Stoke City FC

[arbboy]

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.

[TightEnd]

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. 

[dino1980]

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.

[baldock92]

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

[TightEnd]

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!

[baldock92]

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.

[TightEnd]

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

[arbboy]

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.

[baldock92]

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

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?

[TightEnd]

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

[baldock92]

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?

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?

[baldock92]

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

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 *****

[arbboy]

Hughes out!  Bring back TP.

[baldock92]

Hughes out!  Bring back TP.

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

[arbboy]

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?