League The dawn of a new era at the
Britannia Stadium should have been full of hope, but the departure of
Lou Macari still not fully explained plus the farcical search for a replacement, left fans wondering what exactly was going on. Many felt the delay in announcing the new manager was a way of boosting season ticket sales with many expecting
Sammy McIlroy to be named as the new boss but the silence was deafening and caretaker
Chic Bates was left to take care of pre-season training. It soon became clear that Bates was going to be give the role full-time and in July he duly was much to the disappointment of many. Former manager
Alan Durban made a return to the club as Bates' assistant to help take away some of his responsibilities. If Stoke had bid farewell to the
Victoria Ground in a blaze of glory then the fiasco in opening the Britannia Stadium was a pit of despair. There was transport problems, ticket problems and the opening ceremony against
Swindon Town was awful. The only major signing was that of striker
Peter Thorne for £550,000 whilst a small spattering of players arrived from Europe following
Jean-Marc Bosman's court victory for footballers contracts. Chairman
Peter Coates was now very unpopular with the supporters and there were many protests against him due to Coates not spending his money. Attendances at the new ground were poor and by Christmas Stoke had lost their early season form and were in serious trouble. The slump was brought to head early in the new year when
Birmingham City beat Stoke 7–0 at home which prompted ugly scenes at the final whistle as around 2,000 fans invaded the pitch and attempted to enter the directors box. The next match live on TV against
Bradford City saw more fan protests and Coates resigned as chairman. On the pitch Bates was clearly not cut to be a manager and so was replaced by former Bradford boss
Chris Kamara. He arrived with bold intentions claiming that he would build a squad good enough to take Stoke into the Premiership, But he sold the only real player of value,
Andy Griffin and in his 14 matches in charge only one was won and after an awful 3–0 defeat against
Tranmere Rovers he lost his job. Kamara's time at Stoke was a disaster and with Stoke heading for relegation
Alan Durban took over for the remaining matches. Three wins in four home matches gave Stoke some hope, but a 5–2 defeat against
Manchester City on the final day saw the inevitable happen (albeit results elsewhere meant both teams would have been relegated irrespective of the result) and Stoke were relegated as were Man City despite their big win.
FA Cup Stoke lost to
West Bromwich Albion 3–1 in the third round.
League Cup Stoke beat
Rochdale and
Burnley before being knocked out by
Leeds United. ==Final league table==