2009/10 to 2017/18

Stoke City played all nine seasons from 2009/10 to 2017/18 in the Premier League. Their best finish was 9th, in 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16. They didn’t win a major trophy. Over those nine summers they paid £120m in transfer fees and took in £54.2m, a net spend of £65.8m. In 115.football they get City’s £900m instead.

For eight seasons Stoke City were the Premier League's sturdiest fixture. Never higher than ninth, never lower than 14th, with three ninth-place finishes in a row from 2013/14. The 2010/11 season added an FA Cup final, lost to Manchester City, and a first European campaign in decades. Then 2017/18 went badly wrong: 19th, 33 points, relegation.

The squad changed character over the decade. Peter Crouch and Kenwyne Jones gave way to Xherdan Shaqiri from Inter, Joe Allen from Liverpool and, in 2017, Kevin Wimmer from Tottenham for £18m. That same summer Marko Arnautović left for West Ham for £20m, and the drop followed.

Stoke on 115.football is about turning stability into something more. With £900m, those ninth-place seasons become a base camp, Asmir Begović and Steven Nzonzi are never sold, and the side has no reason to be anywhere near the bottom three in 2017/18.