Stoke City Personalised Gifts
Our Stoke City Gifts are unofficial products, and are in no way affiliated with Stoke City FC, unless specifically stated in the product information.
Stoke City Memorabilia and Gift Ideas
GoneDigging has a fabulous range of personalised Stoke City merchandise, including unique memorabilia and great gift ideas. Below you will find a selection of our most popular Stoke City gifts, in addition to a few interesting facts about the Potters.
Brief History of Stoke City FC
Stoke City FC was formed in 1863 as the Stoke Ramblers. The team merged with the Stoke Victoria Cricket Club, before turning professional in 1865. Stoke became one of the founder members of the Football League in 1888, but the Potters struggled and failed to win re-election at the end of the second season. Stoke City moved to the break-away Football Alliance and won the league title in 1891. The club immediately returned to the official Football League and remained in the top flight for the next sixteen years. Stoke City made real progress in the 1930s, aided by the arrival of Sir Stanley Matthews. He quickly developed into one of the best footballers in the world. Matthews won his first England cap in 1934 and he helped Stoke City achieve a fourth place finish in the First Division in 1936.
Stoke FC fought for the title in 1947, but narrowly lost out to Liverpool after losing the final game of the season to Sheffield United. Matthews left the club, which coincided with a dip in form for the Potters, but he returned fourteen years later under the management of Tony Waddington. Stoke City went on to finish as runners-up of the 1964 League Cup, which was the club’s first major final. When Stanley Matthews finally retired at the age of fifty in1965, stability was maintained at the club through the signing of legendary goalkeeper Gordon Banks. Stoke City won the League cup in 1972 and thus qualified for the UEFA Cup for the first time. When Waddington’s team began to disband, Stoke City fell out of the First Division and it would take the club twenty-three years to return to the top flight. The Potters finally won promotion to the Premiership in 2008 under Tony Pulis. Despite being favourites to go straight back down at the end of the season, Stoke City stayed up comfortably, finishing in twelfth place.
Did you know…
Stoke City FC is known as “The Potters" due to the local pottery industry that emerged in the seventeenth century. World famous names such as Royal Doulton, Spode and Minton originated in the city and local artistic talent continues to be developed in the community.
Home games have taken place at the Britannia Stadium since 1997 and the ground has become famous for its terrific atmosphere. Stoke City had previously played at the Victoria Ground, but they decided to move in order to increase capacity to over 25,000 spectators. The stadium cost £14.7 million to construct and the ashes of Sir Stanley Matthews were buried under the centre circle of the pitch when he died in 2000.
Stoke City Memorabilia
We offer an exciting range of personalised Stoke City gifts, which includes various items of Stoke City memorabilia. These presents can be kept for years to come and they are a terrific idea for any fan of the Potters.
Our Personalised Stoke City Football Book incorporates a variety of match reports from the past one hundred years. Written by journalists who were there at the time, this reproduced newspaper coverage forms a fascinating record of some of the biggest games in the club’s history.
The Football Book includes promotion wins - such as the club’s return to the top flight in 2008 - European fixtures and the Potters’ FA Cup semi-final of 1972. It also features a series of articles on Sir Stanley Matthews and the signing of Gordon Banks and Peter Shilton. One of the highlights of this fascinating Stoke City gift is the coverage of the club’s League Cup success. The book incorporates the narrow loss to Leicester City in the 1964 final and the 2-1 win against Chelsea in the 1972 final, which was Stoke City’s first major trophy. The Potters have pushed all of the modern ‘top four’ teams in this competition and the football book includes the 2-1 win against Manchester United in 1993, the 0-1 defeat of Chelsea in 1995 and draws against Liverpool and Arsenal in 1991 and 1996 respectively. Another highlight is a vast selection of exciting high-scoring matches, such as the 10-3 thrashing of West Bromwich Albion in 1937, the 9-1 destruction of Ipswich Town in 1964, the 6-1 victory against Aston Villa in 1966 and the 7-2 trouncing of Leeds United in 1986.
Twelve of the best match reports are featured in our Personalised Stoke City Diary and Personalised Stoke City Calendar. Games include the 2-1 win against Chelsea in the 1972 League Cup final and the 1-0 victory against Stockport in the 1992 Autoglass Trophy final. We also incorporate articles on the club’s one hundredth birthday and the impact of Sir Stanley Matthews. Both gifts can start from the month of your choice and they are a fantastic way to keep track of future events, whilst reminiscing upon former glory days.
If you would like to commemorate the current season, why not sign up to My Stoke City Football Year? This service allows you to create a customised season book, with the option of editing match reports, statistics and photographs from every Stoke City game. At the end of the season you will receive your professionally printed and bound book, with up to two hundred pictures included.
More Gift Ideas
Our Personalised Stoke City Commentaries make unusual and entertaining presents for fans of the Potters. A professional radio commentator will record an original commentary, based upon your choice of match highlights. Your recipient could become the hero of the Britannia Stadium by saving a crucial penalty, providing a great assist or scoring a stunning last-minute goal. In doing so, they could also be nominated as Man of the Match.
Another fun gift idea is a Spoof Newspaper Headline. Recipients can become Player of the Year or the New England Manager. Alternatively, they could be the Star Performer for Stoke City in a convincing win against any other team of your choice.