Stoke City FC

[DungBeetle]

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.

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.

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.

Filbert Street was awesome.

[horseplayer]

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

massive agreement with this

[arbboy]

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.

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.

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.

Filbert Street was awesome.

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

[redarmi]

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

[arbboy]

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

massive agreement with this

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

[DungBeetle]

Another great old grounds video

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

[Longines]

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.

[baldock92]

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...

[baldock92]

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.

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.

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.

Filbert Street was awesome.

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

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.

[Knottikay]

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!

[bergeroo]

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

[baldock92]

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?

[arbboy]

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

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.

[baldock92]

This is why he should have played more:

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

[bergeroo]

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?