Stoke City FC

The day that in your editors opinion changed the recent history of stoke city football club, the potters were heading for the trap door from the championship after achieving promotion the season before with a play off final win at cardiff against brentford. Gudjon thordasson had been sacked. steve cotterill had defected to sunderland and tony pulis was introduced as the gaffer in november 2002. The potters were having a poor season come february, home defeats against grimsby town, millwall and coventry added to the win one lose four culture at the club. Heavy away defeats at rotherham, walsall and portsmouth came in quick succession at the turn of the year and stoke were up shit creek. Ive blown bigger budgets in amsterdam compared to what pulis had at the time and he found himself stuck with a fair few players who were it would be fair to say not his cup of tea. We travelled to nottingham forest on 22/02/03 in pretty bad shape, marlon harewood inspired forest to a 6-0 victory, scoring four goals. A proper hammering and one that had us all bricking it in terms of the future. Pulis changed things after that day and made stoke difficult to beat by sticking to the 'ugly' formula and turned stoke into a defensive rock. 15 games were left of the season and only 7 goals were conceded, the lads got stuck in, won games and then of course, as all stokies will know stayed up on the last day with a win over reading, ade akinbyi scoring a crucial winner. If we hadn't got stuffed at forest that day the change might never have materialised, the thrashing was a massive wake up call for Pulis and the style that followed runs through the club today in tone's second spell as manager. We would never be where we are today if it wasn't for the aftershock of the forest game and wouldn't it be ironic if the transfer merry go round delivers harewood to us in january so he can help us out again. WE ARE STOKE

Stoke v Derby  Week commencing december 1st

Yes, what a fantastic draw in the quarters of the carling cup. Not because i think it will be easy but it's the just the fact that it's derby county at home. Although my grandad and a few other family members support them i have never had any time for them whatsoever like most stokies, living in nottingham adds to the spice for me as everyone here hates them as well. Hopefully the ground will be pretty full and there should be a great atmosphere allowing for the fact that last time we played derby they only had one song, the boothen end though should keep it going. Really looking forward to this one. Good stuff.

Manchester United 5-0 Stoke City Att 75369

So it turned out to be a right royal hammering in the end, northy looks like a deluded fool with my score prediction and i am feeling the pain this morning.  It was always going to be seen as a bonus game by most and there were no positive prizes in this one.  To get beaten at old trafford is no disgrace but to get done over whilst showing such un-awareness in midfield and attack was shocking to watch. In no other game this season have i seen stoke have so much time on the ball in midfield but the way we play with the two defensive banks of four leaves us with no options and therefore we do a good impression of a team who haven't got a clue what to do with the ball going forward away from home. I and the rest of the potters faithful will be hoping that it was a collective off day with a couple of exceptions namely shawcross and griffin. To play this way away from the britannia and get positives we have got to get every ball right, every long punt up the pitch has got to reach a stoke player and he needs help from his team-mates in retaining possesion so we can push through on goal. Man utd are a special footballing side but they invited us to get into them with the way they played and we didn't respond. Writing this sits uncomfortably with me because i try and keep my blog positive and i know it was the champions of europe we lost to but there is a feeling inside of me that says we could have had something there yesterday, between the 1st and 2nd goals we saw a fair bit of the ball but didn't utilise it. Oh well, we have massive games coming up against our rivals in the bottom half and now is the time to move on and support the team in what will be tough encounters against wba, hull, newcastle and fulham. I just hope tony pulis sees the need to start using some of our midfield reinforcments such as glenn whelan, tom soares and michael tonge, all positive attacking players who must be aching for a start. The supporters were again fantastic with some borderline chanting at times adding to a highly charged atmosphere in the stoke end.

 PS goals from Ronaldo(2), Carrick, Berbatov and Wellbeck.

Manchester United vs Stoke City

Yes that's right people, this is the one, well actually the home fixture on boxing day is THE ONE but this is the second one if you know what i mean. These home and away fixtures against the red devils would have been the first many stokies looked for when the list came out in june especially those who live in and around the potteries which is relatively close to manchester. There is a rivalry to be renewed, northy should imagine this rivalry is not felt by the younger generation of united fans and bandwagon jumpers but those over 30 will remember some great games between these two with a cracking atmosphere every time, plenty of players have traded places between clubs over the years with the departure from stoke of jimmy greenhoff back in the late 70's still sticking awkardly in the minds of older city fans. In fact, as an outsider if you were to listen in to a conversation in a boozer by stoke fans regarding man utd you would probably be surprised by the hatred, yes hatred that a lot of potters feel for the red half of manchester (and the blue half actually but thats another story!!). There are many reasons for this, some daft some not so daft but hatred is a strong word all the same.

The game, well no-one will give us a chance and we come up against a formidable and slick outfit who on their day will destroy any team in the world with the talent and skills at their disposal which comes as no surprise when you see a line up with the likes of berbatov, rooney, ronaldo, ferdinand, vidic and so forth but stoke are not just any team, we are special and every player must be busting a gut to get in that starting XI at old trafford. If we use our heads, keep our cool and show the determined battling qualities which are guiding us through this mighty tough season then we could come away with some form of positive result. Madness i hear you cry. No it's not. We are stoke. A below par performance will see us battered and put through the wringer but our players are becoming legends slowly but surely and northy is certain they won't let us down. Our time on the attack will be minimal so when we do it must be disciplined and precise, not aimless and sloppy. Whether or not kitson starts is a question but his duck is there to be broken. Go bost it dave.

Northys Prediction

80 odd minutes of backs to the wall, hero type stuff and a late kitson header from a higginbotham cross. 1-0 Stoke

A shout out to the catflap bolton wanderers editor mick green, he's swept the board this month, taken the lolly and fair play to the fella. He reckons he's posting so much as his boys are going down and he won't get the chance next year, you changed your mind after the win at hull mick?

That brings me to another point, 72 posts in a month is something northy will never achieve because i just ain't got the time, 50 will give me a nosebleed so all my fellow catflap editors don't need to worry about me publishing mumbo jumbo is search of the loot.

SCFC

Heres a tasty little rocker for you in honour of the prolific striker mick green. His dedication to his blog is concrete, he must be made of stone........

A great video, celebrating the spirit of 72 and other great stoke stuff. Well done to the uploader.

Stoke City 2-0 Rotherham United Att 15458

Your editor can't go the night matches as there are no bloody trains back to nottingham after 9pm and there is something bugging me.  I'd like to ask any stokies who read this and went to the game, did the club make this attendance up or what?  Nigel johnson on radio stoke seemed certain of a crowd of around 10k at kick off time and he's a damn good judge i'll tell you, there are always the late arrivals (which by the way potters fans are pretty good at this such is our love for a pint before kick off) but it didn't sound like a 15k crowd during commentary anyway. Bizarre stuff or is it just me??

The millers came with a large following and made plenty of noise, i'm sure all potters fans are with me when i say good luck to rotherham, they have overturned a big points deficit in league two and could even, northy thinks get into the top half of the table. Fair play. On to the potters and two great goals from whelan and pugh, a great save from simonsen, a clean sheet with no injuries or bookings, oh and we're in the quarter finals of the league cup. Northy's score prediction was an outlandish 3-3, that is because since i started going in 1980, especially over recent years we have been known to get knocked out of this trophy by so called inferior opposition, not now though, we have a squad who are showing great attitude and a hunger to push their way into the first XI. Players such as glenn whelan will be chomping at the bit to get onto the premier league stage, an assured display did him no harm, kitson also apparantly had his best game in a stoke shirt and had a taste of a partnership with fuller towards the end. Whether they start together at old trafford on saturday remains to be seen with big mama is nursing an injury.

We won this competion in 1972, if the draw is favourable towards us on saturday we could be on for a big day at wembley in 2009. I am definitely counting no chickens but hey, we are still in it, 2 wins away from the final, that is unless the semis are a two legged affair? then its 3 but what the hell. This is our time stokies. Gooaaarn

Sorry folks, your editor has been so busy trying to perfect my new party piece, the long throw, that i forgot the match preview for tonight. A bloody tough game where stoke will need to show respect to our opponents and have the right attitude. The quarter finals are within our reach. Go for it you potters.

Northys Prediction 3-3 (Stoke win on pens)

It would be pretty fair to say we got away with this one, a point gained for sure in what sounded like a shocking game. Constantly in the second half the names of palacios and cattermole emerged from the lips of john acres and nigel johnson on radio stoke as the potters midfield was becoming more and more battle weary. Nigel gleghorn who was doing the co-commentary mentioned twice that stoke looked tired and if that is the case then it's pretty worrying. Tony pulis has always had a fit squad but we are having to put that bit extra into games at this level and hopefully this won't take it's toll too much. Players on the fringe such as tonge, soares and whelan must be chomping at the bit to get in and will do themselves no harm with a good performance in the cup on tuesday against rotherham. Big mama went off injured early on in the second and dave kitson came on to an almighty roar from the thousands of stokies massed behind the goal but failed to shine yet again. Another of those days when the route one stuff is in full effect as stoke stuttered in the final third but at the back the lads really stood up to a barrage of pressure  and a display of commitment and strength saw us through to a valuable draw. Sorensen made some superb saves and is really looking like an astute signing by pulis. The stats all went in the latic's favour with 64/36 possession and 13 shots to 2 by the potters. Stokies will mock the size of the crowd but it's nothing unusual to see these kind of attendances at the jjb, it was not too long ago when they were getting 4000 at springfield park and lets face it with all the negativity surrounding our style of play we are not exactly crowd pullers. All in all a good result but i'm sure any potter who was in that away end will tell you that it was a poor display attacking wise and finally, to those fans who travelled, you were first class again, as always.

A Rallying Cry to the potters for todays game from the greatest live band in the world. And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead. Let the power of the two drummers be the beat as the lads come marching out at the jjb. Give it everything stoke. Make us even prouder. Gooaarn