Stoke City

Stoke goes all the way back to 1863 and was one of the original 12 in the Football League in 1888. They settled into the Victoria Ground in 1878 and didn’t leave it until 1997. They had good years in the 1930s and ’40s, mainly because of legendary local boy Stanley Matthews, who represented England for 24 years and played competitively until the age of 50-much of that at Blackpool, where he won the FA Cup. In 1947 they lost on the last day of the year, ceding the First Division title to Liverpool. It’s as close as they’ve ever been.

In 1972 they beat Chelsea to win the League Cup—their only major trophy—but financial trouble soon followed, exacerbated by a windstorm that damaged the ground so badly, they had to sell players to cover the repairs. They then spent about 25 years hiring manager after manager and bouncing mostly between the second and third tiers.

They made the Premier League in 2008 and became the definition of a midtable club for 10 years—but the bottom fell out in 2017-18, and they were relegated despite spending a ton of money on players. They have been in the Championship since, but they are not doing well. They spent £50 million on players the first season but finished 16th and sacked their manager. In 2020, they got just two wins in the first 14 games, sacked another manager, and wound up 15th. The last three seasons they were  16th, 17th and 18th.

2024–25 SEASON: 18th in the Championship, 4th Round FA Cup, 4th Round League Cup

2025–26 SEASON: The Championship (relegated in 2018)

Traditionally, they contested the Potteries derby with local rivals Port Vale, but they have been a couple of divisions apart for years and haven’t met since 2002. These days the main rivals are West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers, but even those aren’t too intense compared to many in the country. Derby County draws some ire as well.

Stoke City FC Women currently play in the Women’s National League North, tier 3. Home games are in nearby Stone. See stokecityfc.com/club/women.

The official anthem is a song called “We’ll Be with You,” which was recorded by players for the 1972 League Cup final. It’s played before each game as a banner with the same message is passed around above the supporters’ heads. They also started singing Tom Jones’s “Delilah” about 20 years back during a miserable season, changing the lyrics for a time to “Why, why, why do we bother?” These days it’s back to Delilah but with other words changed to include urine, cigarettes, laughter, and penis. Gotta love football fans!

While it’s officially known as the bet365 Stadium, many people still call Stoke’s home by its original name, The Britannia. Among the fairly recent stadiums, it is at least a little different in that two corners are open. This distinguishes it from all the ovals that have come along lately, but when combined with the fact that the stadium sits on top of a hill, the configuration also exposes fans to rather legendarily cold winds. Away fans will be in the west end of the South Stand behind a goal.

TOURS: Tours are available for groups if you book two weeks ahead. Last year for a group of five or fewer, it was £40.

GETTING THERE: While the stadium itself is nice, getting there is a pain. It’s two miles from the train station and in a kind of industrial park, so a taxi might be the simplest. The club runs shuttle buses (£4 return) from the bottom of Glebe Street. But you’ll want to go early, as lines get quite long as kickoff approaches. Check the club’s website for the shuttle timetable.

PUBS: On the way into town from the station, you’ll pass The Glebe, which always has plenty of fans. In town, down near the shuttle buses, look for The White Star and The Wheatsheaf. There is nothing out by the stadium.

GRUB: Aside from the pubs in the town center, all we saw was Hill’s Fish and Chips, which looked like nothing special.

AROUND TOWN: You probably didn’t know this, but Stoke has been the traditional home of pottery in England since the 17th century. This is owing to the abundance of clay and coal in the area. In fact, Wedgwood was founded there in 1759 and is still headquartered there. The World of Wedgewood has 80,000 works of art, ceramics, and photography.

Also of interest are the city’s ceramic collection and the restored plant at the Gladstone Pottery Museum; see stokemuseums.org.uk. And since we’re on a pottery theme, the Burleigh company dates to 1851 and still makes pottery the old-fashioned way in historically protected buildings. Tours are available but must be booked ahead at burleigh.co.uk.And finally, there’s a massive indoor water park in town. That’s at waterworld.co.uk.