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Stoke City
1986–87 season
Chairman	Peter Coates
Manager	Mick Mills
Stadium	Victoria Ground
Football League Second Division	8th (58 Points)
FA Cup	Fifth Round
League Cup	Second Round
Full Members' Cup	First Round
Top goalscorer	League: Carl Saunders ; (14); All: Carl Saunders ; (19)
Highest home attendance	19,382 vs Shrewsbury Town ; (1 January 1987)
Lowest home attendance	6,229 vs Bradford City ; (2 May 1987)
Average home league attendance	9,987
	Home colours
	Home colours
	← 1985–86 1987–88 →

The 1986–87 season was Stoke City's 80th season in the Football League and 27th in the Second Division.

Peter Coates became Stoke's new chairman in September 1986 which helped Mills to make a number of useful signings. After a slow start to the season Stoke hit form in November and went on an eleven-match unbeaten run which lasted until the start of February. During this run Stoke beat Leeds United 7–2 and Sheffield United 5–2 which lifted Stoke up the table and in to contention for a place in newly formed Football League play-offs. However, Stoke could not keep up the good results, winning only four of their last 16 matches, finishing in 8th position.^[1]

Season review

League

With Mills wanting to bring in new players for the 1986–87 season he had to sell before he could buy, with Ian Painter joining Coventry City for £75,000 and youth team product Neil Adams joined Everton for £150,000, a move which angered the Stoke fans.^[1] Into the camp came right back Lee Dixon from Bury for £50,000 and winger Tony Ford from Grimsby Town for £35,000.^[1] Stoke again participated in the annual Isle of Man Trophy, but they failed to make it out of the group stage.^[1] There was a familiar problem as the season got under way - a lack of goals.^[1]

In September 1986 local businessman Peter Coates assumed the role of chairman and a full-strength board backed manager Mills with money for players.^[1] In came Mills' former Ipswich Town teammate Brian Talbot from Watford.^[1] After 10 matches Stoke were bottom of the table with performances leaving a lot to be desired but the arrival of ex-England international Talbot boosted morale and after striker Nicky Morgan arrived from Portsmouth a remarkable transformation took place.^[1] Stoke began to climb the table, going eleven matches without defeat which included a famous 7–2 victory over Leeds United and a 5–2 victory over Sheffield United.^[1] As well as Morgan, youngster Carl Saunders started to hit form as Stoke leapt into 4th place and there was great excitement that Stoke could make a return to the First Division.^[1] Alas it turned out to be a false dawn as just four wins and five draws in a row in their remaining 16 matches meant Stoke finished the season in 8th spot with 58 points, six away from a play-off spot.^[1]

FA Cup

Stoke beat Grimsby Town 6–0 in a second replay and then a victory over Cardiff City saw Stoke drawn against Coventry City in the fifth round.^[1] A near full house of 31,255 saw the "Sky Blues" narrowly beat Stoke 1–0 and they went on to lift the cup.^[1]

League Cup

Shrewsbury Town who were becoming something of a bogey side for Stoke were able to grind out a 2–1 victory.^[1]

Full Members' Cup

Stoke made a quick exit in this season's Full Members' Cup losing at home to Sheffield United 2–1.^[1]

Final league table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
6	Crystal Palace	42	19	5	18	51	53	−2	62
7	Plymouth Argyle	42	16	13	13	62	57	+5	61
8	Stoke City	42	16	10	16	63	53	+10	58
9	Sheffield United	42	15	13	14	50	49	+1	58
10	Bradford City	42	15	10	17	62	62	0	55

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored

Results

Legend

Win	Draw	Loss

Football League Second Division

Match	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
1	23 August 1986	Birmingham City	H	0–2	11,548
2	25 August 1986	Leeds United	A	1–2	13,334	Saunders 1'
3	30 August 1986	Crystal Palace	A	0–1	6,864
4	2 September 1986	West Bromwich Albion	H	1–1	8,668	Berry 29'
5	6 September 1986	Millwall	H	2–0	7,100	Berry 34', Shaw 37' (pen)
6	13 September 1986	Oldham Athletic	A	0–2	6,513
7	20 September 1986	Portsmouth	H	1–1	8,440	Kelly 58'
8	27 September 1986	Sunderland	A	0–2	14,394
9	4 October 1986	Brighton & Hove Albion	A	0–1	8,341
10	11 October 1986	Huddersfield Town	H	2–0	7,543	Berry 24', Bertschin 29'
11	18 October 1986	Blackburn Rovers	H	1–0	7,715	Shaw 49'
12	25 October 1986	Ipswich Town	A	0–2	11,054
13	1 November 1986	Derby County	H	0–2	12,358
14	8 November 1986	Hull City	A	4–0	5,252	Ford 16', McEwan (o.g.) 37', Morgan 41', Bertschin 64'
15	15 November 1986	Sheffield United	A	1–3	11,177	Bertschin 19'
16	22 November 1986	Reading	H	3–0	7,465	Bertschin (3) 12', 58', 79'
17	29 November 1986	Bradford City	A	4–1	6,191	Saunders (2) 17', 65', Ford 35', Berry 60' (pen)
18	6 December 1986	Plymouth Argyle	H	1–0	10,043	Berry 64' (pen)
19	13 December 1986	Grimsby Town	A	1–1	4,642	Saunders 88'
20	21 December 1986	Leeds United	H	7–2	12,358	Morgan (3) 5', 35', 72', Saunders 11', Dixon 21', Kelly 44', Ford 62'
21	26 December 1986	Barnsley	A	2–0	7,436	Saunders 30', Kelly 87'
22	27 December 1986	Sheffield United	H	5–2	17,320	Bould 5', Saunders (3) 17', 55', 82', Morgan 77'
23	1 January 1987	Shrewsbury Town	H	1–0	19,382	Saunders 1'
24	3 January 1987	Millwall	A	1–1	6,134	Heath 32'
25	24 January 1987	Birmingham City	A	0–0	10,643
26	7 February 1987	Crystal Palace	H	3–1	13,154	Ford 2', Dixon 64', Berry 73' (pen)
27	14 February 1987	West Bromwich Albion	A	1–4	12,366	Bertschin 80'
28	28 February 1987	Portsmouth	A	0–3	14,607
29	14 March 1987	Blackburn Rovers	A	1–2	10,075	Morgan 83'
30	17 March 1987	Sunderland	H	3–0	9,420	Berry 21' (pen), Dixon 60', Morgan 89'
31	21 March 1987	Huddersfield Town	A	2–2	7,222	Ford 67', Bertschin 87'
32	25 March 1987	Ipswich Town	H	0–0	11,805
33	28 March 1987	Brighton & Hove Albion	H	1–1	10,216	Morgan 47'
34	4 April 1987	Hull City	H	1–1	8,146	Talbot 15'
35	11 April 1987	Derby County	A	0–0	19,038
36	18 April 1987	Shrewsbury Town	A	1–4	6,777	Saunders 88'
37	20 April 1987	Barnsley	H	1–2	7,260	Morgan 52'
38	25 April 1987	Reading	A	1–0	5,927	Morgan 12'
39	28 April 1987	Oldham Athletic	H	0–2	7,228
40	2 May 1987	Bradford City	H	2–3	6,229	Gayle (2) 81', 86'
41	4 May 1987	Plymouth Argyle	A	3–1	13,774	Saunders (2) 35', 38', Talbot 46'
42	9 May 1987	Grimsby Town	H	5–1	6,406	Kelly 6', Talbot 14', Berry 40' (pen), Saunders 57', Ford 76'

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
R3	10 January 1987	Grimsby Town	A	1–1	7,367	Saunders 38'
R3 Replay	26 January 1987	Grimsby Town	H	1–1 (aet)	14,340	Saunders 71'
R3 2nd Replay	28 January 1987	Grimsby Town	H	6–0	12,087	Morgan (2) 10', 48', Talbot 17', Heath 22', Saunders (2) 41', 81'
R4	31 January 1987	Cardiff City	H	2–1	20,423	Saunders 33', Heath 70'
R5	21 February 1987	Coventry City	H	0–1	31,255

League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
R2 1st Leg	23 September 1986	Shrewsbury Town	A	1–2	5,343	Maskery 17'
R2 2nd Leg	8 October 1986	Shrewsbury Town	H	0–0	6,468

Full Members' Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
R1	30 September 1986	Sheffield United	H	1–2	3,987	Ford 40'

Isle of Man Trophy

Round	Opponent	Result
Group match 1	Heart of Midlothian	1–0
Group match 2	Manchester City	0–0
Group match 3	Wigan Athletic	0–1

Friendlies

Match	Opponent	Venue	Result
1	Stafford Rangers	A	3–1
2	Port Vale	A	3–1
3	Parkway Clayton	A	2–0
4	Wrexham	A	2–2
5	Oxford United	A	2–2
6	Watford	H	0–0
7	Bangor City	A	4–1

Squad statistics

Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Full Members' Cup		Total
Pos.	Name	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Peter Fox	39	0	5	0	2	0	1	0	47	0
GK	Paul Reece	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
GK	Hans Segers	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
DF	Steve Bould	28	1	5	0	2	0	1	0	36	1
DF	Aaron Callaghan	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	0
DF	Lee Dixon	42	3	5	0	2	0	1	0	50	3
DF	Lee Fowler	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
DF	Chris Hemming	21(1)	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	23(1)	0
DF	Mick Mills	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
DF	Brian Talbot	32	3	5	1	0	0	0	0	37	4
MF	George Berry	40	8	5	0	1	0	0	0	46	8
MF	Gerry Daly	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
MF	Tony Ford	41	6	5	0	2	0	1	1	49	7
MF	Tony Kelly	32(3)	4	5	0	2	0	1	0	40(3)	4
MF	Chris Maskery	10(3)	0	0	0	2	1	1	0	13(3)	1
MF	Steve Parkin	37(1)	0	5	0	2	0	1	0	45(1)	0
MF	Terry Williams	1(2)	0	0	0	0(1)	0	0(1)	0	1(4)	0
FW	Keith Bertschin	16(5)	8	0(4)	0	1	0	1	0	18(9)	8
FW	Paul Crooks	0(1)	0	0	0	0(1)	0	0(1)	0	0(3)	0
FW	Howard Gayle	4(2)	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	4(2)	2
FW	Phil Heath	37(1)	1	5	2	2	0	1	0	45(1)	3
FW	Nicky Morgan	29	10	5	2	0	0	0	0	34	12
FW	Carl Saunders	26(5)	14	5	5	0	0	0	0	31(5)	19
FW	Graham Shaw	15(3)	2	0	0	2	0	0	0	17(3)	2
–	Own goals	–	1	–	0	–	0	–	0	–	1