Stoke City fans had a fairytale decade of watching their side in the top flight of English football after their promotion in 2008.

The Potters finished second that season under Tony Pulis, with the likes of Ricardo Fuller, Rory Delap and Liam Lawrence central to that.

When Stoke were promoted, they became classed as a fairly big club, so extended their stadium.

With the investments off the pitch came big transfers on it, as Pulis, and then Mark Hughes, managed to attract big names from the footballing world, not just English football.

Over the 10 year stint, Pulis and Hughes signed a high number of players, and while some were excellent, some failed to live up to the billing.

Here, we look at FOUR of the worst bits of business Stoke City have done…

Dave Kitson was signed in the summer leading up to Stoke’s Premier League debut, for a then club-record fee of £5.5million.

The striker demonstrated during a spell with Reading that he knew where the goal was, but this didn’t continue at Stoke. Kitson failed to hit the heights he reached at the Madejski and was even sent back there on loan.

Wilson Palacios joined the club in a double-swoop with Peter Crouch from Tottenham in 2011. The latter has forged a great career at Stoke, but sadly, the same cannot be said of Palacios.

Palacios failed to show the form that got him a move to Spurs in the first place, and was a waste of money, often watching from the stands on huge wages.

Michael Owen was one of the first big names Stoke attracted, as he joined in 2012.

The ex-Liverpool and Real Madrid star joined the club to the surprise of many, but failed to deliver any real quality.

Owen was a boyhood hero to many strikers and some fans, but his time at Stoke will be forgotten – he only made eight Premier League appearances and suffered with injuries, which eventually forced him into retirement.

Dionatan Teixeira is a somewhat forgotten name, but the Brazilian-born Slovak joined the club in 2013 with the CEO Tony Scholes heaping praise on his talent and potential.

Teixeira made just two appearances for the Potters and has been labeled by some as the worst ever signing the club has made.