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2001–02 Stoke City F.C. season

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Stoke City
2001–02 season
ChairmanGunnar Gíslason
ManagerGudjon Thordarson
StadiumBritannia Stadium
Football League Second Division5th (80 Points)
Play-offsWinners
FA CupThird Round
League CupFirst Round
League TrophyFirst Round
Top goalscorerLeague: Chris Iwelumo
(10)

All: Chris Iwelumo
(12)
Highest home attendance23,019 vs Port Vale
(10 February 2002)
Lowest home attendance9,515 vs Colchester United
(26 September 2001)
Average home league attendance13,996

The 2001–02 season was Stoke City's 95th season in the Football League and the eighth in the third tier.

After two failed attempts to gain promotion via the play-offs the pressure was now on Gudjon Thordarson to achieve automatic promotion. Graham Kavanagh was sold for £1 million as well as fan favourite Peter Thorne to Cardiff City and with the money raised Stoke went out and brought some useful additions. After a slow start City went on a 10 match unbeaten run which was brought to a halt by Wigan in November. In January Stoke lost their form and fell away from automatic promotion places and it became clear that it would be the play-offs again for Stoke. And it was Cardiff who were Stoke's opponents with the first leg ending in a 2–1 win for the "Bluebirds" and it seemed that in the second leg Cardiff would hold on for a goalless draw but two very late goals gave Stoke a famous victory and they went to secure promotion by beating Brentford 2–0 in the final. It was not enough however for Gudjon Thordarson to be offered a new contract.[1]

Season review

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League

[edit]

The pressure was now on manager Gudjon Thordarson to finally end Stoke's spell in the Second Division with the owners wanting the club to start progressing through to the Premiership.[1] First task Gudjon did was to sell key midfielder Graham Kavanagh to big spending Cardiff City for £1 million and with that money he brought in six new players, defender Peter Handyside from Grimsby Town who was made captain, goalkeeper Neil Cutler, Belarusian defender Sergei Shtanyuk, Belgian midfielder Jurgen Vandeurzen, David Rowson from Aberdeen and most impressively former Dutch international Peter Hoekstra.[1] The season didn't get off the best of starts with Stoke losing 1–0 away at Queens Park Rangers but two wins over Northampton and Cambridge kick started Stoke's season.[1] Stoke then drew 1–1 at home to Huddersfield Town with Peter Thorne scoring a 90th-minute equaliser, it proved to be his last act in a Stoke shirt as he left to join Kavanagh at Cardiff.[1] With Stoke's main goal threat sold supporters questioned where the goals would come from, thankfully for Stoke they would be spread across the side.

After the departure of Thorne Stoke went on a fine run of results going 10 matches unbeaten putting them firmly in the hunt for automatic promotion but the run was ended by a thumping 6–1 defeat at Wigan Athletic.[1] Stoke recovered well beating Wycombe Wanderers 5–1 but just three wins in 14 saw Stoke's grip on the top two loosen.[1] Matters were not helped when Souleymane Oularé brought into replace Thorne suffered a life-threatening blood clot after just one appearance.[1] With automatic promotion looking unlikely due to the form of Brighton & Hove Albion and Reading, Stoke concentrated on cementing their position in the play-offs and that's what they managed finishing the season in 5th position.[1]

Their opponents in the play-offs were Cardiff City and the first leg at the Britannia Stadium didn't go well for Stoke with Leo Fortune-West and Robert Earnshaw putting Cardiff 2–0 up, but on loan striker Deon Burton pulled one back for Stoke late on.[1] So Stoke went into the second leg at the notoriously hostile Ninian Park 2–1 down and with both sides missing chances the match was 0–0 after 90 minutes and in the final minute of injury time James O'Connor scored to send the match into extra time.[1] And Stoke scored again via an O'Connor shot which deflected in of Souleymane Oularé to give Stoke the most dramatic victory.[1] The final against Brentford was not as dramatic as Stoke won comfortably 2–0 thanks to goals from Deon Burton and an own goal from Ben Burgess.[1] So with Stoke celebrating a return to the second tier after a longer than hoped spell in the third tier the feeling around the club was good with hopes that it could be the start of a return to the top flight.[1] However, despite finally achieving promotion via the play-offs at the third attempt manager Gudjon Thordarson's contract was not renewed.[2]

FA Cup

[edit]

After avoiding potential upsets against non-league Lewes and Third Division Halifax Town Stoke were handed a third round tie against Everton. The "Toffees" won a close match 1–0 thanks to an Alan Stubbs free-kick in front of a capacity crowd of 28,218.[1]

League Cup

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Stoke lost to Oldham Athletic in the first round via a penalty shoot-out.[1]

League Trophy

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With priorities on gaining promotion Gudjon decided to play a second string side against Blackpool giving debuts to some of the club's best academy players most notably Andy Wilkinson. They gave a decent account of themselves losing 3–2.[1]

Final league table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion or relegation
3 Brentford 46 24 11 11 77 43 +34 83 Qualification for the Second Division play-offs
4 Cardiff City 46 23 14 9 75 50 +25 83
5 Stoke City (O, P) 46 23 11 12 67 40 +27 80
6 Huddersfield Town 46 21 15 10 65 47 +18 78
7 Bristol City 46 21 10 15 68 53 +15 73
Source: [3]
Rules for classification: In the Football League goals scored (GF) takes precedence over goal difference (GD).
(O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted

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 Scorers
1 15 July 2001 Newcastle Town A 3–0 Thorne 10' Cooke 39' Bullock 72'
2 18 July 2001 Macclesfield Town A 1–0 Guðjónsson 44'
3 21 July 2001 Wacker Burghausen A 3–1 Guðjónsson, Hoekstra, Gunnarsson
4 24 July 2001 FC Gratkorn A 0–0
5 24 July 2001 Gençlerbirliği A 0–1
6 27 July 2001 SV Gmunden A 3–0 Þórðarson, Iwelumo, Cooke
7 31 July 2001 Leicester City H 1–2 Cooke
8 4 August 2001 Derby County H 0–0
9 7 August 2001 Racing Club Warwick A 4–2 Neal, Goodfellow, Iwelumo (2)

Football League Second Division

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Match Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers Report
1 11 August 2001 Queens Park Rangers A 0–1 14,357 Report
2 18 August 2001 Northampton Town H 2–0 12,845 Cooke 52', Thorne 54' Report
3 25 August 2001 Cambridge United A 2–0 3,336 Thorne 48', Cooke 51' Report
4 27 August 2001 Tranmere Rovers H 1–2 12,031 Thorne (pen) 90' Report
5 8 September 2001 Huddersfield Town H 1–1 13,319 Thorne 90' Report
6 15 September 2001 Reading H 2–0 11,752 Guðjónsson 25', Cooke 30' Report
7 18 September 2001 Brighton & Hove Albion A 0–1 6,627 Report
8 22 September 2001 Bury A 1–0 4,727 Vandeurzen 32' Report
9 26 September 2001 Colchester United H 3–0 9,515 Vandeurzen 45', Þórðarson (2) 57', 90' Report
10 29 September 2001 Bournemouth H 2–0 14,803 Maher (o.g.) 11', Thomas 47' Report
11 13 October 2001 Notts County H 1–0 13,220 Hoekstra 47' (pen) Report
12 21 October 2001 Port Vale A 1–1 10,344 Iwelumo 78' Report
13 23 October 2001 Chesterfield A 2–1 5,141 Hoekstra (2) 67', 90' (1 pen) Report
14 27 October 2001 Bristol City H 1–0 16,828 Gunnarsson 88' Report
15 3 November 2001 Swindon Town A 3–0 7,981 Gunnarsson 28', Iwelumo 65', O'Connor 86' Report
16 6 November 2001 Blackpool A 2–2 4,921 Iwelumo (2) 63', 64' Report
17 10 November 2001 Brentford H 3–2 17,953 Gunnarsson 32' Iwelumo 49', Shtanyuk 80' Report
18 13 November 2001 Wigan Athletic A 1–6 7,047 Vandeurzen 9' Report
19 21 November 2001 Oldham Athletic H 0–0 11,031 Report
20 24 November 2001 Wrexham A 1–0 5,477 Cooke 67' Report
21 15 December 2001 Wycombe Wanderers H 5–1 12,911 Gunnarsson (2) 19', 44', Iwelumo 30', Cooke 58', Goodfellow 85' Report
22 19 December 2001 Cardiff City H 1–1 14,331 Gabbidon 81' (o.g.) Report
23 26 December 2001 Tranmere Rovers A 2–2 12,201 Cooke 19', Daðason 90' (pen) Report
24 29 December 2001 Huddersfield Town A 0–0 16,041 Report
25 1 January 2002 Blackpool H 2–0 16,615 Shtanyuk 13', O'Connor 82' Report
26 13 January 2002 Northampton Town A 1–1 5,635 Goodfellow 36' Report
27 19 January 2002 Queens Park Rangers H 0–1 16,725 Report
28 22 January 2002 Cardiff City A 0–2 11,771 Report
29 26 January 2002 Wigan Athletic H 2–2 13,361 Goodfellow 37', Daðason 67' (pen) Report
30 29 January 2002 Peterborough United A 2–1 5,173 Daðason 21', Goodfellow 90' Report
31 2 February 2002 Bournemouth A 1–3 6,027 Daðason 63' (pen) Report
32 6 February 2002 Cambridge United H 5–0 9,570 Cooke 22', O'Connor 27', Þórðarson 61', Tann 71' (o.g.), Goodfellow 89' Report
33 10 February 2002 Port Vale H 0–1 23,019 Report
34 16 February 2002 Notts County A 0–0 7,501 Report
35 23 February 2002 Reading A 0–1 21,023 Report
36 26 February 2002 Bury H 4–0 9,635 Iwelumo (2) 45', 56', Vandeurzen 73', Þórðarson 84' Report
37 1 March 2002 Brighton & Hove Albion H 3–1 16,092 Iwelumo 29', Gunnlaugsson 58' (pen), Clarke 86' Report
38 5 March 2002 Colchester United A 3–1 3,866 Guðjónsson 42', Burton (2) 45', 80' Report
39 9 March 2002 Wycombe Wanderers A 0–1 7,344 Report
40 16 March 2002 Peterborough United H 1–0 12,983 Gunnlaugsson 10' Report
41 23 March 2002 Chesterfield H 1–0 14,841 Gunnlaugsson 23' Report
42 30 March 2002 Brentford A 0–1 8,837 Report
43 1 April 2002 Swindon Town H 2–0 13,530 Thomas 60', Iwelumo 68' Report
44 6 April 2002 Oldham Athletic A 1–2 6,548 Holden 63' (o.g.) Report
45 13 April 2002 Wrexham H 1–0 14,298 Cooke 30' Report
46 20 April 2002 Bristol City A 1–1 11,277 Cooke 16' Report

Second Division play-offs

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Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers Report
Semi-final 1st Leg 28 April 2002 Cardiff City H 1–2 21,245 Burton 85' Report
Semi-final 2nd Leg 1 May 2002 Cardiff City A 2–0 (aet) 19,367 O'Connor 90+3', Oularé 114' Report
Final 11 May 2002 Brentford N 2–0 42,523 Burton 10', Burgess 44' (o.g.) Report

FA Cup

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Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers Report
R1 18 November 2001 Lewes H 2–0 7,081 Handyside 19', Gunnarsson 57' Report
R2 8 December 2001 Halifax Town A 1–1 3,335 Cooke 27' Report
R2 Replay 11 December 2001 Halifax Town H 3–0 4,356 Guðjónsson 22', Iwelumo 27', Gunnarsson 47' Report
R3 5 January 2002 Everton H 0–1 28,218 Report

League Cup

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Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers Report
R1 22 August 2001 Oldham Athletic H 0–0 (5–6 pens) 5,635 Report

League Trophy

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Round Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers Report
R1 16 October 2001 Blackpool A 2–3 3,561 Iwelumo 72', Neal 83' (pen) Report

Squad statistics

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No. Pos. Name League FA Cup League Cup League Trophy Play-offs Total Discipline
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
1 GK England Gavin Ward 10 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 12 0 1 0
2 DF Sweden Mikael Hansson 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 DF Republic of Ireland Clive Clarke 42(1) 1 3 0 0(1) 0 1 0 3 0 49(2) 1 8 0
4 DF Scotland Peter Handyside 34 0 3 1 1 0 0 0 3 0 41 1 2 1
5 DF Belarus Sergei Shtanyuk 40 2 4 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 48 2 15 2
6 MF Iceland Brynjar Gunnarsson 21(2) 5 3 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 25(2) 7 4 0
7 MF Iceland Bjarni Guðjónsson 46 3 4 1 1 0 0 0 3 0 54 4 7 0
8 FW England Andy Cooke 26(9) 9 2(2) 1 0(1) 0 0 0 2(1) 0 30(13) 10 9 0
9 FW England Peter Thorne 5 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 4 0 0
9 FW Guinea Souleymane Oularé 0(1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0(1) 1 0(2) 1 0 0
10 FW Iceland Ríkharður Daðason 6(5) 4 0(2) 0 0 0 0 0 0(1) 0 6(8) 4 0 0
11 MF Netherlands Peter Hoekstra 20(4) 3 2(1) 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 23(5) 3 1 0
12 DF England Wayne Thomas 40 2 3 0 1 0 1 0 3 0 48 2 17 1
14 GK England Neil Cutler 36 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 43 0 1 0
15 FW Scotland Chris Iwelumo 22(16) 10 3(1) 1 0(1) 0 1 1 3 0 29(18) 12 0 0
16 FW Iceland Stefán Þórðarson 3(18) 4 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4(18) 4 2 0
17 MF Republic of Ireland James O'Connor 43 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 50 3 7 0
18 MF England Lewis Neal 6(5) 0 1(1) 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 8(6) 1 0 0
19 FW England Marc Goodfellow 11(12) 5 1(2) 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 15(14) 5 1 0
20 DF Scotland David Rowson 8(5) 0 1(2) 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 11(7) 0 2 0
21 MF Iceland Pétur Marteinsson 2(1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2(1) 0 1 0
22 MF Iceland Arnar Gunnlaugsson 9 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 11 3 0 1
23 MF England Karl Henry 9(15) 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 13(15) 0 2 0
24 MF Scotland Kris Commons 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
25 DF Wales Gareth Owen 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
26 FW Norway Ole Albrigtsen 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
27 MF Belgium Jurgen Vandeurzen 37(3) 4 4 0 1 0 0 0 0(3) 0 42(6) 4 8 0
27 MF England Brian Wilson 0(1) 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1(1) 0 0 0
28 DF England Andy Wilkinson 0 0 0 0 0 0 0(1) 0 0 0 0(1) 0 0 0
29 GK Iceland Birkir Kristinsson 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
29 MF England Tony Dinning 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 8 0 0 0
30 GK England Scott Bevan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
31 GK Wales Boaz Myhill 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
31 FW England Laurence Hall 0 0 0 0 0 0 0(1) 0 0 0 0(1) 0 0 0
32 FW Scotland Allan Smart 0(2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0(2) 0 0 1
32 GK England Danny Alcock 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
33 GK Northern Ireland Michael Ingham 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
33 GK Finland Jani Viander 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
34 DF England Mike Flynn 11(2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11(2) 0 2 0
35 FW Jamaica Deon Burton 11(1) 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2(1) 2 13(2) 4 1 0
36 DF England Ian Brightwell 3(1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0(1) 0 3(2) 0 1 0
38 MF England John Miles 0(1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0(1) 0 0 0
Own goals 4 0 0 0 1 5

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q "Stoke City season review 2001-02 third time lucky for Stoke". The Sentinel. 31 May 2002.
  2. ^ "Stoke sack Thordarson". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
  3. ^ "England 2001–02". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Archived from the original on 24 January 2010. Retrieved 24 February 2010.