Stoke City caught up in plane drama

Today, Stoke City announced that a plane carrying their players back from their League Cup tie at Portsmouth (4-0 loss) was forced to make an emergency landing at London Gatwick Airport in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The Air South West flight was on route from Southampton to East Midlands Airport when players reported a smell of burning in the cabin, according to a statement on Stoke’s official website.

A decision was taken by the Captain to divert to Gatwick where the 50-seater plane landed safely to be greeted by fire engines on the runway as a precautionary measure due to the nature of the problem.

Although there was no visible sign of any fire following an inspection by the airport’s fire crew, the squad was forced to abandon the flight and return to Stoke by way of a long coach journey.

The flight had been scheduled to land at East Midlands Airport around midnight but after a long wait in the arrivals lounge at Gatwick, the players did not begin their journey home until 1.35am.