2006–07 Stoke City F.C. season


The 2006–07 season was Stoke City's 100th in the Football League, the 40th in the second tier and third in the Championship.
With the return of Peter Coates and Tony Pulis the objective was to now gain a long-awaited return to the top flight of English football. Pulis was not a popular choice of manager amongst Stoke supporters and that feeling failed to be improved after a poor start to the season. But Coates provided Pulis with funds to spend on Danny Higginbotham, Ricardo Fuller and several high-profile loan arrivals including Lee Hendrie, Liam Lawrence, Rory Delap, Salif Diao, Andy Griffin and Patrik Berger. Stoke marked a turn around in the direction of the club with a 4–0 win away at Leeds United.
From then on Stoke produced a number of impressive performances as the side began to climb up the table. Stoke went into the final month of the season looking to claim a play-off spot but despite beating the likes of Leicester City and West Bromwich Albion frustrating draws against Cardiff City and Hull City meant that Stoke needed to win their final match away at Queens Park Rangers to have a chance of finishing 6th. It was not to be as a 1–1 was the result and City missed out on the play-offs by two points but it was a very positive season for the club.

Season review

League

With Peter Coates and Tony Pulis back at the Britannia Stadium the main objective was to challenge for a place in the Premier League. The first act Pulis was since returning as manager was to bring in French forward Vincent Péricard from the club he just left Plymouth Argyle. Despite Pulis expecting big things from him, Péricard failed to impress and is considered one of the worst players to play for the club by supporters. A more successful signing was that of Southampton defender Danny Higginbotham for £225,000. Stoke lost their first match of the season away at newly promoted Southend United but won their first home match 2–0 against a Derby County side tipped to be promoted. But after a woefully boring draw at home to Plymouth, Pulis was booed by the Stoke supporters. On transfer deadline Stoke completed the signing of Jamaican striker Ricardo Fuller for a fee of £500,000 and he would go on to have an eventful six-year career with the club. Pulis again took stick from supporters after seeing their side throw away a two-goal lead at Barnsley. However, despite the poor start to the season Coates remained in full support of Pulis.
To address the problem Stoke signed Aston Villa winger Lee Hendrie, Liverpool midfielder Salif Diao and Sunderland midfielder Rory Delap whilst Andy Griffin extended his loan deal. And in their first match away at crisis club Leeds United Stoke produced a fine display winning 4–0 which signalled a change in the direction of the club. Stoke won their next match against top of the table Sunderland but suffered a blow as Rory Delap broke his leg in two places. Stoke then beat Norwich City 5–0 and signed Sunderland winger Liam Lawrence. This combined with a five match winning run pushed Stoke up the table and after a 1–0 win against Queens Park Rangers goalkeeper Steve Simonsen made history by keeping seven successive clean sheets. But Stoke were brought back down to Earth with a bump, losing 3–0 away at Colchester United.
In the January transfer window, Stoke signed Lee Martin, Dominic Matteo, Gabriel Zakuani and Jonathan Fortune whilst captain Michael Duberry left for Reading leaving Higginbotham to take over as club captain. Stoke then went through a tough run of form winning just two from ten until the end of March before beating Leicester City to get their promotion push back on track. Stoke then beat West Bromwich Albion and Crystal Palace before frustrating draws against Cardiff City and Hull City prevented Stoke closing the gap on 6th place Southampton. Stoke won their penultimate match of the season 3–1 against Colchester United to set up a decisive encounter away at Queens Park Rangers. However Stoke produced a disappointing performance and could only draw 1–1 meaning that they missed out on a play-off place by two points. Despite failing to reach the play-offs the feeling was greatly improved around the club for quite a while and there were high hopes Stoke could go one better in 2007–08 and finally gain promotion back to the top tier.

League Cup

Stoke kept up their poor showing in the first round of the League Cup this time in a truly woeful defeat against League Two Darlington. Stoke, at home, took the lead through Vincent Péricard after half an hour before Darlington were reduced to ten men. With a man advantage against poor opposition the expectation was to see out a routine win but Darlington scored twice without replay leaving Stoke and manager Pulis embarrassed.

FA Cup

Two late goals saw Stoke see off League One Millwall in the third round to set up an away match against Fulham but Stoke were easily beaten 3–0.

Final league table

Key: P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points
* Leeds United had 10 points deducted for entering administration

Results

Stoke's score comes first

Legend

Pre-Season Friendlies

Football League Championship

MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReport
15 August 2006Southend UnitedA0–18,971
28 August 2006Derby CountyH2–020,013Péricard 18', Russell 58'
312 August 2006Birmingham CityH0–012,347
419 August 2006Luton TownA2–27,727Sweeney 10', Chadwick 70'
526 August 2006Plymouth ArgyleH1–111,626Sidibé 39'
69 September 2006BarnsleyA2–210,464Hill 3', Chadwick 23'
712 September 2006Sheffield WednesdayA1–119,966Paterson 34'
816 September 2006BurnleyH0–112,247
923 September 2006Wolverhampton WanderersA0–219,489
1030 September 2006Preston North EndH1–114,342Fuller 41'
1114 October 2006Leeds UnitedA4–018,173Hendrie 7', Griffin 58', Higginbotham 62', Fuller 88'
1217 October 2006SunderlandH2–114,482Hendrie 50', Péricard 54'
1321 October 2006SouthamptonA0–120,531
1428 October 2006Norwich CityH5–013,444Hendrie 22', Fuller 38', Higginbotham 74', Chadwick 79', Russell 90+2'
1531 October 2006Leicester CityA1–221,107Fuller 42'
166 November 2006Coventry CityH1–019,055Griffin 60'
1711 November 2006Crystal PalaceA1–018,868Russell 38'
1818 November 2006Hull CityA2–016,940Higginbotham 2', Russell 80'
1925 November 2006West Bromwich AlbionH1–018,282Higginbotham 40'
2028 November 2006Cardiff CityH3–015,309Fuller 60', Lawrence 63', Sidibé 65'
212 December 2006Coventry CityA0–019,073
229 December 2006Queens Park RangersH1–016,487Higginbotham 17'
2316 December 2006Colchester UnitedA0–35,345
2423 December 2006Ipswich TownA1–020,369Lawrence 71'
2526 December 2006Sheffield WednesdayH1–223,003Sidibé 60'
2626 December 2006Leeds UnitedH3–118,128Sidibé 12', Ehiogu 54', Fuller 77'
2713 January 2007Wolverhampton WanderersH1–115,882Hill 85'
2820 January 2007Preston North EndA2–315,151Lawrence 2', Sidibé 7'
2923 January 2007BurnleyA1–012,109Sidibé 24'
3030 January 2007Ipswich TownH0–011,182
313 February 2007Southend UnitedH1–123,017Fuller 31'
3211 February 2007Birmingham CityA0–115,854
3317 February 2007Luton TownH0–012,375
3421 February 2007Derby CountyA2–024,897Higginbotham 15', Matteo 26'
3526 February 2007BarnsleyH0–113,114
363 March 2007Plymouth ArgyleA1–112,539Russell 55'
3710 March 2007SouthamptonH2–113,404Fortune 34', Martin 72'
3813 March 2007SunderlandA2–231,358Russell 22', Hoefkens 45+3'
3924 March 2007Norwich CityA0–124,293
4031 March 2007Leicester CityH4–213,303Parkin 18', Fuller 29', Sidibé 79', Lawrence 90+3'
417 April 2007West Bromwich AlbionA3–120,386Fuller 14', Greening 21', Parkin 22'
429 April 2007Crystal PalaceH2–113,616Parkin 20', Fuller 27'
4314 April 2007Cardiff CityA1–111,664Hoefkens 30'
4421 April 2007Hull CityH1–117,109Lawrence 45+4'
4528 April 2007Colchester UnitedH3–120,108Russell 53', Sidibé 57', Higginbotham 62'
466 May 2007Queens Park RangersA1–116,741Sidibé 84'

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReport
R35 January 2007MillwallH2–08,024Elliott 84', Fuller 87'
R427 January 2007FulhamA0–311,059

League Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReport
R122 August 2006DarlingtonH1–23,573Péricard 29'

Squad statistics