1999–2000 Stoke City F.C. season

Stoke City
1999–2000 season
Chairman	Keith Humphries, ; Gunnar Gíslason
Manager	Gary Megson, ; Gudjon Thordarson
Stadium	Britannia Stadium
Football League Second Division	6th (82 Points)
Play-offs	Semi-final
FA Cup	First Round
League Cup	Second Round
League Trophy	Winner
Top goalscorer	League: Peter Thorne ; (24); All: Peter Thorne ; (30)
Highest home attendance	15,354 vs Burnley ; (29 January 2000)
Lowest home attendance	7,054 vs Millwall ; (22 August 1999)
Average home league attendance	11,246
	Home colours
	Home colours
	← 1998–99 2000–01 →

The 1999–2000 season was Stoke City's 93rd season in the Football League and sixth in the third tier.

For the third pre-season Stoke were looking for a new manager but the directors were finding it difficult with first choice Tony Pulis joining Bristol City openly admitting that he felt the board lacked ambition. Second choice was Gary Megson and he accepted the job offer as did John Rudge who became director of football. Stoke slowly built up some decent results but there were still tensions between fans and the board and so when news spread that an Icelandic business consortium wanted to take over it became a no-brainer. Unfortunately for Megson new chairman Gunnar Gíslason appointed his own man, former Iceland national manager Gudjon Thordarson. In came a number of Icelandic players and the side did well winning the Football League Trophy and reached the play-offs against Gillingham. After beating the "Gills" 3–2 in the first leg, two controversial refereeing decisions cost Stoke dearly and they lost the second leg 3–0.^[1]

Season review

League

For the third consecutive summer, Stoke were hunting for a new manager, this time they had a clear favourite, Tony Pulis.^[1] However Pulis decided to join Bristol City after openly admitting that he felt the board lacked ambition.^[1] Second choice was Gary Megson, hard working and honest manager in the same mould as Pulis and he accepted Stoke's job offer.^[1] He appointed Nigel Pearson as his assistant and surprisingly John Rudge was made director of football after spending a long time at Port Vale.^[1] There was little expectation as the season began with some steady if unspectacular results and by the end of August Lárus Sigurðsson was sold to West Bromwich Albion for £350,000.^[1] Peter Thorne was proving to be a top player in the Second Division he scored the first few of his 30 goals.^[1] Stoke then went on a nine match unbeaten run and lifted themselves into the play-offs.^[1] In October news spread that a group of Icelandic businessmen were interested in taking control of the club and by mid November Stoke fans had their wishes granted and Gunnar Gíslason completed the Icelandic takeover under the name of Stoke Holding.^[1]

Gary Megson through no fault of his own was replaced by Gudjon Thordarson and in came a number of Icelandic players and the new era began well with Stoke beating Wycombe Wanderers 4–0 away.^[2] There was now a much better feeling about the club with the injection of new money and players but this was knocked back greatly in early 2000.^[1] On 23 February 2000 arguably one of the greatest footballers the world has ever seen Stanley Matthews died at the age of 85. Matthews was not just a club legend but also to Stoke-on-Trent as a whole.^[1] He was remembered in a perfect way with Stoke beating Chesterfield 5–1 with Thorne scoring four goals.^[3]

Stoke maintained their form from this match and went unbeaten until the final match of the season but despite a 1–0 defeat at Reading Stoke finished two points above Bristol Rovers and entered the play-offs.^[1] Their opponents were Gillingham and in the first leg 22,124 saw Stoke make a great start going into a 2–0 lead thanks to Arnar Gunnlaugsson and Kyle Lightbourne Gillingham pulled one back but Thorne restored Stoke's two goal advantage. Andy Hessenthaler then scored in injury time meaning the second leg would be a very tough match.^[1] In the second leg at Priestfield Stadium referee Rob Styles sent off both Graham Kavanagh and Clive Clarke for minor offences and Gillingham went on to win 3–0.^[1]

FA Cup

Another early exit for Stoke this season, defeated 2–0 away at Blackpool.^[1]

League Cup

After beating last seasons opponents Macclesfield Town Stoke lost 3–1 to Premier League Sheffield Wednesday.^[1]

League Trophy

Stoke began their Football League Trophy campaign on a cold December night against Third Division Darlington at the Britannia Stadium. With the scores level after normal time Kyle Lightbourne scored a golden goal to send Stoke through.^[1] Away wins over Oldham Athletic, Blackpool and Chesterfield saw Stoke in the area final against Rochdale.^[1] A 3–1 win in the first leg was followed by a 1–0 win in the second earning a place in the final against Bristol City.^[1] A crowd of 75,057 at Wembley saw Graham Kavanagh opened the scoring for Stoke before Paul Holland equalised for the Robins. Peter Thorne scored a close range winner for Stoke after 82 minutes earning Stoke their second Football League Trophy win.^[1]

Final league table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
4	Wigan Athletic	46	22	17	7	72	38	+34	83	Qualification for the Second Division play-offs
5	Millwall	46	23	13	10	76	50	+26	82
6	Stoke City	46	23	13	10	68	42	+26	82
7	Bristol Rovers	46	23	11	12	69	45	+24	80
8	Notts County	46	18	11	17	61	55	+6	65

Source: ^[4]
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored

Results

Stoke's score comes first

Legend

Win	Draw	Loss

Pre-Season Friendlies

Match	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
1	17 July 1999	Bolton Wanderers	H	2–1	2,921	Crowe, Connor
2	21 July 1999	Newport County	A	2–1	878	Oldfield (2)
3	24 July 1999	Hereford United	A	0–0	634
3	25 July 1999	Newcastle Town	A	4–1	1,966	Connor (2), MacKenzie, Crowe
4	28 July 1999	Newcastle United	H	1–2	7,171	Jacobsen
5	31 July 1999	Chester City	A	0–0	1,249

Football League Second Division

Match	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
1	7 August 1999	Oxford United	H	1–2	11,300	Kavanagh 59'
2	14 August 1999	Preston North End	A	1–2	11,465	Thorne 8'
3	22 August 1999	Millwall	H	3–1	7,054	Thorne 15', Connor 51', Kavanagh 84' (pen)
4	28 August 1999	Burnley	A	0–1	11,328
5	30 August 1999	Gillingham	H	1–1	8,369	Sigurðsson 87'
6	4 September 1999	Cambridge United	A	3–1	4,007	Connor 19', Oldfield 81', Thorne 86'
7	11 September 1999	Chesterfield	A	2–0	4,285	Lightbourne (2) 50', 90'
8	18 September 1999	Wigan Athletic	H	1–1	11,195	Lightbourne 48'
9	25 September 1999	Wrexham	A	3–2	5,924	Thorne 27', Lightbourne 50', Mohan 78'
10	2 October 1999	Scunthorpe United	H	1–0	13,068	Connor 90'
11	9 October 1999	Reading	H	2–1	9,621	Mohan 68', Jacobsen 89'
12	16 October 1999	Bournemouth	A	1–1	5,990	Clarke 62'
13	19 October 1999	Cardiff City	A	2–1	6,146	Thorne 23', O'Connor 58'
14	23 October 1999	Wrexham	H	2–0	10,545	O'Connor 58', Kavanagh 58'
15	3 November 1999	Notts County	H	0–1	11,619
16	6 November 1999	Bury	A	0–0	4,280
17	14 November 1999	Bristol City	H	1–1	10,775	Mohan 66'
18	23 November 1999	Wycombe Wanderers	A	4–0	4,345	Kavanagh 44', Daníelsson 45', Thorne 62', Mohan 71'
19	27 November 1999	Colchester United	H	1–1	14,183	Lightbourne 82'
20	4 December 1999	Oxford United	A	1–1	5,700	Thorne 79'
21	18 December 1999	Bristol Rovers	H	1–2	10,379	Keen 52'
22	26 December 1999	Blackpool	A	2–1	5,274	Robinson 21', Kavanagh 57'
23	28 December 1999	Oldham Athletic	H	0–0	13,709
24	3 January 2000	Brentford	A	1–0	6,792	Thorne 60'
25	8 January 2000	Luton Town	H	2–1	10,016	Connor 24', Lightbourne 87'
26	14 January 2000	Preston North End	H	2–1	10,285	Kippe 3', O'Connor 87'
27	22 January 2000	Millwall	A	0–1	11,548
28	29 January 2000	Burnley	H	2–2	15,354	Thorne 68', Davis (o.g.) 71'
29	5 February 2000	Gillingham	A	0–3	7,801
30	8 February 2000	Luton Town	A	1–2	5,396	O'Connor 33'
31	12 February 2000	Cambridge United	H	1–0	9,429	Connor 31'
32	19 February 2000	Colchester United	A	0–1	4,364
33	26 February 2000	Wigan Athletic	A	2–1	9,429	Kavanagh 28', O'Connor 77'
34	4 March 2000	Chesterfield	H	5–1	11,968	Thorne (4) 8', 18', 41', 61', Jacobsen 90'
35	11 March 2000	Notts County	A	0–0	9,677
36	18 March 2000	Wycombe Wanderers	H	1–1	9,738	Gunnlaugsson 54' (pen)
37	25 March 2000	Blackpool	H	3–0	10,002	Gunnarsson 62', Mohan 69', Guðjónsson 71'
38	28 March 2000	Bristol City	A	2–2	8,103	Lightbourne 26', Kavanagh 39'
39	1 April 2000	Bristol Rovers	A	3–3	9,312	Thorne (3) 10', 62', 79'
40	4 April 2000	Oldham Athletic	A	1–0	4,474	Thorne 23'
41	8 April 2000	Brentford	H	1–0	9,955	Thorne 8'
42	22 April 2000	Bournemouth	H	1–0	15,022	Thorne 81'
43	24 April 2000	Scunthorpe United	A	2–0	5,435	Thorne (2) 24', 39'
44	30 April 2000	Cardiff City	H	2–1	14,192	Gunnlaugsson 3', O'Connor 69'
45	3 May 2000	Bury	H	3–0	14,792	Thorne (3) 11', 55', 81'
46	6 May 2000	Reading	A	0–1	13,146

Second Division play-offs

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
Semi-final 1st Leg	13 May 2000	Gillingham	H	3–2	22,124	Gunnlaugsson 1', Lightbourne 8', Thorne 67'
Semi-final 2nd Leg	17 May 2000	Gillingham	A	0–3 (aet)	10,386

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
R1	30 October 1999	Blackpool	A	0–2	4,721

League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
R1 1st Leg	10 August 1999	Macclesfield Town	A	1–1	2,551	Keen 8'
R1 2nd Leg	25 August 1999	Macclesfield Town	H	3–0	5,003	Connor 59', Thorne 69', O'Connor 75'
R2 1st Leg	14 September 1999	Sheffield Wednesday	H	0–0	9,313
R2 2nd Leg	22 September 1999	Sheffield Wednesday	A	1–3	10,993	Kavanagh 74'

League Trophy

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
R1	8 December 1999	Darlington	H	3–2 (aet)	3,341	Lightbourne (2) 25', 93', Reed 40' (o.g.)
R2	18 January 2000	Oldham Athletic	A	1–0 (aet)	4,682	O'Connor 116'
Quarter final	25 January 2000	Blackpool	A	2–1	4,943	Gunnarsson 19', Kavanagh 79'
Semi final	15 February 2000	Chesterfield	A	1–0	3,825	O'Connor 82'
Area final 1st Leg	14 March 2000	Rochdale	A	3–1	4,241	Hansson 4', Thorne (2) 21', 27'
Area final 2nd Leg	22 March 2000	Rochdale	H	1–0	16,876	Thorne 86'
Final	16 April 2000	Bristol City	N	2–1	75,057	Kavanagh 32', Thorne 82'

Squad statistics

No.	Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		League Trophy		Play-offs		Total		Discipline
No.	Pos.	Name	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	Gavin Ward	46	0	1	0	4	0	7	0	2	0	60	0	1	0
2	DF	Jason Kavanagh	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
2	MF	Brynjar Gunnarsson	21(1)	1	0	0	0	0	6	1	2	0	29(1)	2	3	0
3	MF	Bryan Small	5(3)	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	6(3)	0	0	0
4	DF	Phil Robinson	14(8)	1	1	0	2	0	1(1)	0	0	0	18(9)	1	0	0
5	DF	Nicky Mohan	40	5	0	0	3	0	6	0	2	0	51	5	9	1
6	DF	Lárus Sigurðsson	5	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	7	1	3	0
6	DF	Sigursteinn Gíslason	4(4)	0	0	0	0	0	2(2)	0	0	0	6(6)	0	0	0
7	DF	Chris Short	14	0	1	0	2(1)	0	0	0	0	0	17(1)	0	3	0
8	MF	Graham Kavanagh	44(1)	7	1	0	4	1	7	2	2	0	58(1)	10	9	1
9	FW	Peter Thorne	41(4)	24	1	0	3	1	4(1)	4	1	1	50(5)	30	3	0
10	FW	Dean Crowe	0(6)	0	0	0	0(2)	0	1	0	0	0	1(8)	0	0	0
11	MF	David Oldfield	7(12)	1	0	0	2(1)	0	0(1)	0	0	0	9(14)	1	0	0
12	FW	Kyle Lightbourne	35(5)	7	1	0	3	0	4(2)	2	2	1	45(7)	10	7	1
14	GK	Carl Muggleton	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
15	MF	Neil MacKenzie	0(2)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0(2)	0	0	0
15	DF	Mikael Hansson	24(3)	0	0	0	0	0	7	1	2	0	33(3)	1	1	0
16	FW	Paul Connor	15(11)	5	0(1)	0	2(2)	1	2(1)	0	1(1)	0	20(16)	6	3	0
17	MF	James O'Connor	42	5	1	0	3	1	7	2	2	0	55	8	14	0
18	DF	Ben Petty	7(6)	0	0	0	1	0	2(3)	0	0	0	10(9)	0	1	0
19	DF	Lee Collins	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
20	FW	Steven Taaffe	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0
21	MF	Robert Heath	0(3)	0	0(1)	0	0(1)	0	0	0	0	0	0(5)	0	0	0
22	DF	Clive Clarke	39(3)	1	1	0	3(1)	0	6	0	2	0	51(4)	1	7	1
23	DF	Ashley Wooliscroft	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
24	DF	Matthew Bullock	4(3)	0	0(1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4(4)	0	0	0
25	MF	Bjarni Guðjónsson	7(1)	1	0	0	0	0	1(2)	0	1(1)	0	9(4)	1	2	0
26	MF	Jamie Cartwright	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
27	GK	Stuart Fraser	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
28	DF	Jamie Godbold	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
29	DF	Richard Burgess	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
30	MF	Kevin Keen	20(3)	1	1	0	3(1)	1	0	0	0	0	24(4)	2	3	0
31	FW	Chris Iwelumo	0(3)	0	0	0	0	0	0(1)	0	0	0	0(4)	0	0	0
32	DF	Anders Jacobsen	29(4)	2	1	0	3	0	5	0	1(1)	0	39(5)	2	5	1
33	MF	Einar Daníelsson	3(5)	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	4(5)	1	0	0
34	MF	Richard Dryden	11(2)	0	0	0	0	0	0(1)	0	1	0	12(3)	0	0	0
34	DF	Frode Kippe	15	1	0	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	20	1	1	0
35	DF	Sam Aiston	2(4)	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	3(4)	0	0	0
36	FW	Arnar Gunnlaugsson	10(3)	2	0	0	0	0	3	0	2	1	15(3)	3	3	0
37	GK	Calvin Dixon	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
38	DF	Steve Melton	0(5)	0	0	0	0	0	0(1)	0	0(1)	0	0(7)	0	0	0
–	–	Own goals	–	1	–	0	–	0	–	1	–	0	–	2	–	–