Stoke City Under-21s

Full name	Stoke City Football Club Under-21s
Nickname(s)	The Potters
Founded	1863
Ground	bet365 Stadium Clayton Wood Training Ground St George's Park, Burton upon Trent
Manager	Alex Morris (Under-21s) David Hibbert (Under-18s)
League	Premier League 2
2022–23	Professional Development League Division 2, 10th
Website	Club website
Home colours

Stoke City Football Club Under-21s is the most senior of Stoke City's youth teams and the club's former reserve team. The Under-23 team is effectively Stoke City's second-string side. They play in Premier League 2. The team also competes in the Premier League Cup and Staffordshire Senior Cup.

They play their home matches at the club's main ground, the bet365 Stadium, St George's Park, Burton upon Trent as well as the club's Clayton Wood Training Ground. In previous seasons the team has played at Lyme Valley Stadium in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Macclesfield Town's Moss Rose, Nantwich Town's Weaver Stadium and Harrison Park in Leek.

History

Stoke fielded a second team for the first time in a league competition, the Combination, in 1891–92, under the name of 'Stoke Swifts'.^[1] The Swifts also played in the Midland League and the local North Staffordshire & District League, which they won on two occasions. The team joined the Birmingham & District League in 1900–01 and was renamed 'Stoke Reserves'.^[2] They temporarily had to return to local leagues in 1908 after the first team suffered financial difficulties and had to resign from the Football League, taking the reserves' place in the Birmingham & District League.^[3] They returned in 1911–12 and continued to play in it until they joined the newly founded Central League, a specific reserve team only league. In 1925 after Stoke-on-Trent was granted City status the second string became "Stoke City Reserves".^[4] They won the Central League title in 1927–28 and remained in the league until the 1980s when a Division Two was created.^[3] Stoke were relegated in 1984–85, gaining promotion in 1991–92, but suffered instant relegation in 1992–93, however promotion was achieved in 1993–94.^[3] The league was restructured in 1996 with Stoke now in the Central League Premier Division, dropping down to Division One in 1999–2000.^[3] They won Division One in 2002–03 and then won the Premier Division in 2003–04. Stoke remained in the Central League until 2008.^[3]

Following the first team's promotion to the Premier League in 2008 the reserves joined the Premier Reserve League. In 2012 the Premier League implemented the Elite Player Performance Plan and introduced the Professional Development League, with reserve teams becoming under-21 teams. In The League was split into two in 2014–15, with Stoke playing in Division 2. In 2016 the league was re-branded Premier League 2 and the age limit increased to under-23. This was reverted back to under-21 from 2022–23.^[5]

Current squads

As of 15 August 2023^[6][7]

Under-21s

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 40 GK  CMR Blondy Nna Noukeu 45 GK  ENG Tommy Simkin — DF  JAM Luke Badley-Morgan — DF  ENG Tom Curl — DF  ENG Ian Kamga — MF  SWE Edwin Andersson — MF  ENG Jack Griffiths

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ENG Ben Kershaw — MF  SCO Liam McCarron 47 MF  ENG Kahrel Reddin — MF  ENG William Smith — FW  ENG Rakealan Jeffers — FW  IRL Dara McGuinness 35 FW  ENG Nathan Lowe 37 FW  ENG Emre Tezgel

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 31 DF  WAL Matt Baker (at Newport County) — GK  ENG Alfie Brooks (at Colwyn Bay)

No. Pos. Nation Player 32 DF  IRL David Okagbue (at Walsall) — MF  ENG Sonny Singh (at Hereford)

Under-18s

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  ENG Ruben Brammer — GK  ENG Ben Houston — GK  AUS Michael Zeitzen — DF  ENG Sydney Agina — DF  ENG Freddie Anderson — DF  ENG Josh Bickerton 41 DF  ENG Jaden Dixon — DF  IRL Jake Griffin — DF  ENG Christy Grogan — DF  ENG Jaden Mears — DF  ENG Ian Togo — MF  ENG Oliver Challinor

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ENG Harry Crane — MF  IRL Gabriel Gartside-Kelly — MF  IRQ Ali Hayder — MF  ENG Kobie Hines-Leacock — MF  ENG Charlie Leybourn — MF  ENG Joshua Maskall — MF  ENG Zane Rattray 30 MF  ENG Sol Sidibe — MF  ENG Lewis Walker — FW  ENG Dean Adekoya — FW  ENG Luke Enright — FW  ENG Jackson Kelly — FW  NZL Adam Watson

Honours

Staff

• Source:^[8]

Academy management

• Academy Director: Gareth Owen
• Head of Academy Recruitment: Andrew Frost
• Head of Academy Education: Greg Briggs
• Head of Player Care & Academy Safeguarding: Stephanie Wakelin

Academy full-time coaching staff

• Lead Professional Development Phase Coach (U21): Alex Morris
• Professional Development Phase Coach (U21): Ryan Shawcross
• Lead Professional Development Phase Coach (U18): David Hibbert
• Professional Development Phase Coach (U16-U18): Darren Potter
• Professional Development Phase Coach (U16-U18): Liam Lawrence
• Lead Youth Development Phase Coach (U13-U15): Andy Matthews
• Youth Development Phase Coach (U15): Ricardo Fuller
• Lead Foundation Phase Coach (U10-U12): Theo Brierley
• Lead Foundation Phase Coach (U7-U9): Connor Russo
• Lead Academy Goalkeeping Coach: Richard Taylor
• Academy Goalkeeping Coach: Tom James

League performance

References

External links

• Stoke Under-21s at stokecityfc.com
• Stoke Under-18s at stokecityfc.com