IN FOCUS: STOKE CITY (2022)

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With the new Sky Bet Championship season now approaching, we bring you the lowdown on all 23 of our league opponents

2022-07-21T12:50:24.073Z

IN FOCUS: STOKE CITY (2022)

With the new Sky Bet Championship season now approaching, we bring you the lowdown on all 23 of our league opponents

2022-07-21T12:50:24.073Z

With the new Sky Bet Championship season now approaching, we bring you the lowdown on all 23 of our league opponents

Founded in 1863 as ‘Stoke Ramblers’, the Potters went on to be re-named as ‘Stoke Football Club’ in 1878, one of the 12 founding members of the Football League alongside Burnley a year later.

Only changing names to be recognised as ‘Stoke City’ in 1925, the club came close to a First Division title in 1946/47, but lost their final game of the season and missed out. In the years which followed, they would slip into the Second Division, not making it back into the top flight until 1963.

Stoke’s only major honour to date came in 1972 when they won the League Cup, beating heavy favourites Chelsea in front of close to 100,000 spectators at Wembley.

There were to be plenty of ups and downs for City in the years after that silverware, slipping as low as the Third Division. It was during that spell however that their first Football League Trophy was won, beating Stockport County in the competition’s final in 1992 back in the Capital.

The Potters won that competition again in 2000 before eventually reaching the Premier League eight years later and staying there until 2018. During that decade in the top flight they also featured in an FA Cup final - losing out to Manchester City - and subsequently played UEFA Europa League football.

Since their relegation however, mid-table finishes in the Championship have been a constant, with last season no different.

Stadium: bet365 Stadium (30,089) – Stanley Matthews Way, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 4EG

Nickname(s): The Potters

Manager: Michael O’Neill

2021/22 Finishing Position: 14th

2021/22 Top Scorer: Jacob Brown (13)

Notable Connections: Former Clarets centre back Nathan Collins joined the Clarets from Stoke last summer.

A Republic of Ireland international, the 21-year-old initially linked up with the Potters academy aged 15, going on to make 47 first-team appearances as well as becoming their youngest ever captain.

He then played 22 times for Burnley over the course of last season, scoring twice, before joining Wolves.

Fellow defenders Phil Bardsley and Erik Pieters – both of whom also departed Turf Moor earlier this summer – also made the move to Burnley from Stoke.

Bardsley played for the Potters 63 times before becoming a Claret in 2017 while Pieters spent six years with City, featuring 206 times as well as being loaned out to Ligue 1 side Amiens.

The pair would go on to rack up over 130 combined appearances for Burnley.

Last Time We Met: The pair haven’t met since Stoke’s relegation from the Premier League in 2017/18.

During that season, the Clarets got the better of the Potters at Turf Moor, winning 1-0, though the most recent meeting came in April 2018 and ended in a 1-1 draw.

Badou N’Diaye opened the scoring early on for Stoke, while Ashley Barnes got the equaliser midway through the second half. The ball bounced in off the striker after Jack Butland had tried to claw away James Tarkowski’s initial header.

Then-soon to be Clarets Erik Pieters and Peter Crouch both played for the Potters that afternoon at the bet365 Stadium.

Full Record (All Competitions): P: 110 - W: 39, D: 25, L: 46

Fixtures in the 2022/23 season: 05.10.22 (H – Turf Moor) / 29.12.22 (A – bet365 Stadium)