The 1985–86 season was Stoke City's 79th season in the Football League and 26th in the Second Division.

After the previous season's humiliating relegation, Stoke's new manager Mick Mills had the tough task of restoring the club's pride. An early 6–2 victory over Leeds United certainly helped to boost morale but with poor crowds Stoke were never going to be involved in the race for promotion and with the squad considered too good to be relegated again a mid-table position of 10th was the final outcome in a season of recovery.

Season review

League Following last season's debacle, Stoke had the chance to rebuild with their new manager Mick Mills and his assistant Sammy Chung. The Victoria Ground was in a state of depression as there was no money available whatsoever and the fans had deserted the team in their droves. The average attendance had dropped to below 10,000 and there was a genuine concern that the side could fall all the way to the Third Division and there was no doubt that Mills had an enormous task on his hands.

Stoke had a surprisingly good pre-season reaching the final of the Isle of Man Trophy, losing to Blackburn Rovers. But they suffered a 3–1 defeat at home to Sheffield United on the opening day in their first Second Division fixture for six years. But the fans finally had something to cheer about in their next home match as Mark Chamberlain rediscovered his lost form and starred in a 6–2 victory over Leeds United. Money was still a major problem and Sheffield Wednesday moved in to sign Chamberlain for £300,000.

The board hoped that this money would be available for Mills to spend on new players but instead it had to be used to reduce the club's overdraft. Alan Hudson, struggling with injury, decided to retire in November and Mills quickly brought in John Devine from Norwich City; he also promoted youth team player Neil Adams to the first team and he did well as results slowly started to improve. Paul Dyson was sold to West Bromwich Albion and Tony Kelly was signed from Wigan Athletic before the March transfer deadline and with Stoke out of all three cups and no worry of a relegation or promotion race they played out the final league fixtures without any pressure and finished in 10th position.

FA Cup For the third season running Stoke failed to make it past the third round losing to Notts County.

League Cup Stoke beat Fourth Division Welsh side Wrexham before losing away at Portsmouth.

Full Members' Cup With English clubs banned from UEFA competitions due to the Heysel Stadium disaster the FA set up the Full Members' Cup as a replacement. Stoke lost to Oxford United at the semi-final stage.

Final league table

Results

Stoke's score comes first

Legend WinDrawLoss

Football League Second Division

MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers1 17 August 1985 Sheffield UnitedH1–311,679Heath 44'2 24 August 1985 BarnsleyA0–06,5983 26 August 1985 Leeds UnitedH6–27,047Berry 15', Bertschin (2) 55', 83', Chamberlain (2) 77', 88', Maskery 75'4 1 September 1985 Bradford CityA1–36,999Painter 18'5 4 September 1985 Grimsby TownH1–17,362Chamberlain 89'6 7 September 1985 MillwallH0–07,1877 10 September 1985 MiddlesbroughA1–14,255Parkin 80'8 14 September 1985 PortsmouthA0–313,7209 21 September 1985 Charlton AthleticA0–28,85810 28 September 1985 Crystal PalaceH0–07,13011 5 October 1985 Hull CityA2–06,890Bertschin 10', Saunders 73'12 12 October 1985 Brighton & Hove AlbionH1–17,662Maskery 64'13 19 October 1985 FulhamA0–14,00714 25 October 1985 WimbledonH0–06,70815 2 November 1985 Huddersfield TownH3–07,291Heath 12', Shaw 43', Bertschin 66'16 9 November 1985 Carlisle UnitedA0–32,81317 16 November 1985 Norwich CityH1–16,469Bertschin 53' (pen)18 23 November 1985 Oldham AthleticA4–24,817Bertschin (2) 35', 60', Heath 44', Maskery 49'19 30 November 1985 SunderlandH1–09,034Bertschin 80'20 7 December 1985 MiddlesbroughH3–27,646Berry 25', Adams 33', Bertschin 55'21 14 December 1985 Sheffield UnitedA2–112,370Adams 7', Shaw 46'22 21 December 1985 BarnsleyH0–09,85623 26 December 1985 Shrewsbury TownA0–19,56524 1 January 1986 Blackburn RoversH2–211,875Bertschin 33' (pen), Adams 36'25 11 January 1986 MillwallA3–24,611Donowa 15', Painter 17', Bertschin 71'26 18 January 1986 Bradford CityH3–18,808Shaw 41', Bertschin (2) 48', 82'27 25 January 1986 Grimsby TownA3–34,523Shaw 10', Bertschin 22', Adams 44'28 1 February 1986 Leeds UnitedA0–410,42529 18 February 1986 FulhamH1–06,449Devine 9'30 22 February 1986 Charlton AthleticH0–09,29731 8 March 1986 Hull CityH0–19,11232 15 March 1986 Brighton & Hove AlbionA0–28,78333 18 March 1986 Crystal PalaceA1–04,501Bertschin 36'34 29 March 1986 Blackburn RoversA1–05,408Saunders 76'35 31 March 1986 Shrewsbury TownH2–28,988Bertschin (2) 13', 63' (1 pen)36 5 April 1986 Huddersfield TownA0–25,75037 12 April 1986 Carlisle UnitedH0–07,15938 19 April 1986 Norwich CityA1–117,757Bertschin 65'39 22 April 1986 PortsmouthH2–08,529Berry 17', Heath 45'40 26 April 1986 Oldham AthleticH2–08,585Shaw 40', Bertschin 47'41 29 April 1986 WimbledonA0–15,95942 3 May 1986 SunderlandA0–120,631

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR313 January 1986 Notts CountyH0–212,219

League Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR2 1st Leg24 September 1985 WrexhamA1–05,241Bertschin 49'R2 2nd Leg9 October 1985 WrexhamH1–06,784Bertschin 80'R329 October 1985 PortsmouthA0–213,319

Full Members' Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersGroup match 118 September 1985 Coventry CityH3–03,516Bertschin 44' (pen), Saunders 49', Beeston 56'Group match 22 October 1985 MillwallA2–21,741Bertschin 54' (pen), Maskery 82'Area semi final6 November 1985 Oxford UnitedH0–15,820

Isle of Man Trophy

RoundOpponentResultGroup match 1Wigan Athletic3–0Group match 2Manchester City2–1Group match 3Isle of Man5–0Semi FinalCarlisle United1–0FinalBlackburn Rovers0–1

Friendlies MatchOpponentVenueResult1Port ValeH1–12Crewe AlexandraA0–23Nottingham ForestA2–14Port ValeA1–05Stafford RangersA1–06Congleton TownA1–1

Squad statistics Pos.NameLeagueFA CupLeague CupFull Members' CupTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGK Peter Fox370103030440GK Barry Siddall5000000050DF Charlie Bishop0000000000DF Phil Bonnyman7000000070DF Steve Bould330003020380DF Aaron Callaghan6(2)00000006(2)0DF John Devine151100000161DF Paul Dyson310103030380DF Chris Hemming23(1)010101026(1)0DF Mick Mills310103020370MF Neil Adams31(1)410303038(1)4MF Carl Beeston2(3)00000113(3)1MF George Berry413103030483MF Alan Hudson6000000060MF Tony Kelly1000000010MF Chris Maskery193002031244MF Steve Parkin10(2)100303016(2)1MF Terry Williams3(3)0001(1)01(1)05(5)0FW Keith Bertschin42191032324923FW Mark Chamberlain7300000073FW Alan Curtis3000000030FW Louie Donowa410(1)000004(1)1FW Phil Heath384003030444FW Ian Painter15(4)210000016(4)2FW Carl Saunders33(4)210202(1)138(5)3FW Graham Shaw19(1)510000(1)020(2)5FW Dave Sutton0000000000

References