Meet the opposition | Stoke City
As the Swans prepare to take on Stoke City on Saturday afternoon, we take a closer look at the Potters.
What's their history?
Having initially been founded in 1863 as Stoke Ramblers, the team was originally mainly made up of local railway workers.
They became Stoke Football Club in 1878, before becoming Stoke City in 1920.
The club's first, and to date only, major trophy was won in 1972, when they beat Chelsea to secure the League Cup.
The Potters have won the Football League Trophy on two occasions, first in 1992 and most recently in 2000.
After a successful run under Tony Pulis that led the Potters to the Premier League and the FA Cup final, they are now in an eighth season back in the Championship following relegation in 2018.
How's their form?
The Potter were among the early pacesetters in the Championship but have fallan away from the play-off places.
They have won just one of their last nine league games and are without a win on their travels since January 4.
Who’s the gaffer?
Mark Robins. The 56-year-old came through the ranks at Manchester United as a player and made around 50 appearances for the club before moving on to Norwich City. He played more than 400 games in a 17-year playing career, but is best known for his time with the Canaries and Leicester City.
The striker scored more than 100 career goals and took his first steps into management in 2007 when he took the reins at Rotherham United on a caretaker basis. After picking up three wins in six, Robins was given the role permanently and went on to have two successful campaigns with the Millers.
He left to join their south Yorkshire rivals Barnsley before heading to Coventry for his first spell in charge of the Midlands club. He helped turn the side from relegation battlers to promotion contenders, but soon departed for another Yorkshire side in Huddersfield Town.
In 2014, he took over at struggling Scunthorpe United but was dismissed after only eight games in charge.
He returned to the Sky Blues in March 2017 and guided them to an unexpected EFL Trophy win less than a month later, but he was unable to prevent relegation to the fourth tier.
However, Robins galvanised the club and led them to promotion via the play-offs with a 3-1 win over Exeter City at Wembley the following campaign.
Two seasons later, he led Coventry to the League One title during the curtailed 2019-20 season to make a return to the Championship, where they performed strongly.
Perennial play-off contenders, they were a penalty shootout away from the Premier League when they lost the final to Luton Town in 2023, and suffered more Wembley penalty heartache when losing to Manchester United in the 2024 FA Cup semi-finals.
Robins left the Sky Blues after nearly eight years in charge in November 2024, and was soon handed the reins by the Potters, steering them clear of relegation danger and into a strong start to the 2025-26 campaign.
Who's the captain?
Former Swan Ben Wilmot joined Stoke in the summer of 2021 and has established himself as a key member of the Potters' squad, becoming club captain earlier this season.
He started his career as an academy scholar at his hometown club of Stevenage, progressing through the ranks to break onto the first team scene in 2018, before joining Watford in 2018.
Loan spells followed with Udinese and the Swans, where he etched his name into the history books, scoring his first goal for the club in a 1-0 victory in the South Wales derby in 2019.
Wilmot returned to Watford in the Championship and played regularly as the Hornets earned promotion back to the Premier League.
He was voted Stoke's Player of the Season in the 2022-23 season before a freak knee injury restricted him to 29 appearances of the following campaign.
However, he bounced back to be a near ever-present last term, and his level of consistency saw him handed the armband by Mark Robins.
In total Wilmot has made nearly 190 appearances for the Potters.
Who are the key men?
Goalkeeper Viktor Johansson has been one of the top performing goalkeepers in the Championship over recent seasons, and joined the Potters after Rotherham’s relegation at the end of the 2023-24 season.
Having played in the Hammarby and Aston Villa academies, he also had a spell at Leicester City before joining the Millers in 2020.
The Swede picked up 27 clean sheets during their promotion campaign in the 2021-22 season, also being part of the side that won the EFL Trophy during the same season.
Johansson had a great first season at the Potters, keeping 14 clean sheets in the league whilst also winning Stoke's Player of the Year award.
He has represented Sweden at under-17, under-19 and under-21 levels. He received his first call-up to the senior team during March 2023 for the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying matches against Belgium and Azerbaijan, making his debut in the following October in a 3-1 friendly win against Moldova.
Wales international midfielder Sorba Thomas has been an integral part of Stoke’s attack so far this season with nine goals making himself the club's top scorer, whilst also registering eight assists.
A youth product of West Ham United. Thomas spent five years at Boreham Wood before switching to Huddersfield in January 2021 for an undisclosed fee. He made over a century of appearances for the Terriers over five seasons.
During his time in Yorkshire, he had two loan spells. The first saw him join Blackburn Rovers for the second half of the 2022–23 season, where he made 17 appearances as Rovers narrowly missed out on the play-offs on goal difference.
He then spent last season in France with top-flight side Nantes, making 25 appearances and scoring once in a 2–2 draw against Saint-Étienne last September, before joining the Potters this summer.
The winger made his Wales debut in October 2021, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 2–2 draw with the Czech Republic - the first of his 23 caps to date. His only international goal so far came in a standout performance against Belgium over the summer, in which he also registered an assist.
Dutch youth international Million Manhoef has been a near ever-present so far this season for the Potters, scoring five times with three assists.
Manhoef spent his youth career in his native Netherlands, representing VPV Purmersteijn, Zeeburgia and AFC Amsterdam before joining Vitesse at the age of 15.
He made his senior debut during the 2020–21 season in a 2–1 defeat to Ajax and went on to become an important player for the Yellow and Blacks, helping them reach the European play-offs in 2021–22 and winning their Player of the Season award the following year.
However, financial difficulties at the Dutch club forced them to sell Manhoef, who moved to England to join Stoke City in January 2024.
The winger has since played a key role in keeping the Potters in the Championship across the past two seasons - scoring crucial goals against Plymouth and West Brom as Stoke finished 17th in 2023–24, and adding seven more last season as they secured safety on the final day.
Internationally, he has represented the Netherlands at under-16, under-17 and under-21 levels, and featured at the 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship held in Georgia and Romania.