Tony Pulis returned to the managers hotseat in one of Peter Coates first acts as chairman and after a summer where the main news was the unknown whereabouts of Sammy Bangoura, he returned a day before the season started, the Potters lost the opener to newly promoted Southend. A 2-0 win over Derby three days later was the only success the side had until October when, following dropping onto the bottom 3, Pulis brought in Lee Hendrie, Salif Diao and Andy Griffin in on loan whilst £500,000 signing Ricardo Fuller was fit to play and saw immediate results as the Potters trounced Leeds 4-0 at Elland Road.
Home wins over Sunderland(2-1) and Norwich(5-0) followed in October before five consecutive wins without conceding in November won Pulis the manager of the month award.
Two further clean sheets meant that they were minutes away from a new club record without conceding when they travelled to Colchester only to conced in the opening minutes as they were brought back down to earth thanks to a three nil trouncing.
Pulis side were proving hard to beat but were drawing too many games to be able to cement their place in the top 6 and had to be content with hovering around the play off places and hope in the end of season shake up they snook in.
Following three months of indifferent results the final seven games were played without defeat as wins at home to Leicester, Crystal Palace and Colchester and away at West Brom saw the Potters go into the final day just outside the play off places but with the knowledge that victory coupled with a slip up from any of the three sides directly above them would let them in.
An early goal against killed the mood for Stoke and a late Mama Sidibe goal was enough to grab a point but not a play off place as all the teams above them won anyways rendering the Potters result unimportant,
Appearances
49-Steve Simonsen(49/0)
47-Carl Hoefkens(44/3)
46-Darel Russell(43/3), Danny Higginbotham(46/0), Mamady Sidibe(45/1)
34-Andy Griffin(33/1)
32-Michael Duberry(32/0), Ricardo Fuller(26/6)
31-Vincent Pericard(19/12)
29-Salif Diao(28/1)
28-Lee Hendrie(26/2), Liam Lawrence(28/0)
23-Dave Brammer(11/12)
20-Clint Hill(17/3)
17-John Eustace(8/9)
15-Luke Chadwick(13/2), Peter Sweeney(12/3)
14-Carl Dickinson(6/8),Lee Martin(5/9), Jonathon Fortune(14/0)
12-Adam Rooney(0/12)
10-Martin Paterson(0/10), Dominic Matteo(10/0)
9-Gabriel Zakuani(9/0)
7-Patrick Berger(1/6)
6-Jon Parkin(5/1)
5-Andy Wilkinson(2/3)
4-Jeff Whitley(1/3), Sam Bangoura(1/3), Kevin Harper(1/3)
3-Hannes Sigurdsson(0/3)
2-Anthony Pulis(1/1), Rory Delap(2/0)
1-Lewis Buxton(1/0)
Goals
11-Ricardo Fuller(1P)
9-Mamady Sidibe
7-Danny Higginbotham(4P), Darel Russell
5-Liam Lawrence
3-Vincent Pericard, Lee Hendrie, Luke Chadwick, O.G., Jon Parkin
2-Andy Griffin, Carl Hoefkens
1-Peter Sweeney, Clint Hill, Martin Paterson, Dominic Matteo, Lee Martin, Jonathon Fortune