2005–06 Stoke City F.C. season
Introduction The 2005–06 season was Stoke City's 99th season in the Football League, the 39th in the second tier and second in the Championship.In June 2005 Tony Pulis was sacked by Stoke's Icelandic board and Dutch manager Johan Boskamp was appointed. He went about changing Stoke's style of play to a more European passing style which also meant a decent number of foreign players were signed by the club. The change in style had mixed success whilst Stoke did play good attacking football the defensive qualities by Pulis's side went missing and Stoke suffered some poor defeats particularly at home. Stoke were far too inconsistent to be anything other than a mid-table side and they finished in 13th position. At the end of the season Boskamp left the club and Icelandic chairman Gunnar Gíslason put the club up for sale. Former chairman Peter Coates bought the club back and re-appointed Tony Pulis as manager.
Season review ===League===On 28 June 2005 manager Tony Pulis was sacked by Gunnar Gíslason for "failing to exploit the foreign transfer market". The next day Dutch manager Johan Boskamp was named as Pulis' successor. Boskamp went about changing Stoke's style of play to be more attacking and possession based during pre-season and he brought in a number of foreign players. Most came from the Belgian Pro League and mainly his old club Anderlecht. In came Carl Hoefkens, Hannes Sigurðsson, Junior N'Galula and Martin Kolář whilst Marlon Broomes, Paul Gallagher Mamady Sidibé, Peter Sweeney and Luke Chadwick the domestic based players to join the club.The first match of the 2005–06 season saw City come up against newly promoted Sheffield Wednesday and Stoke struggled to a goalless draw after Gerry Taggart had been sent-off after just 10 minutes. In the next match Stoke lost 4–2 away at Leicester City to set the defensive tone for the season. The club record fee was broken with the £950,000 signing of Sambégou Bangoura on transfer deadline day but three bad home defeats by Watford, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Cardiff City saw supporters begin to ask questions. Bangoura then went on a good run of form scoring seven goals in six matches as Stoke won six matches in November and December to give them a platform to build on going into the new year. But in one of those wins away at Coventry City Boskamp and his assistant Jan de Koning and director of football John Rudge were involved in an argument which led to Boskamp almost resigning.Stoke began 2006 in terrible form winning just one match in ten and scoring a mere six goals in that time. Bangoura had been away on international duty with Guinea and failed to return to the club at the agreed date which caused the shortage of goals and with Stoke's season fizzling out with no chance of promotion Boskamp was not offered a new contract by Gunnar Gíslason. Stoke ended the season with an emphatic 5–1 win at relegated Brighton & Hove Albion and young striker Adam Rooney scored a hat-trick becoming Stoke's youngest scorer of a hat-trick.With the Icelandic board failing to gain promotion to the Premier League and with debts now at around £5million chairman Gunnar Gíslason put the club up for sale and he sold the club back to former chairman Peter Coates. Coates then re-appointed Tony Pulis as manager who had spent the season with Plymouth Argyle.===FA Cup===Stoke had three ties against Birmingham opposition in this seasons FA Cup firstly beating plucky non-league Tamworth on penalties in a replay and then a 2–1 win against Walsall before losing 1–0 to Birmingham City.===League Cup===Stoke continued their poor showing against lower league sides in the first round this time losing 3–0 on penalties to Mansfield Town.
Final league table
Results ''Stoke City's score comes first''===Legend===WinDrawLoss===Pre-Season Friendlies===MatchDateOpponentVenueResultScorers110 July 2005Newcastle TownA7–0Sidibé (2), Taggart, Russell, Neal, Paterson (2)213 July 2005Chester CityA1–1Sidibé316 July 2005Shrewsbury TownA0–1420 July 2005VfL OsnabrückA4–2Russell, Guðjónsson, Duberry, Paterson525 July 2005Hannover 96A0–1628 July 2005Stockport CountyA1–2Dyer731 July 2005Manchester CityH1–2Dyer===Football League Championship===MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReport1 6 August 2005 Sheffield WednesdayH0–0 Report2 9 August 2005 Leicester CityA2–420,519Broomes 64', Halls 89' Report3 13 August 2005 MillwallA1–08,668Halls 38' Report4 20 August 2005 Luton TownH2–118,653Broomes 63', Brammer 90+2' Report5 27 August 2005 Crystal PalaceA0–2 Report6 29 August 2005 Norwich CityH3–114,249Kolář 9', Harper 45', Sidibé 69' Report7 10 September 2005 WatfordH0–3 Report8 13 September 2005 Hull CityA1–018,692Gallagher 74' Report9 16 September 2005 Preston North EndA1–012,453Gallagher 76' Report10 24 September 2005 Wolverhampton WanderersH1–318,181Buxton 90+1' Report11 27 September 2005 Cardiff CityH0–3 Report12 1 October 2005 Plymouth ArgyleA1–212,604Chadwick 47' Report13 15 October 2005 Derby CountyA1–222,229Hoefkens 59' Report14 18 October 2005 Crewe AlexandraH2–014,080Bangoura 41', Duberry 64' Report15 22 October 2005 ReadingH0–1 Report16 29 October 2005 SouthamptonA0–2 Report17 2 November 2005 Coventry CityA2–116,617Taggart 37', Gallagher 55' Report18 5 November 2005 Brighton & Hove AlbionH3–015,274Bangoura (2) 35', 75', Russell 68' Report19 19 November 2005 Crewe AlexandraA2–18,942Bangoura 16', Gallagher 89' Report20 22 November 2005 Derby CountyH1–213,205Bangoura 33' Report21 26 November 2005 Sheffield WednesdayA2–021,970Bangoura 17', Sidibé 86' Report22 3 December 2005 Queens Park RangersH1–215,367Bangoura 26' Report23 9 December 2005 Leicester CityH3–211,125Gallagher 36' (pen), Sidibé 75',  Bangoura 78' Report24 17 December 2005 Luton TownA3–28,296Gallagher (2) 45+1', 83', Coyne 90+3', (o.g.) Report25 26 December 2005 BurnleyA0–1 Report26 28 December 2005 Leeds UnitedH0–1 Report27 31 December 2005 Sheffield UnitedA1–221,279Sidibé 57' Report28 2 January 2006 Ipswich TownH2–214,493Russell 27', Sidibé 73' Report29 14 January 2006 WatfordA0–1 Report30 21 January 2006 Hull CityH0–3 Report31 4 February 2006 Preston North EndH0–0 Report32 11 February 2006 Cardiff CityA0–3 Report33 14 February 2006 Plymouth ArgyleH0–0 Report34 25 February 2006 MillwallH2–111,340Hoefkens 15' (pen), Gallagher 57' Report35 4 March 2006 Norwich CityA1–224,223Gallagher 58' Report36 7 March 2006 Wolverhampton WanderersA0–0 Report37 13 March 2006 Crystal PalaceH1–310,121Skoko 47' Report38 18 March 2006 BurnleyH1–012,082Gallagher 52' Report39 25 March 2006 Leeds UnitedA0–0 Report40 29 March 2006 Queens Park RangersA2–110,918Hoefkens 73' (pen), Sigurðsson 79' Report41 1 April 2006 Sheffield UnitedH1–117,544Skoko 16' Report42 8 April 2006 Ipswich TownA4–123,592Wilnis 51' (o.g. ), Bangoura 82', Chadwick 90', Russell 90+4' Report43 15 April 2006 SouthamptonH1–216,501Gallagher 83' Report44 17 April 2006 ReadingA1–322,119Rooney 59' Report45 22 April 2006 Coventry CityH0–1 Report46 30 April 2006 Brighton & Hove AlbionA5–15,859Rooney (3) 6', 22', 63', Sidibé 40', Sweeney 82' Report===FA Cup===RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReportR3 7 January 2006 TamworthH0–0 ReportR3 Replay 17 January 2006 TamworthA1–1 (5–4 pens)3,812Gallagher 80' ReportR4 28 January 2006 WalsallH2–18,834Sidibé 45', Chadwick 49' ReportR5 19 February 2006 Birmingham CityH0–1 Report===League Cup===RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReportR123 August 2005 Mansfield TownA1–1 (0–3 pens)2,799Brammer 11' (pen) Report
Squad statistics No.Pos.NameLeagueFA CupLeague CupTotalDisciplineAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals13px13px1GK Steve Simonsen4504010500212DF Carl Hoefkens4434010493603DF Marlon Broomes36(1)2401041(1)2714MF John Eustace00000000005DF Michael Duberry4113010451616DF Clint Hill12(1)0100013(1)0007FW Sambégou Bangoura23(1)9100024(1)9608MF Dave Brammer38(2)1401143(2)2709FW Mamady Sidibé37(5)6411042(5)73010FW Hannes Sigurðsson10(13)10(3)00010(16)11011MF Kevin Harper5(9)11(1)0107(10)12012MF Peter Sweeney8(9)02(1)00010(10)01014MF Þórður Guðjónsson00000(1)00(1)00015GK Ed de Goey1(1)00(1)0001(2)00016FW Bruce Dyer2(9)000103(9)01017MF Darel Russell35(2)3100(1)036(3)37118MF Junior N'Galula16(6)01(1)00017(7)02119MF Luke Chadwick33(3)2410037(3)35020MF Martin Kolář 12(2)1001013(2)11020MF Josip Skoko920000921021MF John Halls 13200101422122DF Lewis Buxton25(7)1300(1)028(8)16023MF Karl Henry11(13)0301015(13)02024FW Paul Gallagher32(5)11310035(5)1210025MF Peter Kopteff3(3)01(2)0004(5)00026MF Anthony Pulis000000000028DF Andy Wilkinson4(2)000004(2)01030FW Martin Paterson2(1)000002(1)00031DF Carl Dickinson4(1)000004(1)00032DF Gerry Taggart310000310133GK Robert Duggan000000000034FW Adam Rooney2(3)40(2)0002(5)41035MF Robert Garrett0(2)000000(2)00036MF Matthew Hazley0(1)000000(1)000––Own goals–2–0–0–2––
References