blonde poker forum

Think it's time for a thread devoted to the Midland's best side as the bet365 money slowly propels us up the Premier League.  There are several Stokies on blonde and a few lurkers i know who read but don't post so hopefully we can get a few more involved.  Seems a perfect time to start the thread after taking care of the Oil boys at the weekend on their own patch.

We were bottom of the summer spend table yet i think we still have a very solid side for this season with little investment made this summer.  Biggest coups of the summer were holding onto our back 4 and keeper when so many teams were supposedly looking for centre halfs.

Stoke's best player?

Your favourite Stoke player?

Charlie Adam is a Dundee lad so I always like to see him do well, thoughts on him?

The only thing I know about Stoke City is that the Victoria Ground was the scariest one to visit as an away fan.

As they are my pick in the sweepstake Tighty organised I wish then a successful season :)

Excellent idea for a thread, & I'm sure both Stoke City fans will enjoy it.

Mixed views of visiting Stoke

Victoria ground on the lower tier away end being pelted with coins before a play off semi second leg. penting intensified when garry parker won it for us....

at the hideous, soulless and bleak Britannia stadium where it is windy even on a still day having to tolerate stoke fans invading the pitch and rubbing our noses in it in their promotion season having sent us to league one that day.

Many a Leicester fan has doing something pleasant like an upset victory there bookmarked in a corner of our minds ever since

We go there for the first time in the league since in 11 days.

Did you go during the Victoria Ground days Arb boy?  How do you find the new stadium compared to that in terms of comfort/atmosphere etc?

I only went there once during the mid 1990's with a uni mate.  It was a pretty brutal atmosphere in those days compared to the brit which as tighty says is too corporate and bland.

Was a tough walk for an away fan from the station to the ground!

Got Stoke, Man U, ?Palace?, Arsenal, Southampton, Newcastle and Liverpool.

Can I make a thread for the rest?

I quite like whiling away coffee breaks looking in on these club threads to be honest.  The Championship thread used to be great, but it's not so active now that Chompy's lot lost their membership ;)

I'll save you all the leicester city thread.

Of course, anyone can start threads. You'll need to "work it" if you want it to be successful, but you'll get plenty of help from others if you set it up nicely.

When did you start following them?

Did you have another team you followed before becoming a Stokie?

I'm pretty sure Stoke's Finest are Port Vale anyway :)

I followed Leicester as a kid as i grew up 20 miles from there and Lineker was my hero as a kid.  Went to loads of their games in the dark ages of the mid/late 1980's and loads of Forest games with a mate from school who's dad was a season ticket holder so every other week i either went to a leics game or a forest game for 3/4 years (i know that sounds crazy as they are rivals but when you are 11 you just want to go to a game every saturday).  Stopped watching football live all together around 1989/90 season with school exams/sports etc taking up weekends.  Moved to Staffs in 2001 to work for bet365 and virtually all my mates are stoke season ticket holders and/or fans and have pretty much followed them since then tbh.

Why does Aaron Ramsey get booed every time Arsenal visit Stoke?

Mindless animosity is my best guess.

Think it's mainly Stoke fans total dislike for Wenger's comments about rugby tbh and nothing personal towards Ramsey.  The same reason stokie's were singing 'swing low sweet chariot' in the same era.

It's definitely personal against Ramsey ever since he got his leg shawcrossed and pubis' subsequent "not that kind of player" protestations.

I just can't believe that a player would get booed for having his leg broken in two places and a year or so taken out of his career.

I saw Stoke at Man City at the weekend and they were absolutely excellent. I watch lots of football (live and on the box) and this was right up there as one of the best executed defensive  performances I've ever witnessed. Looked very lively on the counter as well and could have scored more. If Mourhino was at the helm (like at City and Liverpool lastt season) it would have gone down as a masterclass.

Two English players stood out for me - Shawcross and Crouch. Shawcross was brilliant and  looks far better than Jagielka who is having a lean time. As for Crouch, everyone knows what he is all about as a striker but in this game his defensive work was also brilliant.

This is the greatest thread started on blonde. No doubt it will attract pure class

I personally do not boo Ramsey but from my understanding fellow stoke fans do boo in order to rub arsenal fans up the wrong way. It's impossible for me as a stoke supporter to meet an arsenal fan without the ramsey vs shawcross incident being brought up within 12 seconds, which is pretty tilting. There's no love lost between the set of fans that's for sure.

What's your opinion on Peter Coates? Answer that in any which way you want, be that in his role as chairman, a business man, or in what he does for the local community.

Why is Shawcross not considered by England.  Far better than Jagiekla/Smalling/Jones in my opinion.

The whole Coates (Peter and children Denise/John Coates) family are what, imo, owning a football club should be about and how every football club should be run.  They are born and bred self made local supporters of the club who have the best interests of the club/city at the foremost of their decision making.  Peter is a lifelong Stoke City fan.  I am pretty sure the more business minded Denise has said to her dad on numerous occasions 'there really is a better use of £50m in the business than paying Crouch's wages' or words to that effect.  However i think they know the old man has put his whole life on the line building the family firm from what was originally just a small regional chain of back street betting shops in Stoke 20 years ago so they let him have his fun and they know ultimately owning and running Stoke City is a dream for him as a Stoke fan as a kid.  To balance that they also have an EPL product to blast the bet365 brand to the world on the front of their shirts for free effectively so it suits all parties.

As a business family they gave me my break in the gambling industry in 2001 at bet365 when the online side of their company was just starting up and i will always remember my first interview in the summer of 2001 when i was told bet365 would become one of the top 5 industry leaders globally within 5 years and the biggest firm in the world within 10 years.  Given i was sitting in an office in Stoke talking to a firm with 50 betting shops only in the local Stoke area this was pretty hard to believe and take seriously.  Looking back it just shows how good the family is at running their business.  They have steamrolled the industry whilst still remaining based in Stoke and paying uk taxes (which other operators have chosen to go aboard to avoid) and it's mainly due imo to the sheer drive and determination of mainly Denise and John in their day to day roles.  They are virtually 100% owner managed and as such just get things done better and more efficiently than so many of their plc rivals which has allowed them to give firms like Stan James/Blue Sq/ladbrokes/hills/corals/victor who had several year's head start on them in the late 90's at the start of the internet boom and go past them like they were not even there in a matter of years.  A classic example of how shrewd they were was when they took the decision to sell their chain of shops around 2006 for £1m a shop to coral (Coral massively overpaid imo for what they bought as they are desperate to keep up with Ladbrokes/Hills in a numbers race of who had the most betting shops) even though the FOBT's were booming they still knew the money was better invested building the global online brand of bet365 rather than the bricks and mortar local chain which was the foundation of the firm.  They banked £50m from that, paid off the bank their original £15m loan to start up the operation and pumped the rest into organically growing their business and the rest is history.  I assume they have been debt free ever since just as Stoke City is as well.

I think the family is very proud that, barring the local council, they are the biggest employer in the city.  They are very loyal to their staff and have a culture of promoting from within wherever is possible.  Hardly any of their senior staff across all departments have left since 2001 which was the main reason i left as i couldn't see any promotional opportunities arising after 2 years there.

He was in the England squad for several games a while back and gained a cap off the bench i think.  I totally agree with your opinion but it's the same old 'if you don't play for a big name club you never get a level crack of the whip'.  I was truely amazed Manure or arsenal didn't come in for him in the summer.  Manure have a clause to have first refusal on his signing should any other club make an offer for him.  I suppose Stoke should be happy they are so unfashionable that their best players get to stay with us rather than get stolen from us.  I think similar could be said about Crouch and Andy Carroll tbh over the past 2 years.

Yeah - does my head in that Hodgson suddenly decides Saints reserve full back is ready for England just because he is signed by Arsenal and has played 2 games for them.  Such lazy thinking.   Happened many moons ago with John Barnes - fringe player for England, then as soon as he joins Liverpool he starts every match.

Will you also desert Stoke and go and follow another club when they become rubbish? 

I followed Leics through possibly the worst 5 years of their history in my lifetime (1985-1990) with crowds of sub 8000 on a regular basis at the old Filbert st so it's pretty hard to throw that one at me!  As soon as they started winning under O'Neill in the 90's i never went to any games.

Yeah but you had that 2-0 victory at Ayresome Park to prevent Boro going up that, given how many times you mention it to me, was the highlight of your entire footbal watching life and kept you going.

It was the highlight of my life when talking to you about football.  Pretty scary day for a 14 year old lad getting out of that ground alive that day!

Filbert Street was awesome.

massive agreement with this

All the 'old' grounds were awesome.  Ayresome park, victoria ground, filbert st, baseball ground etc etc

Any opportunity to post the best youtube video ever......

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_C8dyjVZUZY

Smalling/Jones have to be the worse centre half partnership of any 'major club' in england in my lifetime.

Another great old grounds video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk5mn4yFjto

About 8 years ago I helped set up a kids football team for the seven year olds in our village, me and another Dad wanted something for the kids to do. First training session and neither of us have any experience beyond being armchair fans - got the kids passing, dribbling etc. and as you'd expect a few of the other Dads came along to watch. I didn't know many of the other Dads so introduced myself to one of them and, as you do, asked what he did for a living.

"I'm the academy coach for Wolves" - turns out he used to be a coach under Brian Clough as well. And there's me trying to tell his son how to shoot.....

He's now the U18 manager for Stoke. Nice guy and from their recent results (beat Liverpool 7-1) looks like he's got some good prospects for the future.

Peter Coates is a saint. A guy who genuinely cares about the club, unlike many foreign owners who may see it as a way of boosting their money/ profile etc. He's always backed his manager with a bit of cash when he believes it will help the club.

The whole shawcross for england thing has frustrated me for years, and like many others I believe if he played for a bigger club (even if he performed at the same level) he would walk straight into the squad/ team, which seems a tad unfair. It's the same with matthew etherington a few years ago when he was in unbelievable form and england didn't much competition on the left wing, and arguably crouch for euro 2012 and perhaps the world cup. It doesn't help that shawcross got completely done by ibrahimovic on his only england cap though...

Sadly I'm too young to have ever been to the Vic or any of the other older grounds. My first experiences were at the britannia around 1998, getting crowds of around 12000 with a souless atmosphere was as good as it got. It fired up our first few seasons in the premier league but i've heard it's nothing compared to what it used to be.

Only just spotted this thread! Will input more when not stuck at work being busy (ish)

Cliffs.....

Stoke fan but used to be a Forest fan. - will explain why later
Courier on the old Bostock coaches to away games. Went EVERY home and away game in the disastrous 1984-85 season. - loads of stories from this era
Loved the Victoria Ground, not so fond of the Brit.
Was sat 2 seats from front when Ramsey incident happened so have views on that!
Wembley in 1991. - Road trip to follow on that.



......watch this space!

I'm a Birmingham fan. What did you think of Cameron Jerome in his time at Stoke?

I'm not certain all stoke fans will echo my opinion on Jerome but I really liked him as a player. His pace and ability to run beyond the last man was exciting, despite some erratic finishing (sometimes a screamer of a goal, sometimes the worst effort on goal ever seen). He was more a player that would come on for the last 30 minutes to terrorise a tired defence. His best years were definitely at the blues though, bagging a great amount for the season if i remember right?

He never got a chance tbh at stoke to have an extended run in the team to see what he could do due to pulis love in with Walters. Which made it all the more surprising when pulis left for palace he decided to take jerome on loan having never played him at stoke. I always found it very odd. Pretty much agree with what baldock said about him though playing wise. Given how much we paid for him and his wages it was bizarre he never got a run in the side to prove himself one way or the other.

This is why he should have played more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWFa-NMPY4U

I always liked him as a player and thought he had bags of potential. At Championship level I thought he looked really dangerous and a real asset, but never thought he quite had it to be a first choice Premiership striker. Inconsistent, flashes of brilliance, finishing not great.

At the time Birmingham almost always played a rigid 442. I always though he would work better as a wide striker in a 433/451. He scored a few amazing goals for us too and I always enjoyed him in the starting XI.

He is one of the former Blues players that I really wish well. I hoped that with the right coaching or just simply him developing he could add more to his game and become a consistent goalscorer or more of a winger/assists man but it seems his experience at Stoke was similar to with us?

It seems so, yes. I'm not sure why he couldn't make the next step up to performing regularly, perhaps a lack of effort in training or something behind the scenes which meant his head wasn't in the right place, or that he just wasn't given the opportunities by the manager to fulfill his potential. I also wish him well, there are some players that leave and you almost don't care about, but he seemed to be a nice enough fella!

It seems Diouf might be starting to find his shooting boots!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/29060217

Very interesting article on Bojan and why he's not helping us right now. What do you other Stoke fans thinks? I'd personally prefer to see him left out for a few games at least.

http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/Stoke-City-0-Leicester-City-1-Home-wins-end-Brit/story-22925096-detail/story.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Great effort by stoke tonight.  Destroyed those geordies should have won 3 or 4 but for poor finishing.  Need to tighten up a bit at the back (Huth always a big miss) but very positive about another top 10 finish this year esp given how dreadful Newcastle are.

stoke fans so tilting its unreal

doubt i could hate a set of fans more than them, clueless idiots.

Newcastle fans still as deluded as ever.  'big club' blah blah blah!!!! lolz.

Great thread Willo, Remember Boxing Day games, we invited the blow up Banana and fancy dress v Stoke was a must.

any time stoke try to pass the ball your fans scream, boo and shout, they literally wanted it punted at all opportunities.

maybe hughes will leave and join a proper football club

You must watch a different game in Hungary than me!  All Stoke did all night was tear your defence and midfield apart with pace from every angle.  As usual the ref doesn't give us a stone wall penalty to seal the game after 30 minutes.  It can't be easy being BITB and watching your team destroyed by a rugby team though i appreciate that!  

Only just read this. Just lol.

Even though the mackems did us on saturday I did enjoy the chant:

Don't sack Pardew, Alan Pardew,
I just don't think you understand,
That if you sack Pardew, Alan Pardew,
You're gonna have a riot on your hands.

Also let's hope these online petitions actually mean something! Do the clever thing Lionel, a future on the bench behind Jon Walters awaits you!!

http://www.change.org/p/lionel-messi-to-sign-for-stoke-city-fc

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2819187/Court-hears-Twitter-user-posted-links-encouraging-cyber-attacks.html

Slightly off topic but one for the stoke locals.  Is this the same guy who was/still is a croupier at Genting?  Assume it is unless he has a twin brother.  

The last time I was at genting stoke he was still working! If he's still there this will make for some great table talk  :)up

Interesting article from the Sentinel. The mighty potters are not so much a 'small' club any more it seems. Just proves how much Premiership survival is so important nowadays.

http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/Stoke-City-Potters-break-world-s-30-rich-list/story-25901255-detail/story.html

Hopefully a top 10 club this year ;D

He was found guilty on one count, but no mention of a sentence.

Anyone know?

Barred from the gaff now so don't know any of the local gossip.  He was a funny (odd) fucker everytime he dealt, esp poker.  I liked him as he didn't give a fuck about Genting and always had a good craic with the punters.

What a result today by Stoke to go 1-0 down against a team with a new gaffer on the road and come out on top.  We are the real deal. Always under rated.  Even more so than Bolton ten years ago. Just extended the lead even further at the top of the racing post bet them blind every week table.  Showing a profit of fortunes to a level stake! Go on Stoke!

Didn't like seeing this thread on page 3!...So.....

Initial thoughts on Stoke's pre season guys? Will  Shaqiri sign for us after fee has been agreed, or will he be tempted to go elsewhere ?

How well will he fit into the system? Or will the system have to be tweaked to suit his game?

I am very hopeful of (yet) another top ten finish next season, but expectations are growing by the week TBH. Mark Hughes has the potential now, in the next few seasons, to become a top top manager.

I very much hope Shaqiri signs, but I'm starting to feel that players are using us as a platform to receive offers from other, bigger clubs. He did it in January before moving to Inter Milan, we've been trying to sign Konoplyanka who was reportedly "very interested" for over a month, but now appears to be heading to Sevilla etc. I do very much hope we can sign a big name such as Shaqiri, because it shows just how far we've come.

The biggest issue will be replacing Steven N'Zonzi, as I'm 90% certain he's going.

Either way, whoever we get this transfer window there's no reason to doubt Hughes, he's proven over these past 2 seasons he knows what he's doing. I'm just gutted I can't renew my season ticket for this year!

I got the 13/8 lolbrokes hung early for a top 10 finish.  Stoke are decent odds on for a top 10 finish for me next season.  They are the most solid financial team outside of the top 6.  Some would agree on profit/loss, debt and the relative wealth of the owners relative to their position in the league combined they are financially the strongest in the league.  Adam resigning is a big deal for me.  He is class but massively unfit which is why he plays for Stoke.

Keeping the players we have this summer is much more important than the signings we make this summer imo.

Anyway let's forget about stoke for the minute and get a stokie home for a bracelet in the wsop!   Heads up with a 3/1 chip lead!

We are stokestoke stoke!

http://www.wsop.com/tournaments/chipcounts.asp?grid=1136&tid=14259

I think there was an interview with Adam and was asked about his fitness. Think he said something along the lines of even though he's always questioned about his size/ fitness just look at the stats; he runs as far as anyone on the pitch. I do agree he could do with shedding a few pounds though!

Darts...footy.....poker......

Stokies here, Stokies there, Stokies every.....

I still hope Shaqiri does sign. If he does or doesnt, I would not miss N'zonzi if he went. Good player, wrong attitude. Time for Mr marmite (walters) to find a new home too also IMO.

We would miss N'zonzi massively if he left.  Not sure why you think this.  He is different class. 

Not too bothered about N'Zonzi? Wow. He's been a different class at times this season. His ability on the ball, whether it's holding it up or making runs forward, is phenomenal. He's been messing the club around for a few seasons with regards to contracts, wanting to be transferred away etc, but it's never affected his performance on the field. If he does leave we seriously need to reinvest, because Whelan and Cameron playing CDM just won't cut it.

Like I said, good player...but with wrong attitude. I know it is the way of the world nowadays, but I want players who want to play for the club. Sounds he is just after a big money transfer now and his head will not be with Stoke if he doesnt get one and stays with us for another season, imho.

Stoke signing johnson a similar if not worse mistake than liverpool signing milner, arbboy?

Depends on how much they are paying him a week and how long the contract is.  Neither has been confirmed yet as he hasn't committed to signing officially.  We signed Crouch at a similar age at the end of his England career so these types of signings are not always bad.

Thought his wage will be pretty large as was expecting him to take the soft route and go to some pointless place for the $$$, so take a bit for stoke to encourage him to actually play against real people for money. Not a fan of signing players on the way down. Thought he was older tbh, seems to have been around ages and on the downhill, so surprising his age.

You can have Balotelli and Borini too ;)

I don't understand the negativity behind signing Johnson. Is he better than Phil Bardsley + Geoff Cameron? Yes. Is he any older then Bardsley or Cameron? No.

I think it's a good bit of business. Obviously there are younger/ better options out there, but I think he'll give us a more attacking approach from defence.

Stoke has been built on defenders who could defend though.  Think that's the general concern alongside the potential level of wages and length of contract offered to the guy who probably only wants to play for Stoke because his wag missus is quite settled in her Cheshire lifestyle and he couldn't find another club who he is good enough to pay for who would pay him enough cash in the North West.  Jury is out for me.  Hope i am wrong.

Bit disappointed only getting £16m combined for the big two leaving the club.  First time stoke have actually sold players at a profit since they returned to the top flight so the books are starting to get balanced as well from player sales not that the club need the cash with the 365 juggernaut bankrolling them.  I think Butland is going to be a decent replacement for Bego.  Not sure sure it will be as easy to replace Steven.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2520918-weightlighter-eddie-hall-deadlifts-a-record-1020-pounds-makes-it-look-easy

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/worlds-strongest-man-eddie-the-beast-hall-sets-new-world-record-10383249.html

New world record for one of Stoke's finest.  Amazing beast of a guy.  Plenty left in the tank as well at the end.  If he was 6'5'' he would be a cert to win the worlds strongest man at some stage.

I don't think £16m is too bad considering both have only 1 year left on the contract, if there was 2-3 years left for each player that number could be double. Asmir didn't have such a fantastic season in net, I'd have probably put him in the bottom half of all first team keepers for the Premier League last season, which is a huge drop in performance considering he was up there with the best a year or two back. I'm more than happy to see Butland step in, especially with the experience of Shay Given behind him.

I don't know much about this Van Ginkel fella who's going to try and fill NZonzi's boots, but he's got a tough task ahead!

Still hopeful we can add a big name despite being snubbed by Konoply-wanker and the Shaqiri deal being called off.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/33803964

Huge miss for Stoke this is.  Must be wishing we hadn't shifted Huth out now surely?

Not missed many games ever has he?

One of the best defenders in the league, was impressed with the German lad you had on loan last season having said that

Do Stoke City really deserve their own thread?

Thought these threads were just for big teams.

Gutting, Shawcross and Muniesa at CB seem to have a great partnership, and I don't think anybody would blame me in saying they don't completely trust Wollscheid or Wilson.

Already received some texts from Arsenal "fans" having a giggle at this. The word Justice has been used in 100% of them. C***s.


Tikay we are a big team, we've won the autoglass trophy. Twice.

What?

The Autoglass? TWICE?

Yikes, my apologies. Bigger than Spurs, then.

What position in the league do you think stunk city will be happy with ?

Another top half finish would be great, but I think many fans are hoping for 8th.

7th is winning the league for Stoke effectively so any top 10 finish and 50+ points is a great season. 

I'd love for some random club to sneak into 4th and steal a champions league spot.  Think Everton did it once under Moyes but then got a stitch up playoff against Villareal.   That was the year Liverpool got let in for finishing 5th.  Sigh.

It would be great but i think those days are long gone and Everton were the last team to do it imo.  Southampton showed last year how tough it is to sustain a top 4 push over 38 games nowadays as an outsider.  Ultimately they were miles away in the end.

Very much doubt any club will be able to sneak into the top four, having to beat either Chelsea, United, Arsenal or City over 38 games is too much. Such a shame that a glass ceiling exists for most teams.

What price Arbs, one of Chelsea, City, Arsenal, United DON'T finish top 4?

This is exactly why I'm dead against FFP and think its ridiculously flawed. That glass ceiling has been double glazed in the last few years. And to break through requires significant investment, which then means you will face FFP sanctions. Rinse and repeat. We (Man City) were simply lucky to sneak in before the door was locked on 14/15 Premier League clubs. And Platini hates that we are in the CL!

Came here to ask about Arnoutovic (sp?), does he/will he start the majority of games? Need a cheapish midfielder for my FF team, seem to recall him being pretty useful last season.

Arnie is very hit and miss.  Different class on his day but very inconsistent.  Hoping he kicks on after his experience from last year.  Rarely plays a full game.  Wouldn't think he is one for fantasy teams tbh.

Probably close to a 2/1 shot someone else sneaks in.  The big four take out 340% of the top four place market out of 400% on betfair.  Obviously there is reverse correlation at play here where if 3 of the four place in the top 4 there is only one place left for the other one to place to you can't strictly just take their top 4 %'s. 

Outside of lolapool and Spuds it is highly unlikely.  Lolapool are way too short at 5/2 to top 4 imo.  All the mug asian cash always keeps their ante post prices way too short.  33/1 they win the title is comical.

He went off injured I think in our last pre season game and Hughes has said he's not sure whether he'd start.

Arnie's always had a slow start and turned into a beast in the new year, but from what I've heard his form has continued throughout pre-season which means he could be a great asset. I had him in my team until I saw he was a doubt for the opening weekend.

Just back from the Norwich game. May the Butland for England campaign start now. 1 small distribution error aside he was outstanding today.  He is vocal, his distribution is amazing and his shot stopping today was brilliant. The lad from Milan is nowhere near match fit but you can see he is going to be some player.

That aside they are desperate for Bojan very poor up front and on the flanks. Have no idea I they were first choice full backs playing today but they were very poor. Robbie Brady particularly made it very tough for.the Stoke defence.  Surprised how un Pullis like the side was overall.

Some improvement needed for top 10.

Thought Stokies would boss the match.  Surprised comms seemed to think Norwich all over it.  Merson clueless potential obviously.

Stoke v Stoke on the other side of the world in the Sydney masters darts!  Replay from yesterday about to start on ITV4 now.

The return of Bojan...

Crouch is going to pick up a lot of cash this year for the amount of minutes he is going to play.

Only way west brom can beat Stoke is to get us down to nine men before half time!!!!  Pulis will be loving this.  Was so tempted with under 2.5 in this today but it was too short.  Just though tony would come back and do a proper 0-0 job on Stoke.

Just back from the game, never seen such a ballsey performance from those in red and white (barring Affelay and Adam the fucking idiots). To hold them to 1-0 and still look comfortable and have a few attempts at an equaliser is ridiculous.

The only way is up!

I just spoke to four season ticket holders in the pub and they said Stoke should have got a draw the way they played 2nd half. 

Having just seen the two red cards on MOTD hard to see how either was a straight red esp Adam.  If the first was a red card then the West brom defender did the same as the stoke player (ie made direct contact to another players face).  Incredible ref decisions.

Huth should have been sent off twice in the same incident today against Bournemouth if Adam was a straight red.  Consistency across matches for reds is terrible.

A point was definitely deserved, I've just seen the MOTD highlights and they don't do us any justice. The 2nd half we were disgustingly good with 9 men, West Brom were worried whenever we had the ball in their half, yet none of this has been shown in the shitty highlights reel.

As you said arb, the west scrummage albion player should have been sent off aswell for the first incident, and to be fair i'm still undecided about charlies "stamp".

We had the chance to run riot today, playing some great football and not giving them a look in before it all went tits up.

On to an easier game: Arsenal away. Got my ticket, any of you stokie blondes heading down?

Walters put in a transfer request today.  What are others views on him leaving?  I think he has been a great player for Stoke and still has plenty to offer.  For the money involved I think Stoke should get him signed up for a couple more years.

Anyone think Crouch might be gone tomorrow last minute?  He hasn't played a minute yet this season in the league.

Gutted myself, arb. Been a real workman for the club, never a complaint whether he's started up front, on the wing, centre or even on the bench. Has a few horrendous games including the infamous 2 own goals and a missed penalty against Chelsea, at one period missed 4/6 penalties but still has the balls to step up and bury his next one. This defines him to me, he's got that nitty gritty approach that seems to be lacking from the team this season. I'll never forget losing my nut at Wembley for the semi final when he takes the ball from his own half, fights off the bolton defender and lashes the ball into the bottom corner. If it was up to me, like many of the fans, he'd get the 3 year deal he's after but sadly football doesn't work like that. It's impossible not to like the man, as a stokie, so when he does leave it'll be a sad day for the club. Time to move past him though.

I personally don't think Crouch will leave tomorrow, perhaps January or next summer though. He knows his game time is going to be very limited this campaign.

Don't know if you've seen but supposedly Mile Jedinak will be heading our way from Crystal Palace. I'd be pretty happy with him as a signing; we've showed a lot of imbalance since N'Zonzi left, with Van Ginkel not quite providing the same stability to the spine of the team we had last season. Whelan and Jedinak at CDM would be a very hard, no bollocks,  nitty gritty pairing. So although Jedinak looks underwhelming as a signing after some of the names we've signed this summer, he could be a great bit of business.

I thought Walters only wanted a 2 year deal and had been offered 1 year extension only?  Didn't realise he wanted 3 years.  Not surprised the club won't agree to that tbh.  How much you think he is asking for a week over 3 years? £30k?

You could be right, I'm not 100% certain. I'd say right now he's on about £25-30k/ week and it wouldn't be much different for the contract he's asking for.

He isn't worth £30k a week though in 30 months time.  He is definitely 'under paid' relative to the rest of the Stoke squad in his opinion given how much he is kicking off about his next contract and quoting performance stats and how well he performs etc in the press.  It wouldn't surprise me if he is on less than £30k a week tbh and that is why he wants a decent pension for his last contract and is willing to move on for it.  I didn't think he would ever ask to leave Stoke.  He would go when he was told to.  He was a serious journeyman for the first 10 years of his career and wouldn't have made any serious money until he was bought by Stoke.  His first contract at Stoke was in 2010 for 4 years.  I can't believe he would have signed for big money salary wise then as he was a total unknown to the EPL.

Bottom of the league.  Grim viewing for the stokies.

Don't tell me your'e going to put the kybosh on our Sunderland bet!

You look to be really missing Nzonzi.

Yes.  He was the bargain of the summer window for me.

Tough set of fixtures to start.

Tough set of circumstances as well to add to the fixtures.  lolapool scoring a worldy to luckily beat us at home.  Losing 1-0 at home to WBA when down to 9 men and outplayed them for the 2nd half with 9 men.  Not too concerned yet.  Never get anything at Arsenal.  Not overly concerned.  Just laid Stoke at 6/1 to go down.

I've just got back from London (stayed the night), and I'm not concerned in the slightest. We started very slowly last season and have had a tougher opening 5 games this term. The only game we should have won so far is West Brom at home but we decided that having 11 players was too easy so had 2 sent off for fun. The next 5 games or so give us the opportunity to get points on the board, if we're still struggling after them it's time to be concerned.

And have to agree, the loss of N'zonzi is leaving a bigger hole than I originally thought. He was our best player last season yet I think we still all underrated him he was that good. On to the next one, when hopefully this away day induced hangover will have fucked off!

a look at Stoke’s lack of identity and direction this season

http://wscrd.co/NewLookStoke 

Agree with it to a certain degree.  Sample size of 5 games (lolapool (h) - lost to a freak goal/spuds (a)/arsenal (a) - always lose at arsenal) and a game against wba at home with 9 men for over an hour which with 11 men we would have won easily) is hardly representative of what is likely to happen over the course of a seaso.  Add in Shawcross injury and adjusting to life without N'Zonzi it is going to be tough in the next few weeks.  Think the current quotes on stoke going down given the above are quite comical. 

The next 5 games will be a big tell. No need to panic whatsoever yet.

hows shaqiri been so far? looked dangerous?

He's not hit the ground running as of yet, but then again he's not had much of a chance to shine (9 men vs West Brom and away at Arsenal where we barely touched the ball). Hoping to see his true ability soon.

Disappointing not to hang on yesterday.  Very surprised to see Sporting index predicting stoke to have the 4th lowest points total in the EPL at the end of the season.  They predict 40 points for stoke currently.  Seems an over reaction to a tough first 6 games to me although we are missing Shawcross massively.

If we play like the first half on yesterdays game more regularly we'll have no issue tearing teams apart soon enough. A bit of a soft penalty to concede for their first and a mixture of a shit decision by the ref (not to call the foul on Walters at our end) and shit defending by Wilson + Cameron to both go for the same ball and leave Vardy to race through for their 2nd.

We should have put them to bed in the first half though, one or two missed opportunities that would have put us 3-0 up and most probably have sealed it. Can't wait to see Shawcross back.

....knew I thought something didnt seem right and the player needed to get away.


http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/oct/14/steven-nzonzi-stoke-city-sevilla-accused-of-assault

Obviously makes the sale of him a lot easier from our point of view. It was fairly common news though, a lot of the fans were aware this had happened between him and his other half, but just assumed she hadn't pressed charges.

very impressive effort tonight.  Can't wait for Shawcross to get back to lock up the defence even more.  Going to be tough to beat this year against the bottom 12 sides imo.  Shame we went down to 9 men against WBA the other week at home otherwise we would be sitting in 6th place!  Wish i had more on Stoke 3 weeks ago at 2/7 to stay up!!  Incredible price.

Whelan has to be one of the most underrated players in the league, a phenomenal performance tonight and I don't think he's done much wrong all season. 4 consecutive wins in all competitions, back on track.

Crouch better get comfy on that bench picking up his £60k a week.  Abby will need to keep him fit at home because he isn't getting a look in under Hughes in this side. 

Agree on Whelan.  The fact both gaffers make him an automatic choice in the last 5 years says a lot even though they have totally different styles of play.

Don't think Stoke were ever off track.  Just a tough start fixture wise and a redic game against WBA at home which would normally be 3 points.  Variance is the term they use in the trade!

Decent result for Stoke today against the side trying to buy the League ;)

Looked very good today. The front 3 of bojan, arnautovic and shaqiri cut them apart

http://www.thesportbible.com/articles/watch-stoke-city-fans-troll-joe-hart-with-hilarious-dandruff-chant

Best fans in the EPL.  Always had the best songs as well.

Bit of stretch to call it "hilarious"

And Palace have the best fans by far.

Welcome to the thread.  Your first post i assume.   ;D

I enjoyed the clip. Made me smile :)

Another 'lol big club' gets destroyed at the Brit.   Great times for Stoke.  Shame we struggle to beat the mickey mouse teams in the league like Leicester do otherwise we would be right up there as well.

Another brilliant game, setting us up nicely going into the second half of the season. So impressed with a number of players- Glenn Johnson has been superb for us this season (happy to eat humble pie over this), Wollscheid has been immense since coming into the starting XI (humble pie again), Geoff Cameron filling the N'Zonzi shaped hole in CDM very nicely the past few weeks, and no words are needed about Arnie and the other attacking players.

It's unbelievable how against the big clubs the players seem fired up and can produce amazing performances. If you then put the same team up against one of the smaller teams in the league we struggle! Very much looking forward to seeing if we can keep the momentum rolling against the "big teams" for our league cup semi against Liverpool.

Ryan Shawcross is one of the Premier League's best defenders so why does Roy Hodgson continue to ignore him?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/stoke-city/12070910/Stokes-rock-Shawcross-unconcerned-by-lack-of-England-recognition.html

Sadly it's happened for far too long, such a shame because if he would have stayed at United or moved to another club he's odds on to have had numerous caps. It might just be me as well but I think if he hadn't been involved in that Aaron Ramsey leg break he would have a lot more positive recognition from the national team. It can only be for our gain though I suppose.

Possibly the best game I've ever watched from a Stoke point of view. And that second goal by Shaqiri  ;kev;

fair to play to him, nice gesture

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/disability-sport/35206128

Carlos Puyol has been at Stoke's training ground over the last day or so. He is the agent of Barcelona & Spanish defender Marc Bartra. Another Spaniard to join the awfully named Stokealona?

Give him to Leicester and £10m and let's get Huth back.

Stokies got a shot at top 4? 

Seems no reason why they can't spurs and man utd looking vulnerable.  Potentially Leicester could have a downturn as well of course.  2 spots all to play for imo.

I think their points total on the spread is an incredible buy tbh.  Still think we are underestimated.  We have dropped 6 points to WBA having 3 men sent off in the 2 games.  The home game was incredible down to 9 men in the first half and only lost 1-0.  I think top 4 is a bit toppy tbh but i think we will finish above some teams that are in for more spreads than we are currently.

We'd be seriously in for top 4 if it wasn't for the fuck ups vs teams like West Brom, as arb says. A win this weekend would be 100% wins against last seasons top 4 at home, and would put us in serious contention for some European football. I really believe this is the season we have to push on, with the bigger clubs faltering. A solid signing or 2 this transfer window could really help us push on, and hope that Arnie signs a new contract of course!

Wow, that's incred - why didn't you mention that before?

Puyol was with Ivan de la pena.


Also went to spurs de la pena one of biggest agents in spain

 rotflmfao

Whooshed here!  Kindly explain.  Sure it is a rub.

Hmm
I thought it was about 11 times lol

I can't see Stoke finishing anywhere near the top four & you're probably a coin flip for top half IMO.. On Dec 27th Michael Caley's xg projected EPL table had them projected to finish twelfth. In that model there's only 3 points between 8th-13th spots, I'd be shocked if Stoke finish outside of that band.

In fact looking at the link below an aggregate of the analytics models have you exactly 50% to finish top half & a 9% chance of top six.

http://statsbomb.com/2016/01/a-compilation-of-epl-model-predictions-after-round-2038/

Shawcross breaks Ramsey's leg in a particularly ill-tempered match at the wonderful world of wind a few years ago

Ramsey, passions inflamed by a war of words from Wenger and Pulis after the game, refused to make up with Shawcross while lie-ing in his hospital bed

to this day when Arsenal visit the windy place Ramsey gets dogs abuse

completely OTT

isn't this particularly thick, by the stoke fans? what has Ramsey done wrong?

what do they also boo Monreal?

Maybe not accepting that Ryan didn't do it on purpose?  Ever since he has been a total pro and never once looked like deliberately injuring an opponent.  I want to know why the issue is constantly brought up by the media every time Arsenal arrive at the Brit and never leave with 3 points.

because the Stoke fans don't drop the issue, and boo Ramsey for the whole game?

the Stoke fans make it an issue the media can hardly avoid, every time

its beyond boring and particularly stupid. accepting that many stoke fans won't boo, but a lot do

The biggest issue with Stoke fans imo is AW calling us a rugby team.  That probably creates the tension which leads to Ramsey getting more shit from the fans than he should all these years on.  Most stoke fans are hardly in the top 10% iq wise.  Let's be fair.

+1. If Wenger wouldn't have made the comments also I doubt this would be half the issue it still seems to be today.

Well under Pulis you did rough teams up in stylistic terms not necesarily a dirty team....

narrowed the pitch for a couple of years, played it long, battled for everything, Delap's throws etc etc

haven't heard AW criticise them since Hughes has spent 18 months changing the style of play and the club recruiting shaqiri, bojan, afellay, arnautovic etc etc though

Fans should move on, the club has under Hughes.

Just seen you already raised the point regarding Wenger, apologies.

I'm pretty sure that if arsenal fans could drop the grudge the Ramsey boos would die down. 99% of arsenal fans can't help but snap bring up the leg break from nearly 6 years ago, it gets frustrating having the same shitty conversation. Some fans then perhaps use Ramsey as the scapegoat. Pretty low IQ of gooners to keep bringing the incident up imo.

FWIW I don't agree with the Ramsey boo's at all, but understand why some fans do.

Wenger couldn't beat us at home under either gaffer.  It has probably helped contribute to him not winning the title.  It might do again this year.  He doesn't like coming to Stoke.  I don't blame him.  We don't like him coming here and talking his rubbish about us either.  Very funny when he arrives this year Stoke gets it's first blast of snow this winter.  Would have paid money to see his face when he opened the curtains from his penthouse hotel suite in the Stoke premier inn at Trentham Lakes yesterday morning to see 3 inches of white stuff on the floor.

Just as equally arsenal fans as Stoke fans surely?

I put the over/under at 5 mins for the first 'swing low' sung by the stokies at the ground yesterday in the pub.  Made up comfortably under that quote for the Stoke judges who sold heavily with me.

+2

I was at that game when the accidental break happened. Shawcross has been more or a pro prior and since this incident than Ramsey will ever be. Arsenal fans, media, and their manager 'stir' it all the time when playing Stoke now. The Stoke fans just giving some back. Old school banter maybe, but not in the top 100 of abusive songs I have heard at matches in my time by all kinds of different fans or clubs.


* edit -All the above aside, good interviews (IMO) from both keepers after. Respect given by both for THE GAME.

I think it's beyond banter but still understand that fans want to do something to get back at the shitty way it was dealt with. I was also at the match, I was in row 7 directly by where it happened. I can assure you no single stoke fan had any malice towards Ramsey or an individual player that day- it's the afters which catalysed the reaction.

Totally agree. I was in the Family Stand and me and my lad heard the break. No malice was intended and I didnt even think this was a 'ill tempered' game either. Shawcross in tears going off the pitch but still being persecuted by a few for it. Those that know, know. Those that think they know, comment.

Stoke fans in low IQ shocker.

The football might have improved under Hughes (lets be honest, it couldn't have got much worse under Tony 'club shop' Pulis), but the fans remain the same. Continually boo a player who had his leg shattered at your gaff? Ok.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz  Hardly think stoke fans are the only football fans with IQ issues with the greatest of respect.  It was meant tounge in cheek.  The football has improved because we have spent substantially more money on wages/fees.  Nothing to do with hughes.  If Pulis was still there and the club was as financially secure now as it was when TP was in charge with EPL status virtually gtd now for the long term the football would have been different as well.  All about money spent the quality of football.  Nothing to do with the managers.

Ah, so you're trying to buy success? Shame on you.

Every club that wins stuff buys success.  It is the biggest myth in football.  There is virtually a direct correlation between wage bill and success across huge sample sizes in the EPL with very few exceptions in over 20 years.  Read Kevin Pullien (RP writer) about it.  Virtually fool proof.

Was tongue in cheek ;)

Just a typical uneducated comment about the TP reign from people who forget days when Stoke played quality sides off the park with outstanding football when it suited their game plan on the day on a fraction of their current wage budget.  No different to what they are doing now.  The Pennant/Etherington/Crouch days had some incredible high quality football played at times.  It just so happened we could destroy teams the other way as well because of brute force they didn't possess.  TP was all about playing the best possible game plan to beat the opponents any way it took to preserve our EPL status.  Many clubs could learn a lot about the TP era from Stoke who are currently busto/in the championship spending fortunes trying to escape to the promised land of where they think they belong.

Meh football fans love a rivalry. Even from an Arsenal perspective I don't really care that Stoke don't seem to 'like' us or Ramsey. Just gives the fans a method of getting involved that's all. A lot of rivalries start over something silly like this, nothing logical just a bit of fun (for want of a better word).  

Quite impressed when I saw that out of Man U, Chelsea, Man C and Arsenal only Arsenal have come away with anything at all at the Brittania this year. Stoke sure have figured out how to get the job done vs the top passing teams in the league.

Laying teams at 6/4 or shorter (ie the big 4/5/6 whatever they are called nowadays) playing Stoke away in the last 8 years has been a serious licence to print.

Hold on - what about plucky little Bournemouth.  I've had it rammed down me in the media for 18 months that they are a quaint rags to riches feel good story.  Their £18 million + whatever Iturbe costs in this window should be ignored!

Shawcross has form. He went through back of Frannie Jeffers when he played for Wednesday and left him out of the game for months.

Who also had a quiet russian backer funding their huge wage bill in the championship last year quietly as well

I always had a pretty low opinion about those "fans" who boo Ramsey for having the temerity to have had his leg snapped in two and genuinely having his whole career put in jeopardy, but the latest "he walks with a limp" chant is right down there with the lowest imo.

Quite funny really, had to ask my son why they were booing Ramsey - can happily say I'm an Arsenal fan who doesn't give a second's thought to what happened 6 years ago and less than that to the irrelevant Stoke in general.

I was quite a fan of Nzonzi though

Agreed. 

Big miss for me at Stoke.  Wonder if he regrets leaving now he looks at the new team and the EPL league table?

Agree also.

Sadly small minorities from all clubs have their moments. For example, Arsenal fans to Adebayor " "It should have been you, it should have been you, shot in Angola, it should have been you" was right down there. Then there was their  racist chant about Adebayor and his father and mother. I won't quote that here.

Some idiotic City fans had one a couple of weeks back with reference to the terrorist attack in Paris which prompted a big debate on the forum.

My fav stoke song was 'Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee said noooooooooo Robinho' when he was up for a rape charge or sexual assault. 

Really think he would've been perfect for Arsenal in a DM role.. athletic, skilful and could dig a bit too

Yes built for Arsenal.  Lot of my season ticket holder mates always said 'he will leave us and go to Arsenal. He is built for arsenal.'

Great to see Whelan get some praise on MOTD 2, he's been an unsung hero for a while now and deserves a lot more credit than he gets.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3406345/Stoke-City-efficient-team-big-five-leagues-struggling-Chelsea-wasteful-sides-season.html

Top of the league at last.

Absolutely gutted. 

That is all.

Man u v Stoke Corporate box ticket available for tonight.

Last minute cancellation from a friend has meant i got a 'plus 1' spare for this tonight.  Obviously Man U hospitality is as good as it gets.  Only asked for a donation to my fav charity for whatever you think is reasonable.  Not looking to make money out of it personally.  First come first served basis.  You will need to be at Old Trafford at 6pm at latest if you want the food etc before kick off.  I will be arriving at 5pm when the box opens as there is welcome champagne/unlimited booze for the rest of the evening all included.  You will have to make your own way there and back.  I can meet you at Pic station circa 4-430pm if that suits and get a taxi to OT or just meet at the ground between 5-6pm.

Full 3 course dinner/cheese+biscuits/half time cakes plus unlimited booze all including for free.  Good chance to enjoy the MU hospitality for a fraction of the usual cost.

Smart casual dress code is obviously required.

PM me if you are interested before 3pm.

Gutted Im not in the country to take advantage of this. Enjoy!

Stoke could lose striker Marko Arnautovic for £12.5m this summer as the Austria international has a buy-out clause in his contract.

Mr Stoke city himself has announced his retirement, following concussion in the fa cup games last season against Blackburn which left him partially unsighted.

Sad way for it to end for him.

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11065/10173608/andy-wilkinson-announces-retirement-after-concussion-injury

Interesting read for Stoke fans: http://statsbomb.com/2016/02/stokelona-where-myth-meets-reality/

Imbula looks a level above. Not seen such a powerful and technically good player in a Stoke shirt potentially ever.

We really could/ should have had 3 points today if we had our shooting boots on. Good point though.

Huge blow losing Butland for rest of season

Much bigger blow was losing Ryan for half of the season.  Otherwise we would be West Ham and top 4.  Jack wouldn't have had to make half those saves if Ryan was running the DFence.  He is a miss but i would rather have ryan all season than Jack if i had a choice.  Should be an auto England centre half.  He plays for stoke.  = no chance.  We still finish top 8 without our best player for half the season.  Just shows how wide open the EPL is moving forward.  If stoke are full strength this season all season every game and run like god stat wise like Leics and win bundles of games 1-0 when they had no right to we could have won the league as well.  Variance is about to hit the EPL in the next few years.  It makes a lot of sense to the educated but the average fan will have no idea how the EPL has turned into a proper 16 runner hcap because of the effect of TV money. 

A salary cap has been intro'd into the EPL without it actually happening via the TV deal.   Gate revenue makes relatively no difference to the chance of you winning the league anymore.  The big clubs don't realise this.  Their arrogance won't realise this for years.  It is not a fluke Soton West Ham Stoke Leics are all flying high.  It is happening for a reason.  It is a great time to be an EPL bettor.  Never have the big names been so over rated as they are now.  Chelski could easily become the 3rd biggest team in london in 2 years even with the dirty ruskie cash.  That dirty money nowadays doesn't make that much difference.

i agree wholeheartedly about structural changes to the PL from tv deals...mid ranking clubs able to attract talent they couldn't previously, de facto salary cap too. Promoted teams are now able to have wage bills of £67m under the new rules too. if they have the backing, much easier to stay up (loomk at bournemouth's spending)

result is there are no easy games, favourites getting turned over more frequently and the big guys having to really push the boat out on transfer spending from this summer onwards as they will have more competition for their targets

far too dismissive about lcfc, much more than running god-like on stats. recruiting genuine matchwinners like mahrez, stealing kante for £5m, Huth, Fuchs on a free etc etc just as important

far too glib to say stoke could replicate this with a good run of luck, that belittles the achievement elsewhere so far

after all the last time man u won the league they had 16 1-0 wins. now leicester have 12 and it is held up as some sort of fluke.

not having that. 

Think the analytics community as a whole have Leicester pegged as about 5th-7th 'best team' based on various metrics, so whilst Leicester have over achieved, so have Stoke. With Leicester they're scoring a way higher % of their shots on target than league average (unsustainably so) and I think their save % of shots on target is higher than almost anyone in the 'enlightened era'. They've also of course had two players contributing huge assist/goals per 90 figures in Vardy/Mahrez, much like Suarez/Sturridge for Pool in 13-14.

Stoke's 'golden run' stats wise is the save percentage from the 'killing zone' Butland's record there is ridiculous this season. West Ham's early season march up the table was partly down to them scoring with their first shot on target in a huge % of games (and often their second too). The anti Livepool in that regard.

As you've already seen its RIP Britannia stadium. Not really fussed to be honest, no complaints over the amount of support Coates and bet365 have given us. Seen people moaning regarding it being a commercial name- And Britannia wasn't?? Pretty lol.

And we're finally getting another bloody corner filled in!

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11701/10252178/stoke-city-announce-expansion-plans-for-newly-named-bet365-stadium

perched on top of a hill, open corners, hostile natives. not the most pleasant viewing experience it has to be said

it was arctic in August. managed to avoid any wet february tuesday's there for a while

filling the corners in is a good start!

You're forgetting the delightful view from the hill to the nearby incinerator. Have to agree, I'm not the biggest fan of our place especially since I've been to a lot of away grounds in the last few years and seen how easy they are to access via train, number of nearby pubs etc. The fact that our only real stadium side places to get a pint are the power league and the harvester is a joke. But it's where we call home, so we love our little shithole on the hill.

The climate is a different conversation entirely Tighty! I've seen gloves in August.

mind you compared to being on the lower tier at one end of the victoria ground for a play off semi with stoke fans above you raining all sorts on your heads, its a wonderful experience.

Gary Parker. 1-0.

on the upside, the "delilah" renditions from the cavernous home end were one of the great traditions of Eglish football

Surprised they only added 1800 seats tbh.  Must just be a cosmetic thing to get to above the 30,000 capacity.  Surprised they haven't gone further and got it up to 35000 in one go.

How much you think the ground's colour scheme on the stands will change to green and yellow?  Brit corporate colours always blended in with the stoke colours naturally.

Haha I'm not surprised to hear that at all, I've been told it was a great match day experience che. Sadly never got to go to the Vic- first game was aged 5 in 1997, which was when the Brit first opened. It was such a fortress back then we got relegated first season there. My favourite game at the Brit just so happens to be against Leicester in 2008 when that genius Ian Holloway was in charge of you ;) how times have changed fast eh?

that was my worst ever game. the stoke fans rubbing it in when we were relegated left many Leicester fans wishing ill on Stoke City as a club since. the stories of idiots rushing up to crying kids and taunting them in the car park afterwards were legion

i don't bear grudges though, lifes too short

It's taken the, long enough to agree to 1800 more so I reckon it'll be a while before another corner is added! I presume if in 4-5 years the demand for tickets is still there they'll finish it

Never even thought about the green/ yellow addition. Surely it'll change the same just replacing "Britannia" with "bet365" on the white seats?

Pretty sure our fans have to be up there for the biggest piss takers/ wind up merchants; any opportunity to take the piss out of the opposition is taken, whether it's regarding one of their players, fans, coaches etc. I find it hilarious tbh.

Surprised to hear about no grudges being held, Arsenal fans should try that out the bitter *****

Hughes out!  Bring back TP.

Thought I was on the pancake for a moment...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36703565

How much you think he would cost to buy with 2 years left on his contract?  £25m?

Not sure if Wikipedia is talking nonsense, but they reckon Fenerbache only paid £5 million for him from Utd last summer?

BBC says £4.25 million, about 5 million in yoorows I guess.

He went cheap because there was precious little interest in him. His development seemed to stall and even reverse at stages. Looks like a change of environment has done him good.
Stoke though? Stoke?

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2651286-strongman-eddie-hall-becomes-1st-person-to-deadlift-500-kilos

Go on stoke!!!  What a beast of a bloke.  Totally smashed the deadlift WR out of sight.

But could he do it on a cold windy night in Stoke?

How on earth do they sell tickets for this?

Fat bloke lifting some weights a foot off the ground doesn't sound like decent box office to me.

Yet there looked like about 5000 people there.

Strongman is massive esp when you know a world record is going to be set.  Easy to sell tickets for it in the body building/strongman community.  Great day out if you have never been to an event.  What Eddie did there is close to someone smashing the 100m record into 9.3.  He destroyed that world record by over 7% from his previous best.

Fat bloke!!  lolzzzzzzzzzz  Having seen him on several doors around Stoke before he went pro i can confirm there is nothing remotely fat about him compared to me and you!

Oh I used to watch "World's Strongest Man" as a kid.

That was fine.

Just don't see the attraction of seeing some bloke lifting some weights.

Each to their own I guess.

Well Eddie Hall is on World's Strongest Man Keith. Lot more to these events than just one bloke going for a wr. Usually tied to a strong man event which is one of the qualifiers for World's Strongest Man

Another two months out?

Stoke & England keeper Jack Butland is facing more surgery

http://bbc.in/2ciyf1g

A shame. One of the best natural shot stoppers i have ever seen. I just hope he keeps a consistency in avoiding mistakes, because they were starting to creep in last season.

You've got to think he has the potential to become one of England's great keepers. Hopefully this injury is only temporary and doesn't hold his career back!

Grant to hold his spot in the team for another couple of months then.... new deal agreed.

Link?

http://www.espn.in/football/soccer-transfers/story/3028497/stoke-agree-deal-to-sign-derby-goalkeeper-lee-grant-sources

http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/lee-grant-delighted-as-stoke-and-derby-county-agree-permanent-switch/story-30023142-detail/story.html

Now the window is open you can have Sakho as your latest buy from Liverpool, he can take Shawcross place in the team  :D :D

Went to the game last night to see the robot and Crouchy do his thing to get into the 100 club.  Charlie Adam was immense last night for Stoke.  Played like a poor man's Scholes last night.  Great to see him getting a run in the side with Crouchy.  All the tinkering Stoke have done recently with their team i don't think on their day we have better than Charlie and Crouchy.  They still can really do the business at this level.  Stoke should have sealed the game before Everton got their goal over turned by the ref.  I haven't seen the reply on TV so not entirely sure what the decision actually was.  Everton were poor first half but bossed the 2nd half.

Grant keeps doing the business in goal with Butland out.  Scary how good a season Stoke are having without their first choice keeper all season who was such a huge part of the team in previous years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Premier_League_players_with_100_or_more_goals

Some list to join.

After watching Nzonzi last night for Sevilla, more convinced than ever I should be the successor to Wenger

I was just saying the same thing to a couple of Stokies last night watching the game.   He is an incredible talent.

Yup, really enjoyed watching him run the game yesterday, v impressive

I've not managed to watch us play for a while but I'm hearing the young Egyptian lad, Ramadan Sobhi, is starting to put in some cracking performances. Let's hope he turns out to be a real gem!

Stoke stand by Mark Hughes and will back him in summer - but will demand a big improvement

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/05/15/stoke-stand-mark-hughes-will-back-summer-transfer-market/?WT.mc_id=tmg_share_tw

agree with this? isn't it time to freshen it up and move on? gone nowhere this season

There's a group of teams, Stoke, Southampton, Everton, maybe even WBA and Bournemouth, who are very very unlikely to go down, but it's virtually impossible for them to reach the top 5.

Being a supporter of one of these teams must be an extremely dull experience. Especially as they often rest players for cup competitions.

Sure Sunderland went down this year, but at least there supporters have had exciting seasons for the last decade. When was the last time a Stoke fan could claim the same?

Surely you have some Sunderland fans amongst your friends living up there?  Would be surprised if many described this season as exciting.  Probably same applies to Boro.  Hull gave it a go though.

I remember when we went down (Bradford City), it was the start of pretty much 10 years of despair.  Would take Stoke over that in a heartbeat.  Must be maddening when these types of teams duck the cup though.

This year has been shocking for the Mackems, but since 2000, they have been in the Championship for three seasons and come 3rd, 1st and 1st.

Most seasons in the Premier League they've battling relelgation, but at least that means their fans have exciting games to watch until the end of the season.

The five teams I mentioned have nothing to play for the last 3 months of the season usually.
a
If my team isn't going to be challenging for trophies (they aren't) I'd rather watch them play exiciting games that mean something, rather than a steady stream of mid table averageness.

I won't really know as I am Palace and it's been exciting since i have supported them since 2003/04 season, with promotion, relegation, near relegations, and near promotions with i think two failed play offs in the champ.

Call me boring but I would love some casual years of mundanity and the ability to watch my team from home in the prem without some sort of impending heart attack.

Saying that though if you really are a cemented mid table side then you must be pushing for it in the cups.

On chairmen's or fans being upset with certain seasons like maybe at Stoke I think they do need a reality check and that there should probably be no ambition beyond mid table anonymity. Once you are there be completely content. If you get better that's a bonus but should never be an expectancy and that applies to all the teams in the prem aside from the top 7

On saturday we played man c.

it was only the sixth game since the start of 2013-14 that we could not get promoted,win whichever league we were in or get relegated

we've had promotion, near relegation, win the premier league, relegation risk again and now finally mid table

i too quite happily would take 10th 10th 10th 2017-2020 but would not want to see us playing weakened teams in any cup competition if that is the sum or our league potential!

lots of clubs (southampton,stoke i can think of straight away) seem happy to lose in FAC Round 3 for the sake of a few league points the weekend after with a fresh team. i know the financial implications of finishing even one place higher in the PL are a few million quid either way, but if the cups are your only chance of silverware and you know it before the season starts, i would like these teams to plan and prioritise a but differently

My 2p as a kinda of adopted Stokie.  People forget we have played all season without our first choice keeper who was probably Stoke's player of the season last season.  No club in mid table could replace the future England number 1 with a championship keeper and not expect to regress slightly.  I think Crouch has been given a really rough ride by Hughes this season.  Every time he has played he has done the business yet has only had one run in the side all season and it coincided with Stoke's best spell of the season.  A lot of people write him off but whoever Stoke have played up front this season have done no better than Crouchy still can do imo.

Arnie/Shaqiri etc are at Stoke because they only turn up 25% of games and play to their potential.  If they turned up every week Stoke wouldn't be able to sign them.  They are amazing when they turn up.  A liability when they don't.  Allen is Stoke's best player for me.  Charlie Adam is also a pleasure to watch.  The squad is at a natural cross roads and more severe surgery this summer is required than usual i think hence the slight drop off this season mainly because the net spend is still only £12m a season since 12/13 season.

The FA Cup issue.  I don't think they ducked the cup at all tbh.  I went to the Wolves game this season in the 3rd round and Stoke put out virtually a full strength team (they were backed from 8/11 into tight 1/2 pre match on betfair) once the teams were announced.  I did my bollocks financially on the game so i remember it well as i mopped up as much of the 8/13 stoke i could get on the coupons inside the ground just before kick off in the main stand before the woman told me to fuck off as they weren't interested in laying any more! Wolves just turned up on the day with 8500 very vocal fans (it was their cup final and a semi local derby) and played a sensational game even though according to the stats Stoke dominated the game it didn't seem like that watching it.  Wolves were great value for their win and it could have been even more convincing imo than just 2-0.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38474738

I would take 10th every season than being like Leicester/Sunderland/Mboro etc etc.  The owners have substantial wealth now (£5bn per the rich list last weekend/21st richest in the UK).  I would suggest the company is probably worth double that.  It would be amazing if the chairman just thought 'fuck it what is the point of ironing these punters out day in day out for £10m profit a day at the day job if i can't spunk a decent chunk of it trying to get Stoke into the Champions league and live the boyhood dream as a lifelong Stoke fan in my later years?'  I don't think that will ever happen as the family are too shrewd but it would be great to see.

Speaking as a Birmingham fan. We won the League Cup but in the same season got relegated. That relegation totally crippled us financially and we ended up selling some amazing prospects for virtual peanuts in subsequent seasons. Gray, Butland, Redmond. We have managed to avoid going down to League One twice by the skin of our teeth and who knows what would happen if we'd gone that way. I look at someone like Coventry right now as an example.

Granted our owners were an absolute joke, so you could say that if a well run club goes down, they just be smart and solid in the championship (eg Newcastle) and come back up straight away. But it doesn't always work like that. If you get relegated you probably have to sell a majority of your better players which undoes years of work and building, plus you could go further into a downward spiral and not make it back (Blackburn).

Those European trips with Birmingham were really amazing, but I would probably trade them to still be in the Prem, with quality through the side and playing top teams week in and out and trying to get results off them.

I think Stoke would be mad to get rid of Hughes, but I also thought they were mad to get rid of Pulis. They are one of the best run clubs in the country for sure but it is so hard to make the next step to contest the top 6.

In Germany this season Hoffenheim have bought their way into the top 4. It cost them a lot of money and i'd say it is much easier to do in the Bundesliga than in the Premiership.

Everton are the only club outside the top 6 equally unlikely to win the league or go down. Can't say the same about any other team imo given the unpredictability of football. For example i'm sure you'd take 10th every year if you supported Saints because you'd clearly remember being in League 1 just a few years ago.

Football has changed massively in the last decade.

It will take some gross mismanagement (eith by the actual manager or more likely the guys who are running the club) for Southampton to go down in current climate.

Pretty much agree with arb, on this one. It'll be interesting to see how next year turns out with pressure on the manager and players. I'm hoping this year was just a blip. We've got some players with bags of potential which, with the right management, could see us into top 7/8. I'm not sure Hughes is the right man as he's made some questionable decisions this season, but I'm still willing to give him at least another season with a fully fit squad to get us back into the top 10.

I don't think it gets boring in my opinion, it's still not that long since I was sat among 12000 watching us play Colchester on a Tuesday night in winter at the Brit, so just being considered a safe, mid table team still seems a privilege. And to be honest, with all the abuse that came from our physical playing style in our early PL years and the hatred that still comes from certain sets of fans (had multiple strangers tell me they wish Stoke would be relegated and liquidated asap, mainly from a certain north London club who I cannot wait to see miss out on champions league football) it feels good to be able to put your finger up at these fans that we're still playing in the top flight.

Also the stuff about the cup must be a joke? League cup semi finalists last year (lost in the shootout), our fa cup run a few years before that, followed by a run to the knockout stages in Europe. A bad season doesn't mean we don't take it seriously.

Agree with Arb about Crouch, done well for you when he had a run.
Time to replace Shawcross? he's looked off the pace and out of position in a fair few goals this year, injuries seem to have caught up with him.

Time it is time for him to go tbh but he is locked up on a long term deal and won't be going anywhere as nooe else will want to buy him.  Saying that newcastle want to sign 'you'll never beat Wes Morgan' at 33 years old?  Surely that is the piss take of all piss takes given their transfer budget this season?  

Poor points tally  in the league this season compared to recent seasons but there is a but..

Underlying performance using an xG model is almost on par with Everton and the  xGD deficit is the biggest in the league with City and Southampton.

 (http://i66.tinypic.com/20a3rmd.jpg)

Given the above and likely investment in the summer 11/4 Stoke top half next season looks a mighty big price.

https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/to-finish-in-top-half

Amazing how much Arsenal over performed yet they still think they had a terrible season!!!!  The betting markets rarely priced Stoke like they were underperforming so badly compared to the stats which is suprising the stats show how much they under performed results wise.  One win off finishing best ever 8th.  Very disappointing season results wise.

Our first signing of the window is confirmed to be Darren Fletcher on a 2 year.

http://m.bbc.com/sport/football/40125487

I've read a fair bit of negativity regarding this, but I personally think it's a solid signing on a free. Thoughts?

Bought to suck in Rooney imo as a former teammate.  Think Gazza and five bellies 25 years ago.  So much for Hughes getting the average age down this summer.  He extended Geoff C as well til 2020.  No idea why i would have been happy to let him go this summer or the end of his contract next summer.  Brings nothing to the side and is old.  Bardsley is another of Rooney's buddies and has been extended for another season.  Again probably to make Rooney feel at home when he signs.  Both of them miles past their best (which was garbage anyway ) if Stoke are serious about being a proper top 10 side they need to get the average age down.  Then adding a banged up 31 year old wazza into the mix with the body of a 36 year old.  Marv.

Being linked to Rooney is surely bs, has to be crazy odds he'd even consider coming to stoke over boyhood team Everton or some filthy money offered in China or the mls.

Fletcher has been a decent captain during West Broms most successful PL season. There seems to be close to an infinite number of CDMs fighting for a place next season though; Fletcher, Allen, whelan, Adam, imbula, affelay and Cameron. I think Muniesa's also had a few games there as well. Surely a couple of these will be given the boot, imbula being an almost definite exit.

Can't help but find sparkys statement about lowering the average age of the squad confusing when he seems to have axed a few youth players and then offers players like Phil bardsley, as you mentioned, an extension.

In Hughes we trust? Time will tell.

keeping bardsley and signing Fletcher (like you say Stoke really don't have any reason to have either judging them purely on their playing ability and MH statement about lowering the average age of the squad) combined just stinks of Rooney actually coming and Stoke making every effort to get his pal's and old manure old boy on board to appease him.  The money will be there to sign Rooney if they want to.  It will be a global marketing spend for 365 rather than Rooney the player. The family will see it as an investment in the development of two brands combined globally.  Stoke could easily out bid Everton financially if they wanted to as it wouldn't just be a footballing based financial decision.  Plus Rooney has a well highlighted gambling 'habit' so if he spunks all the wages back to the firm they will get him for free.

Fletcher is better than every stoke player except Arnautovic and Shaqiri.

lolzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.  Better than Butland?  Allen? at 33?

I'd just rather splash huge levels of cash solidifying our back 4. Martins indi said he wanted to stay but his missus wants to live in a warmer climate so it's very unlikely he comes back. The rest of our defence has been piss poor compared to our usual high standards. The thought of a wollscheid/ Shawcross partnership at CB is the stuff of nightmares!

Im not even too sure why we're chasing a striker, let alone an aging rooney. I understand the marketing angle, but Hughes has spent a lot of time and money chasing Berahino, who has worked hard to shed a load of weight and get back to the same level he was at 2-3 years ago. Give him a chance after a full pre season. I honestly believe when he gets his confidence back he'll be a great asset, especially if we set our attack up around him. 

I also hope that Ramadan Sobhi plays more next year! Sensational to watch.

As a neutral I thought this was a decent read, would be interested in Stoke fans thoughts: http://statsbomb.com/2017/05/stoke-city-reboot-needed/

The guy who has had the roughest end of the stick imo is Crouch.  Delivers every time he is called upon then dropped for no reason at all time and time again.  He clearly isn't past it because his skill set ages so well as he has never had pace.

19th biggest wage bill in world football.  Stoke are hardly a small time operator anymore and that is only going to grow as 365 gets bigger and bigger.  The ground has been expanded this summer as well.  Interesting read and i think Shawcross is going to regress massively this season.  He isn't going to age well with his back issues and the distribution discussed from the back in the article is an issue i think.  Let's not forget Stoke played the vast majority of last season without their previous player of the season in Butland.  One more win and they would have finished 8th.  Butland is Stoke's best player for me and the main reason why the points total was so high the season before when they finished 9th.  How many teams outside the big 7 could have their first choice keeper out for the whole season (sign an inexperienced Championship keeper on loan) and still comfortably have the so called 'disappointing' season Stoke had?

Stoke could just outbid Everton?? I don't get that one Arb

Stoke could outbid most clubs financially if they choose to.  Whether the players would actually come is an entirely different matter.  Stoke have way more financial clout owner wise than Everton and every club outside the big 6.  The owners are worth more than double Ashley for example.  21st on the uk rich list.  

If the owners start thinking cracking the big 6 would be worth the investment off the pitch to promote 365 as much as on the pitch then it will happen.  The club is a marketing tool globally for the cash cow.

Can't help but agree with this. Crouch has been a class act for us, always seen as a back up rather than the main striker.

Attempting to compete with the top 6 is a pointless task, it would mean investing 100s of milions in a business with very poor revenue outside of TV money. You are already batting way above your level, stoke in turnover terms are relegation fodder? Youd need to spend 100s of millions and set the club up as a huge loss maker with no guarantees as the top 6 also have huge spending power and far greater revenue to rely on. Think youve missed the boat here where chelsea and man city did this, if youd done it years ago when the top 4 were so weak, now six teams who compete financially with anybody in the world, it would cost you 150m-200m just to bridge revenue gap?


Rooney is a great signing when you have a club with tiny exposure and your business also relys on it. There will be 10s of millions world wide who realsie who stoke are and bet365 get huge exposure to drive business in new markets. Also think his physical ability decline is over done and his problems are as much mental as anything else. He could just be huge for someone willing to gamble on him, hes always struck me as able to play the sheringham role and he would still be playing now if he was bucking so many reality tv stars.

This..... underrated player. Though he is 36...has a good couple of seasons at the highest level left in him.

Glenn whelan expected to move to villa fairly soon, we've turned down 500k for him so £1-2m for an aged player will add a few quid to the transfer kitty and bring the average age down! Been a top player for us though this last 10 years, not many better buys under Pulis.

edited Arb but would agree

Brutal first 2 months or so to start the new season:

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11701/10912409/stoke-city-fixtures-premier-league-201718

Awesome should be able to get a huge price on Stoke staying up again after 6 games when there will be the usual huge over reaction.  2/5 last year after 6 games.  Thank you fixture computer for paying for my next holiday again this year hopefully.

I actually thought the same haha. A couple of years on blonde has got me thinking correctly at least!

Dont know what all the panic is about. We should be top of the table by the start of 2018 ;)


August

12: Everton (a) 3 points

19: Arsenal (h) 1 point

26: West Brom (a) 3 points


September

9: Manchester United (h)  1 point

16: Newcastle United (a) 3 points


23: Chelsea (h) 1 point

30: Southampton (h) 3 points


October

14: Manchester City (a) 3 points


21: Bournemouth (h) 3 points


28: Watford (a) 3 points


November

4: Leicester City (h) 3 points


18: Brighton (a) 3 points


25: Crystal Palace (a) 3 points


29: Liverpool (h) 3 points


December

2: Swansea City (h) 3 points


9: Tottenham (a) 1 point

12: Burnley (a) 3 points


16: West Ham (h) 3 points


23: West Brom (h) 3 points


26: Huddersfield (a) 3 points


30: Chelsea (a) 1 point

What would you price us to be bottom/ bottom 3 after 8 games? Trying to get on a few quid on using these request a bet things a few bookies seem to offer now.

Home to the Arse, United, Chelsea & Southampton
Away at Everton, WBA, Newcastle & Man city

Stoke will not be a fav to win any of those first 8 games.  Maybe close to a flip at home to Soton depending on the summer dealings.

They will be 5/1 dogs at home to Ars, Manure and Chelski roughly.  Probably a 2/1 slight dog at home to Soton.  12/1 away at Man C, 7/2 away at WBA and Newcastle and 6/1 away at Everton.

In points terms they will be in for roughly 0.7 points as a 5/1 home dog in those 3 games.  Soton 1.3 points.  Man City 0.4 points.  WBA/Newc 0.9 points each.  Everton 0.6 points.  Therefore expected points roughly in first 8 games is around 6.2 points.  So when Stoke have had a awful start according to the media and sit on 7 points after 8 games looking like they are struggling remember they are less likely to go down than they were pre season because they will be ahead of the EV curve.  The price will not relate to this however.  Hopefully they will be sat on 3 points (only 3 behind expectations) and it will be 'another terrible start from Hughes and his slow starters and we will be sub 2/1 to go down.

Joke FC will be RELEGATED

So one of our best players, Arnautovic, has handed in a transfer request, seemingly due to his belief that we aren't being ambitious enough. West Ham have had a £15m bid rejected, how much would it take to get the deal done in today's market, given his ability and that he's still got 3 years on his contract (I think!)- £20m? £25m?

Can't really see the appeal of joining West ham, seems a bit of a sideways step. AC Milan and PSG have been mentioned, I can't see the latter happening, surely he couldn't get anywhere near PSGs starting XI? I personally think we should be doing whatever we can to get him to stay.

Reading between the lines from the back end of last season to now there seems to be the notion that Sparkys lost/ is losing the dressing room.

Stoke City have agreed a deal with West Ham to sell Marko Arnautovic for £24m. Full story: http://bbc.in/2tnbk0J

this is a big loss isn't it?

saw stoke 3 times last season (huge sample) and were far better with him (once) than without him (twice)

with a slow start is Hghes in trouble? second favourite to be first manager to leave

Arnie wants a pay rise nothing else.  Stoke not big time enough so where does he go?  West Ham!  Hardly a move upwards is it apart from the fact WH overpay for talent and Stoke don't salary wise.  He isn't a miss and at £24m seems a nice point to cash in to me.  Hope the terrible start comes (Stoke do have a very tough start on paper anyway as stated in a previous post) so we can all get an incredible price on Stoke staying up in September like we did last season.

There is no way he is being sold without a solid plan to replace or upgrade.  If it means Crouch gets to play more next season i am all for it.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-4714084/Stoke-stalwart-Glenn-Whelan-joins-Aston-Villa.html

Great operator for Stoke throughout the early EPL days.  Fantastic pro in every way.  Hope he got a nice financial payday at Villa for his pension.

He's been a cracking servant for the club, can't believe it's almost 10 years since he joined. Been very much underrated for the most part. Seems like the end of an era with Glenn and Super Jon gone.

Only 5 Pulis signings left in the squad now.

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/831213/Marko-Arnautovic-West-Ham-Medical-Friday-Stoke-Wages-Transfer-News-Gossip-News

Five year deal for Arnie and £100k+ a week.  No wonder he was so keen to leave.  You have to laugh at how bad West Ham are at recruiting and over paying for players.  The porn barons just love flashing their ill gotten gains.  Little pea (up to £140k a week!), Arnie and Joe Hart.  You have to think West ham are a huge price to go down this year if that's their summer business.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/631064/Arsenal-transfer-news-exclusive-Jack-Wilshere-West-Ham-Premier-League

Surely they don't add this sick note to the list of lol summer signings as well?  £20m?  Are you serious?  Wenger must be pissing himself if he got £20m for him and got his salary off the books.

Stoke City have rejected a bid from Swansea City for midfielder Joe Allen. http://bbc.in/2vTgHFK

Stoke for the drop this year?

Why do people keep asking this?  On what grounds?  I don't get it.  We have shipped out dead wood to a relegation rival and Arnie who is massively over rated.  Signed two quality centre halfs, kept the vast majority of the rest of last years big squad numbers wise.  Butland is fully fit and motivated ready for the WC after a season off.  I just don't get this Stoke relegation talk at all.

Rumours going around today that Burnley have put a serious bid in for Shawcross.  They must want to sign anyone at Stoke over 30.  Very weird strategy by Burnley this summer.

The local press in Swansea claim Stoke have rejected a £20m bid and the swans are going to up their offer which I find very hard to believe btw, even with the inevitable Gylfi sale

They can up it all they like if you want to buy any Stoke player you are going to have to pay way over the odds like West Ham have.  Bet365 owners are not exactly short of readies.  Allen is worth way more than Arnie to Stoke to anyone who watches Stoke week in week out.

Just had a nice bet on this teak to go down. Hopefully pay for my holiday this year.

What reasons you think Stoke will go down? Has there ever been two weaker teams than Huddersfield and Burnley on paper this year to go down?

I'm loving our 3 CB's. If Hughes is looking to play a back 3 with wingbacks there can't be a much more solid back 3 on paper outside the top clubs than Zouma Shawcross and Martins Indi. Not so sure about how the wing backs will work with our players, will be interesting to see.

Terrible start for Stoke with their relegation rivals looking great and getting 3 points that they aren't supposed to get. Stoke apparently look dreadful in this first half. Maybe Hughes will get some money to spend. If they are bottom of the league after 2 months I'm not sure Berahino, Shaqiri etc will fancy it. Losing players like Bardsley, Walters and Arnie who have been their before and strong in changing room could be the difference.

Conte likely to recall Zouma now after Cahills suspension. Oh dear.

Stoke potentially could have more champions league winning players in their squad than anyone else in the EPL if they sign Jese.  No quality in the squad though!

Darren Fletcher - unused sub in CL Final
Bojan - unused sub in both CL Finals
Shaqiri - unused sub in CL final
Afellay - Came on in the 92nd minute of CL Final
Jese - Unused sub in CL Final

#Quality

Are Stoke fans the new Newcastle fans? #deluded

Fancy a friendly season long match bet?  Stoke v Newcastle?  

Nothing deluded about Stoke fans.  We know we are a middle table EPL side with cash rich self made local owners (who are lifelong fans) who govern the club for the long term.

Apparently Stoke are paying Chelsea £8m for the season long Zouma loan.

With wages or with wages on top?  With wages that would seem a reasonable one year rental price wise to me given his quality.

I don't know. I'd guess wages are paid by Stoke but maybe that's included in the £8m. What would he be on, £40K, so £2m/year? So Stoke are paying £8m or maybe £10m total?
Bayern are paying Real Madrid €5m/year loan fee for James Rodriguez. Do you think that's a reasonable rental price? :)

West Ham paid £4.5m to take Hart on loan for the season, but City are subsidising his wages so in realty we only get about £2m.

If that Zouma figure is correct, I'm pretty sure that includes his wages too.

He will be on more than £40k a week as well at Chelski surely?  So if he is on £70k a week and Stoke are paying it all then his 'rental' is £4.5m for the season providing your figures are correct.

You think Kurt Zouma is on £70K a week? A bit of googling suggested to me it was £40K but it seems he's just signed a new 6 year deal so probably higher than that. 70K seems a bit steep though.
But okay, let's go with that. So the rental fee is about the same as Bayern are paying for James then? :)

He will be on £200k a week though.  You have to tell the whole story.  How much of that salary are BM paying that RM don't have to? 

But wait!
You're saying the £8m fee Stoke are paying must cover Zoumas wages but the fee Bayern pays doesn't? Okay.
But even still, you are the one who decided to discount Zoumas (inflated imo) wages from the loan to arrive at a rental figure of £4.5m. Which, accounting for currency rates, is the same fee Bayern are paying Real for James.
Are you having your cake and eating it too? :)

Each loan deal is totally different and unique.  I have no idea on the figures.  Other people have plucked these figures from wherever.  The BM deal might be £5m a year plus BM have to pay his wages in full therefore costing probably £15m in total for a one year rental.  I have no idea what the deal is.  Neither do you i would suggest.  Zouma on £70k a week isn't expensive for a centre half of his quality in 2017.  Shawcross is on similar to that and he signed his deal years ago for Stoke.  How many proper first team squad members (that haven't come through the ranks) are on less than £50k a week at Chelski?  They have youth team guys locked up on monster salaries who have never played for the first team.

Well the Spanish paper Marca say that James earns €8m/year, rising to €8.2m next year. If correct and we take your stance that Bayern will pay the entirity of his wages and Zouma's wages are covered by the loan fee, then we arrive at;
James Rodriguez €13m = £11.9m/year.
Kurt Zouma = £8m/year.
That's the best case scenario.
If Stoke have to pay some of Zouma's wages on top and/or Real are subsidising James, then maybe Zouma is actually more expensive than James!
No wonder WBA baulked at the £8m fee and left him to the smaller club, Stoke :)

Joking aside, I like Zouma but I don't think he's the finished article yet, hence why he's out on loan rather than in the desperately short of numbers Chelsea squad.
That's an expensive deal for Stoke, no matter what way you slice it, they are paying £160k/week for someone with potential with no asset at the end of it.

Shawcross signs a four year contract extension!  Can't imagine his body being able to play in the EPL in four years.  Incredible loyalty from the club for the skipper.  He stated he has been impressed with the new signings.  Bojan and Imbula out on season long loans and Wollscheid left for good.  Dead wood being cleared out

http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/stoke-city-transfer-deadline-day-403552

Strongly fancy Stoke for a top 10 finish this season.  2/1 looks a big price to me for those who can get on.

https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/top-10-finish

How do you price Stoke over Watford?  Fixed odds and spreads.

I wouldn't want to be betting Man Utd @1-2 away from home at Stoke...thoughts Arb ?

Was thinking exactly the same tbh.  Hardly any teams come to Stoke and are 8/15 never mind a Stoke side that looks as strong as ever in this league.  That being said Manure could be absolutely anything this season and look highly progressive.  They need to be however to justify their current price.  Makes you wonder what price Man City will go off at Stoke.  Around 4/9?

Crazy price. I've quickly looked back the last 5 years and it is the shortest an away side has been at Stoke in that timeframe.

Off the top of my head i can't remember a team ever being 1/2 or shorter at Stoke.  Most of the lol title contenders like Arsenal and lolopool tend to go off a shade of odds on.  Maybe we really do have two super powers in Manchester this season.  This will be a good guide as Man U haven't had a serious test yet.  Hopefully Stoke can slow them down tomorrow and get Jose moaning.

Shawcross is missing tomorrow for Stoke.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41133352

What do the following clubs have in common: Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham and Stoke?

They are the only current Premier League clubs who can boast 10 consecutive years in the top flight.

Ah, feels nice to 100% agree with Arb :)

Fraser millions moving markets again!

:)

Stoke at 4-1 at home Draw no bet with VC seems far better than Man Utds skinny price

https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/stoke-v-man-utd/draw-no-bet

Manc blues must be happy with their work today?  Great effort by Stoke today and anyone with relegation tickets might as well rip them up now.

Good performance from your lads today.

Did maureen not recognize sparky as for some reason he blanked him and shook hands with the assistant manager post-game.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41215697

Yes we've had worse Saturdays :) I was at the Arena gig last night too which was an incred atmosphere so all in all a great weekend, less the sore head today.

Did Maureen complain about only 1 team was playing to win? I assume the irony isn't lost on him?

Good Performance against Man Utd

Think Newcastle will find it difficult to create many chances against a strong Stoke defence

6-4 Stoke draw no bet seems value Arb  ?

https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/newcastle-v-stoke/draw-no-bet

I think Stokes problem is they don't really have much identity. Whats their plan for going forward? They are kind of team who like to lump it, 4 6ft+ defenders, but then they have Jese as a striker who doesn't fancy a challenge and Shaqiri who is obviously limited aerially. Fletcher and Allen huff and puff but there seems to be a lack of class.

What happened to Berahino? He seems to not get a sniff anymore, seems a little odd? Bench of Charlie Adam, Glen Johnson and Crouch seems very old/limited.

Even with set pieces now, they don't look as good, good delivery from Shaqiri, but Wimmer, Martins Indi aren;t that scary and then the rest of the team isn't built for it I don't think. It almost feels like they are a poor version of West Brom. Will likely survive due to there being a lot of terrible teams this year.

Well the slow starters haven't had the slow start this year.  8 points (with defensive injury issues) with a game to go of the first 8.  Man City away so we should probably just chalk up 8 points after 8 games.

9/4 in a place top 10 looks a very generous bet to me.  Leicester are odds on in a place for top 10 and the spreads have them only half a point ahead of us on the season long points market.

8 points after 8 games.  (6.2 EV points pre season after 8 games).  We are a bigger price to go down now than pre season even though we over performed.  incredible.  GL to all the mugs who wanted to lock in a profit because we had a tough start! We are 4th bottom as well!  Imagine if we had run bad and not ahead of EV.   Maybe the markets nowadays actually realise the schedule. who knows?


Maybe the markets know nowadays and another edge has gone and i am closer to getting a job!  Why couldn't leicester win tonight and send Stoke into the bottom 3?

Looks like Stoke going to be in bottom 3 after tonight. Next 5 games are all winnable though and so important to their season. Will be interesting. To see how they come out of this spelled 5 games. Go well and can be top half, run bad and can be looking very bad. Funny game football

Yesterday seems to be a big swing in the argument for "Hughes out" by the looks of things.

Nice to get back on track today.  Butland didn't have a save to make by all accounts.  11 points 10 games.  Could be a lot worse.  Not far off full strength side today.  Crouch didn't make the bench so not sure if he is injured or just rested totally?

Horrendous game of football.  Blanket defence and we couldn’t even summon a decent effort on goal.  We are clueless when teams come with that approach.

Must admit was surprised your boys were decent odds against today.  Suppose with Allen back for us we looked strong on paper compared to previous weeks.  Sounds like Stoke got lucky though as you had all the stats massively in your favour.

Wouldn't say Stoke were lucky - as you say Butland wasn't busy at all.  Zouma was very good today.

We have a team built to play away from home at the moment and don't really know what to do when we have to drive the agenda.  We beat Arsenal, but that game turned on it's head in 15 minutes.  Apart from that fun draw with Liverpool (who came to attack), thumped by Man City, 0-0 v Brighton and uninspiring defeat to your lads.  Away from home it's a different story - there's probably value blind backing Watford away and laying us at home to be honest - it's like night and day!

Zouma is amazing for us.  Looks a certainty to be our player of the season from his early showings for me.  NExt two months for Stoke very important.  Next ten games very winnable.  Only Spurs away in that spell which is tough.  (Scousers at home if you consider that a hard game nowadays)

Jack Butland out of Germany game after breaking a finger in training this morning.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/11/13/bet365-chief-exec-denise-coates-becomes-uks-highest-paid-boss/

The co-founder and chief executive officer of gambling firm Bet365 paid herself a record £199m last year, as the company posted a healthy £525m profit for the 2016/17 financial year.

Denise Coates is now the highest-paid boss in Britain, and is significantly wealthier than the previous titleholder, Sir Martin Sorrell, the chief executive of WPP, who earned £48.1m last year.

On top of the £199m salary, Coates collected £18m in dividend payments.

Nice work. Giving pleno a run for his money  ;)

Without including the dividend,  £199m under PAYE nets down to £105.48m after tax and nic. In addition, employer nic over 27mil.

No doubt further contributions to her charitable trust to follow.

A lot of teams seem to be overperforming now due to new managers, Palace/Everton should be safe.

Can still get up to 5/1 on stoke going down. Thoughts?

The best price is 3/1.  The sunbets price is 11/4 on their website.  If anyone is offering 5/1, they aren't going to be happy with you.  Betfair was about 3/1 when I looked last night.

I wouldn't be in any rush to lay 3/1 though.   It seems overpriced when you look at the others around them, so might still be a smidge of value.

Huge month ahead to seal safety after beating WBA.  Huddersfield home and away.  Newcastle and Watford (seems a good time to be playing them) at home as well as the schedule relents slightly and we start picking up easier spots to get wins.  Chelsea away and Manure at home until the end of January to complete the month.  Bournemouth and Leicester away in Feb and Brighton at home before a brutal March with Soton/Arsenal away and Everton/Man City at home.

No idea when TFT are planning on shifting the Stoke back to lay relegation bet but i think its unlikely they will be getting much shorter than they were before WBA any time soon. 

I've seen some awful Newcstle teams over the years, and this years is one of the worst, but this Stoke teams performance today was the worst I've seen in 10+ years in the prem. He must get fired in the morning.

Was a must win game for Hughes ,gotta be in serious danger of going

First time I've actually been concerned we might be facing the drop this season. Shocking again. Hughes has to go, but Coates is normally patient with his decisions. He should have gone in the summer, let's hope he pulls the trigger. Would love Gary Rowett to replace him personally. Bookies favourite is Roberto Mancini. Can't imagine that happening!

https://www.oddschecker.com/football/football-specials/stoke/next-permanent-manager?selectionName=michael-oneill

Who is it going to be?

I've said for months I'd love Gary Rowett, but with how things are going at Derby I very much doubt he'd leave in the current situation.

Ideally we'd have somebody like O Neil until the summer, if Derby don't go up and we stay up then throw a good offer at Rowett. We'll probably end up with Steve Bruce though.

Well. Can only think that their relegation odds have shortened rather than lengthened after this.

Utter chaos.  Paul Lambert!  Really???

How far down the candidate list was Lambert?   A few more rejections and Arb would have been the new gaffer!

4th, at least, according to BBC Sport.

I should have applied!  I can't imagine Lambert was even on the list at the start surely?

I turned down the job because they wouldn't reopen my 365 account.

Wow.

:D

He worked wonders at Norwich. Keeping that glass half full for now  ;scarymoment; Paul Lambert's barmy army!

Good coach, if players listen to him and apply themselves it’s a good Appointment.

In his time out I understand he’s been doing training courses in Spain, Italy and Germany.

I like Lambert and reckon he might surprise a few.

You also like Wenger and think he should never be sacked.

(https://media0.giphy.com/media/NnGGHE0muVqpO/giphy.gif)

That defeat on Sunday must have really stung.

Yours or ours?

kapow

Start the Lambogeni.

Time for a few sads to be added yet?

One time can we hold onto a lead today pleaseeeeeeeeeee

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

How we miss Arnie!  What a rub down to see him score a goal like that against Arsenal minutes after we concede to Burnley.

Sums up the entire year.  How many points dropped from winning positions against fellow strugglers?

Who is in charge of recruitment? Feel almost sorry for Hughes and Lambert.

Pretty sure no one but Hughes would have wanted to buy Ireland for example.   Joe Allen would have been all Hughes decision as well. Hughes is responsible for the terrible spending on the squad imo.

10 years ago today we drew 0-0 with Leicester and were promoted to the premier league. How time flies, I can still remember the nerves that day as a 16 year old lad, every time Leicester had the ball in our half my stomach would drop. It was probably the worst game of football I've ever watched yet the best game I've been to.

It looks like it'll all be over soon but what a cracking decade for the club.

Win both games Stoke stay up imo.  Key game we need Soton v Swansea to be a draw.  That will make life so much easier.  Huddersfield can luck box a point somehow and still end up with worse GD (and finish below us) than us if we win out given they should get drilled in at least one remaining game.

When we've not won a game in close to 4 months it's hard to see back to back wins! If we do get 3 points against palace though you never know...

Just paid for next year's season ticket anyway. Fingers crossed it's against United and city, not Shrewsbury and Burton

when you have dropped 16 points from winning positions i think its possible.  Andy Carroll isn't going to step off the bench and score a screamer against us every week surely?

Still the massive issue of scoring. Our attacking line is shocking.

We are stokeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.  Holdddddddddddddd one time.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz  19 points lost from winning positions.  Incredible.  Would never have happened under TP.  Be careful what you wish for in life.

Some of us were happy with hoofball under Tony, but we had a couple of great seasons under Hughes. Should have gone last summer at the latest. Complacency at it's finest. The next chapter at it's finest.

Reckon Lambert will stay? I just hope we throw a bit of cash at it to try and get straight back up, especially that butland and Shaqiri alone should fetch us £50-60m

LAmbert is 1.01 to stay surely?  He isn't going to get a bigger job.  Stoke are loyal and signed him with a view to going down anyway to a multi year deal.  The easiest way to go straight back up is bankroll the players you have and don't let them go.  The ones you don't want to stay always do and the ones you do want to stay like Butland and Shaq leave. 

https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/stoke-city-premier-league-relegation-1504247

Interesting article here in the local rag covering most areas.

I think with the backing of the board Lambert will get you straight back up.

He’s a good coach and was on a hiding to nothing he needs a clear out of some of the players who lack heart and fight.

What does Stoke’s starting XI look like next season?  Allowed 3 unknowns.  Interested in who you think will stay for the champ battle.

skybet's opening show of 7/1 for the league next year looks very skinny.

Next year's team could literally be anything.   I would imagine Grant will be the starting keeper as he did a good job in the EPL last season when asked.  Shawcross won't be going anywhere tied up on a long term contract, loyal and club captain and probably at his right level now next season.

Crouch might stay as well.  Can't see too many EPL clubs coming in for him at his age.  Loan players will all return to clubs.  Shaq got a £12m release clause, Allen and Butland will surely go.  Ireland and Johnson are out of contract and will go i imagine.  C Adam probably end up at Rangers with Gerrard.  He was bigging him up in the media so probably fancies the slower pace of the Scottish league at his weight. 

Berahino is locked up until 2022! under contract so god knows.    Could be a contract from hell potentially or he could be a 30 goal a year man down a level if he gets his mind right.  Can't see him leaving his huge long contract and no one would want him anyway.  Kevin Campbell's son could be given a go down a level as well to prove himself upfront. 

Interesting to see Butland and especially Adam very upfront and outspoken about certain members of the squad not pullling their weight.

Nothing more frustrating for fans than players taking the piss.

Shame they didn't say it before hand just after when they both want out.  Adam clearly wants to get back to Rangers with Gerrard the amount of chirping he has been doing lately about that.  Don't doubt what they are saying but its modern football and the way the world is nowadays across all industries. 

Teary-eyed Jack Butland slams "farcical" Stoke City transfer business as relegation from Premier League is confirmed
http://bit.ly/2HV3PWc

“It’s embarrassing.”

Charlie Adam has said several of his Stoke teammates have been “getting away with murder for a long time”.

https://bbc.in/2jFGKba

Bizarre stuff from Adam who loves to talk a good game on the wireless.

I would hardly consider his physique and overall on pitch contribution as that of a professional. What does it say about him that he could barely get a game with these four or five getting away with murder. Considering most of the bigger signings were away on loan just stinks of blaming players not in the social group.

Paul Lambert gone. Time to rebuild. Who's next for us? Favourites seem to be Big Sam, Moyes and Graham Potter.


http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11701/11377633/paul-lambert-leaves-stoke-city-by-mutual-consent

No idea who next, but I never felt Lambert had the nous to turn things round.

Lambert was a Charlie adam (after a ruck over who would take it) missed pen and a Carroll worldie in the last minute from keeping Stoke up.  I think he has been very unlucky.  Given a terrible starting position dressing room wise and not much luck at key moments.  As soon as two NW based EPL heavyweights became available he was never going to survive realistically.  He will be well paid off i imagine as Moyes and big Sam come free of charge now they are out of contract.  Win/win for everyone.  He gets the money the club would have had to pay in compensation for a big name under contract.

Rowett next?


https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44203326

Hope so.  He needs a bigger club with some real cash to spend to give him a chance to showcase his talents.  He seems to do a great job with the limited budgets he has worked under before.  Seems as good a choice as any available.  

Very happy with Rowett. Bring on the new season.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44219110

He has moved to a bigger, more ambitious club.

Love that quote. Looking forward to seeing the fixtures come out now. Hopefully he will have the balls to clear some of the deadwood from the squad, and bring in a handful of new players who actually want to play for the football club.

It will be a tough season whatever, but hopefully we can put our marker down early and be up there or thereabouts by Xmas. Then push on from there.

....In a behind closed doors friendly V the Macc Lads. Final score was a 5, 2 win for Stoke. HUTH played too.

Its coming home together.

https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/championship/promotion

Stoke 9/4 betway to get promoted is close to their 'top 2' finish price based on their tight 6/1 price to win the league.   Basically getting a freeroll EV wise to win in the play offs.  

Tom Ince joins Stoke from Premier League Huddersfield Town for £12 million.

Interesting move. I recall Ince having a lot of promise last season but didn’t really live up to his potential.

He never has done

rock solid EFL player.  Great business at £12m. In his prime.

We don't need to improve the squad at all to have the best squad in the league if we don't lose anyone else.  Swapped Mr Egypt plus £6m for Ince with Huddersfield.  Think i know who got the best side of that deal.

Not too many goals pre season. Hopefully nothing to be concerned about... 1 week until it starts again! First game away at Leeds has cost me £39 compared to £30 for all away games in the PL, is football the only sport where you pay more for a less quality product??

I’d like to see stoke have a few seasons in the championship.

Got what they deserved last season.

Poor result yesterday at St Pauli too - I'd be worried because we've not looked good pre-season.

I’m not sure less quality product is accurate. The football might not be as technically good but in terms of atmosphere and entertainment I really enjoyed Newcastle’s seasons in the championship.

Bring back Lambert!

shocking start for the quality of the squad Stoke have.

Rowett performance is indescribably bad.  I could let them train themselves, rock up on a Saturday morning, post the team sheet and say nothing but “gentlemen we are playing 4-4-2” and I think I’d have 8+ points with that squad.  What a clown.

16/1 looks plenty though, I do think they’re a big bet now. There aren’t many good teams in this league.

Rowett though......

Perfect summary for me.

How much are we going to lose on Stoke this year.

Can’t believe I’m not going on holiday again. Two years running.

Maybe they will be a big club in Div 1

That was shocking tonight. Something is seriously wrong at the club, from top to bottom it's a shambles. The players have no confidence, baffling selections, baffling tactics, no depth to the squad, questionable signings.

Still very early days, but it seems not too dissimilar to what happened at Sunderland last season.

No depth in the squad?  We must have the biggest wage bill in the league and bundles of depth.  Most of the signings seem reasonable solid as well for this level.  Ince/Williams/Afobe all rock solid on paper at this level.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/08/22/stoke-extend-poor-start-gary-rowett-heavy-home-defeat-wigan/

Bundles of depth? We've got bundles of central midfielders, not bundles of depth. For example, we only have 3 CB's (1 injured and 1 suspended) leaving only Shawcross, who by the way is dreadful. Going into any campaign with only 3 natural centre backs, one of whom has reoccurring back issues, is not what I'd consider depth, especially considering our defence was so poor last season you would think this would be priority number 1.

£5m for Mcclean is hideous, we've well and truly had our pants pulled down on this one. Williams beyond a joke tonight, looked like he was trying to get sent off. Ince and Afobe not living up to the hype yet, but early days for them.

I'm usually pretty positive regarding Stoke, but this season couldn't have started much worse, and there's not much to suggest anything's going to be changing quickly. Hope I'm wrong and am eating humble pie in a few months.

I do think it's hilarious how people have seen Stoke sign players they've heard of and assume they are good signings. Shawcross and Williams must be in the bottom 5% of centre back partnerships in the division and the fullbacks only marginally better. McClean is league 1 standard. Yes Stoke have big money but spending big money on crap players who don't care will send you the way of Sunderland.

As previously stated Rowlett hasn’t ever delivered success in the transfer market.

In fact he hasnt ever really delivered success

I know stats can be misleading, but Stoke were a Premier League side last season, & Wigan were League 1, and yet Stoke were at home & never managed a single shot on target.

I suspect the problem is more that the squad cba, & that Rowett has lost the dressing room already. If you listen to his pre & post match summaries & interviews, he's Mr Cliché.

Send for Big Sam.  

The general consensus from stoke fans is not even Pep could sort out this mess. I'm not sure Rowett's the issue, he's inherited a toxic squad that needs to be burnt down and built up from scratch. I think the problem is we've got 2 blokes behind the scenes who control a lot of the transfers, and there's a lot of disharmony right from the top of the club all the way through the ranks. It caused Hughes frustration multiple times under us and I don't think much has changed. We're leagues away from the well drilled, well run club we had in the Pulis and early Hughes years.

Merson predicting Stoke not to win again this weekend.

"It's quite scary that a club in the Premier League was losing that sort of money."

Stoke City’s annual financial figures are out👇
https://bbc.in/2A8aDJ9


Bet365 results today are though incredible, up 25%

Basically paper write down (not cash losses) of players value on the balance sheet as a one off correction.  £30m loss and £29.5m player write downs basically accounts for it all.   Terribly written article.  Far worse clubs financially than Stoke.  The writer talks like the club is on its last legs.  The firm makes the loss in a good day when a few big jollies get beat on the football.

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/billionaire-betting-queen-denise-coates-111200802.html

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/nov/21/bet365-denise-coates-paid-herself-an-obscene-265m-in-2017

Rumour has it that if she makes 500 mill next year, she will donate it all to Stoke and then we will be able to buy the Premiership Title.

FYP

very good.  Stoke should be trying to buy the EPL title though they are richer than most EPL owners.

The Sheikh spent over a billion before that Aguerooooo moment, and quite a bit more since, one way or another...

You're not bitter though   :D :D :D

 rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao

Doesn't get much worse than this (it might as Pardew has been spotted reportedly in Stoke today).   How do you have 18 shots at home and not one on target?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49905806

He seems a thoroughly decent bloke and he is right that he (and all other managers) do gamble with numerous other people's livelihood's and financial future with his decisions.

https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/breaking-nathan-jones-stoke-city-3491121

Time for TP part three i think

bet365 not great believers in xG then?

Wouldn't seem so.   Doubt Southampton will be either.   The Millwall game was a terrible effort and probably sealed his fate after a couple of 'bad' wins extended his stay.

Alex Neil or Michael O'Neill ftw it seems.

Slightly left field, but rumours around the dressing room (have a mate who works at the club) is that Steve Boulds name has been mentioned.

Recently been 'moved' from Assistant Manager to U23 coach at Arsenal. Doesnt seem happy in new role and wants to move up, not down.   He was born in Stoke and obv had a good playing career there too. 

Currently 33/1, so might not fit the Coates requirements for the position, but if the 'names' turn the job down.....you never know.

Probably see Chris Hughton/David Moyes/Alan Pardew in the stands v WBA on Monday now ;)

Me personally, would like to see Big Sam get the job. He would sort out any egos in that dressing room pretty sharpish, and get the right type of players in the January transfer window to get us out of this hole. (hopefully).

Have to question why anybody like Big Sam/ Moyes/ Hughton would want to come to us right now though. We're a mess.

http://oatcakefanzine.proboards.com/thread/291669/talking-barnsley-supporter

Had to laugh at this from one of your fan forums.

Looks like our bottom of the table championship clash with you on Saturday has been appropriately labelled as "Clash of the Shite'uns".

That's excellent. On occasion, football fans can be seriously funny.

Massive transfer/wage budget for the division.   The most patient loyal owners probably in football (Hughes and Jones would have been fired much quicker with 90% of other owners with similar wealth and wage/transfer budgets relative to their league position at the time) Family run/lifelong supported club.   Owners are right up there wealth wise with the richest owners in football in the world.  Impossible for any of those 3 managers (and many others) to get a better job imo to make a name for themselves/reinvent their career.  Central location bang on the m6 so very easy to commute to without having to relocate from vast areas of the midlands/NW.

Stoke are also just outside the play offs in the xg league table this season so they are running bad.  

The bigger the mess to sort out if they pull it off the bigger their ego gets stroked and the most impressive their skills look.   Personally i'd love to see TP back to really sort out the egos in that dressing room.    It needs a TP/big sam/Moyes type character for me.   Unproven young/upcoming managers haven't worked with 3 attempts.

Having all that money didn't stop you getting relegated from Premier League.

Having all that money but finished 16th last season

Having all that money and are now bottom of the Championship.

Quiet lolrron.   Nobody cares what you think.   Your opinion is worthless and results orientated as usual.  Having all that money also kept Stoke in the EPL for a decade and never finished in the bottom 6 until the season they went down.   Silly to balance your argument with those facts though wouldn't it?  Stick to ticket touting mythical rugby union tickets.

"Nobody cares what you think, but i'll reply anyway" lol

With the parachute payments ending and financial fair play rules looking a potential issue, surely it's not as simple as this. If we can't shift some high earning players relatively soon then there's not financial freedom for the new manager.

that is a very valid point tbf

https://mobile.twitter.com/RichJolly/status/1191474336856772608

Michael Walker in TheAthletic calling it a done deal for Michael O’Neill.

Apparently he’ll be at game this weekend in stands, then manage NI in last two qualifiers and then sign on at Stoke.

Anotther huge gamble by Stoke on a manager with zero club/championship experience. 

Seems a decent manager, the problem is the shower of shit he has to put on the pitch every saturday.

Fingers crossed for him!

fully deserved been offered some derisory club offers despite his fantastic performances with NI.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/50330200

Says he is earniing £750k a year at NI.   That's a big salary for such a tiny footballing nation.  Didn't think he would be earning anywhere close to that.

Agree with this. Incredible salary for a team that can never win anything. Might as well pay 100k to a fan to pick the team.

Bit like Arsenal then......... ;whistle; ;whistle; ;whistle;

Things must be really bad at Stoke if they think O’Neill is a good appointment. More unattractive football in Stoke. No wonder Stoke fans aren’t bothering to turn up.

Haha true, but for the record I meant NI rather than Stoke :-)

lolrron!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi to all Stokies.

BBC repeated ‘Marvellous’ last night. The story of Nello.

Worth a watch if you haven’t seen it before.

Roth watching if you’re not a Stoke fan too. True feelgood stuff.

Great story , gives you laughs and tears. Loved it.

Oh fantastic I want to see it again. I played for Neil's football team at Keele Uni. So many funny stories. Toby Jones did an amazing job and I loved the scenes that Neil was in too.

He had a testimonal game when I was there, reffed by Uriah Rennie. Kevin Keegan sent him a letter to say he couldn't make it. He was England manager at the time I think? But there were loads of Stoke legends playing.

Keegan was good at that stuff. My mate is a massive Man City fan and a big Championship Manager player who took City through the leagues on a regular basis. When he got married he got a card from Keegan wishing him and his wife all the best, signed ‘Kevin Keegan, the real Manchester City Manager‘

Tell us more about playing for Neil Baldwin FC...

I will write some when I have more time. But one quick one was that there was an away game which I didn't go to. A friend of mine was helping Neil organise things. They had a mini bus which might have been hired but possibly borrowed but it quickly became apparent that the tank was empty and it was a fair old drive. Neil as always had no money, so my mate paid for a full tank of petrol, which was probably not an inconsequential amount for a student.

A while later I asked if Neil had paid him back. "Not exactly" was the reply. He had got so tired of asking Neil for the money and Neil had such a disarming was of persuading people - that he had accepted Neil's offer to be paid back the value of the petrol in................. Circus Tickets.

Finally turn our reverse pulis stats possession wise into goals and a win today. 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-9277933/Stoke-City-confirm-Ryan-Shawcross-departure-David-Beckhams-Inter-Miami-imminent.html

The final link to the Pulis decade moves on.   Amazing 14 years for RS.   

+1

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/32770765

Hard to believe that happened less than 6 years ago.  Think the 2012 3-1 lolapool boxing day game was even more impressive than the 6-1 because that was the end of the season.

Looks like the Racing world are paying tribute today.....

2.40 (Haydock) Potters Legend &
5.08 (Wincanton ) Shaw's Cross 

;)

A few years ago one of the Stoke academy coaches passed away suddenly from cancer, our sons had been friends since primary school. Hughes and most of the academy came to the funeral as well as Shawcross. I'm sure Ryan could have made his excuses but he made the trip over to Leicester, paid his respects and had a word for anyone at the wake.

A class act.

Swansea City 1 Stoke City 3


And Stoke now sit 2nd, with 7 points from 3 games.

If only we had some Stoke fans here to re-ignite the thread they might be able to tell us if it can last. What chance we will see them back in the EPL with the big teams like Liverpool, Man City, Man U & Brentford?




(https://i.imgur.com/IRKcHY7.jpg)

Easy home win on Saturday against Forest to go to 10 points from 4.   The true acid test is the following weekend away at Fulham.   Probably best to reassess then.

I stuck a couple of free  £10 bets I had on my account on The Mighty Stoke @ 25/1 e/w (paying 4 places) c/o Sky Bet at the start of the season.

Will be a good season sweat. Hopefully, we will be there or there abouts after Xmas, and will be a squad feared among the League. Injuries hopefully will not play a part this season too.

Feel free to sing along;




He’s Norwegian
He came to Stoke for no reason
We’re going up this season
We’ve got Ostegaard


(Copyright tonyp142)

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9JZWhjQDvc

Why have I only just seen this. I lived a mile walk from the Victoria ground until I was 19. I first went to a match circa 1964/5 when, to be honest as a 6/7 year old I was more interested in the pop and sugar buns.

In the 70/71 and 71/72 seasons where we were knocked out by Arsenal both years. I had a ticket acquired by my father for the 71 semi final at Hillsborough. I was 12 years old and went there on the train on my own (what were my parents thinking) as non of my friends had tickets. When I arrived at the ground and went in I realised my ticket was for the Arsenal end, pretty scary I can tell you. I tucked my scarf away and kept schtum. We were 2-1 up and I was making my way out through the crowd, thinking about Wembley when I got lifted off my feet by the crowd. Arsenal had a penalty which Peter Story tucked away taking us, shell shocked, off to a replay which we lost.

During this part of our history Stoke were a team to be reckoned with holding our own with the elite of English football. Teams littered with the superstars too numerous to name but those knowledgeable of the era will remember them.

The following year we got to Wembley for the final of the League cup. I spent the days prior painting small plastic boots red and white. With a red and white hat and a silk scarf on one wrist and a woollen one on the other I was off to London with a friend and his family. I was 13 going on 14 and had a day to remember. Underdogs against the glory boys of Chelsea we came out winners, what a day. I went to the ground for another season or so until I started playing football in the adult leagues.

I met Joo 26 years ago and started going back to the odd matches, occasionally taking my kids. Of course the Victoria ground had closed and we had moved to our new home at the Brit. After 10 fabulous years in the Premiership we find ourselves back a division below.  Joo and her Dad are still season ticket holders. I opted not to join them because I was enjoying my Saturdays playing poker. After a few shocking seasons of late we now seem to be building a squad capable of challenging in the Championship.

Come on the mighty Potters.