Stoke City
Formed
1863. Wound up in 1908
Re-formed in 1908.
Founder member of the Football League 1888. Failed re-election 1890.
Elected back into the Football League 1891. Resigned 1908.
Elected to Division Two 1915.
Kit History
Stoke Ramblers
1863
late 1860s q
1870-1871 a
Stoke
1871-1908
1877-1878 b
1882-1883 b
1883-1887 i
1887-1888 i
1890-1891 b
1891-1892 i
1892-1893 i
1893-1894 i
1894-1897 b i
1897-1898 i
1898-1900 i
1901-1903 b i
1903-1904 i
1904-1908 b i v
Reformed as Stoke FC in 1908 after the old club was wound up.
First teams played in both the Southern League and Birmingham & District League.
1908-1915
1908-1920 b i
1921-1922 b
1922-1923 v
1924-1925 b
Stoke City
1925
1926 v
1927-1932 i
1932-1937 b v
1937-1938 b v
1938-1945 i v
1945-1946 b
1946-1949 k i r
1949-1950 v
1950-1952 b v
1952-1953 v
1953-1954 k
1954-1957 c d r v
1957-1958 v
1958-1959 v
1959-1960 k v
1960-1961 m
1961-1963 e
1963-1964 e f
1965-1966 m
1966-1968 v
1966-1967 alt g
1968-1973 b d g n o
1973-1974 b o
1974-1975 (1) e o
1974-1975 (2) u
1975-1976 (1) d o
1975-1976 (2) u
1976-1977 (1) o
1976-1977 (2) u
1977-1981 b d l
1981-1983 b l p
1983-1985 b e p
1985-1986 h
1986-1987 b d
1987-1989 h l p
1989-1990 b p
1990-1991 h p
1991-1992 b p
1992-1993 b e j p
1993-1994 e j p
1994-1995 b e p
1995-1996 b e j
1996-1997 b e j
1997-1999 b e j
1999-2001 e l p
2001-2003 e
2003-2004 e l
2004-2005 e j
2005-2006 a e l s t
2006-2007 a
2007-2008 a
2008-2009 a
2009-2010 a
2010-2011 a
Background
It is generally accepted that
Stoke were formed in 1863 by former pupils of Charterhouse School working
as apprentices at the North Staffordshire Railway Works, making them the
second oldest League club still in existence. There are no records of
any matches until October 1868 when the team, known as Stoke Ramblers
drew 1-1 in a fifteen-a-side game against EW May's XV. Their colours at this time are recorded by Percy M Young as "crimson and blue." Around 1871 "Ramblers"
was dropped from the club's title and blue and black shirts were worn. During the 1870s Stoke became the
leading club in the Potteries area, merging with Stoke Victoria Cricket
Club in 1878, when they moved into what became known as the Victoria Ground,
their home for the next 119 years. They entered the English FA Cup for
the first time in 1883 and turned professional two years later. When the
Football League was formed in 1888, Stoke were one of the 12 founder members.
Stoke finished bottom in both of their first two seasons, winning only seven matches throughout and lost their place to Sunderland in 1890 without a vote being taken. After finishing as champions of the Football Alliance in 1891, Stoke were voted back into the Football League following the decision to add two more clubs for the 1891-92 season. New regulations required that clubs now register their colours with the League and no two clubs could wear the same kit so Stoke wore black and gold in league games, retaining their red and white stripes for all other matches. Again they had to seek re-election at the end of the season but they held on to their place. Between 1895 and 1898 they had to contest test matches to avoid relegation to the new Second Division. They remained in the First Division (wearing claret shirts) until 1907 when a growing financial crisis came to a head following relegation to Division Two and gates plummeted. In 1908, having finished in mid-table, Stoke went into liquidation and resigned from the League. Ironically this galvanised local businessmen, the clergy (the Victoria Ground was owned by the Church of England) and supporters to form a new limited company and purchase the old club's assets. The new club applied to rejoin the League but were, perhaps not suprisingly, rejected in favour of Tottenham Hotspur.
Stoke now fielded first teams in both the Birmingham & District League and the Southern League. In the Birmingham League the team played in red and white shirts while the team that played in the Southern league continued to turn out in blue and red. In 1915, having finished as champions of the Southern League Second Division, Stoke were elected back into the Football League for the third time but, with all professional football suspended for the duration of the Great War, it was not until 1919 that they played their first fixture. In 1922, Stoke were promoted to Division One only to be relegated the following season. In 1926, now known as Stoke City, the club dropped into Division Three (North) but bounced back as champions in 1927. In 1933 Stoke won the Second Division championship to return to the First Division, with a 17-year-old Stanley Matthews playing 15 matches in his first season.
As Matthews grew in reputation, so did attendances, which went from an average of 11,500 to 23,000 and in 1934, the directors announced that the club was in the black for the first time. By the end of the decade, with Matthews at its heart, Stoke has a strong side that was widely expected to win honours but the Second World War intervened. The side that reassembled for the 1946-47 season comprised most of the pre-war squad, albeit six years older. They came within one win of clinching the championship but lost their final match at Sheffield United. Even worse, Matthews left in May to join Blackpool.
In 1953, City dropped into Division Two: crowds dwindled and the club seemed to be going nowhere. In 1961, however, manager Tony Waddington pulled off a coup by persuading Matthews, now 46, to rejoin the club. Overnight, attendances trebled with 35,974 fans paying to watch his homecoming, paying off his £3,000 transfer fee into the bargain and in 1963, with Matthews weaving his magic on the right wing, Stoke won the Second Division championship in their centenary season. In 1965, now a knight, Stanley Matthews played his last game for Stoke at the remarkable age of 50.
In the winter of 1966-67, Stoke adopted a candy-striped version of their traditional striped shirt. This experiment proved unpopular and was dropped before the season ended.
England goalkeeper, Gordon Banks, signed from Leicester City for £52,000 became the mainstay of Stoke's side in the early 1970s and in 1972 they won their first major honour, beating Chelsea 2-1 to capture the League Cup. For the next few seasons, Stoke challenged for the championship (finishing fifth in 1974 and 1975) and enjoyed two European campaigns but in 1977 they were relegated. In 1979 they were back in the First Division but it was a struggle to retain their place: after a radical change of kit in 1983, they were relegated in 1985 to Division Two and then in 1990 they dropped into Division Three. In 1993 they won the new Division Two (previously Division Three) championship and reached the play-offs in 1996. Relegated again in 1998, Stoke came through the play-offs to return to Nationwide Division One in 2002 and in 2008 they were promoted to the Premier League after a gap of 23 years.
Sources
- (a) Stoke City Official Website
- (b) Stoke City FC - Images of Sport (Tony Matthews 1999)
- (c) Bury FC - Images of Sport (Peter Cullen 1998)
- (d) Football Focus
- (e) empics
- (f) Ipswich Town FC - Images of Sport (Tony Garnett 2000)
- (g) Football Cards
- (h) The Oatcake Website - part of the Rivals network, this site has an interesting section on kits worn since the 1970s.
- (i) Pete Wyatt - HFK Research Associate
- (j) David King
- (k) Conn Barrett
- (l) True Colours 2 (John Devlin 2006)
- (m) Greger Lindberg
- (n) Football League Review provided by Simon Monks
- (o) Alick Milne
- (p) True Colours 2 (John Devln 2006)
- (q) "A History of British Football" (Percy M Young) provided by Peter Ferrette.
- (r) Simon Monks
- (s) Nick Brayford
- (t) Mike Pinkstone
- (u) Chris Worrall
- (v) Keith Ellis (HFK Research Associate)