Stoke City FC

Well folks thanks again for reading this page during the season and i hope you are all as proud to be a potter as i am. The lads have given everything for the cause this season and my congratulations got to everybody concerned. The coming campaign will be even tougher with the bar of expectation raised a notch or two, have we massively over-achieved or has everyone outside of the club underestimated us big time. A good summer in the transfer market could really see the potters with a seriously fine squad providing we keep the backbone of the team together. Players like shawcross, faye, fuller, lawrence, etherington, beattie, sorensen and whelan are providing a real spine to the team and with quality additions surely the only way is up. But like i have been saying all season arrogance is a dirty trait to possess and we as stokies should approach the next season no different to the one we have just experienced, the fight and the fire which has burned inside our bellies must never die. WE'LL BE WITH YOU.

Peace and love to all the readers of the stoke city fc catflap blog page. IGGY bless you all.

I'm sure none of you will ever forget the hullaballoo and verbal diahorrea that followed the potter's 2-1 victory over the gunners at the britannia. Thugs and cowards screamed the headlines, men singled out for showing too much passion and desire for the shirt they wear. Forward the clock and we sit pretty in mid table can look back on such events as turning points, when the stoke players turned in to men and started to show that we had the stomach for the almighty scrap that is survival. The emirates is always going to be tough place to go but with the potters in feelgood mode i suspect that pulis and the boys would like to show people that we can play and i'm expecting and hoping for a decent performance from stoke to see the season out. Whatever happens i've never been prouder to be a city fan.

Northy's Prediction

1-0 Stoke

May i just start this piece by thanking everyone who has read these ramblings since august last year. Tomorrow is my final day as SCFC catflap editor and i have really enjoyed the whole deal and i'd like to thank a few people. Homzy from teamtalk.com, rebellious jukebox (oatcake poster), superstokiesi (wolvo potter) and my dad. Big shout out to you fella's and all the others from the oatcake and beyond who have listened and read. Last saturday was a great day up the brit, a poor first half but a different second, on the pitch and off it. As the celebrations reached a crescendo i turned and looked around me at the packed stands full of smiling happy stokies, it was the way it was always meant to be at this stadium not the library style conditions we endured in the early years of the new ground. Everyone connected with stoke city fc have raised the bar this season, to maintain the standards the club must have a good summer in the transfer market, the signs for me are good, the image of the club is changing and the way we have gone about this season will do us no harm in the long run. We have risen from the ashes folks. We all must keep the fire inside our bellies and keep the inferno roaring on. Well done boys. We love you city.

Ay up folks, i haven't been posting much up lately and i'm afraid to say when the monthly prize money went down the drain so has my enthusiasm to write on a regular basis. Anyway we all know my wagers have been absolute stinkers so far this season, in fact only ONCE have i brought home the bacon in 2008/09. This momentus event was earlier in the campaign when i slapped a five quid double on stoke to beat arsenal and spurs to beat liverpool. We all know that the 'brutal thuggery' of the potters washed aside wenger's wimps and a couple of late goals saw a win for spurs at white hart lane. The fixtures are reversed for the final games of the season so get on it again i say. I'm going to whop a massive tenner (massive stakes for northy i might add) on the double tommorow.

Stoke to stick one up the arse 6/1

Spurs to lick liverpool at anfield 4/1

Pays £350 at coral. Get on it folks. THIS IS THE ONE

It seems i've been busted by the you tube police with the stoke vs hull video but i'm positive you have watched the goals many times over, what a win at hull. The best of the season in my opinion, if only for the reason that we finally shut everybody up, closed the door. The amount of hype surrounding hull was reaching 'beatlemania' proportions in the early stages of the season, understandable to a certain degree after the whirlwind start, unfortunately the players and manager started to believe it and it all went downhill from there. To come through and seal our survival against tango man's boys was pretty special and two great goals settled proceedings. Saying all this i would rather see hull stay up at the expense of a more established premiership club so hope they manage to pull a result or two out the bag. I love the way stoke have fought against adversity this season, the fact that we have been scrapping so hard to defend the name of our great football club against the sad and misguided words of washed out players and pundits, cheap shot radio stations and bookies, all looking for the headline. Can't wait to get up the britannia on saturday and give back everything stoke city have given to me this season. We have fought all the way, the players have bled for the red and white shirt, we have found new heroes and seen our own emerge from the ashes to stoke the red and white fire which is burning brighter than it has for a long long time. WE LOVE YOU

I'm skint this week so the £2 bet has turned into a 50p one. I've gone for the ridiculous task of predicting all todays premiership results so i might as well of spent the 50p on some sweets for northy junior. You never know though folks so get down coral and whack this bet on. The height of stupidity.

Wins for Blackburn, Bolton, Stoke, West brom

Draws at Everton, Fulham and West ham

Pays well over 600 quid off your 50p stake. GOOOOAAARN

Got to win this one boys. They might need it more than us but if our only two away victories of the season are at wba and hull then northy will be a very happy man indeed.

Hull City 0-1 Stoke City

Well folks, today's fixture is one every stokie wants to win. The visit to hull city sees us face the golden boys of the first half of the season. A cracking run by the tigers should have been the catalyst for a great season but the ego's took over and a mighty collapse ensued. If you could write a book of quotes from the hull camp over the season it would make hilarious reading. All the premmature talk of going for europe coupled with the arse licking off the press and other supporters alike has really put a spanner in the works for brown's men. Give me the down to earth and sensible approach of tony pulis anyday. Even this week george boateng has claimed that at least they won't have to face '650' long throws at the britannia. If his tongue was in his cheek then it would have been midly amusing. Get up for this today boys and ram the words of fools down their throats and edge these buffoons closer to the drop. GET IN 'EM STOKE

The 1-0 home loss to the hammers on saturday thankfully didn't do us much damage as far as the table is concerned with other results certainly going in our favour. Hopefully the defeat won't hurt stoke mentally and the players tired minds and bodies can somehow find that extra 10% and we can finish the season on a flourish rather than a downer. The goal which beat stoke was a cracker from tristan but lack of sharpness in the penalty area cost stoke really and the ref had a bit of a stinker too. The coming weekend sees all the bottom half playing each other and if stoke can do the business at hull then we could be looking at a seriously respectable 12-13th place finish which would be nothing short of remarkable. After hull(a) we have wigan(h) and arsenal(a). If we turn hull over then look at the wigan game as a chance to get 3 points that would put us on 45 and a mid table finish. If we manage to get something from the emirates then it could be even more. Give it your all boys, get the result at the kc stadium, take the momentum into the wigan game and GET IN!!

GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAARN STOKE

Northys Prediction 2-1 Stoke

Four games left, we still need points to be sure of avoiding the dreaded drop and tomorrows home fixture with west ham united brings a chance to seal it. The hammers are having a decent season, when zola first arrived they seemed unsteady but they have picked it up and have sat comfortably in the top half for quite a while. Good side but one we can beat if everyone is firing on all cylinders. Hopefully pulis has reminded the boys that things aren't done and dusted yet and we still have plenty of 'aaard work to do. The fixture at upton park over the festive period will be remembered for the thing that i promised never to mention again on here and we lost the game 2-1 after being in a good position at 1-0 up. Personally this game lights a spark in my mind and the memories burn hard. 1982/83 season we beat west ham 5-2 at the victoria, i was there with my dad and saw a fantastic performance from mark chamberlain on the wing for the potters, it was also the first time i had ever seen football aggro live in the flesh. Stoke had a great side in the those days and were a pleasure to watch. Ooh georgie berry..... Take them on tomorrow stoke. Get in 'em.

Perennial piss taking bookie 'paddy power' who annoyingly paid out on stoke's relegation after the first game of the season decided to speak to the people of stoke on trent. Check it out.....

http://www.whydelilah.co.uk/news/24_Apr_2009/Paddy+Power+apologies+to+Stoke+over+%E2%80%98you%E2%80%99re+down%E2%80%99+jibe.html

Well folks, we are nearing the last month of my tenure as editor of catflap's stoke city blog so the idea is to crush all contenders with some razor sharp betting tips. In other words more crap acca's from a small time gambler who never wins owt. You just never know though and stranger things have happened so here are todays stinkers.

Go for...

The draw - Wba vs Sunderland 9/4

The draw - Coventry vs Watford 11/5

Plymouth to come good at QPR 11/5

Leeds to hurt Hartlepool 8/5

This lot will pay out £173 off a £2 stake at coral's.  Get stuck in it people.

Here we are down to the last five games of this first crack at the premiership, the lads have a tough encounter today down at craven cottage against a fulham side who have really 'pushed on' under roy hodgson, they had a thrilling end to the season last time around, looking dead and buried they won their last few games and stayed up. Hodgson has put together a decent side and they find themselves sitting in the top half. After viewing the game against them at the brit earlier in the season i couldn't help feeling that they were one of the more organised sides we had faced and a tough nut to crack. The potters have injury problems with beattie, higgy, wilko and a few others missing the trip so the fringe players will come in and give it a crack. Stoke long ago sold out the allocation of tickets and the 'neutral zone' at the ground should be full of potters fans as well. Very rare that i am pessimistic on this page but for some reason i can't see us getting much today but i would never back us to lose so.....

Northy's Prediction 0-0

Stoke 1-0 Blackburn Att27500

A fantastic victory for the potters, it's been great to be able to say that of late, what a run in we are having. Every player giving their all and more, the fans just keep giving and giving too, the energy created around the britannia stadium is gaining recognition far and wide and a club once notorious for scrapping and mayhem are now climbing to the top of a different tree. Even the pundits are getting in on the act, paul merson on sky sports news saying that he had never seen a team work so hard for each other. Liam lawrence breaking the tension of the game with the only goal, it's great to see liam starting to fire on all cylinders at such a crucial stage of the season. Blackburn will have enough to escape the mire i'm sure, as for stoke do we dare to have a go and see how far up the table we can finish, now is the right time of the season to be talking about this, when you are on a run leading into the final straight, why not talk of a top half finish, we have spent all season worrying about relegation and now find ourselves nudging at the top half. It's not arrogance it's looking at the reality of a team whose players are all fit as a fiddle and hungry to prove we are good enough to seriously compete in this league and with five games to go we are in the middle of the table looking up. The finest sight for me on saturday was the table which showed us (for 24 hours at least) above moneybags man city with the shady sheik at the helm. I have dubbed them the devil this season for splashing around ridiculous money and paying crazy wages, a careless strategy when you don't have the tradition and infastructure of the more established clubs at the top. Players strolling round the pitch earning more than the average guy earns in years, seemingly only giving 75% for the shirt. Anyway folks, i really hope we go at it for the rest of the season and as the headline suggests let's 'chase the devil.....

Friend of this page and passionate stokie mark holmes did a top interview with tony pulis this week, you can find it here http://www.teamtalk.com/football/story/0,16368,15228_5195376,00.html. The words that the gaffer spoke answered a lot of questions for me and the honesty is there to be admired. Well done to homzy, he's in on the act at the britannia this season and has done some interesting insights. Here's to survival mate.

Hold your horses people and let's not all go running down the bookies at once. Yep that's right the £2 bet is here, ready to smash everything in it's sight and turn us all into rich men. Ha ha i'm bloody hoping. My selections have stunk so far but today the aroma turns into a sweet one which we all want to taste. Get your couple of quid on this ridiculous acca.

Boro v Hull Draw

Spurs v WHU Draw

Arsenal to beat Wigan

Cardiff to do Palace

Birmingham to slap Charlton

Celtic to turn over Hearts

142/1 folks. Dig in.

The observation- Porto have a player by the name of hulk on the pitch against man utd in the european cup tonight. What a cool name, it's enough to make you green.

The thought- With hull city seemingly fallen on their backsides of late i wonder whether it's down to the serious amount of rimming they were getting from the media and others when they stormed into action at the start of the season. I even heard it said ' at least hull are showing some fight' during a conversation regarding the survival prospects of the potters. Hmmm. I want hull to stay up the same as i wanted albion to stay up before mowbray turned in to a madman frothing at the mouth with cock and bull. Phil brown is a guy i just can't get to like but thats because i'm a pulis man, he dosen't need a fake tan to stand up tall with the media. Pulis is pulis. It just proves how quick the media are to cream over flash in the pan stuff, we are all in the same fight this season, stoke, wba and hull that is, to survive. It was always going to be that way.

The plea- Is for all stoke supporters to keep our heads, we are not safe yet and won't be for me until it's mathematically impossible for us to go down. It's getting closer and we can taste it. But let's not accept complacency amongst us, thinking it's going to be easy, the thunder and the fire in the belly need to rage harder than ever from supporters and players alike. Arrogance destroyed hull city's season, they believed their own hype and became victim's of their own success, the players talked uefa cup but the reality was always a relegation battle. Stoke don't do arrogant, the people of the city deserve a premiership team and humility and groundedness will see it through. GOOOOOAAARN STOKE

The most popular column this side of dear deidrie is back with four meaty selections that won't let us down. Stick your couple of quid on this fourfold.

Stoke to bash the Baggies

Bristol city to pummel PNE

Reading to clatter Coventry

Burnley to dick Derby (Jesus i hate writing that horrible name on here!!)

£75 return at coral's.

Two hours to kick off in this enormous game for both sides, beauty versus the beast, the lords against the tatters, my god you would think it was stoke who were stranded at the bottom of the table. All i hear is west brom deserve this and that for their approach to the game, well hear this...BOLLOCKS TO YA. Get at 'em stoke, whichever way the goals come just go and bloody get them and bring the points back to the potteries. Please.

Northy's Prediction 2-1 Stoke

Well folks the abuse has been coming thick and fast lately from all corners of the media. TalkShite radio presenter jimmy quinn compared us with a pub team and is sticking the pins in the voodoo potter as we speak praying for relegation for the reds. He thinks we don't belong in this league and the majority of presenters on that excuse for a radio station think the same and aim childish and generally dumb ass comments at the club. There was a fella in the guardian who wrote a pretty nasty review of the 'boro game and also questioned the intelligence of ryan shawcross, spitting bile, hope it chokes ya walrus face. Most of the people who are saying these things had us down as 100% dead certs for relegation and would have expected us to be dead and buried by now, they didn't bank on the fire that burns in the bellies of players and supporters, this blaze has now turned into a raging inferno so expect the explosion of passion from stokies to get louder over the coming weeks. We all want the same thing, survival. The detractors are saying that other clubs deserve to stay in this league because of the style of football they try to play, you know the tippy tappy dot to dot stuff that's going to get the baggies relegated. Stoke are capable of playing some fantastic stuff and we can pass it about but only when the time is right, we need to play to the strengths of the players that we have got and we do that, our main assets are being strong, organised and commited and slowly we will see the players coming in who can add dimensions and put the mix in the blender for a rather wonderful sauce. Matthew etherington is a perfect example, a ball player but also a hard worker. The perfect stoke combination.

Anyway fools listen up. Screw the lot of you. WE ARE STOKE AND .........

YOU LOVE US

Every time i have been to a stoke game at home since the early 90's i have drunk in this boozer pre and post match, never been in any other pub before a game, it would feel too wierd now. You can always tell when the potters are on the up because the place is rammed, one recalls certain times when you could have got a beer pretty quick and the atmosphere was fairly quiet before games but there was never much to be cheery about in certain times gone by. It's funny, the crowd in the large room has slightly changed over the years but the smaller bar at the front still has mainly the same old faces in there, all getting misty eyed over greenhoff and hudson. The place adds to the occasion when i make that trip from nottingham to stoke on trent, off the train then a quick 15 minute walk and your'e supping ale with all your fellow potters, they  alsorun coaches up to the ground so your'e all in folks, bang on. Hats off to ken and his family who run the place. A special boozer with some great memories to be had. WE ARE STOKE

Well they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder and three points and a clean sheet ain't half good looking to me. The game was pretty poor fare from an attacking point of view, middlesborough played pretty patterns on the pitch with no consequence, a bit like our esteemed friends west brazil albion, saying that they seemed to have decent players, especially o'neill and tuncay, they just lack a cutting edge in around the goal which is why they fear relegation. Unbelievable really that afonso alves hasn't set the premiership alight, he was hammering in the goals in the dutch league but maybe that says something about the quality in the flatlands nowadays. Their fans were behind them but for how much longer you ask. Good luck to them anyway. Stoke didn't put too much together in an offensive manner especially in the first half but were firm and organised when it came to defending the goal, in the second we tried to get forward a bit more with etherington adding pace to the left but it was always going to take a delap throw to unlock the door and shawcross duly obliged, heading in his third in three games. Ryan is looking rock solid at the moment and is constantly getting better, what a player the club has on it's hands. Well done pulis. We are staying up this season to annoy the shit out of all you fools who had us down as relegation cannon fodder, to ram the words of idiots like the talk sport presenters durham and wright down their big dribbling traps. On saturday i saw a performance by a team who played nowhere near the limit of their own potential but it was a team who ground out the three points by staying firm and resolute against pressure, it was a team learning about the premiership and learning fast.

Anyone who reads this column will already know that my tips can't be trusted and we are only 2 weeks in, saying that over on the bolton page greeny's wait for a win is getting longer by the minute so let's sock it to him this week with this foursome that pays 21/1.  I'm going to break a habit of a lifetime and include my own boys in the bet such are the positive vibes surrounding me tonight. Whack £2 on these four and wait to collect.

The Potters, Reading at Palace (with kitson sure to score), MK Dons at Yeovil and Burton at Eastbourne.

'Boro are a team that can pull off the occasional performance and have looked a decent side at times but they can also be very average which is why they find themselves below stoke in the table. It's up to the potters to put the application on the game and to blow them out of sight with our aggressive combination of power and passion. Get at them from the off and make the most of our possession and i think we can do this.

2-0 Stoke

The season now has a proper 'countdown' feel to it as the games remaining have reached single figures and the end slowly creeps up on us. We all know what a huge game the potters face tomorrow at the brit against the 'smoggies' of middlesborough and the importance of this fixture is not lost on anyone, the first in a series of games that the lads should be looking at winning, if we do come out with the three points it will give us that extra shot of determinaton and desire that is going to be so crucial in the run in. Mentally, some of these games are bound to be tough and sometimes will balance on the finest of margins. The players and management need to be ready for everything, in body and in mind.  Games like tomorrow and the fixtures away at west brom and hull, the home games with newcastle and blackburn, all these look like they could be tight and frustrating affairs which much at stake to the loser. It's going to be rough and it's going to be tough. We as fans must stand up shoulder to shoulder with the giants of our mighty football club and as a unit we prosper and grow. Pulis will be able to pick his strongest side against 'boro so let's make it a cauldron of noise and let's blast out of the darkness that is the premier league dropzone. GOOOOAAAARN STOKE

You may have noticed my absence from this page since friday and then again you may have not. These are the key points to summarise things.

1. The potters go down 3-1 at goodison due to a pretty blunt first half performance and a couple of howlers from sorensen. Stoke fought back in the second and we could have snatched a draw only to concede at the death, a real kick in the teeth but a loss at everton is no disgrace and it's all about where we go from here. We have showed enough in spells lately to suggest the answer is staying in the premier. There is no understating the importance of the 'boro game on saturday, lose it and we are second bottom with eight to play, win it and we push up on the pack above and the confidence will be rolling at a massive stage of the season.

2. Kiston scored for reading last night as we all knew he would. I'm still split on this and my immediate thought was that he is a lazy southener who could have tried much harder at stoke and almost engineered a move with a poor attitude and poor play. Who knows and who bloody cares right now, there are more important things at hand. Survival

3. Something's going down at catflap, it's a proper conundrum but i will keep blogging and spreading the gospel of our mighty football club until told otherwise. Paid or not. It's in the blood and i owe it to my loyal band of followers. All 3 of ya. Peace

After the debacle of the midweek acca, i'm going to try and do greeny good and proper with a heavy whammy of selections that rack in at a massive 36/1. Get on the draws hull vs newcastle and man utd vs liverpool, couple these with preston and swansea to win their home games against coventry and palace, a nice four fold, a bit risky but could still pull in.

The answer to the question above will be the key to the potters getting any kind of success at goodison park tomorrow. If the form continues from the past few games then we could grab something, the toffeemen are a bloody good side and full of industry and hard work, some skillful players to boot and you have a top six team. The game earlier in the season when they beat us 3-2 at home still sticks in the throat and we should have had at least a point that day. This is an away game , the kind we haven't won all season, i'd like to think it was nailed on that we get at least one victory on the road before the season ends, will it come against everton? The won't of the above headline is in regard to the other side of our game, the nervous angle which seems to shackle us deep inside our own half and invites pressure. Hopefully we have seen the back of that from now on, the second half show at villa needs to be produced over 90 minutes. A fully fit potters squad seem raring to go and well up for the challenge ahead. Etherington returns from his ban and will no doubt be looking to pay the fans back for his silliness at sunderland and subsequent red card. The potters faithful will ring out loud and very proud over goodison, the team needs them and vica versa. We are family and we are staying up. Its gonna be a reet old tough nut to crack but hopefully beattie can set us on our way. Goooaaaarn Stoke

Northy's Prediction 2-1 Stoke

A couple of newsworthy items from yesterday, firstly the premier of the '£2 bet' column here on the potters page of catflap went down, sunk without a trace, all my selections ending up being draws. The amount of games ending up even nowadays hasn't escaped my attention and a change of tact is in order for the weekend's hot tips. The championship is again a nightmare for acca fans and really needs to be avoided but we'll see. Over on the bolton page greeny has lost the loot again but will the man come good at the weekend. Exciting stuff. Secondly we woke up to the news that dave kitson had returned to reading on loan for the remainder of the season. The news wasn't exactly a bolt from the blue, his ommision from the last two senior squads coupled with the fact that he didn't make the reserves against the baggies spoke volumes. It looked an exciting signing back in the summer, kitson seemed raring to go and was looking forward to being the first of a string of big name signings at the club, the transfer market was fairly unkind to stoke though and we found it hard to bring in all the top targets, hence the deadline day captures of tonge and soares. It hasn't worked out, an injury didn't help and a dis-interested looking dave kitson has been moping around the brit ever since. It's a shame and a bloody expensive one at that although a majority of the money laid out should be recouped when he is sold on in the summer. 16 games, no goals and you can never accuse the stokies of not backing the fella, many times has he been roared onto the pitch during this barren spell. He'll no doubt whack a load of goals in for the royals and help them gain promotion back to the premier, good luck to the lad. A frustating episode all in all, this editor was convinced he was gonna bang 'em in but for a variety of reasons he hasn't. Love to have seen his face the first time pulis told him to 'get on the end of one of rory's throws', i'll bet it was a picture. 

A new feature here catflappers, ripped right from the pages of the bolton wanderers blog. I've been getting more and more amused reading greeny's weekly betting column and his hilarious attempts at winning some dough so have decided to basically copy him and launch my own pathetic attempt at winning some cash. As you can see the stake is a couple of quid so i'll always be looking for a touch of value. In the unlikely event of me actually bringing in any bacon the money will go to the NVC charity....Northy's Vinyl Collection.

So here goes. Juve v Chelsea 9/5  Barnsley v Birmingham 13/10  Wolves 4/6 v Ipswich and the long shot Walsall v Crewe 11/5.

£2 Four fold

You know how things go down on these pages now, every momentus event is coupled with a quality tune because without football there is no rock 'n' roll and vica versa.

The Ace Of Spades

Man, i'm proud to be stoke, bursting with red and white passion and ready to annoy to get the message across, i'm gonna get in your face and hypnotize you, make you believe that SCFC is the way and there is no other, it's been done before, lads who thought football was basically a load of shite now standing in the boothen end and follow every kick and piece of news on the net and radio. I started going in the 79/80 season with my dad who had in turn been a regular at the victoria ground from the 60's onwards. I'll always be jealous but proud of my old man, after all he got to see the stoke legends in action, players like hudson, greenhoff, conroy, matthews and banks. A cheadle lad originally, his faith and love for the potters has never gone away and it never will. That's the thing supporting stoke, it's no fly by night affection that rolls away when times are hard, not for the proper stokie anyway, the one who bleeds red and white, the one who if of a certain age trudged around the lower reaches of the football league watching some hellish and uninspiring football. For myself, moving away from the potteries area at a young age left me with a massive task, to spread the gospel in places where folk showed little interest in the potters and treated the club with scorn. I had to suffer the shock and awe style battery on the senses that was the 84/85 season in a school full of liverpool lovers or followers of the local team's like villa and wolves, the verbal abuse i started to get around this time hardened me up for the task ahead. Years and years i have spent preaching to the un-convertable, living in different cities, wolverhampton and now nottingham. I love being stoke, love people to know i'm stoke and bloody love talking about stoke until i'm red and white in the face. I'm so proud of what the boys have achieved over this last couple of years and for us to be right in the mix to stay up as we speak says everything about the work put in at the club. Oh and while i'm at it i bloody love catflap for giving me the opportunity to say all this outloud, to an audience. GOD DAMN IT I LOVE YOU STOKE CITY

Stoke City 2-0 Bolton Wanderers Att 26319

A massive win for the mighty reds on wednesday night, it was definitely a case of not underestimating bolton wanderers and the boys were solid and professional in claiming the victory. Sorensen was in top form when called upon and how good does it look to see the names of beattie and fuller together on the scoresheet. Clean sheets are going to be a huge bonus in the battle to stay up and we could do with getting that goal difference down. Bolton came and had a go as you would expect them to but the potters stayed firm and basically set the standard for the rest of the season. Every game must be approached with the same attitude, if we do this we stay up, simple as that. The 10 games which are left see us face 'boro, newcastle, blackburn, wigan and west ham at home with brazil, hull, fulham, arsenal and everton away. Surely we can get the job done and get 4 wins out of those games. That would put us on 42 points and facing another season in the top flight. I got my ticket for the 'boro fixture today and can't bloody wait to get back in the boothen and fire up my voice. There is such a long yet short way to go yet and i just cannot see us screwing it up if we face each game is an assured and mature manner. God i hope i'm right. We'll Be With You

A huge game at the britannia tomorrow night, the visit of bolton wanderers sees us needing points to get out of the dropzone. It's alright to label it must win because in a way it is. It's important that the boys keep going the momentum that carried the potters through to the draw at villa. Many teams underestimate bolton and at their peril. I remember seeing the fixtures for the new season and seeing we were at the reebok first up and thinking that was a pretty good game to start with in terms of getting something. How wrong i was as stoke were outmuscled by a far smarter side. Looking back over the last ten years or so their record is pretty action packed. Promotion's, relegation's, play-offs and a steady run as a premier league club, i'm wary of kissing their arse here but they are the blueprint for how a club of similar size like stoke can survive and prosper in the top division. Anyway the point was, this is no easy game and is sure to be a proper tight affair. Saying all this it is a home game and we can beat anybody when the rythym is flowing, the lads need to try and play at a high tempo and keep the good vibes burning after the draw at villa. A physical battle is a dead cert, should be a good game under the floodlights and probably pissing rain. I wish mr mick green (catflap's bolton editor) and his bolton boys all the luck in the world after this one. A proper club with local fans. Get at 'em stoke.

Northy's Prediction . Hmmm. Go on then..2-1 Stoke

Boom Bang and GET IN THERE!!!!! The mass wave of emotion that swept the 3000 stokies in the away end and the thousands listening and watching all over the world was like a tidal wave coming round the corner, waking football up from it's slumber. The stoke love spreads far and wide nowadays and there are exiled people all over the world feeling every heartbeat of every game, people whose love for the potters will never diminish, no matter how far away they are. The team payed the travelling support back yesterday, there are not many sets of fans who have stuck behind their players for every minute of every match without turning on them in their time of need, the away faithful have had to put up with some bloody poor performances but have been there for the boys. We'll Be With You. With stoke playing the ever familiar defensive set up in the first half they took upon themselves a lot of pressure and nearly got to half time nils until petrov smashed in late. With fuller coming on for stoke there was a bit of bite to the team with everyone pushing up a bit but still we went two down due to a bizzare goal from carew, some say it was beautiful but it looked a bit freakish to me. Whelan came on and smacked the bar before the grand finale, shawcross crashing a header in from a beattie cross, hope, then the fuse for the emotional bomb was sparked as a sidibe shot came back to glen whelan who lashed into the bottom corner to send the stoke family into euphoria and clinch an unlikely point for the reds. Tony Pulis admirably admitted he'd got it all wrong first half so let's hope that's the last time we defend so deeply this season and let's go for it. It's a big week with the home fixture against bolton on wednesday. The lads did everyone proud and as youv'e been reading on catflap all season WE ARE STAYING UP. Here's to fighting to the death.  ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK!!!!!

A timely rallying cry from detroit's finest. The boys need to push themselves out of that relegation zone and will need to show the attributes that the motor city 5 possessed. Namely cutting edge precision with an awareness of what's happening around us. The MC5 were big enough to stand up and be counted and fight the wrongs going on around them. One of the greatest bands ever, way ahead of their time. GOOOOOAAAARN STOKE!!!!!!!

Kick Out The Jams

By MC5

With middlesborough pulling off a stunning 2-0 victory over liverpool today the potters are back in the drop zone for the moment, this comes as no surprise and we will be in and out of it a few times before the end of the season, it's where we stand after the final day that counts and any honest and level headed stokie would tell you that this was the way it was going to shape out this season. Dropping back in puts a bit more pressure on the fixture at villa park tomorrow, our away record as we all know is terrible and another backs to the wall performance is probably on the cards, villa are quick on the attack and have a kind of exuberance and swagger about them this season which is typical of a martin o'neill side. It only seems like five minutes ago since the electric atmosphere at the britannia in the first home game when we beat the villains 3-2, mama scoring that late late winner which sent the ground into delirium. Villa looked a decent side that day though and certain players like ashley young and agbonglahor are looking top drawer this term. What won't happen is a gung-ho stoke performance so a solid and disciplined display is a must. Repelling the attacks of the youthful villa side and using the ball wisely when we are in the mix, if the distribution is right then we can cause problems with our strength and ariel prowess. We should be scared of no team but should be scared of our own nervousness, the prize at stake is massive come the end of this epic journey so a bit of trepidation is expected but we should believe in our own abilities and carry on playing our way. Composure lads.  Got to say i'm not hopeful of a win tomorrow but a draw maybe so......

Northys Prediction 1-1

It might seem highly unlikely to the newer generation of football fans but the mighty potters had a couple of stabs at european football back in the early 70's. The team that was gracing the victoria ground and thrilling big crowds can send even the sternest of men misty and teary eyed when mentioned. The likes of conroy, ritchie, hudson and banks would play some great attacking football under the leadership of tony waddington and the potteries was football crazy. There were two instances of uefa cup football in these days.

1. 1972/73 Season.

After triumphantly returning from london with the league cup trophy the previous season stoke had bagged themselves a european spot, we had also lost to arsenal in the fa cup semi's for the second year running so we were right in the honours mix at the time. The uefa cup draw paired the potters with kaiserslautern of germany. After a 3-1 victory at the vic progression looked on the cards but a 4-0 reverse away from home put paid to that. The germans got to the quarters where they were battered 7-1 by monchengladbach who eventually lost to liverpool in the final.

2. 1974/75 Season

Stoke took on the dutch might of ajax amsterdam this time after a 5th place finish in the table the previous season in which we battled for the title. A 1-1 draw at the victoria saw the potters travel to the flatlands for the second leg with a healthy following, the ajax side of the day was packed with dutch internationals and with the game finishing a 0-0 draw stoke went out on away goals. The dutch eventually got battered 8-3 on aggregate by fc cologne in the quarters. Monchengladbach won it overall.

The less glamourous anglo italian cup is our next destination. Soon.

A fair slice of newsworthy stuff around the club this week so let's break it down.

1. Ricardo Fuller was arrested on wednesday near to the training ground down at trent vale. This was in conjunction with motoring offences and subsequently resulted in fuller being charged and ordered to attend court on march 6. I'm not a driver so know nothing on the penalties for licence and insurance stuff. A bit of bad karma all round, it's never good to read about one of your star players in the slammer but it's definitely no reason to crucify the bloke. There is talk that he is looking for a new contract past his 2011 expiry. I love ricardo and can't wait 'til he's fit again but his attitude has got on mine and other stokie's nerves this season and he needs to sort it.

2. The everton game which is mentioned further down the page has now been moved back to the original date of saturday 14th of march after the bnp rally in the city was 'kindly' scrapped. A cheap little gimmick by the bnp to increase their popularity by playing the good guy. The propaganda machine keeps rolling on. This has left many travelling fans of both sides well in a spin and inconvenience has hit hard. Hopefully all those who had to change plans will have been able to reverse them back again.  This is a farcical situation and the plans of thousands shouldn't really have to change because of a few hundred political supporters who want to march. It was the rally that should have been moved in the first place to save any fuss.  Oh well, lessons learned and all that....

And finally....

Vincent pericard is back at the club from millwall after being told his season is over due to a ligament injury. It's never pleasant for any player to get injured and he will be booted out at the end of the season so he can rest up and drag in his ludicrous salary for a few more months. Unlucky vince.

A fella who posts on the oatcake messageboard writes a decent blog all about the mighty potters so when you are not checking out northy's adoration of all things stoke take a look. You can find it at http://stoke.blogsfc.com/. Well done to anyone who takes the time to offer their thoughts on our great club. We'll Be With You.

A game that for the life of it looked to be heading for a 0-0 draw suddenly exploded into a 2-2 instead. Critics and so called experts have rounded on the first 70 minutes, some branding the dirge as the worst premiership game, to be fair not much was going off with stoke seemingly afraid to lose. Kranjcar's 70th minute opener sparked the game into life and a howler of a decision from the ref allowed stoke back in with a beattie penalty. Beats had been getting a shed load of abuse from the one dimensional pompey following due to his southampton connections and enjoyed his moment. Two minutes later a miscued shot from pugh saw beattie smack in it again off his bonce and bang there you go. What seemed like 3 very unlikely points was then snatched away with a full on defensive lapse from the potters and a shawcross own goal to boot. Honours even. It's hard to sum up the feelings on this one, we were very lucky to get the pen decision and might not have got back into the game without it, from then we would have happy with a point but to then take the lead and chuck it away in injury time is a real kick in the balls. With other results staying with us, we now find ourselves 2 points above the drop zone so essentially it is still all in our own hands and would you have asked for anything else? Blackburn have a game in hand but they still have to visit the britannia and we still have fixtures to come against the bottom two namely 'boro and west brom. Twelve games to go. GOOOOAAAARN STOKE

A massive player for us last season with his goals and assists, at times him, mama and fuller played some electric stuff and this has yet to be replicated in the premier league but he should be back tomorrow against pompey and if fit and raring to go can make a serious difference on the pitch. Liam show passion and is always up with the boothen end after a victory, fair play lad. Anyway the reason he's been out injured for a while involves tripping down a staircase after falling over his dog, not falling down the staircase at the dog nightclub drunk. Hmmm. So i suppose the question is.....

Who Is This Dog

Pulis     No

Ryan Shawcross The Mild Mannered Defender      No

Nello The Kit Man      No

It must have been Sublime's take on Hong Kong Phooey

Enjoy... SCFC ROCKERS

Massive game tomorrow, enormous, not trying to whack all the pressure on this one because there are still 36 points to play for afterwards. Portsmouth visit the brit and are sure to bring a noisy following with the pompey chimes ringing in the potteries air. They always sing when they come to stoke and i remember them bringing some good numbers to the victoria ground in bygone years. As a team pompey have some fine players in their armoury, crouch, distin and james to name but a few, even david nugent seems to be having a second wind at fratton park and fair dues to him really because he could have stepped down a level a few times but chose to stay and fight. Tony pulis had a spell as portsmouth manager and still has ties with the south coast area, he lives there in fact. Players are back to fitness, not least big mama sidibe who we have missed big time, beattie must be licking his lips at the thought of feeding off mama's balls, oooppps did i just say that!!! Liam lawrence will hopefully get a start, i think we all expect pulis to jig the team around a bit with etherington and delap suspended and fuller injured. This game we can win, application and desire on the pitch and from the stands are what's needed, pompey are a great side at times but we are decent at home and i'm pretty optimistic we can get the points.

Northys Prediction 2-1 Stoke

The fixture at goodison between everton and stoke has been put back a day, this means the game will be played on sunday march 14th. Not due to television coverage i might add, no it's down to the fact that there is a bnp rally in liverpool on the saturday. This will certainly inconvenience certain folk who were off to the game, especially exiles who often book train tickets and the like months in advance. Northy dosen't like the bnp, they are a disease which is spreading fast but have the right like everyone to express their views, you may agree or disagree with them but freedom of speech and thought is one thing this country should be proud of. Every time the bnp get together it stinks of trouble such is the passionate belief on opposing sides of the political spectrum. Personally i feel sorry for supporters who have been put out by this but i think it's actually a good job stoke aren't in town that day. Our away following nowadays is pretty trouble free and humour is the order of the day but there are still the hangers on around the city who, when something comes up like this wouldn't mind getting in the mix. Steer cleer that's what i say.

Well done andy wilkinson who remarked in an interview that he wanted to play his whole career at stoke city. His club, the team he has always followed, he is living the dream as far as a local lad is concerned. He seems to be learning quickly and he wants to continue getting better and he wants to do it with stoke. Hats off to you mate. A true stokie.

A few days no speak catflap readers, i've been having an inspiration recharge so expect some meaty features soon. Time to take stock of the fixtures we face in the coming weeks, as each game passes points become more crucial. The potters face portsmouth at home on saturday, a 100 pointer if there ever was one. Win this one and we drag them back into the mix and with other results going our way could climb the table a touch. Following that we face villa away, bolton at home, everton away and 'boro at home. That brings us to the end of march, your editor is optimistic, nervous, worried, hopeful and downright mentally confused when it comes to making a prediction of where we sit in the table come april. The away games in that quintet look very tough but not impossible whereas the home games all look tasty as far as the potters are concerned. Providing of course that we find the magic that has served us well at the brit so far this season. Every player needs to keep their heads over the coming weeks, the wall of shame needs no more additions thanks very much. It's going to be a seriously exciting run in and the players need the support of the crowd. This they know they will get.

Summer signing andrew davies is the latest player to depart the club on loan, he's gone to preston north end for a month, hopefully to gain some much needed match practice and if all goes well he should come back to us sharper and fitter. The lack of reserve games at premier league level can be a pain in the arse when a manager is trying to keep a squad match ready, the likes of michael tonge and seyi olofinjana need games to keep them up to speed with the rest of the squad. The unfortunate part of all this is some of the players who tony pulis signed over the summer are obviously not good enough in his eyes to start games in the premier league. Tom soares has already been shipped out to charlton while the pre mentioned tonge and olofinjana are finding it tough in claiming a first team place, add dave kitson to that list along with davies and you have 13.5 million quid's worth of bench fodder. It was a tough market for a newly promoted club and that figure seems staggering in terms of the amount of input to the season each player has had. Good luck to the lads out on loan, grasp your chance boys.

Born in the potteries, denis smith is a true stoke legend, making over 400 appearances for the potters between 66 and 82 he was a true servant to the club and broke many a bone giving his all in the rock of the defence for the club. Part of the exciting side of the 70's he loves the club with all his heart and as well as being in the history books as a player, he is a fan and a big one at that. Whenever he co-commentates for radio stoke it's always WE when he refers to the lads. It seemed like he could have gone on to manage the club at certain times but it never happened. At the end of the day smithy is a stoke supporter and that's the way he likes it. Good on ya denis smith. You are a potter through and through.

In Stoke City Rockers terms this hard bastard who bleeds red and white and put his body on the line for the cause is....

Iron Man

Black Sabbath

A great little interview with fuller. Cheers to JB stokie who posts on the oatcake for unearthing it.

I remember when stoke signed this fella, my immediate thought was, nice one he used to play for juventus didn't he?? It didn't dawn on me for a while that the journey from turin to plymouth was a downhill one. Unfortunately big vince has done next to nothing in a stoke shirt, the club even stuck by him when he was jailed for bullshitting the cops. I was hoping he would be gone by the time i finish writing this but probably not. I hate coming down on stoke players because they wear the red and white shirt and represent our great club but like most potters fans i resent pericard picking up a nice tidy sum every week, i've no idea what it is but it would be no surprise to hear it's 8k a week or something. Shocking. Basically the bloke is robbing us week in week out, serious questions must be asked somewhere along the line in the shape of how and why.

In Stoke City Rockers Terms

Bankrobber by The Clash

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.

When you think of the mighty heavyweight clashes what comes to mind? Stoke v wolves maybe, ali v foreman, could be the blur vs oasis spats. Nah man, the real beef went down in london on a sunny morning in may '08, the meat in the sarnie being the showdown between your editor and avram 'sourface ' grant. Let me put you in the picture. After a quality evening down the smoke watching the mercurial american group 'ween' at shepherds bush empire a heavy headed northy sat on the steps of a hotel near the venue, smoking and deep in thought. As i sat in a trance like state, mesmerised by the slow moving traffic i spotted a big merc and thought wow this fella must have some bloody dosh, a deeply disturbing serious and to put it straight, ugly face peered from the window checking out the red and white stripes that proudly shone in the morning sun. As the car pulled alongside me it became apparant that the ugly fella staring at me was avram grant, the then chelsea manager. The stand off was intense, our eyes transfixed on each other,he even managed a smile, yep that's right a smile as he checked the holy words on the badge, stoke city fc. The millionaire manager vs the hungover dude wearing a stoke shirt. Well let me tell you he looked down and admitted defeat, probably crapping himself as the sheer force of the potters shirt forced him on his not so merry way.  

To celebrate this meeting of the minds i bring you a massive slice of heavyweight dub and an almighty clash between king tubby and augustus pablo.

King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown

Amdy Faye - Saw red for a wild challenge early in the season against 'boro.

Andy Wilkinson - With the score at 0-0 into the last ten minutes against man utd boxing day, wilko dived in on ronaldo and got sent off. What the mancs got away with that day was disgraceful. Arrogant bastards.

Ricardo Fuller - Saw red for slapping the skipper andy griffin in the crucial match at upton park which we eventually lost.

Rory Delap - Dismssed after hacking at wright phillips with first his boot and secondly the ball.

Matthew Ethrington - Stupidly lashes out and sees red at the stadium of light with the score 0-0.

Let's hope there are no more additions to this ugly wall and if there are please don't let it be for players losing their minds at crucial times.

Sunderland 2-0 Stoke City Att38350

How many more times can individual players shoot the team in the foot, this is becoming a disgraceful roll call of shame with players getting sent off for ridiculous petulance when the team are in positions to get a point or even take the three. Matty ethrington becomes the latest addition to the not so exclusive club, seeing red after kicking out at collins as stoke were pushing forward. Just when the team are reaping the benefits of having a pacy skilful left winger we must now do without this new found guile for three matches. Idiot. No doubt we will now see richard cresswell on the left flank for a bit and he gives us only hard work wheras ethrington brings a whole lot more. Cressie is taking a lot of stick lately along with pulis for picking him, the bloke always gives his all and i really respect that but he ain't got what it takes at this level. Stoke had given as good as we had got until the sending off, yes we were indebted to the referee for his hilarious failure in spotting danny pugh handle on the line as the ball headed into the onion bag. Lucky, very much so, not so lucky were the three first half injuries picked up by firstly wilkinson, then shawcross and finally ricardo fuller who looked in absolute agony with a dislocated shoulder, a massive blow as we all know what ric can do on his day and we might not see him for a fair while. Three subs used after half an hour but we still looked dangerous at times. Eventually though sunderland powered in with a couple of goals from jones and healy to leave us with no points and a seriously depleted squad. Let's hope the gods are shining on us in the coming fixtures and no more injuries are sustained. With the next game 2 weeks away other players should be back from fitness and chomping at the bit for a spell on the pitch. Well done sunderland, a club who i respect and have a lot of time for. The indiscipline must stop, the damage is already vast and it's just got to end. Sort 'em out pulis.

There is no point in running over the same old tired ground in regards to the results we could achieve if we tried to be more positive away from home, it's frustrating to write and surely must be tiring for the reader. Sunderland are a good side and dangerous but so can we be. Let's get it right today stoke. Beattie and fuller to score.

Northys Prediction 1-2 Stoke

Young wilko has come through the ranks at the potters and along with his good mate carl dickinson is stoke through and through. Sometimes he has you seriously worried with his rash decision making and wild distribution but as this season has gone on he has started to show a bit of maturity in the right back berth. I love the guy for his passion and raw love for the club and the youth keeps getting better.  To see him celebrate a goal or a win says it all for me. A big ball of emotion who wears his heart on his red and white sleeve. In stoke city rockers terms.....

The Damned - A band who had passion, determination and were a big fuzzy ball of outrageous emotion.

Love Song

Bit of a bolt from the blue was this one, the potters signed birmingham city full back stephen kelly on loan until the end of the season in a move which surprised many. We were made to wait as the deal didn't get approved by the fa until yesterday. Hands up here i don't know too much about the fella but listening to the brum fans it would seem we have a decent player on our hands. A republic of ireland international, kelly has come in to compete with andy griffin and andy wilkinson for the right back berth and will hopefully get with the stoke way quickly and enjoy his time at the club. His experience with birmingham when they were scrapping at the bottom of the premiership will come in handy and he played every game for the blues in their relegation campaign. It is said that stoke have paid a sizeable loan fee so pulis must rate the guy. Welcome stephen kelly.

With the transfer circus, sorry, window now closed it's full on football that occupies the minds of supporters up and down the land. The potters had already done two very fruitful deals with beattie and ethrington joining who have both shown what they can do and what they bring to the red and white table. Next up was henri camara on loan from wigan for the remainder of the season, a geezer who northy has always had mixed feelings about, when on his game he is capable of destroying sides but also seems a bit of a mard-arse and has had his fair share of spats with managers and clubs. It only seems like yesterday when he failed to turn up to pre season training at wolves after relegation from the premiership the previous term. He insisted he wouldn't play at a lower level and was eventually loaned out to celtic. So what will he bring to the squad?  For sure he will bring power and pace with an eye for goal and could end up forming a fearsome partnership with any of our frontmen. Henri seems to really want to prove himself again and there is no better club with which to do that than the potters, our spirit and togetherness coupled with a dogged mentality that we have to stay in this league, camara will be welcomed with open arms especially by his senegalese international compratriots in the dressing room. Ive got a good feeling about this one, its shit or bust every game now and camara's aggressive attitude and sharp finishing could prove to be a massive advantage in this battle for survival. Welcome aboard brother stokie.

If only i had a quid for every time during yesterdays coverage and analysis of the game on tv channels and radio that the presenter referred to manchester city as 'city'. Hang on a minute, as the above headlines suggests show some respect here you schmucks. Its always been the same and helps cement the folly like myth that manchester city are some great club with the best oh so long suffering fans in the world. Lazy journalism sucks, there were two cities on the pitch at the brittania stadium but we've all been brainwashed into thinking that manchester city are the only ones deserved of the title 'city'. WE ARE STOKE.....CITY

Stoke City 1-0 Manchester City Att27236

A massive result for the potters, another loss or draw would have seen us stretch a long running sequence but the boys delivered and stood up to be counted. Ryan shawcross was immense at the back and is growing in stature every game, his partnership with ab faye in the rock of the defence is looking stronger by the match and long may it continue. Andy wilkinson also showed he is starting get his head round what the premier league is all about and played remarkably well. Danny pugh is a player this editor has always liked and he also grasped his chance with a decent display. The resilience shown by stoke after the delap sending off was a joy to watch and that spirit was also pouring from the seats on all sides of the ground. The fans dug in just as much as the players especially when we were under the cosh towards the end. As for that sending off, there is no sympathy for rory delap on my part, he lost his head and the aggression shown towards wright-phillips was unacceptable, he will now pay for that rush of blood by missing three games at such a crucial stage of the season. Wright-phillips himself could have gone as he kicked out at delap but as usual the ref didn't see it, the manchester clubs have had a fair slice of good fortune when it comes to refereeing decisions at the britannia this season. Remember rooney and ronaldo on boxing day. A great goal from beattie won the game, good work from whelan led to a pinpoint ethrington cross and there was the beats to power a header home. The guy is already looking the business and his arrival has flooded my heart with hope that we can get the goals to stay up. The only worry for me other than the silly sending off was the fact that ricardo fuller wasn't anyway near as up for it and passionate as we thought he would be, his maverick personality is starting to get on my tits. Still can't help loving him though but romance wears thin.  Man city had a fair slice of possession and threatened occasionally but only tested sorensen once, there were a few near misses in and around our area but the boys stood firm and claimed a fantastic result. The atmosphere was so intimidating following the sending off that one tv commentator called the britannia a 'bearpit'. Let's keep it that way. UNITED STRENGTH IS STRONGER. SCFC

There will be no intensive match preview today folks, northy has been to the funeral of a very good friend, even though the fella was a wolves boy he came up stoke with me a few times and enjoyed the atmosphere of the boothen end. RIP Dominic Dawes. Must win for me today.

Northys Prediction 2-0 Stoke

Few words can be said about another damaging away defeat. To surrender the game with barely 25 minutes gone is in-excuseable and if the results away from the brit carry on in the same fashion for the rest of the campaign then we will probably be screwed and saying 'ay up to blackpool and doncaster next season. Spurs put on a super first half showing to rip us apart but questions should be asked of stoke's players all over the pitch for letting them in with such ease. The second half gave us a touch of respectability with beattie grabbing what we hope is the first of many goals but the damage was done in a pathetic first period. We have got to take the game to teams and to see us handing out the invites to come and have a go is becoming continually disturbing, if we will play the way we are, i.e not to lose then we must defend like men and not idiots. Time and time again i ask my readers to put their faith in pulis and the team but they are chipping away at my armour with these ineffective displays against all but the top four clubs. We raise our game nicely for those fixtures but when we play the teams around us disaster strikes. GET IT TOGETHER LADS PLEASE!!!!

After what seems like an age since the old gut wrencher at stamford bridge the potters travel to white hart lane in search of that elusive first away win. As the headline suggests we need to stand up and fight for our right to start next season as a premier league club. It's countdown time and each game that passes brings it's own conundrums. The visit to spurs is a proper mind boggler, the reason being that it is impossible to know which tottenham will turn up, the one that dosen't seem to care and is roughed up with ease or the on song spurs who are a match for anyone. Hopefully for stoke it is the former, it would be a lie if i said i was 100% confident over any stoke away game due to the defensive nature of our play but the signs at chelsea last week were that ethrington and beattie can beef us up and give more options so a more attack minded attitude is likely tomorrow. Its essential that the players get at them early doors and stop spurs getting into any sort of rythym, a lot of tottenham's deficencies lie in the confidence of the team when the shit hits the fan so an early goal for the potters is a must. Redknapp has a limited squad due to injuries but will still put out a side which will look very capable on paper and if playing as a unit with spirit a very good one on the pitch. We really need a win, it's been a long time, my trust and faith goes into the boys to get a result and bump us up the table.

Northys Prediction 1-2 Stoke

A fantastic signing by pulis, ab faye is a defensive rock who will go down in potters history along with fellow hardmen denis smith, vince overson, ian cranson and sergei shtanuik. A tough tackler who has experience at the top level, a great reader of the game and he will never give any less than 110%. Faye is a sengalese international and is forming a formidable partnership with shawcross at the heart of the stoke defence. When catflap asked me 'if stoke city were a band who would they be', my answer was the legendary punk rock outfit black flag because they were ' brutal, uncompromising and relentless'. These qualities can be said of abdoulaye so his stoke city rocker will be....

Black Flag

Nervous Breakdown

Young ryan has made a real impact at the britannia since joining us, initially on loan in 2007. Some steady performances and goals in the promotion season saw tony pulis persuade the youth to turn his back on a new contract at manchester united and join the potters for a fee rising to two million. A few mistakes at the start of this season saw him dropped from the team and he publicly expressed his displeasure about it but has come back fighting and is now part of the first choice centre back partnership with ab faye. Ryan has already bagged himself a couple of england u-21 caps and a call up to the full squad in the future would not be surprising.

A solid and reliable defender who still has plenty to learn at a young age, in stoke city rockers terms........

Arctic Monkeys

View From The Afternoon (US Radio Session)

Anyone who watched this lad come through the ranks at stoke knew we had a quality player, griffin was superb in his first senior spell at the club and eventually moved to newcastle united for 1.5 million in 1998. We all thought he would become a fully fledged international for england but managed only to appear for the u21's. Injuries kept hampering a promising career even though griffin had some good spells at the toon playing plenty of european football. A poor appearance record at newcastle (76 games in six years) and portsmouth (43 in three years) spoke for itself and he never seemed to shake the treatment table syndrome. Loan spells back at his home club resulted in him being made a contract offer by stoke but instead he foolishly opted for derby county and their premier league assault which went down like lead balloon with this east midlands potter. He eventually returned to stoke halfway through the season, tail between his legs saying he had made a mistake joining that rabble from up the A50 and now as we speak he's plying his trade again in the premier league with his boyhood club. Normally choosing derby over stoke would lead me to the depths of despair and forgiveness would not be an option, but andy griffin was so upfront about the fact that is was a stupid move and he was foolish, it made me respect the man and forgive northy did. He's lost a bit of pace nowadays but his experience and know how is a good part of the potters set up, he is steady and reliable but whether he gets the captain's armband back off abdoulaye faye is another story....

Massive prospect when he was a nipper at stoke........I've always personally thought it was a case of....

Too Much Too Young

By The Specials

The season is getting older by the second so it's time to start bringing the heavyweight features into effect. We'll start with the rockers squad special. Each player will be given the musical treatment by northy. You are all hero's to me lads and i know you will make me and all the stokies worldwide proud. WE LOVE YOU CITY

1. Thomas Sorensen

A Great aquistion over the summer by tony pulis, the great dane is growing stronger by the game and his experience and shot stopping prowess is giving the team...........

PROTECTION

By Massive Attack

Yes that's right people and it comes in the form of a football club, a proud club with proud fans turning into a bloated monster devouring everything in it's path, stand up manchester city and stand up the shady sheik.

Yes i'm sheik shady, the real sheik shady all you other sheik shadies are just imitating

Football had become an ugly monster many years ago, making millionaires of people who were average at their profession, michael ricketts comes to mind here, it's not his fault that leeds united payed him ridiculous sums of money for doing bugger all, more fool them but he is a shining example and a real bullet in the head for the average working man who is becoming increasingly alienated from the beautiful game. Football has become more than a kickabout, it's a global entertainment in the same way as music or cinema which is great because it needed a kick up the arse years ago and we got it with the premier league and sky. With exposure comes revenue and now we sit on our tea break in some shit hole of a factory and read about players who earn in a week what it would take us six years to accumulate, thats the way it is, we've got to deal with it, ugly as it may be.

This shocker of a tune is coming to a crescendo in the form of man city and their new owners, inflating the transfer market with ridiculous offers and valuations, trying to buy the love of men, yep the same man city who were battling it out with stoke in division three ten or so years ago. Fourteen million pounds for craig bellamy, a player who has had more clubs than stringfellow and is about as loyal as a grass. Good player when he can be arsed but if that is the state of the market then it's another nail in the coffin of common sense. The kaka situation is reality hitting for their fans, the bloke sounded all along like he didn't want to be part of this shady enterprise and fair play to him although the possibility of milan burning to the ground may have had some sway also. You can't buy the love of players on the back of some pipe dream, robinho has only just come round after they dosed him up in brazil and bundled him in the baggage compartment of a jumbo jet bound for eastlands, he's done a runner from their training camp. What next, ten million for vincent pericard of the mighty potters, he used to play for juventus so he must be good eh!! They will probably win the league next year and this piece of writing will look foolish but do i give a flying oatcake. NO

SUSPECT DEVICE BY STIFF LITTLE FINGERS (Live in london 79, check the action down the front, all the young punks)

Because football will blow up in our faces...Keep it tight stoke

Carrying on the dog theme after tony pulis classic ' we are battersea dogs home not crufts' quote. Check out this quality XI of canine favourites from northys record collection. Bite 'em on the arse stoke.

Stoke City Woofers

1. David Bowie - Diamond Dogs
2. The Cult - Peace Dog
3. The Stooges - I Wanna Be Your Dog
4. Led Zeppelin - Black Dog
5. Wu Tang Clan - Dog Shit
6. Butthole Surfers - Barking Dogs
7. AC/DC - Dog Eat Dog
8. The Exploited - Dogs Of War
9. The Cramps - Let Your Pussy Do The Dog
10. Butthole Surfers - Lonesome Bulldog
11. Ozzy Osbourne - Bark At The Moon

An absolute gutter of a result, another dagger through the heart, many more and it's intensive care for northy. The boys gave everything at stamford bridge, put their bodies on the line against the relentless barrage of chelsea shots and possession but eventually tired minds and legs succumbed to the onslaught and no points were taken, heartbreaking stuff for the potters. James beattie didn't see that much of the ball on his debut but he looked proper up for the battle ahead and his nice touch and pass allowed  rory delap to burst through and dink the ball over cech to put stoke one up on 60 minutes. A priceless moment saw the stokies going mental and northys prediction looked like it was on the button. Eventually though the wall was battered down and the winner from lampard was a total sickener from our point of view and dropped us into the bottom three. Great goal all the same coming from a top player who just wouldn't accept anything but three points. From a stats point of view of course chelsea deserved to win, some superb goalkeeping from sorensen kept them out but from a stoke point of view we should have taken something from this points wise, to concede two late on like that would destroy some teams mentally but not stoke city. Pulis will make sure that the many positives to be taken from this game are used on the training pitch and he will demand the players believe in the power of what we as a club are trying to achieve. The players and staff are on a 5 day break to dubai this week but it's certainly no jolly, intensive training sessions are the order of the day so the boys should be well drilled and ready to go, our next game is two weeks away and with new signings on the horizon things are looking up. Yesterday was a gut wrencher but there are many reasons for us to look forward with optimism. WE ARE STOKE

This is a short one folks. Scolari says 'stoke are the most dangerous team in the world'. Damn right mate, you better believe it. The sun is shining and optimism fills my heart. Beattie to score on his debut.

Northys Prediction 1-0 The Potters

Great stuff, another ragged old woofer comes through the door for a bit of love and attention from pulis and the boys. James beattie has signed a two and a half year deal with stoke, the potters paying sheffield united a fee which could rise to 3.5 million quid. Beatts seems to be having a second wind in regards to his career and looks to me like a real quality purchase. A terrier of a player, he will give his all for the shirt and fit into whichever system is being used. We really seem to mean business in this transfer window and there is more to come. A real good effort from all concerned at the club. I'm buzzing about the remainder of the season and i hope my readers are too. We Are Staying Up

Yes-i, what a fantastic opportunity to get a classic stooges tune in the headline. GOOOAARN IGGY and RIP Ron Asheton. Last week mr pulis went all ian holloway on us when talking about the transfer market and image of the club, his comment came from another dimension and was a proper pearler. Stoke City are not crufts, we are battersea dogs home and we are taking in strays and giving them a cuddle, this verbal brilliance came off the back of the matty 'the terrier' ethrington signing and was perhaps in reference to the fact matty has had his off the field problems and needs a new home and a big group hug with the boys in red and white. Great stuff, let's have a love in. Then again..........

A great clip here of simon sturridge netting against forest in the fa cup third round 95/96, it's also a chance to get misty eyed over the victoria ground and in particular the boothen end. The match finished in a draw and we lost the replay at the city ground. My biggest memory of the replay is the cracking atmosphere in the away end that night even though we got beat.

Stoke City 0-0 Liverpool Att 27500

Let's start by giving credit where it is due, yes that's right, let's lavish some praise on our great club, most of the post match reaction has focused on how poorly liverpool played, no surprise there then, an under strength potters side gave a superbly commited performance and not one of the players shirked their responsibilties. The unfortunate part was again the finishing which needs improvement from all concerned but in terms of an in yer face display stoke gave as good as we got and better. After a decent start from the scousers we seemed to step it up a gear and push forward rather than offer the open invite that liverpool would have gladly accepted . An effort ruled offside, hitting the bar and couple of missed opportunities from kitson,god i wish one of them had gone in.  When gerrard finally woke up with ten to go he ended up hitting the post twice and luck was on our side. Matty ethrington deserves a mention for a great debut, a proper attacking player, it was obvious to the eye what he is going to bring to the table and it sure looks good. This is the kind of player potters fans love to see, forward thinking with a bit of flair, he seems to have taken to the place and the fans already, looks a great signing if he keeps his head together and concentrates on his game. Another player that got close attention was dave kitson, it's weird with this bloke, all the fans want him to get that first elusive goal and have stuck with him big time but he don't look right to me, his body language says ' i've given it a go but things ain't for me', i hope that my assumption is a crock of shite because i really want him to succeed, he put in a decent shift on saturday and should have scored but you just can't help thinking 5.5 million, 0 goals. Will he still be at the brit come february, that is the question. All in all, yes a below par peformance from the merseysiders,but this for me was down to the fact that we had a go and stood firm and didn't let them into their stride too often. We need to carry this performance into the next games and with players in and out transfer wise and others returning to fitness the future looks bright and we are right in the mix when it comes to staying up. People had us down dead and buried by christmas. WE ARE STOKE

Stoke City vs Liverpool

Yeah that's right WE ARE STOKE and we are proud, we will take the obligatory knocks that come with your first season in the premiership and we will get up fighting for the name of the club and for this top flight status we scrapped so hard to attain. Tomorrow at the britannia we entertain liverpool who sit proudly at the top of the table and could be on course for the title for the first time in years. Watching their performance at newcastle when they spanked the geordies backsides with a 5-1 tonking gave you the impression the scousers were a team on top of their game and only shay given saved the toon from an absolute howler of a scoreline. Ive just heard rafa benitez going off on one in reply to comments made by alex ferguson, what it was all about dosen't concern us because this is a stoke page but it would be safe to say they will be fired up for the game. The potters need to give us a display akin to how we played against man utd on boxing day with one added vital ingredient, goals. Slowly the injured players are coming back and dave kitson should be on from the off with liam lawrence probably coming off the bench to destroy the merseysiders in the latter stages of the match. New signing matty ethrington will start i reckon, get him in there, chuck him in at the deep end and let's see what the youth is made of. Stoke need to find the fluidity we have been missing over a series of bad performances, fuller will miss this one and the chelsea fixture serving out his suspension and stokies are praying he won't be missed, everyone wants kitson to get off the mark and a roar from the boothen end will be heard as his name is read out pre match, a battlecry to him and the whole team, don't let us down because we'll always be with you, every step along the way. Some potters fans inexcuseably put this down as a loss and are looking at games further afield. A crass notion to northy. We all know that when the boys are on their game, sharp and decisive going forward then we can beat anyone at the brit, man utd would have been licking their wounds had stoke put the chances away. Lets get out there and prove we belong here.

Northys Prediction 2-1 Stoke

GOOOOOAAAARN YOU RIP ROARING POTTERS

Unbelievably the above mentioned player has today moved to manchester united on loan for the rest of the season. The youth has never played a first team game for stoke after we signed him from royal antwerp in 2007. He came with high promise it must be said but has never managed to bust his way into the team. He has been on loan at wrexham and  must be delighted although in a state of shock. An almost carbon copy of the ben foster transfer from the potters to man utd, he was also on loan at wrexham before a move to old trafford. All in all fairly bizzare news, he'll probably turn out to be a world class player and another name on the list of young talents let go from the club. Good luck ritchie.

The potters have snapped up the left winger from west ham on a three and a half year deal for a fee of around 3.5 million. We've been crying out for some quality on the left hand side of the pitch and hopefully he will deliver. He spent 6 years at west ham after signing from spurs and one remembers when he burst on the scene with simon davies at peterborough. His pace and trickery will give us a new dimension which richard cresswell cannot provide, i respect cress for the work he does and he never shirks from giving his best for the shirt but we need skill and guile on the left wing. Matty and a fit and ready to go liam lawrence can give us the decent balls into the box which hopefully will help the strikers, especially dave kitson. GOOOAAARN Dave We Believe In You. More of the same transfer wise please stoke.

Hartlepool United 2-0 Stoke City Att 5367

Let's get this out of the way first. Well done hartlepool, a performance which in the second half put the potters to shame and a well deserved passage to the fourth round for the pools. In no way are any of the words written in this piece meant to be disrespectful in any way and i and i'm sure most stokies wish you the best in the next phase at home to west ham united. As for stoke another embarrasing cup exit to a lower league team who showed passion and hunger for the shirt they were wearing. Injuries and suspensions have worn the squad down a touch but there were eight players who according to pulis were 'chomping at the bit and eager for first team action' in the starting XI. The culprits were Davies, Sonko, Dickinson, Soares, Olofinjana, Tonge and Pericard. None of them showed anything to suggest they should be anywhere near the first team and the rewards from the last transfer window are looking shady to say the least. The 784 diehard potters who made the journey must have been disgusted because from what i have seen and from the radio stoke commentary we sounded and looked shite. The performances have been poor lately with the exception of manchester united at home (although in that match the onion bag seemed a distant friend) and we are hitting the crest of a wave, unfortunately the wave is burning a fire up our arse and now is the time for everybody to get their acts together and come out strong and tall. Otherwise our season will turn to mush, this month see's us up against liverpool, chelsea, man city and tottenham. There have got to be points in there for us, we need something positive to arise because the negativity is spreading around the forums and boozers. Hopefully we will be much stronger come the end of january with new signings and players returning to full fitness. Kitson and lawrence both came on yesterday and according to some liam injected a bit of urgency into the side which bodes well. As always my trust is in pulis and stoke but a boost is needed and a high octane massive performance against liverpool at the brit would be a great remedy. Well done to hartlepool united and what a cracking goal to win it.

Here we go, the second half of the season which is sure to be full of thrills and spills just like the first, the year finished on a sour note with the on pitch fracas which has grabbed the headlines ever since. Never again will that incident get mentioned on here because it was an embarrasment and needs forgetting. Kicking off 2009 we visit hartlepool in the fa cup 3rd round. Stoke have a host of injuries and suspensions including fuller, cresswell, mama and salif diao. The likes of tonge and soares who were cup tied in the carling cup will be desperate to show what they've got in the locker and should start. It seems like vincent pericard is our only available striker (jesus how did it come to this!!) and how pulis will play it, who knows? A massive bonus would be the inclusion of liam lawrence who has recovered from injury and as said before on here, when fit and on his game is the heartbeart for the potters. Hartlepool, fresh from sacking danny wilson have had a bad run but (as shown by their league tally) can score plenty of goals at home and will be well up for this and see stoke as beatable. It's up to the lads to apply themselves in the correct manner, show respect to the opposition and take the headlines for playing decent football and getting us into the fourth round. Premier league survival is task numero uno but this competition is important and we are due a run in it so get on it stoke....GOOOAAARN

Northy's Prediction 1-3 Stoke

The first time i heard the white stripes they blew me nut off, your editor was one of the lucky few who saw them in a small venue before it all kicked off and they hit superstardom in this country at least. The fact that they adorned their LP cover in red and white striped clothing also made me feel good. I've chosen this tune to boot our arses into 2009 because the qualities that it holds are the ones that stoke city and the fans are going to need to help us get over the line.

Passion, Discipline, Sharpness and Desire. GOOOOAAARN STOKE

The White Stripes - Black Math (live)

We've got a testing time ahead boys and girls. Let's all stand up and be counted in 2009. To everyone connected with the club. Happy New Year.

To see us out of 2008.....The Ramones

http://www.catflapfootball.com/Football-Blogs/Stoke-City/2008/10/10/StokeCityRockersPart2.aspx

This stoke city rocker was a call for peace and a tune full of big beats and fine lyrical wordplay. Proper old school hip hop for positive types. We as supporters of the mighty potters should all unite behind the team in what will be a tough second half to the campaign. Negativity is a disease that spreads quick and can be dangerous. Let's get back to where it started, the passion, spirit and togetherness that got us to the promised land.

A call to the staff, players and supporters. United strength is stronger. GOOAAARN STOKE

Jurassic 5 - Concrete Schoolyard (live)

West Ham United 2-1 Stoke City Att 34477

The last time this season that stoke hogged the back page headlines it was after the so-called battle of the britannia against arsenal when wenger tried to cause the potters a whole lot of nastiness with his misguided twisted words. Now here we are again, the outrageous incident at upton park that was the explosion from the bomb that has been ticking the past few weeks. Ricardo fuller slaps the captain andy griffin after a shocking mistake from the skipper let carlton cole in for an equaliser, such petulance and arrogance has always been part of fuller's set up and this probably explains (as well as having these supposed dodgy knees) why he isn't playing for one of the top four or a big club abroard because he obviously has the ability. This act of madness will come at a massive price with ric facing a 3/4 game ban, having already served one supsension for clocking up five yellows, in fact he is half way to another one as he has had another 2 yellows since so that makes a total of 7 yellows and 1 red already. He is a special player on his day but he is also a complete pillock when  it comes to attitude and needs sorting out by the club. Disgusting behaviour ricardo. Yes he is probably getting frustrated with the mistakes and poor service from other team mates but is also guilty himself on trying to do too much at times,  there is no excuse here, he has let down the fans and the good name of our great club. The potters had taken a fantastic early lead through ab faye and kept a pretty solid line throughout the remainder of the first half. Into the second and the mistake that led to cole's goal which in turn led to the red card and the self destruct button was pressed again, the hammers piled on the pressure and tristan looked marginally offside when he sent a shot in which rebounded into the net. 2-1. We are now under the line of death which would have been no surprise to many pre season but we had given ourselves a chance of finishing the year in mid table had we put chances away and kept our heads in the last few games. The second half of the season is massive and a big test of pulis managerial skills and the players must step up to the plate in every way. Let's sign some quality in the window, players who will walk into the team. We've got to go for it now as we've been sucked into the black hole. I still believe we will survive this season. YOU'VE GOT TO HAVEN'T YOU??

West Ham United vs Stoke City

Here we go then, the last chance of 2008 to secure that elusive away win, one that could give the table a far better look going into the new year and fa cup break. Right now, we sit below the 'line of death' but so far have proved many doubters and idiots alike that we are here for the scrap and will never surrender and always fight for the name of the club. We gave everything against man utd on boxing day and now need to do the same again today against the hammers but with goals.  A team who perfect the art of being great one game and shocking the next, west ham have some bloody good players on their books although it must be said that a few are more familiar with the physio's room rather than the pitch. They will be buzzing after a demolition of fading portsmouth and will represent a tough test for the lads. If we can give our all for the shirt as well as finding that killer instinct that has been missing in front of goal then a draw or win is something we are capable of. There will be no wild change in gameplan, the players need to be more clinical implementing the away strategy. Get behind them all who are going and roar them to victory. Gooooaaarn Stoke

Northys Prediction 1-2 Stoke

A result which felt like an arrow through the head in the end. Tevez sneaking in after decent work from berbatov and bang, there you have it. It dosen't matter how well you play against this team, if your goals tally reads nil then at some point late on your'e going to get punished for missing chances. This was a good performance from stoke, passionate and commited, disciplined and strong. At times we played some decent stuff but just couldn't find the killer instinct and ended up with nothing. A situation which i hope does not repeat itself throughout the coming months, stoke being the side who give their all with ferocious backing from the supporters but always come unstuck in the attacking department. We need to start scoring goals again, we haven't even scored from a corner this season, the only team in the prem not to do so. Hopefully the re-emergence of liam lawrence will sort this out, an appearance on the bench seems to indicate he is ready, a player who, when properly fit and eager can do plenty of damage. It's something when you are gutted about losing 1-0 to man utd but that is how far stoke have come, aside from the elbowing and stamping which was ignored by the referee chris foy they seemed to match us physically and stood up to us, didn't duck the fight so to speak, so much so that they looked there for the taking in the last 20 minutes, we had made the superstars mad and their red fat wallet bloated faces looked fit to burst, then the sending off of wilkinson for a revenge attack on ronaldo saw us change shape and lose our spark, hence conceding with 7 minutes to go. Sorensen made some great saves for stoke but we had chances and didn't take them. That has got to change.

A bostin piece of rocksteady for you at christmas time.

Love from the SCFC ROCKERS

Wishing a very merry christmas and a happy new year to all stokies and any of my readers who for some reason don't support the mighty potters. I hope you and your families have a yule to enjoy. We face manchester united on boxing day at the brit and the boys will have to giving everything and more to take anything from this one. Yes we have injuries but the XI pulis picks to do the job will hopefully step up to the plate and deliver. The atmosphere should be red hot when we take on the new club champions of the world and northy predicts a potters win....

Northys Prediction 2-1 Stoke

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!!

A great boozer this for the away fan, situated a minute's walk from the visitors end at ewood park it was stokies only and there were some faces in there, being as it was your editors first away game of the season a wry smile was given at seeing a few folk who's ten year banning orders have run out, all relatively quiet and keeping their heads down. A heavy police presence prevailed on the car park but saying this it was refreshing to see fair and level headed policing rather than the 'i've got a bigger cock than you' efforts we see from other forces in the north west. As the 60 odd coaches from the potteries started pulling in, the pub got pretty packed and the precedent was set for the superb vocal performance by the travelling fans in the ground. It was a really good day actually aside from the performance and result. Well done to the staff from the fenhurst, top job folks.

Can't wait for this one folks, travelling up to ewood park from nottingham at ten tomorrow and am seriously looking forward to the away day buzz. You all know the news, big sam is going to turn rovers into brazil overnight and stoke will suffer the old chestnut that is ' new manager syndrome'. Even our own supporters are buying into this often proven theory and await the game with anticipation and a hint of nervousness. Well i'm kicking it's arse into touch, granted the performances have been poor of late and we have a few injuries but with a 4700 strong potters following behind the boys the marriage can get back on track. Blackburn have some decent players who more than likely didn't play to their potential under paul ince for whatever reason but they are still there for the taking if we step it up and put on a strong powerful performance. It's up to the players to show determination, passion and desire, whichever XI tony pulis puts out , and it is up to us stokies to get behind them and give a powerful delivery of our own.

Northys Prediction 2-1 Stoke

http://oatcakefanzine.proboards27.com/index.cgi?board=Potters&action=display&thread=54906

Get yourselves involved if you want to let zigic know how much we want him. You want to see some of this at the britannia??????

Stoke City 0-0 Fulham Att 25287

The first thing to say about this game is that it was a pile of shite from a stoke perspective, when you can say that we didn't even warm schwarzer's gloves with a shot on target it speaks volumes. A bad miss by richard cresswell and a couple of decent blocks denied stoke a goal but it was in general poor. It was the old hoof it up there tactic and a lack of ideas was evident. The cause was not helped by a bad looking injury to big mama sidibe as early as the 2nd minute, at one stage he got up to the roars of the boothen end but then his knee gave way and he was stretchered off. We all know a stoke team without the legend that is sidibe just isn't the same, a much maligned player by certain fans but for me he has answered all the questions this season and we all hope for a speedy recovery. Rory delap also looked uncomfortable fitness wise and even bungled a long throw, he shouldn't have been anyway near the pitch and eventually was subbed. The potters were just huffing and puffing all game and now we are starting to get a few injuries we look a bit ordinary so the transfer window is a very important time and can't come quick enough. Saying this ab faye and sonko looked a very strong partnership at the back and both put in assured displays. Fulham looked a pretty good side throughout and could have snatched it with sharper finishing, bullard saw enormous amounts of the ball and always looked to create, they look a very tidy outfit, hodgson has sorted them out with his knowledge and experience and they might surprise a few this term. Surely their following will be the smallest at the brit this season, round about 900 i reckon, they occasionally gave a bit of vocal work but nowt to get your knickers in a twist over. They seemed a good humoured bunch on the train up to the match so fair play to them. Good luck. The atmosphere was pretty poor from us stokies but the players need to do their bit in this relationship, when mama went off so early it subdued the crowd because we are all starting to realise how bloody important he is, especially his partnership with fuller. The ref was awful on both sides of the coin and never let the game flow at all, a blatant handball by higgy in the area was missed so we got lucky there. Fuller could have easily got himself red carded with flashes of his bad attitude starting to surface again. All in all forgetable, let's hope we work 'aaaard on the training pitch and go for the jugular at ewood park next weekend. SCFC

Well your trusty editor is off up the game tomorrow so it's about time to dust off this previous post which describes the joy of going up stoke http://www.catflapfootball.com/Football-Blogs/Stoke-City/2008/08/20/GoingUpStoke.aspx. A game that stokies would have earmarked for a home win and three vital points when the fixture list was released but let's sort this right now, fulham are no mugs and have a fairly decent side man for man, an attack which boasts revitalised duo andy johnson and bobby zamora with the industry of bullard in the middle deserves respect and city players and fans alike shouldn't take this fixture for granted. The britannia needs to be buzzing to the max because the cottagers are likely to bring less than a thousand with them and aren't renowned for their vocal prowess. Hopefully the lads will continue the good work from the second half at the toon and really have a go attacking wise, once stoke get into a stride the unity between terrace and pitch is electric and can yield big rewards. If Fuller and sidibe get the service and are on song i reckon we could sneak this one.

Northys Prediction 2-1 Stoke

The decision today that was made in conjunction with lancashire police and blackburn rovers fc to only honour 4700 tickets of a prospected 7,500 is history coming back to haunt us. The spectre of the hooligan era looms large and the forces in the north west seem to have the dimmest view of the potters, kick off times have already been moved this season because of supposed intelligence and now over 2500 stokies are now deprived of a ticket for this massively important cruncher of a game. General sale was scheduled to go ahead on monday but now the sold out signs are up because of the witheld allocation. Other teams such as liverpool and sunderland have had the full package so why not us? There is certainly no basis whatsoever when you look at the fact that the majority of stoke games are trouble free nowadays in and around the ground. Already this season stoke fans have been subject to the section 27 law which basically allows police to round up away fans who are having an enjoyable drink in pubs on the way to the game and accuse them of looking like they might cause trouble at some point and send them back home whilst taking their match tickets. Hopefully this pig headed decision will be reversed otherwise they run the risk of having a home end with hundreds of potters fans in it. The police are the ones who are causing the trouble here, instead of policing 7000 odd stokies in one end of the ground they now will have to look after city fans all over ewood park because one thing is for sure, tickets will be available. Since the id card came in 2002 (it has recently been suspended) going away hasn't been much fun sometimes, getting herded about by over zealous officers with a dose of paranoia to boot. The blackburn game was to be a celebration of freedom, it still will be because 4700 is a superb following but the whole thing stinks..big time....

Take It Away Bizzle.

The classic chant 'everywhere we go' could be heard at most games throughout the 80's and early 90's. Stoke had a great version and wolves had a decent one too. This video is of fc copenhagen fans and their own take on this great anthem. Thanks to willie nelson who posts on the oatcake for bringing it to my attention.

Everywhere we go

People wanna know

Who the lads in red and white

We like sing we like fight

Oh Oh

Red and white

Sing and fight

The city

The city

Newcastle United 2-2 Stoke City Att 47422

At half time in this game stoke were looking like cannon fodder, the same old tired away performance, giving the ball away and not getting tight to the man, aimless hoofs and empty holes were in effect and it looked like our away strategy was as predictable as a crap coldplay tune. The combination of a massive arse kicking from TP and the introduction of fuller and later tonge gave the potters a new identity, we broke the shackles away from home and put in a classic stoke performance. Power and passion, a mixture of disciplines, on the floor and up high, long throws and short passes. Forgive my enthusiasm here but we have been waiting ages for the boys to break down the walls that hold us back away from the brit. Stoke made the toon look like brazil in the first period of the game, not trying to belittle newcastle's performance because it was good and inspiring but we were awful, michael owen helped himself to a couple of early xmas presents and stoke looked in the shit. The second half will become legendary in potters circles, a full blooded display which made the magnficent vocal travelling support proud. Goals from big mama sidibe and the majestic mass of power that is abdoulaye faye gave us a share of the points. A good offensive display from glenn whelan was instrumental in this comeback, decent set piece deliveries have been sorely missed at times and it was bloody good to see a decent free kick getting dropped in. Lets hope lessons have been learned all round about the way we can play away from home. Kick down the walls stoke. WE ARE STAYING UP.

The last time i felt compelled to write about the magpies on this site was after the keegan debacle earlier in the season http://www.catflapfootball.com/Football-Blogs/Stoke-City/2008/09/04/WalkingInAKeeganWonderland.aspx. Plenty of turmoil has followed with supporters looking to oust the 'cockney mafia' and showing mass displeasure over the current ownership situation. Joe kinnear entered the hotseat on a temporary basis but has managed to start turning things around and has been given the chance to show what he can do over the course of the season. Fair play to him really, he seems to have toughened up the backbone and the toon are slowly getting it together. Watching a recent match at chelsea, the defender collocini was massively impressive and was instrumental in an excellent performance. I admire newcastle as a club but get sick of hearing the old chestnut ' we deserve this and that because we turn up in numbers and are oh so long suffering'. Sorry i won't buy that, in football you get what your players and management deliver and if that leaves the trophy cabinet empty then so be it. You get what you get, you deserve nothing. Pulis knows this will be a tough game for us and will set out for the usual solid defensive display but will demand from the players that they use the ball better in possesion and use the counter to our advantage rather than whacking it about and giving the ball back to the opposition with alarming regularity. With players such as martins, owen and possibly viduka the potters will have be strong and sharp in mind and body. Duff is a tricky player to say the least on his day so there's plenty in the toon armoury. Ab Faye and andy griffin will look forward to visiting their old club while danny higginbotham and rory delap should get a fair chunk of abuse with their sunderland connections. Not sure about this one to be fair so.....

Northys Prediction 0-0

Finally, many thanks for your time and for the effort and passion you put into team talk. This blog is all about the tunes as well as the potters which is a fair reflection on my own personality. Hit me with them homzy, what are your top five tunes to slap on when your hitting some pre match lubrication?

Staying on the subject of the insider, tony pulis has always demanded unity and strength between squad members. We seem to have a massive togetherness and this will be a massive advantage in this titanic battle we face this season. Does what you have seen behind the scenes back this up fella?

Homzy you always seem to give a positive and well balanced view of what's going on at the club, often staying calm when your posters are freaking out. Does the insider series (in which you get deep inside the realms of the britannia) help you in your assesments? Seeing and hearing things other stokies dont pick up on inside the club.

Stoke City 0-1 Derby County Att 22034

The above headline is a stab at letting you know how i felt after the 94th minute penalty which saw the rams through to the semis of the carling cup. Couple this with the fact that the travelling support did the unthinkable and outsung and even shouted down the boothen end for what must be the first time in history. Devastation and sorrow are two heavy words and maybe shouldn't be used to describe feelings when it comes to football but there is no other way of putting it i'm afraid. Your editor was silently and excitedly thinking that this was our year, reward for all the years of cup wastage, early exits to lower league sides and uninspired performances. Those old enough to remember and attend the 1972 final will always be misty eyed over events that day, they are lucky people in a sense to hold these memories,  to have witnessed the outpouring of emotion around the potteries as the heroes returned with the silver. A little piece of northy's heart was broken last night but there will be no over reaction here, no blaming of richard cresswell for wars and poverty, no harsh and silly assumptions that this is it, all downhill from here. There will be no attack on the tactics of TP and no naming and shaming players for not trying hard enough. Now ain't the time for all that crap, it's a time for sticking together as one, a unit which can overcome the tallest and stiffest obstacles. There are certain areas of our play which need addressing immediately but pulis will do it so i'll let him get on with it. The style of football is starting to make the crowd nervous and it shows in the atmosphere over the last three home games, negativity spreads fast and can cause massive damage so let's hope we can find a system to help get the ground buzzing again.

The potters had enough chances last night and we shouldn't point to the disallowed goal too much as fuller and sidibe had a few chances to wrap it up. Derby are no mugs and started to grow in confidence as the match progressed striking the woodwork twice, roy carroll made some super saves and then came the hammer blow. Griffin handled in the area with seconds to go and bang, ellington scores and that's it. Dream over. Well done to derby, their crowd were superb and a massive surprise going on previous years. Got to say though i really hope they don't win it. Thats for breaking my heart. Baaaaa

If this was some squalid rag i was writing for there would follow a load of borderline jokes about sheep, seeing as it's catflap i'll just say BAAAA. There got it over with. Ever had the feeling you've been mugged by a footie match, like it's jumped you down a dark alley and balled ya.  That was the roundabout feeling of today realising that tomorrow we play in the quarter finals of a major cup competition with a very realistic chance of getting to wembley and replicating the spirit of the 1972 heroes who returned victorious after defeating the cheeky cockney swagger of chelsea in the final in front of 100,000 at the famous old stadium. The imposing media analysis, the fervour and anxiety of the season make the premier league a permanent fixture in your brain so to escape with a bit of good old cup football allows us as fans to breathe easy and dream of silverware. Derby county have slowly started to emerge again from the wreckage of a poor season back in the top flight and are by no means consistent but have shown they are capable of getting wins and scoring goals. Potters fans will be well aware of one of the rams dangermen, kris commons infamously left stoke to join nottingham forest and farcically now plys his trade with derby. Went down well in nottingham that. He's a great player on his day though and can create attacks and also score from long rangers and free kicks. Pulis will choose a very strong first team backbone for this one, unlike other rounds but should go for an attacking line up and may find room for whelan and cresswell in there. A very tricky tie but if stoke are on it, especially if fuller plays then we can march on into the semis. Get into 'em lads. GOOOOAAARN

Northys Prediction 3-1 Stoke

The headline for the stoke v hull review was inspired by this mammoth slice of rythym. Two sevens clash by culture is a classic, if you slam this on the record deck before you whack on your fred perry and shoot up the match you will be walking tall with the swagger and cock that only reggae can give you. Peace brothers and sisters.

We Are Stoke

Stoke City 1-1 Hull City Att 27500

Listening to the radio phone-in 606 on saturday night at times was hilarious, hearing stoke and hull supporters venomously defending the stature of the two clubs, on a paranoid offensive after comments from phil brown and media reports of the game. Stokies objected to the portrayal of hull as the flair side who play the game as it should be done, no way i say, most of their goals come from set pieces and they created not very much, granted they have shown flashes of superb impact play so far this season but were no way the flag bearers against the potters. Tigers fans were condeming the reds for being one dimensional and saying their side were by far the better team, accusations from both corners concerning OTT tackles and other little niggles which would normally go un-noticed. Is there something building here, another rivalry that borders on the unsavoury ala cardiff city, hopefully not but there seems to exist a bitterness between the two sets of fans.  Stoke have not exactly set the world alight in the last three games but have emerged with 4 points since the non-descript display at old trafford, 4 points without really getting into top gear, we sit in a position which everyone will be happy with and have games coming up which we can win, obviously we are going to take knocks and the response will need to be positive but at the moment we are chugging along and i for one am well chuffed at the way things stand. Issues need to be addressed in the midfield area (two defensive centre mids at home is a poor show really) but im not tony pulis and he knows best, the fans are crying out to see a bit of flair open up a game and michael tonge must surely be homing in on a start. With liam lawrence due to return, he will hopefully be fit and raring to get into 'em. Many of stoke's goals last season were from free kick's and corner's and so far this time these have been very poor and a higher return is required. As for hull, they didn't show much yesterday but aren't at the top end of the league for no reason and are having a superb first half of the campaign. Fair play to you boys but don't start believing the hype. Arrogance = Failure.

King for hull Fuller for stoke

After last weeks game against the baggies we now find ourselves facing another fellow promoted side in hull city.  Fair play to the tigers, in the 1998/99 season they avoided relegation to the conference by 5 points but in the 2003/04 season started a remarkable climb up through the leagues and now find themselves in the premiership, the rag tag old ground is gone and a new era is mesmerising the faithful.  Stoke on trent and hull often turn up in the 'ten worst places to live'  surveys and it would be fair to say both cities struggle in terms of regeneration and funding. I can only speak for stoke here but these polls are bollocks, it might not be the most modern but stoke is a city for real people, not fakers. Each area will certainly benefit from the exposure the premier league brings.  It would also be fair to say that hull city have had the media purring with their start to the campaign, some decent stuff from them has seen a residence in the top half of the table so far, the wheels seem to have slowed down a touch of late which could possibly have something to do with a few of the supporters and players getting a touch arrogant and forgetting where they have come from. Talk of europe and premature whispers of definite survival, a season which is long and hard can have many twists and turns with this campaign in particular looking very interesting in terms of points needed to stay up. All said and done, this editor has a lot of respect for the tigers and the achievements of the staff, players and board. The potters will be looking for another home victory, fortress britannia will be packed to the rafters and the lads will be looking to put on a solid disciplined performance with a high energy flow, hull have plenty of skill in the side, geovanni springs to mind and their midfield must be kept quiet. Ricardo fuller will return to the side whilst shawcross and kitson will probably miss out with knocks, cort will no doubt come in at the back, whether the midfield is going to be re-arranged in anybodies guess but a start for michael tonge would be of no surprise. A tough game for the potters but one in which the points can be taken if everyone sticks to their jobs and gives 110%. Goooaaarn.

Northys prediction 2-1 stoke

A message to mr mowbray from martha and the vandellas

The beautiful game normally only comes with a cutting edge when you have the quality of footballer to complete the total package. The likes of liverpool, chelsea and manchester united can spend 20-30 million on the kind of player that you need for this pursuit of happiness. When these teams are on song their armoury is impressive, deco, gerrard and rooney are a few of the names that spring to mind. Players that can turn a game on it's head with a flash of brilliance, men that consistently play at a level others aspire to reach. When i look through the team that west brom put out yesterday i see no-one who has the ability to justify the approach that their manager consistently bleats on to us about. If mowbray had his way then stoke would let the little kittens of west brom weave pretty patterns all over the pitch, we should sit back in awe and not impose ourselves at all and let them entertain us. This search for purity is admirable in a sense, roy of the rovers stuff, Pro evo stylee, we know we all love to see it. Mowbray wants the world to know about his philosophy, it seems to me that he would be happy to get relegated as long as he didn't have to turn his players on to the 'ugly' side of the game. He described the game at the brit as dross and told us that there is no way his team can make us all cream our pants when faced with the brutal and unfair tactics of the potters, going for throw-in's and time wasting, he's never liked coming to stoke and thats because we surrender our style for no-one. Now granted, the game was poor, we are learning and have bad days but to have a bummer of a performance and still get the points shows a grit and determination and a will to win which west brom will never achieve this season if they don't stop trying to play this kind of fantasy football. I wonder how long the list will be of managers having a pop at the potters style this season, it all depends on how teams fare against us i suppose, beat us and it dosen't get mentioned but lose and the bile starts flowing faster than the buzzsaw guitar which was the trademark of any ramones lp. If we can keep up this solid start to the season then come january players will want to join us, quality players who can make us tick in a way that will improve our solidity and momentum in an attacking sense. We were meant to be cast adrift at the bottom punching and fighting hopelessly as we are cast aside by the rest of this league. Sure we seem to lack of touch of quality when we don't have fuller and we have missed an on form lawrence all season really so all in all we are on the button and can look ahead to the rest of the season with optimism and faith in our club. We will never comprimise but we will learn and evolve. Together.

Stoke City (sidibe) 1-0 WBA Att 26613

Beautiful goal big mama, great move. Onwards and upwards. SCFC

The reason i love it when stoke play west brom is simple, because we rarely lose and mostly win, todays fixture has seen us rack up yet another home victory against the baggies in a record which stretches back to 1982 in stoke territory.  Again they will be boing boinging down the M6 with their wings clipped and will be wondering what they have to do to beat the potters on our turf. All this beauty and the beast stuff is vaguely amusing with tony pulis quite rightly telling the media that he dosen't like playing square, backwards and to and fro, he likes playing through teams and sometimes that is direct passing to break in when the time is right or the long direct balls and set pieces. The baggies can never handle this approach and are always likely to crumble at one time or another. Maybe they do play some lovely looking football but its powderpuff and when they come to the britannia it never works and stokies end up celebrating. Saying all this though and piss taking aside, this editor really hopes the baggies and the potters will be celebrating at the end of the season when we both stay in the premier league and earn another crack next season, i know a few albion fans and they are all sound lads so good luck to them. I just wish we could play you every week....

Stoke City vs West Bromwich Albion

Any supporter of these two clubs who dosen't have some form of story to tell about the fixture probably hasn't been following them long as it is a classic, old as the hills and still as passionate as ever. The win at the hawthorns in 93 which was celebrated by the massed ranks of stokies behind the goal in the smethwick end and the 4-3 at the vic the same season, both games evoke great memories of good times, celebration, humour and bad memories of west midlands police (who seemed to play their own game of lets see how many stokies we can kick out today). We all know about the record in recent years, two west brom wins in 25 meetings and i'm sure we all remember ricardo fuller's superb hat trick at the britannia last season. The relatively close proximity of the two grounds see it classed as a midlands derby even though stoke based potters fans would argue with that, a staffordshire derby is the way i see it. Baggies fans will travel to stoke full of hope and optimism that they can beat the bogeymen and hopefully, will, as usual go back to smethwick to cry into their banks's bitter.  Stoke cannot rely on history alone because albion play some decent stuff and occasionally this season have found the cutting edge to back up their dot to dot football, saying that the baggies have a soft underbelly and the reds will need to be at it from the start with the crowd sure to be playing their role in proceedings with a high energy performance from the stands. GOOOAAARN. The baggies will bring their own vocal offerings and will be boing boinging in the south stand and there no doubt will be some tasty chanting. Both teams are gonna be properly fired up for this and the points are massive to the victors. With fuller banned, kitson should get his chance to finally break his duck and potters fans will be hoping to see a bit more flair in the midfield with soares and whelan knocking on the door. COME ON YOU REDS

Northys Prediction 2-1 Stoke

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........

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

The week has whirled by in a frenzy after the fine home win over arsenal and we now find ourselves heading up the motorway for the relatively short trip to the jjb stadium to face wigan. The latics only joined the football league in 1977 and to find themselves as a steady premiership club after 31 years is remarkable really considering the passion for rugby in the town was far greater during the formative years and maybe still is. Ive got a lot of respect for wigan, fair play to them, stoke have played them more than a few times over the last 20 years and there have been a couple of unsavoury encounters, the first being the violence that overshadowed a game at the jjb which was sparked when a minutes silence for sir stanley matthews was broken by noise from the home end. The second being stoke getting hit for 6 by wigan in a horrible game near the turn of the century. A tough game for the potters but one which could see us chalk up a point or three on the road, which is vital if we are to survive, our away form has been poor thus far and needs to improve, starting at 12.45 on saturday. For this to happen though we need another total performance from the lads because wigan are certainly no mugs, with good players and a taste for the physical side of the game the latics can do us over if we aren't on the button. Hopefully a massive following from the potteries can inspire the boys to a positive result.

Northys Prediction. 1-1

Well it's certainly been an eventful week in the life and times of stoke city football club. In over 35 years of supporting the potters northy has never seen us adorn the pages of the written press with such regularity. We are all over the place thanks to the euphoria concerning the long throw and the battle of the britannia against arsenal. To stoke supporters it was a typical, in your face full blooded passionate display by the potters but to the pampered prima donnas in the upper echelons of the premiership it was a dirty and over physical performance. It was good yesterday to hear managers, in particular phil brown of hull tell the media they had no problem with the way stoke go at it. All this talk has deflected away from the fact that we have played some good stuff in spells this season and as the campaign progresses you will see more of the same as well as the in your face commitment we are quickly becoming very well known for. With liam lawrence hopefully returning from injury over the next few weeks we will have on our hands a guy who has recharged his batteries, physically and mentally and is ready to hit the ground running. I personally get the feeling that everybody hates us and i love it. Get stuck in 'em stoke. Play hard and fair. We'll Be With You......

Well here i was thinking how gracious the arsenal gaffer had been after the defeat at the britannia stadium, that was until i had the misfortune to read the quotes of crap coming from his sour and bitter mouth this afternoon. Calling stoke players cowards and saying we went out to deliberately injure opposition players, someone should take this man to court because those words are clearly accusing and help to carry on the false representation of stoke city football club within the media and within football. Yes we are a physical side who stand up and be counted, we're also a side who live off passion and high levels of determination, unfortunately sometimes this can spill over into the odd late tackle and error of judgment.  Wenger, the fans and the players think they should be able to show off their exhibition football on match of the day every week and the opposition to be swept aside in a dazzling array of skill and speed. Screw the lot of you, when you come to stoke expect to get turned over physically, mentally and in terms of match result. But deliberately injuring players and showing cowardice. NO. Calling rory delap a coward, a man who came back from a horrific injury with exhausting stints of physio and counselling to get back playing in the premier league, he makes one poor tackle and gets blasted from a lunatic manager who also tries to assasinate the profile of a proud football club. We get enough bad press without this rubbish. SHUT IT WENGER

Just wanted to bring to your attention to a sneaky bet northy had this weekend. A fiver on stoke and spurs to win that paid 131 quid. I only put the bet on because some loudmouth liverpool fan at work was slating stoke for having a long throw and nought else. I'll show you sucker, another fan of one of the big four who has no perception of reality when it comes to the beautiful game. Also had a quid on fuller 1st goal at 12-1 so get 'em in lad i hear you say. GOOOAAARN STOKE.

Heres a cheeky rocker for ya. Get in

Stoke City 2-1 Arsenal Att 26704

Home is where the heart is, a big pulsating heart that thrashes with emotion, passion and desire. This weight is carried in equal measure by the players and supporters, helping each other to get that little bit extra, the 10% of 110%. Tony Pulis got it right when he commented that the fans know where it's at, what the club are about, our limitations and strengths. The anti brigade who want to see beautiful flowing football even if it means getting hammered every game and going down in disgrace are slowly burying their heads but will be back when we have a sticky patch. The arrogance of arsenal's support is incredible, 100 chester fans would make more noise, they expect everything to come to them and then end up giving it the old cockney swagger back onto the coach with a boot up their arse. The potters battled and harried for this victory, outfought the millionaires and sent them packing so they can cry about phsyical football and long throws. Stoke city and their fans do not give a damn about entertaining non stokies on match of the day. We are staying in this league and we do it our way, no compromise. We play some good football and are starting to settle, we will play different ways against different teams, yesterday was all about the battle and we won it. Superb victory stoke. Very proud. PS Fuller and Oli goals for stoke. Almost forgot!

Stoke City vs Arsenal

Here we go again, with over a quarter of the season gone we find ourselves facing arsenal at the britannia stadium, the traditional kick off time being a rarity for stokies of late and the atmosphere should be running hot.  The game, its said is not sold out as of friday night but come 3pm saturday will surely be a full house. This fixture is part of the multi-ticketing system in which a ticket for the home game with hull must be bought also. The gunners come to town with plenty of top class artillery and when on song are a joy to behold with slick and incisive play all over the park. Sometimes watching them in full swing can be frightening and the potters will have to be 110% man for man. It has been said that they don't like it when you get in their faces and if that is the case then hopefully stoke will be powerful and aggressive, mixing this with the quick direct football and also the passing play we have slowly started showing, each member of the team seems to be finding their feet at this level, stoke were never going to come flying out of the traps like grease lightning ala hull, it's just not our style nowadays but gradually we are getting tighter as a unit and if this continues we can cause problems all over. Lets not sit back and let them come, thats where the problems start. Show them respect but always retain our unique mixture of passion and grit, crowd and players. This is what it's all about. GET IN 'EM LADS

Northys Prediction 2-2

A Stoke City Rocker for ya cocker.

http://www.catflapfootball.com/Football-Blogs/Stoke-City/2008/10/10/StokeCityRockersPart2.aspx

No2. Marcia Griffiths - Feel Like Jumping

Your editor was in the 80's and 90's and early 00's a regular at home and away fixtures but now has a young family to take care of so isn't anymore.  When the chance arises you will find me in the boothen end and drinking in the gardeners retreat before and after the match. Anyway the point of this is that if northy has been to the game you will get a full blooded intensive piece otherwise you will get my thoughts rather than an accurate description of play. Saying all this, there is a little corner of nottingham which carries the spirit of stoke's following every match day. Like many exile stokies i hang on every word spoken by mr stoke city ' nigel johnson' on bbc radio stoke and feel every kick, every defensive error, every burst of magic from fuller and every bullet throw from our rory. We'll be with you.