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The 2011–12 season was Stoke City's fourth season in the Premier League and the 56th in the top tier of English football. Because FA Cup winners Manchester City qualified for the UEFA Champions League via their third-place finish in the Premier League, as FA Cup runners-up, Stoke qualified for the UEFA Europa League. Stoke's first excursion into European football for the first time since 1975 was a main talking point leading up to the 2011–12 season. Stoke were drawn against Croatian side Hajduk Split and after two legs ran out 2–0 winners. After beating FC Thun Stoke were handed a tough group containing Beşiktaş, Dynamo Kyiv and Maccabi Tel Aviv which Stoke managed to progress through finishing in second position. City's reward was a tie against Spanish giants Valencia and despite putting up a spirited 2nd leg performance Stoke went out 2–0 on aggregate. With 12 fixtures in Europe Stoke's Premier League form took a hit with some indifferent performances. The season started well with Stoke going four matches unbeaten and breaking the club's transfer record with the £10 million signing of Peter Crouch from Tottenham Hotspur. European football soon began to take its toll and with some poor defeats against the likes of Bolton Wanderers, Sunderland, Queens Park Rangers Stoke failed to really cement their position in the top half of the table and after picking up just four wins in the final half of the season Stoke finished in 14th position with 45 points. ==Pre-season== The Stoke City squad returned to the club on 7 July before flying out to Austria for their annual training camp. Upon their return they played two of Tony Pulis's old clubs Newport County and Newport YMCA. Games against Football League sides Brentford, Aldershot Town and Sheffield Wednesday had also been arranged as well as the traditional match against Newcastle Town. Whilst in Austria Stoke played a match against local part-time side SV Thal. Stoke won with three goals in the second half through Michael Tonge, Jonathan Walters and a very rare goal from Andy Wilkinson Thal scored a consolation via Erik Bischtand. Upon their return to England, Stoke travelled to Tony Pulis's home town of Newport for two matches against his former clubs. The first match saw City draw 1–1 with Newport County, County scored through their captain Gary Warren before Kenwyne Jones equalised after 75 minutes, he had the ball in the back of the net later on but it was ruled out for offside. The following day Stoke fielded a different team for the match against Newport YMCA. Goals from Ben Marshall, Diego Arismendi, Matthew Lund and Rory Delap gave Stoke an easy 6–1 victory. After the trip to South Wales Pulis said he 'enjoyed his return home'. Stoke then scored another six against Newcastle Town in what was the 30th meeting between the two clubs. Stoke's goals came from Australian trialist Robert Stambolziev, Jermaine Pennant, Glenn Whelan Jonathan Walters, and a brace from Kenwyne Jones. City then suffered two poor results losing 1–0 to both Brentford and Aldershot. City ended their pre-season schedule with a 0–0 draw against Sheffield Wednesday. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「2011–12 Stoke City F.C. season」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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