After a successful first season in the Premier League, Stoke were looking to establish themselves in the top tier and spent just over £20 million on Diego Arismendi, Danny Collins, Robert Huth, Tuncay Şanlı and Dean Whitehead. Stoke began the season with victories over Burnley, Sunderland, and West Ham United, and a 1–0 win at Tottenham Hotspur in October. Their form dropped off in December as they managed just a point and two goals in five matches. Stoke improved thereafter and went seven games unbeaten at the start of 2010, which included a 3–0 win over Blackburn Rovers. Stoke ended the season in 11th place with 47 points.

Stoke began their preparation for the 2009–10 season with two Stoke XIs playing matches simultaneously against local non-league sides Newcastle Town and Nantwich Town. Both matches were surprisingly lost, 2–1 at Newcastle and 2–0 at Nantwich. Stoke then spent a week at a training camp in Austria where they played twice. Firstly against German side St Pauli in Irdning, Dave Kitson scoring in a 3–1 defeat. The other match was against Israeli side Hapoel Tel Aviv where Stoke had to play in a green strip due to a colour clash, Salif Diao scored Stoke's goal in a 1–1 draw, a lob from 40-yards. On their return to England, Stoke completed the signing of Sunderland midfielder Dean Whitehead for a fee of £5 million. Two goals from Neil Mellor saw Preston North End beat Stoke 2–1 with Richard Cresswell scoring for the Potters against his former employers.

...
Wikipedia