2004–05 Stoke City F.C. season

The 2004–05 season was Stoke City's 98th season in the Football League and the 38th in the second tier, it was also the first season in the new re-branded Football League Championship.

Stoke City
2004–05 season
ChairmanGunnar Gíslason
ManagerTony Pulis
StadiumBritannia Stadium
Championship12th (61 Points)
FA CupThird Round
League CupFirst Round
Top goalscorerLeague: Gifton Noel-Williams (13)
All: Gifton Noel-Williams (13)
Highest home attendance23,029 vs Ipswich Town
(14 September 2004)
Lowest home attendance12,785 vs Cardiff City
(5 April 2005)
Average home league attendance16,455

With supporter expectation now rising there were hopes that Stoke could soon begin to mount a serious attempt to return to the top flight. But after a poor summer in terms of transfer activity those hopes subsided, but soon returned after a good start to the season with Stoke going top of the table in early September. But any hopes of a promotion push soon vanished with some poor performances and most notably a lack of goals being scored. In fact Stoke went on a dull run of 'binary' results, from 23 October 2004 to 22 February 2005 the only score line was that of 0–0, 1–0, 0–1 and 1–1. Supporters began to vent their anger at the lack of entertainment on offer as the side fell into mid-table obscurity and a final finish of 12th the outcome of a forgettable season.[1]

Season review

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League

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Prior to the start of the season the Football League went through a re-branding process with the First Division been renamed the Football League Championship. Stoke had a poor summer in the transfer market with only Dave Brammer and Steve Simonsen joining the club before the start of the season.[1] However these worries were forgotten with a fine pre-season victory over Spanish giants Valencia.[1] Stoke began the 2004–05 season very well beating promotion favourites Wolverhampton Wanderers 2–1 on the opening day.[1] Victories over Gillingham, Cardiff City and Derby County followed and after a thrilling win over Ipswich Town Stoke went top of the table.[1]

However Stoke then lost their form and went seven matches without a win before beating Millwall 1–0 on Halloween.[1] Prior to that on 22 October Stoke drew 1–1 away at Leicester City a result which sparked a dull run of results.[1] Through until 22 February the only score line was that of 0–0, 1–0, 0–1 and 1–1 which saw manager Tony Pulis come under heavy criticism from supporters form the lack of attacking football and entertainment on offer.[1] New signings again failed to arrive with Michael Duberry from Leeds United and Lewis Buxton from Portsmouth the only mainstays from a series of loans, however both players were defenders.[1] Ade Akinbiyi was sold to Burnley despite there being a lack of goalscoring.[1] The 'binary' run of results finally ended with a 3–2 win over Leicester City which prompted an upturn in results but any hopes of a late push for a play-off place was ended with an awful defeat at home to rock bottom Rotherham United.[1]

FA Cup

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Stoke drew Premier League side Arsenal away in the third round and took the lead through Wayne Thomas. But Stoke could not hold out and Arsenal scored twice to go through 2–1.[1]

League Cup

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Stoke made another poor exit in the first round losing against League One side Oldham Athletic.[1]

Final league table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
10 Millwall 46 18 12 16 51 45 +6 66
11 Queens Park Rangers 46 17 11 18 54 58 −4 62
12 Stoke City 46 17 10 19 36 38 −2 61
13 Burnley 46 15 15 16 38 39 −1 60
14 Leeds United 46 14 18 14 49 52 −3 60
Updated to match(es) played on 9 December 2011. Source: Football League Tables
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.


Results

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Stoke's score comes first

Legend

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Win Draw Loss

Pre-Season Friendlies

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Match Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
1 11 July 2004 Newcastle Town A 4–1 Noel-Williams, Clarke, Akinbiyi, Neal
2 13 July 2004 Wrexham A 1–1 1,821 Noel-Williams 40'
3 17 July 2004 Mansfield Town A 1–0 Russell 28'
4 23 July 2004 AS Roma A 0–2
5 23 July 2004 Levski Sofia A 1–1 Taggart
6 28 July 2004 Valencia H 1–0 9,905 Asaba 30'
7 31 July 2004 West Bromwich Albion H 2–1 Brammer 16', Akinbiyi 32'

Football League Championship

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Match Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers Report
1 8 August 2004 Wolverhampton Wanderers H 2–1 17,066 Russell 50', Clarke 70' (pen) Report
2 10 August 2004 Sheffield United A 0–0 19,723 Report
3 14 August 2004 Rotherham United A 1–1 5,925 Akinbiyi 85' Report
4 21 August 2004 Gillingham H 2–0 13,234 Noel-Williams 42', Akinbiyi 72' Report
5 28 August 2004 Cardiff City A 1–0 12,929 Noel-Williams 37' Report
6 30 August 2004 Derby County H 1–0 18,673 Hall 90+3' Report
7 11 September 2004 Preston North End A 0–3 12,759 Report
8 14 September 2004 Ipswich Town H 3–2 23,029 Thomas (2) 45', 75', Akinbiyi 85' Report
9 18 September 2004 Nottingham Forest H 0–0 21,115 Report
10 25 September 2004 Burnley A 2–2 12,981 Akinbiyi (2) 34', 50' Report
11 28 September 2004 Leeds United A 0–0 25,759 Report
12 2 October 2004 Queens Park Rangers H 0–1 16,877 Report
13 16 October 2004 Reading H 0–1 15,574 Report
14 19 October 2004 West Ham United A 0–2 29,808 Report
15 23 October 2004 Leicester City A 1–1 22,882 Asaba 37' Report
16 30 October 2004 Millwall H 1–0 14,125 Greenacre 86' Report
17 2 November 2004 Wigan Athletic H 0–1 15,882 Report
18 6 November 2004 Reading A 0–1 14,831 Report
19 13 November 2004 Crewe Alexandra H 1–0 17,640 Noel-Williams 64' Report
20 20 November 2004 Plymouth Argyle A 0–0 15,264 Report
21 27 November 2004 Sunderland H 0–1 16,980 Report
22 4 December 2004 Watford A 1–0 12,169 Noel-Williams 24' Report
23 11 December 2004 Coventry City H 1–0 15,744 Akinbiyi 21' Report
24 17 December 2004 Brighton & Hove Albion A 1–0 6,028 Akinbiyi 85' Report
25 26 December 2004 Preston North End H 0–0 20,350 Report
26 28 December 2004 Ipswich Town A 0–1 26,217 Report
27 1 January 2005 Nottingham Forest A 0–1 22,051 Report
28 3 January 2005 Burnley H 0–1 15,689 Report
29 14 January 2005 Queens Park Rangers A 0–1 13,559 Report
30 22 January 2005 Leeds United H 0–1 18,372 Report
31 5 February 2005 Wigan Athletic A 1–0 9,938 Noel-Williams 39' Report
32 19 February 2005 Millwall A 1–0 11,036 Jones 15' Report
33 22 February 2005 Leicester City H 3–2 14,076 Brammer 24', Noel-Williams 34', Taggart 59' Report
34 26 February 2005 Coventry City A 0–0 13,871 Report
35 5 March 2005 Brighton & Hove Albion H 2–0 14,908 Noel-Williams (2) 39', 44' (2 pen) Report
36 12 March 2005 Sheffield United H 2–0 17,019 Noel-Williams (2) 57', 59' Report
37 15 March 2005 Gillingham A 1–2 7,766 Jones 54' Report
38 19 March 2005 Wolverhampton Wanderers A 1–1 28,103 Noel-Williams 41' Report
39 2 April 2005 Rotherham United H 1–2 16,552 Noel-Williams 83' Report
40 5 April 2005 Cardiff City H 1–3 12,785 Hill 40' Report
41 9 April 2005 Derby County A 1–3 27,640 Taggart 7' Report
42 16 April 2005 Plymouth Argyle H 2–0 13,017 Jones 28', Russell 41' Report
43 19 April 2005 West Ham United H 0–1 14,534 Report
44 23 April 2005 Crewe Alexandra A 2–0 9,166 Neal 79', Noel-Williams 89' Report
45 30 April 2005 Watford H 0–1 15,229 Report
46 8 May 2005 Sunderland A 0–1 47,350 Report

FA Cup

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Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers Report
R3 9 January 2005 Arsenal A 1–2 36,579 Thomas 44' Report

League Cup

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Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers Report
R1 24 August 2004 Oldham Athletic A 1–2 2,861 Asaba 24' Report

Squad statistics

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No. Pos. Name League FA Cup League Cup Total Discipline
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals    
1 GK   Ed de Goey 17 0 0 0 0 0 17 0 0 0
2 DF   Wayne Thomas 35 2 1 1 1 0 37 3 6 1
3 DF   Clive Clarke 42 1 1 0 1 0 44 1 7 1
4 MF   John Eustace 2(5) 0 0(1) 0 0 0 2(6) 0 3 0
5 DF   Michael Duberry 25 0 0 0 0 0 25 0 4 1
6 DF   Clint Hill 31(1) 1 0 0 1 0 32(1) 1 7 1
7 FW   Carl Asaba 14(19) 1 0(1) 0 1 0 15(20) 2 4 0
8 MF   Dave Brammer 42(1) 1 0 0(1) 0 0 42(2) 1 8 0
9 FW   Gifton Noel-Williams 41(5) 13 0 0 0(1) 0 41(6) 13 2 1
10 FW   Ade Akinbiyi 29 7 1 0 0 0 30 7 6 0
11 MF   Kevin Harper 8(1) 0 0 0 0 0 8(1) 0 1 0
14 GK   Ben Foster 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
15 GK   Steve Simonsen 29(2) 0 1 0 1 0 31(2) 0 2 0
16 DF   Marcus Hall 19(1) 1 1 0 1 0 21(1) 1 2 0
17 MF   Darel Russell 45 2 1 0 1 0 47 2 7 0
18 MF   Lewis Neal 10(13) 1 0 0 1 0 11(13) 1 0 0
19 FW   Chris Greenacre 18(14) 1 1 0 1 0 20(14) 1 2 0
20 DF   Richard Keogh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
21 MF   John Halls 20(2) 0 1 0 1 0 22(2) 0 5 1
22 MF   Steve Guppy 0(4) 0 0 0 0 0 0(4) 0 0 0
22 DF   Lewis Buxton 14(2) 0 1 0 0 0 15(2) 0 4 0
23 MF   Karl Henry 14(20) 0 0(1) 0 1 0 15(21) 0 3 0
24 DF   Chris Clark 1(2) 0 0 0 0 0 1(2) 0 1 0
25 DF   Gareth Owen 0(2) 0 0 0 0 0 0(2) 0 0 0
27 DF   Chris Barker 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0
27 FW   Jason Jarrett 2 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 0
27 FW   Kenwyne Jones 13 3 0 0 0 0 13 3 1 0
28 DF   Andy Wilkinson 0(1) 0 0 0 0 0 0(1) 0 0 0
29 FW   Michael Ricketts 1(10) 0 0 0 0 0 1(10) 0 2 0
30 FW   Martin Paterson 0(3) 0 0 0 0 0 0(3) 0 0 0
31 FW   Jermaine Palmer 0(1) 0 0 0 0 0 0(1) 0 0 0
32 DF   Gerry Taggart 31 2 1 0 0 0 32 2 10 1
33 MF   Þórður Guðjónsson 0(2) 0 0 0 0 0 0(2) 0 0 0
34 MF   Tryggvi Guðmundsson 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
35 MF   Jay Denny 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
36 DF   Carl Dickinson 0(1) 0 0 0 0 0 0(1) 0 0 0

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Stoke City season review 2004-05 Binary bore for City fans". The Sentinel. 16 May 2005.