Stoke City's 10-year stay in the Premier League came to an end as they suffered another poor campaign, with a return of just seven wins seeing them finish two points and one place above the foot of the table.
Stoke did make a decent start to the season, securing a shock win over Arsenal, but the campaign quickly went off the rails and they could only manage three more victories until the end of the year while crucial defeats against fellow relegation strugglers Crystal Palace, Newcastle United and West Ham saw them drop into the bottom three.
A disappointing defeat against Coventry City in the FA Cup third round proved to be the last straw which saw Mark Hughes sacked. Paul Lambert took over on a temporary basis and he was off to an encouraging start, losing just once in his opening six games.
However, the Potters could only manage two wins under the former Wolves' coach with the second win coming on the final day of the season after their relegation had already been confirmed.
Stoke were poor all over the pitch with the first half of the season seeing them leak goals; the club ended the campaign with the joint worst defensive record in the league, and while Lambert did shore up the defence somewhat, it came at the cost of scoring goals at the other end. The club managed to score more than once on just two occasions in the 15 games he had been in charge.
Things were not helped with off the field disciplinary issues with three of their marquee signings in Ibrahim Afellay, loan signing Jese and Saido Berahino being dropped from the first team.
The Potters understandably lacked firepower upfront, with Xherdan Shaqiri top scoring with just eight goals, leaving them three points short of securing their safety from relegation.
