Stoke City FC

This was a classic rendition by the stokies at ewood park before christmas. Hear that guy with the great voice, that was me, a great away day even thought the result was a bag o' shite.

Blackburn Rovers 3-0 Stoke City Att23004

Bah humbug, well i bloody well hope that the presents under the tree aren't as ungrateful and uninspiring as the festive offering from the potters yesterday. A game in which we started in a fairly promising way became nothing in a spell of madness which saw us ship three goals, 25 minutes gone, three down with the attacking prowess of a dead dog. We had a fair amount of possession in the first half and at the close of the second but no-one was clinical enough to take advantage. Blackburn were no great shakes but once the first goal came early the big sam roadshow started rolling and stoke capitulated. The atmosphere from the home support was embarrasing really, even with the scoreline so one sided the 4700 stoke faithful kept filling the air with song, the team need to start showing some passion again and to step it up quality wise, there is a fair chance that three or four are not good enough for the premier league and hopefully will be shipped out come january. We have quality players returning from injury and they need to bring their shit to the table otherwise we are screwed, going down. The transfer window is massive, please let's bring in three or four top players who can improve us and provide a good shot of quality and guile. This blog isn't about pointing blame, naming individuals and criticising tony pulis. It's all about getting behind the lads and listening to good tunes but patience can wear thin and a massive improvement is needed, our performances have been getting worse over the last five games and if we are not careful we could be saying ' ay up' to the bottom three soon. Well done rovers but SORT IT STOKE!!

These are 11 quality away games from the time when northy was a regular in the boothen and at away fixtures.

1. Wolves 1-4 Stoke City (October '95)
2. Leicester 2-3 Stoke City (August '95)
3. West Brom 1-2 Stoke City (Jan '93)
4. Nottingham Forest 2-3 Stoke City (Sept '93)
5. Preston NE 3-4 Stoke City (August '98)
6. Brentford 0-4 Stoke City (March '91)
7. Oldham 0-1 Stoke City (April '00)
8. Wycombe 0-4 Stoke City (Nov '99)
9. Mansfield 0-4 Stoke City (Sept '92)
10. Liverpool 2-2 Stoke City (Sept '91)
11. Reading 3-4 Stoke City (March '92)

In the cup 1995. A night match. We held chelsea to a draw at our place then beat them down there. Look at the stoke fans when it goes in. You can spot famous stokie London Ted going mental in the middle.

Here is a list of ten of the most memorable grounds for stoke to visit. This is pre ID card when we used to take enormous followings especially in the 90's.

1. Wolverhampton Wanderers
2. West Bromwich Albion
3. Preston North End
4. Burnley
5. Nottingham Forest
6. Stockport County
7. Birmingham City
8. Sheffield Wednesday
9. Wigan Athletic
10. Port Vale
11. Bristol City

This is no way a definitve collection but classic away days each one of them.

Any game against wolves gets northys heart in a fizz, this editors hometown was wolverhampton for 10 odd years and its a special fixture with the relatively close proximity of the towns. A staffordshire derby.  Well, part of wolverhampton is in staffs , the posh part. The year was 1995 and  3000 stoke came to town to bolster a massive crowd of around 28000.  The atmosphere was fantastic, each set of support giving it the big 'un, some of it pretty borderline too. Stoke took a two goal lead through nigel gleghorn and graham potter, then we had a goal disallowed, ridiculous decision as two wolves players smashed into each other, the goalie went off to be replaced by dean richards. Wolves pulled a penalty back then stoke ran riot again with goals from ray wallace and martin carruthers. The stoke end was buzzing that day and it wasn't just the fresh air.  Heavy fighting around the ground and in the town added a touch of paranoia to proceedings. Great game. Always good to beat the wolves.

Formed 1863, founder members, went bust, re-emerged. Matthews, Steele, Franklin, Matthews again. Waddington era, promotion, League Cup winners '72. Viollett, Setters, Dobing, Hudson, Ritchie, Greenhoff, Conroy, cracking football, roof blows off stand, downhill slide, 17 points, bye bye top flight. Mills, Ball, the Macari years, Divison Two trophy. Autoglass, play-off despair, Parker, serious aggro, Icelandic years, away cards, Coates and Pulis back in. Investment, PROMOTION. THE FUTURE…