The Stoke “Ramblers” were first formed in 1863 but it was only in 1925, when Stoke was granted city status, that the club officially became Stoke City F.C.

The 1930’s saw the emergence of arguably the greatest English player of all time, local boy Stanley Matthews.  Neither he, nor Stoke, enjoyed the success craved but the club did achieve promotion to the top tier in 1932-33.

Another key figure in the history of the Potters was Tony Waddington.  Appointed manager in 1960, he convinced a 46-year old Stanley Matthews to come back to Stoke; helping them earn promotion to the First Division once more.  Waddington built on this success to provide Stoke with their first major trophy: the League Cup in 1972.

Stoke were relegated soon afterwards and George Eastham replaced Waddington in a string of managerial changes between the late 70’s and mid 90’s. A move to the Britannia stadium in 1998 didn’t improve matters as City were relegated to the third tier. 

It wasn’t until a takeover from Peter Coates that their fortunes turned around. Coates re-appointed former manager Tony Pulis and since then Stoke have been one of the greatest success stories of modern football. Playing direct, muscular football with quality throughout the team, they have reached an FA Cup final and qualified for the Europa League as well as cementing their position in the top half of the Premier League.