The 1989–90 season was Stoke City's 83rd season in the Football League and 30th in the Second Division.

The pressure was now on Mick Mills after four seasons without a serious promotion challenge and he spent big in the summer with £1 million worth of talent arriving at the Victoria Ground. However Stoke's overall performances left a lot to be desired and after failing to gain a victory until their 12th match Stoke hit the bottom of the table. With no improvement Mills paid the price and was sacked in November with former World Cup winner Alan Ball taking charge. Ball was unable to stop the slide into the third tier for only the second time in the club's history.

Season review

League After four seasons of mid-table finishes manager Mick Mills spent big to turn Stoke into a side capable of gaining promotion to the First Division. He spent good money, breaking the club's record transfer of £480,000 for Sheffield Wednesday defender Ian Cranson, £75,000 on Derek Statham from West Bromwich Albion, £175,000 for Ian Scott and £250,000 for Wayne Biggins both from Manchester City. All four started the first match of the season in a 1–1 draw at home to West Ham United in front of an expectant crowd of 16,058. The teams's overall displays, however, left a lot to be desired and favourable results proved elusive, Stoke failing to win any of their first 11 matches.

Injuries, refereeing decisions and a spate of draws saw Stoke hit bottom spot in November after collecting just two wins in 19. With the club heading towards the third tier for the first time since 1927 Mills paid the price for his failure and was dismissed. Into Mills' place came Alan Ball, a former World Cup winner with England, whose previous job was with Portsmouth. Ball was appointed as Mills' assistant two months earlier. He made an instant impact as Stoke beat Newcastle United on Boxing Day. But injury to Ian Cranson against Bournemouth in March put a dent in any hopes of a revival. Ball chose to wheel and deal in the transfer market in an effort to halt the club's slide. He had come to the conclusion that the squad he had inherited was simply not good enough and out went Chris Kamara, Dave Bamber, Leigh Palin, Carl Saunders, Gary Hackett and Nicky Morgan. Into the side came Tony Ellis, Lee Sandford, Tony Kelly, Dave Kevan, Paul Barnes and Noel Blake.

It was a big gamble by Ball to change the squad around so much so quickly and it did not pay off, Stoke staying rooted to the bottom of the table and they subsequently fell through the trap door into the Third Division for the first time since 1927. Stoke won only six of their 46 matches and scored just 35 goals, Biggins getting 10. With Stoke's fate already sealed over 3,000 fans travelled to Brighton & Hove Albion for the final away match to have a 'relegation party'. There were few bright spots during a dismal season which saw the Potteries derby make a return, 27,032 saw Stoke and Vale draw 1–1 on 23 September and at Vale Park 22,075 saw a dull 0–0 on 3 February.

FA Cup Former fan favourites Steve Bould and Lee Dixon returned to the Victoria Ground with Arsenal and a crowd of 23,827 saw David O'Leary score the only goal of the tie.

League Cup After beating First Division Millwall 1–0 in the first leg Stoke lost the second leg 2–0 with some controversial referring decisions going against Stoke which led to Mick Mills having to be restrained on the touchline.

Full Members' Cup Stoke entered the Full Members' Cup for the final time and went out in the second round losing on penalties to Leeds United.

Final league table

Results

Legend WinDrawLoss

Football League Second Division

MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers1 19 August 1989 West Ham UnitedH1–116,058Biggins 81'2 26 August 1989 PortsmouthA0–07,4333 2 September 1989 Leeds UnitedH1–114,570Cranson 29'4 5 September 1989 BarnsleyA2–38,584Berry 19' (pen), Morgan 58'5 9 September 1989 Wolverhampton WanderersA0–015,6596 16 September 1989 Oldham AthleticH1–210,673Bamber 65'7 23 September 1989 Port ValeH1–127,037Palin 66'8 26 September 1989 Bradford CityH1–19,346Cranson 55'9 30 September 1989 Ipswich TownA2–210,389Palin 47' (pen), Saunders 50'10 7 October 1989 Plymouth ArgyleA0–36,94011 14 October 1989 Hull CityH1–19,955Biggins 3'12 17 October 1989 West Bromwich AlbionH2–111,911Hackett 8', Biggins 32'13 21 October 1989 Sheffield UnitedA1–216,873Palin 67' (pen)14 28 October 1989 SunderlandH0–212,48015 1 November 1989 Oxford UnitedA0–34,37516 4 November 1989 Swindon TownA0–67,82517 11 November 1989 Brighton & Hove AlbionH3–210,346Beeston 1', Bamber 25', Kamara 30'18 18 November 1989 BournemouthA1–26,412Hilarie 84'19 25 November 1989 Leicester CityH0–112,26120 2 December 1989 West Ham UnitedA0–017,70421 9 December 1989 BarnsleyH0–110,16322 26 December 1989 Newcastle UnitedH2–114,878Biggins 78', Beeston 90'23 30 December 1989 WatfordH2–212,228Biggins (2) 23', 26' (1 pen)24 1 January 1990 MiddlesbroughA1–016,238Ellis 61'25 13 January 1990 PortsmouthH1–212,051Sandford 70'26 20 January 1990 Leeds UnitedA0–229,31827 27 January 1990 Blackburn RoversA0–39,13228 3 February 1990 Port ValeA0–022,07529 10 February 1990 Oldham AthleticA0–210,02830 17 February 1990 Wolverhampton WanderersH2–017,870Biggins 64', Hackett 75'31 22 February 1990 Leicester CityA1–212,242Biggins 41'32 3 March 1990 BournemouthH0–010,99833 6 March 1990 Ipswich TownH0–010,81534 10 March 1990 Bradford CityA0–19,26935 17 March 1990 Plymouth ArgyleH0–09,45236 20 March 1990 Hull CityA0–06,45637 24 March 1990 West Bromwich AlbionA1–112,771Ellis 78'38 31 March 1990 Sheffield UnitedH0–114,89839 7 April 1990 SunderlandA1–217,119Ellis 63'40 10 April 1990 Oxford UnitedH1–28,139Sandford 42'41 14 April 1990 MiddlesbroughH0–08,63642 16 April 1990 Newcastle UnitedA0–326,19043 21 April 1990 Blackburn RoversH0–19,30544 24 April 1990 WatfordA1–18,073Biggins 30'45 28 April 1990 Brighton & Hove AlbionA4–19,614Ellis (2) 51', 76', Biggins 70', Scott 80'46 5 May 1990 Swindon TownH1–111,386Ellis 12'

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR36 January 1990 ArsenalH0–123,827

League Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR2 1st Leg19 September 1989 MillwallH1–08,030Morgan 32'R2 2nd Leg3 October 1989 MillwallA0–28,637

Full Members' Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR128 November 1989 Bradford CityH2–14,616Berry 21', Bamber 40'R219 December 1989 Leeds UnitedH2–2 (4–5 pens)5,792Kamara 32', Biggins 95'

Friendlies MatchOpponentVenueResult1Västra Frölunda IFA9–02Alnö IFA3–13Frösö IFA4–04Anundsjö IFA1–05Hamrånge GIFA7–06Västerhaninge IFA8–07Newcastle TownA2–08Derby CountyH1–29EvertonH2–410WalsallH2–011RocesterA1–212Stafford RangersA3–013Jersey WanderersA7–0

Squad statistics Pos.NameLeagueFA CupLeague CupFull Members' CupTotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGK Scott Barrett7000000070GK Peter Fox380102020430GK Dan Noble1000000010DF Noel Blake180000000180DF John Butler440102020490DF Cliff Carr220100020250DF Ian Cranson172002000192DF Lee Fowler13(2)010001015(2)0DF Tony Gallimore0(1)00000000(1)0DF Andy Holmes5(1)01000107(1)0DF Chris Kamara221102021272DF Lee Sandford232100000242DF Derek Statham190002000210DF Ian Wright1000000010MF George Berry15(1)100001116(1)2MF Carl Beeston382101010412MF Garry Brooke6(2)00000006(2)0MF Stephen Farrell0(2)00000000(2)0MF Mark Higgins4(2)00020107(2)0MF Dave Kevan170000000170FW Darren Hope0000000000MF Leigh Palin17(2)300202021(2)3MF Ian Scott14(5)100000(1)014(6)1MF Mickey Thomas8000000080MF Paul Ware9(7)010101012(7)0FW Dave Bamber202002011233FW Paul Barnes4(1)00000004(1)0FW Peter Beagrie130002000150FW Wayne Biggins35101000213811FW Darren Boughey4(3)00000004(3)0FW Tony Ellis246000000246FW Gary Hackett18(8)20(1)01(1)02020(10)2FW Vince Hilaire5100000051FW Tony Kelly5(4)00000005(4)0FW Nicky Morgan6(7)100110(1)07(8)2FW David Ritchie0000000000FW Mark Sale0(2)00000000(2)0FW Carl Saunders12(10)1100(1)01014(11)1FW Mark Smith2000000020

References