalsallA2–48,346Kavanagh 31', Thorne 87'Report
FA Cup
RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReportR118 November 2000 Nuneaton BoroughH0–08,437ReportR1 Replay21 November 2000 Nuneaton BoroughA0–14,477Report
League Cup
RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReportR1 1st Leg22 August 2000 York CityA5–12,035Heath 10', Connor (2) 47', 59', Iwelumo 70', O'Connor 80'ReportR1 2nd Leg6 September 2000 York CityH0–03,478ReportR2 1st Leg20 September 2000 Charlton AthleticH2–19,388Þórðarson 45' (pen), Goodfellow 86'ReportR2 2nd Leg26 September 2000 Charlton AthleticA3–4 (aet)10,037O'Connor 36', Gunnarsson 87', Þórðarson 107'ReportR31 November 2000 BarnsleyH3–210,480Guðjónsson (2) 8', 56', Daðason 90'ReportR4 29 November 2000 LiverpoolH0–827,109Report
League Trophy
RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReportR16 December 2000 ScarboroughH3–12,336Thorne (2) 21', 57', Cooke 25'ReportR29 January 2001 Halifax TownA3–21,917Daðason 31', Guðjónsson (2) 35', 90'ReportQF7 February 2001 WalsallH4–05,624Clarke 3', Goodfellow 59', Petty 67', Þórðarson 81' (pen)ReportSF5 March 2001 Port ValeH1–2 (aet)11,323Mohan 87'Report
Squad statistics
No.Pos.NameLeagueFA CupLeague CupLeague TrophyPlay-offsTotalDisciplineAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals1GK Gavin Ward17000300020220002DF Mikael Hansson36(2)220401(1)01044(3)2003DF Clive Clarke12(9)01(1)05(1)0312023(11)1304MF Henrik Risom9(16)0102(2)0400016(18)0105DF Nicky Mohan37120602110492816MF Brynjar Gunnarsson46510611(1)02056(1)61117MF Bjarni Guðjónsson41(1)620522(1)22052(2)101008MF Graham Kavanagh42(1)7204(1)0202152(2)8709FW Peter Thorne35(3)16203(1)02(1)21(1)143(6)193010FW Ríkharður Daðason13(14)60(1)00(1)12(1)11(1)016(18)80012FW Kyle Lightbourne11(11)5300(1)0000014(12)53014GK Carl Muggleton11(1)02030000016(1)00015MF Tony Dorigo34(2)01030001039(2)02016FW Paul Connor1(6)0001(1)200002(7)20017MF James O'Connor4480(1)052202053(1)1014018DF Ben Petty10(12)0203(1)0410(1)019(14)15219FW Stefán Þórðarson15(15)4204(2)23(1)10(1)024(19)76020DF Kristján Örn Sigurðsson0000000000000021MF Robert Heath0000110000110022FW Chris Iwelumo0(2)1000(2)100000(4)20023DF Wayne Thomas33(1)0103(1)0402043(2)09124DF Matthew Bullock0000000000000025DF Ashley Wooliscroft0000000000000026FW Steven Taaffe0000000000000027DF Frode Kippe15(4)00000302020(4)01028MF Lewis Neal0(1)000000(2)0000(3)00029FW Marc Goodfellow0(7)00(1)00(2)121002(10)20031MF Graham Fenton2(3)1002000004(3)11032FW Marvin Robinson3100000000312033GK Hjörvar Hafliðason0000000000000034FW Andy Cooke21(1)600002(1)11(1)024(3)74035DF Lee Collins00000(1)000000(1)00036GK Birkir Kristinsson180000040002200037MF Karl Henry0000000(1)0000(1)000––Own goals–5–0–0–0–0–5––
References