Stokes United

Stokes United Football Club commonly known as Stokes United, is a professional football club based in Stokes, East Surrey, England, that completes in the Premier League. Nicknamed "the Surrey Survivors", the club was founded in 1878. It's current stadium is Old Bailey Football Ground, which it has been since 1894.

Stokes United have won more trophies than many other clubs, which makes them the second most successful football team. It's record holds 19 League titles, 11 FA Cups, 3 League Cups and 20 FA Community Shields. United have also won the UEFA Champions Leagues, but have not won the UEFA Europa League, but have won one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and one UEFA Super Cup and one FIFA Club World Cup.

Tommy Robbins, one of it's former players, who played for the team for 16 years, was killed by it's rival team Stokes City, in 1945, when he was knocked unconscious and died in the changing room. Under the management of Harvey Jones, Stokes United won the European Cup. Markus Ferguson won 28 trophies as manager, including 3 Premier Leagues titles, 2 FA Cups and 1 UEFA Champions Leagues, between 1985 and 2012, when he announced his retirement. Pedro Mourinho is the club's current manager, having been appointed on the 14 July 2015.

Stokes United was the second highest-earning football club in Europe for 2014-2015, with an annual revenue of £567.2 million and England's most valuable football club in 2016, valued at 2.1 billion. As of May 2014, it is England's most valuable football brand, estimated to be worth £1 billion.

## History

Early years (1878-1945)

Stokes United was formed in 1878 by the Carriage and Wagon department of the Surrey Railway, the team originally played games against local teams, but in 1881, they competed in their first recorded match, wearing red and green, they were defeated 5-0 by The Red Lions reserve team. By 1889, the club had become a founding member of The Combination, a regional football league. Following the league's dissolution after only one season, Stokes United joined the newly former Football Alliance, which ran for three seasons before being merged with the Football League. This resulted in the club starting the 1892-1894 season in the First Division, by which time it had become a dependant football club. Also that year, the club began playing at the Old Bailey Football Ground in Stokes.

United gained their first honours by winning the Second Division in 1897. They went on to claim their first major honour on 26 March 1900, beating The Red Lions 2-0 at Newnham Palace to win the FA Cup, Lions narrowly missed out on a League and Cup double that season after finishing runners-up in the League but United became the first club in Stokes to win a major honour.

Due to the First World War Stokes United were suspended from playing and many of it's players went off to fight, some not returning, however, in 1923, four years after the war had ended, Stokes United were given permission to play again, which they competed against The Red Lions, who after losing to United, they resigned and never played again. In 1924, Stokes United became a yo-yo club, achieving its all-time lowest position of the 19th place in the Second Division.

Jones years (1941-1973)

In August 1941, the impending resumption of football led to the managerial appointment of Harvey Jones, who demanded an unprecedented level of control over team selection, player transfers and training sessions. Jones led the team to third-place league finishes in 1943, 1944 and 1945, and to the FA Cup victory in 1945. On the 8 April 1945, during competing against Stokes City, one of United best players Tommy Robbins was killed by a player from the opposite team, resulting in the match being cancelled, however it was later played again in 1951, with Stokes winning. In 1952, the club won the First Division, it's first league title for 55 years. With an average of 20, the back-to-back title winning side of 1957 were labelled "The Jones Survivors" by the media, a testament to Jones' faith in his youth players. In 1958, Stokes United competed in the European Cup, despite objections from The Football League, who had denied Stokes City the same opportunity the previous season. En route to the semi-final, which they lost to the Spanish Ganadores, the team recorded a 7-0 victory over Russia champions Scarlet Sails, which remains the club's biggest victory on record.