2001–02 Stoke City F.C. season
Introduction 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.
Season review ===League===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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Stoke recovered well beating Wycombe Wanderers 5–1 but just three wins in 14 saw Stoke's grip on the top two loosen. Matters were not helped when Souleymane Oularé brought into replace Thorne suffered a life-threatening blood clot after just one appearance. 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.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. 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. And Stoke scored again via an O'Connor shot which deflected in of Souleymane Oularé to give Stoke the most dramatic victory. 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. 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. However, despite finally achieving promotion via the play-offs at the third attempt manager Gudjon Thordarson's contract was not renewed.===FA Cup===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.===League Cup===Stoke lost to Oldham Athletic in the first round via a penalty shoot-out.===League Trophy===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.
Final league table
Results ''Stoke's score comes first''===Legend===WinDrawLoss===Pre-Season friendlies===MatchDateOpponentVenueResultScorers115 July 2001Newcastle TownA3–0Thorne 10' Cooke 39' Bullock 72'218 July 2001Macclesfield TownA1–0Guðjónsson 44'321 July 2001Wacker BurghausenA3–1Guðjónsson, Hoekstra, Gunnarsson424 July 2001FC GratkornA0–0524 July 2001GençlerbirliğiA0–1627 July 2001SV GmundenA3–0Þórðarson, Iwelumo, Cooke731 July 2001Leicester CityH1–2Cooke84 August 2001Derby CountyH0–097 August 2001Racing Club WarwickA4–2Neal, Goodfellow, Iwelumo (2)===Football League Second Division===MatchDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReport1 11 August 2001 Queens Park RangersA0–1 Report2 18 August 2001 Northampton TownH2–012,845Cooke 52', Thorne 54' Report3 25 August 2001 Cambridge UnitedA2–03,336Thorne 48', Cooke 51' Report4 27 August 2001 Tranmere RoversH1–212,031Thorne (pen) 90' Report5 8 September 2001 Huddersfield TownH1–113,319Thorne 90' Report6 15 September 2001 ReadingH2–011,752Guðjónsson 25', Cooke 30' Report7 18 September 2001 Brighton & Hove AlbionA0–1 Report8 22 September 2001 BuryA1–04,727Vandeurzen 32' Report9 26 September 2001 Colchester UnitedH3–09,515Vandeurzen 45', Þórðarson (2) 57', 90' Report10 29 September 2001 BournemouthH2–014,803Maher (o.g.) 11', Thomas 47' Report11 13 October 2001 Notts CountyH1–013,220Hoekstra 47' (pen) Report12 21 October 2001 Port ValeA1–110,344Iwelumo 78' Report13 23 October 2001 ChesterfieldA2–15,141Hoekstra (2) 67', 90' (1 pen) Report14 27 October 2001 Bristol CityH1–016,828Gunnarsson 88' Report15 3 November 2001 Swindon TownA3–07,981Gunnarsson 28', Iwelumo 65', O'Connor 86' Report16 6 November 2001 BlackpoolA2–24,921Iwelumo (2) 63', 64' Report17 10 November 2001 BrentfordH3–217,953Gunnarsson 32' Iwelumo 49', Shtanyuk 80' Report18 13 November 2001 Wigan AthleticA1–67,047Vandeurzen 9' Report19 21 November 2001 Oldham AthleticH0–0 Report20 24 November 2001 WrexhamA1–05,477Cooke 67' Report21 15 December 2001 Wycombe WanderersH5–112,911Gunnarsson (2) 19', 44', Iwelumo 30', Cooke 58', Goodfellow 85' Report22 19 December 2001 Cardiff CityH1–114,331Gabbidon 81' (o.g.) Report23 26 December 2001 Tranmere RoversA2–212,201Cooke 19', Daðason 90' (pen) Report24 29 December 2001 Huddersfield TownA0–0 Report25 1 January 2002 BlackpoolH2–016,615Shtanyuk 13', O'Connor 82' Report26 13 January 2002 Northampton TownA1–15,635Goodfellow 36' Report27 19 January 2002 Queens Park RangersH0–1 Report28 22 January 2002 Cardiff CityA0–2 Report29 26 January 2002 Wigan AthleticH2–213,361Goodfellow 37', Daðason 67' (pen) Report30 29 January 2002 Peterborough UnitedA2–15,173Daðason 21', Goodfellow 90' Report31 2 February 2002 BournemouthA1–36,027Daðason 63' (pen) Report32 6 February 2002 Cambridge UnitedH5–09,570Cooke 22', O'Connor 27', Þórðarson 61', Tann 71' (o.g. ), Goodfellow 89' Report 33 10 February 2002 Port ValeH0–1 Report 34 16 February 2002 Notts CountyA0–0 Report 35 23 February 2002 ReadingA0–1 Report 36 26 February 2002 BuryH4–09,635Iwelumo (2) 45', 56', Vandeurzen 73', Þórðarson 84' Report 37 1 March 2002 Brighton & Hove AlbionH3–116,092Iwelumo 29', Gunnlaugsson 58' (pen), Clarke 86' Report38 5 March 2002 Colchester UnitedA3–13,866Guðjónsson 42', Burton (2) 45', 80' Report39 9 March 2002 Wycombe WanderersA0–1 Report40 16 March 2002 Peterborough UnitedH1–012,983Gunnlaugsson 10' Report41 23 March 2002 ChesterfieldH1–014,841Gunnlaugsson 23' Report42 30 March 2002 BrentfordA0–1 Report43 1 April 2002 Swindon TownH2–013,530Thomas 60', Iwelumo 68' Report44 6 April 2002 Oldham AthleticA1–26,548Holden 63' (o.g.) Report45 13 April 2002 WrexhamH1–014,298Cooke 30' Report46 20 April 2002 Bristol CityA1–111,277Cooke 16' Report===Second Division play-offs===RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReportSemi-final 1st Leg 28 April 2002 Cardiff CityH1–221,245Burton 85' ReportSemi-final 2nd Leg 1 May 2002 Cardiff CityA2–0 (aet)19,367O'Connor 90+3', Oularé 114' ReportFinal 11 May 2002 BrentfordN2–042,523Burton 10', Burgess 44' (o.g.) Report===FA Cup===RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReportR118 November 2001 LewesH2–07,081Handyside 19', Gunnarsson 57' ReportR2 8 December 2001 Halifax TownA1–13,335Cooke 27' ReportR2 Replay 11 December 2001 Halifax TownH3–04,356Guðjónsson 22', Iwelumo 27', Gunnarsson 47' ReportR3 5 January 2002 EvertonH0–1 Report===League Cup===RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReportR122 August 2001 Oldham AthleticH0–0 (5–6 pens) Report===League Trophy===RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorersReportR116 October 2001 BlackpoolA2–33,561Iwelumo 72', Neal 83' (pen) Report
Squad statistics No.Pos.NameLeagueFA CupLeague CupLeague TrophyPlay-offsTotalDisciplineAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals13px13px1GK Gavin Ward10010001000120102DF Mikael Hansson000000000000003DF Clive Clarke42(1)1300(1)0103049(2)1804DF Peter Handyside34031100030411215DF Sergei Shtanyuk402401000304821526MF Brynjar Gunnarsson21(2)53200100025(2)7407MF Bjarni Guðjónsson46341100030544708FW Andy Cooke26(9)92(2)10(1)0002(1)030(13)10909FW Peter Thorne540000000054009FW Souleymane Oularé0(1)00000000(1)10(2)10010FW Ríkharður Daðason6(5)40(2)000000(1)06(8)40011MF Peter Hoekstra20(4)32(1)010000023(5)31012DF Wayne Thomas4023010103048217114GK Neil Cutler360301000304301015FW Chris Iwelumo22(16)103(1)10(1)0113029(18)120016FW Stefán Þórðarson3(18)4001000004(18)42017MF James O'Connor432400000315037018MF Lewis Neal6(5)01(1)00011008(6)10019FW Marc Goodfellow11(12)51(2)010101015(14)51020DF David Rowson8(5)01(2)010100011(7)02021MF Pétur Marteinsson2(1)0000000002(1)01022MF Arnar Gunnlaugsson93000000201130123MF Karl Henry9(15)02010100013(15)02024MF Kris Commons0000001000100025DF Gareth Owen0000000000000026FW Ole Albrigtsen0000000000000027MF Jurgen Vandeurzen37(3)44010000(3)042(6)48027MF Brian Wilson0(1)0000010001(1)00028DF Andy Wilkinson0000000(1)0000(1)00029GK Birkir Kristinsson0000000000000029MF Tony Dinning5000000030800030GK Scott Bevan0000000000000031GK Boaz Myhill0000000000000031FW Laurence Hall0000000(1)0000(1)00032FW Allan Smart 0(2)0000000000(2)00132GK Danny Alcock0000000000000033GK Michael Ingham0000000000000033GK Jani Viander0000000000000034DF Mike Flynn11(2)00000000011(2)02035FW Deon Burton11(1)20000002(1)213(2)41036DF Ian Brightwell3(1)00000000(1)03(2)01038MF John Miles0(1)0000000000(1)000––Own goals–4–0–0–0–1–5––
References