The 1990–91 season was Stoke City's 84th season in the Football League and 2nd in the Third Division.
Stoke City entered the 1990–91 season in the Third Division for only the second time in their history and the feeling from the supporters was that a club of Stoke's size should be able to easily gain an instant return to the second tier. However Stoke experienced their worst ever season in terms of league position as they could only muster a 14th-place finish. Alan Ball was sacked in February and his assistant Graham Paddon took over for the remainder of the season.
Season review
League The 1990–91 season will long be remembered by Stoke supporters as the club finished in its lowest ever league position of 14th in the third tier. Manager Alan Ball was dismissed in late February after a 4–0 defeat at Wigan Athletic with Graham Paddon filling the gap until the end of the season. The overall team performances were of a low standard with some embarrassing defeats being suffered against the likes of Shrewsbury Town, Leyton Orient, Cambridge United and Bournemouth.
It was all meant to be so different when the season started with Stoke beating Rotherham United 3–1 on the opening day which was followed by a commanding away victory at Tranmere Rovers. The club were in the top three until the start of December, but as the first half of the season came to an end Stoke's form began to suffer and after exiting the FA Cup Stoke had two awful performances against Exeter City and Preston North End and their form completely dropped off. Results briefly improved after Paddon took over, and following a victory over Mansfield Town in late March, the club were in 9th place, just three points outside the play-offs. After that win however, Stoke earned just 4 points from their last 9 matches, ending both any remaining promotion hopes and Paddon's chance of becoming permanent manager; he resigned after the season ended and returned to former club Portsmouth as a coach. Stoke had an abysmal disciplinary record this season and at times the attitude of the players on the pitch left lot to be desired. And so, despite boasting the largest supporter base and wage budget, Stoke had a season to forget in the Third Division.
FA Cup Stoke overcame non-league Telford United in a replay but were knocked out 2–0 at Burnley in the second round.
League Cup A dull two legs against Swansea City was finally ended with minutes remaining thanks to a goal from Tony Kelly. However Stoke were well beaten by West Ham United 5–1 on aggregate in the next round.
League Trophy Stoke's first Football League Trophy campaign saw them fail to get out of a group containing Mansfield Town and Northampton Town.
Final league table
Results
Legend
Football League Third Division
MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers1 25 August 1990 Rotherham UnitedH3–112,748Blake 15', Kennedy 44' (pen), Thomas 49'2 31 August 1990 Tranmere RoversA2–110,327Ellis 36', Kennedy 43' (pen)3 8 September 1990 Birmingham CityH0–116,0094 15 September 1990 BournemouthA1–16,374Statham 84'5 18 September 1990 Chester CityA1–13,759Thomas 7'6 22 September 1990 Southend UnitedH4–011,901Ware 38', Biggins (2) 41', 49', Cornwell 68' (o.g.)7 29 September 1990 Shrewsbury TownH1–312,672Sandford 26'8 2 October 1990 Crewe AlexandraA2–17,200Biggins 42', Ware 77'9 6 October 1990 Bolton WanderersA1–08,521Evans 61'10 13 October 1990 FulhamH2–112,394Ellis (2) 26', 68'11 20 October 1990 Cambridge UnitedH1–112,673Biggins 54'12 24 October 1990 Bradford CityA2–18,068Kelly 58', Thomas 88'13 27 October 1990 Grimsby TownA0–210,79914 3 November 1990 ReadingH0–112,24515 10 November 1990 Wigan AthleticH2–012,756Biggins 20', Kennedy 68'16 24 November 1990 BuryA1–15,118Thomas 47'17 1 December 1990 Exeter CityA0–25,37718 16 December 1990 BrentfordH2–210,995Hilaire 10', Sandford 65'19 22 December 1990 Preston North EndA0–27,53220 26 December 1990 Swansea CityH2–212,534Biggins 44', Thomas 70'21 29 December 1990 Huddersfield TownH2–011,869Ellis (2) 15', 48'22 1 January 1991 Leyton OrientA2–06,371Ellis 9', Thomas 59'23 12 January 1991 Tranmere RoversH1–113,461Butler 77'24 19 January 1991 Rotherham UnitedA0–06,23625 2 February 1991 Chester CityH2–311,037Kelly 60', Hilaire 68'26 5 February 1991 Southend UnitedA0–15,16427 16 February 1991 BuryH2–29,885Biggins (2) 45', 65'28 23 February 1991 Wigan AthleticA0–43,72829 27 February 1991 BournemouthH1–37,797Biggins 50'30 2 March 1991 Exeter CityH2–18,536Biggins (2) 27', 85'31 5 March 1991 Mansfield TownA0–02,94132 9 March 1991 BrentfordA4–07,249Thomas 64', Blake 69', Beeston 86', Clarke 90'33 13 March 1991 Crewe AlexandraH1–015,455Devlin 90'34 16 March 1991 Shrewsbury TownA0–26,21035 19 March 1991 FulhamA1–03,131Biggins 61'36 23 March 1991 Bolton WanderersH2–213,869Devlin 47', Kelly 55'37 26 March 1991 Mansfield TownH3–19,113Clarke (2) 30', 60', Blake 53'38 30 March 1991 Swansea CityA1–24,418Ellis 88'39 1 April 1991 Preston North EndH0–111,52440 6 April 1991 Huddersfield TownA0–36,52041 13 April 1991 Leyton OrientH1–27,957Beeston 27'42 16 April 1991 Birmingham CityA1–26,726Ellis 45'43 20 April 1991 Cambridge UnitedA0–35,72644 27 April 1991 Bradford CityH2–16,943Ellis 17', Butler 45'45 4 May 1991 Grimsby TownH0–011,83246 11 May 1991 ReadingA0–14,101
FA Cup
RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR117 November 1990 Telford UnitedA0–03,709R1 Replay21 November 1990 Telford UnitedH1–011,880Sandford 14'R212 December 1990 BurnleyA0–212,949
League Cup
RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersR1 1st Leg29 August 1990 Swansea CityH0–07,806R1 2nd Leg4 September 1990 Swansea CityA1–04,464Kelly 86'R2 1st Leg26 September 1990 West Ham UnitedA0–315,870R2 2nd Leg10 October 1990 West Ham UnitedH1–28,411Evans 37'
League Trophy
RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersPR116 November 1990 Northampton TownH1–14,339Barnes 60'PR28 January 1991Mansfield TownA0–31,600
Friendlies MatchOpponentVenueResult1Port ValeH1–02Burton AlbionA5–13Fleetwood TownA2–04Congleton TownA2–15Worcester CityA4–06RocesterA2–07Newcastle TownA2–18West Bromwich AlbionH1–1
Squad statistics Pos.NameLeagueFA CupLeague CupLeague Trophy TotalAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGK Peter Fox440304020530GK Dan Noble2000000020DF Noel Blake443304010523DF John Butler312104010372DF Cliff Carr15(5)000101017(5)0DF Ian Cranson7(2)030001011(2)0DF Lee Fowler14(3)00(2)01(1)01016(6)0DF Tony Gallimore4(3)00000004(3)0DF Paul Rennie3010000040DF Derek Statham221303000281DF Lee Sandford322313020403DF Ian Wright1000000010MF Carl Beeston3722(1)0301043(1)2MF Mark Devlin18(3)200000018(3)2MF Mick Kennedy323303010393MF Dave Kevan4(1)000101(1)06(2)0MF Chris Male0000000(1)00(1)0MF Brian Rice180000000180MF Ian Scott1(1)00010103(1)0MF Mickey Thomas32(6)7302(1)01038(7)7MF Paul Ware29(5)210302035(5)2FW Paul Baines1(1)00000001(1)0FW Paul Barnes3(3)00000114(3)1FW Wayne Biggins36(2)1230401044(2)12FW Darren Boughey00000(2)0101(2)0FW David Bright0(1)00000000(1)0FW Wayne Clarke9300000093FW Tony Ellis33(5)91(2)0302039(7)9FW Gareth Evans5100210072FW Vince Hilaire102100010122FW Tony Kelly16(13)3002(1)10(1)018(15)4FW Billy Whitehurst3020000050–Own goals–1–0–0–0–1
References