lim

i wish i could say yes they will be in the prem in the next season but i cant see it happening, we need to rebuild the squad and get a decent long term manager who knows what hes doing, now we have new owner he is promissing to bring us glory so it sounds promissing but dont get your hopes up.

Simon the snail

Forgot this bit:
League positions 2013-2014
pos 5th W17 D11 L10 F75 A55 pts62

Best players,
Dean Bowditch 4 England caps 35 games 25 goals 14 assists avr 7.51
Simon Watson, 3 England caps, 2 goals 37 games 16 goals 10 assists avr 7.11 ( Watson did actually replace Bowditch in the England squad for his first two games, but Bowditch did enough to be called up too for his 4th cap, Watsons 3rd)
Aaron Mokoena avr 7.37 ( just a rock at the back, could not do without him)

Simon the snail

Unfortuanetly you have Tony Pulis in charge. I may be wrong but I can't ever remember a team progressing with Pulis at the helm - he managed Bristol City for a year or so and played 'hump it up the field and hope' football. With any luck, he has learnt from his (many) past mistakes and finally will succeed at what must be one of his favourite clubs.

Simon the snail

Season Summary 2014/2015

With Stoke still being tipped for relegation despite the promises from manager and chairman in pre season, the cobblers have a lot to prove this season. The chairman did indeed have money available and the manager, sensing a need to strengthen the squad made use of it. First of all bringing in Brazilian Dm Tacio on a bosman from Chelsea (where he was bought for 11m and never played!), then winger James Morrison from Wigan for free. 3m was given to Birmingham for the services of 23 year old left winger Liam Moseley. Gianni Zuiverloon was bought from Bristol city for 3m, centre back Jack Wilson was a 3.1m gamble from Championship side Hartlepool, and feeling the need for a new keeper, the stoke manager splashed out 5.25m on Liverpool’s reserve keeper, 21 year old Ian Hughes..
After spending nearly 15m, the fans and pundits expected a bit of a clear out, and not wanting to disappoint, the manager did just that. Defenders Anez, Hill, Markovic, Connoly and Molteberg were sold or released, bringing in a 2.7m profit. Lars Iver Strand followed fellow Norwegian Molteberg to Qpr on a free transfer and Daniel de Ridder left to join Maccabi Haifa for 500k where he was promised money and first team football.
With a virtually new midfield, new keeper, and new centre backs, the Stoke line up for their first league game against Arsenal was expected to look very different to the one which ended last season. The PA system announced to the fans that the manager was sticking to a 4-4-2 system and then proceeded to call out the line up:

GK – Hughes
DR – Halford
DL – Broz (c)
DC – Mokoena
DC – Jarvis
MR – Samuelsson
ML – Ore
MC – D’Allesandro
MC – Tacio
FC - Bowditch
FC – Watson

So a grand total of two new signings started in the 3-2 victory versus Arsenal, with Watson scoring two, Bowditch one.
The league continued to go well for Stoke, beating Liverpool 3-0 in their next game in which both Moseley and Morrison played some part. They even coped with the 3 month hamstring injury to Simon Watson. 2 defeats in a row ( including an embarrassing 5-3 loss to the hands of QPR) , no decent AMC, and lots of good centre backs, caused the manager to change his formation, opting for an extremely counter attacking 5-3-2 option, which did not require any AMC. This sparked new life in the Stoke team in the league and they went on to win 6 straight league games through October and November, finding themselves third in the league, a point behind Newcastle and miles away from runaway leaders (again!) Arsenal.

In the Uefa cup, Stoke faced Skonto in the first round. A 3-0 aggregate victory saw them drawn in a group with Hertha BSC, Maccabi Haifa, Palermo and Shakhtar.
Losing 1-0 to Hertha in the first game was not a good sign for Stoke, and many fans were left wondering whether their team may make an early exit this year. But Stoke bounced back with a 5-0 victory against M Haifa (Bowditch scoring 2, Lopez, Watson and Broz the other three). They then beat Palermo 2-1 and Lopez scored all four in the 4-0 victory over Shakhtar to see the Cobblers into the knockout stages, where they faced Mallorca.

Meanwhile in the league cup Stoke had been steadily progressing with their second team, showing that the manager is not too bothered with the cups this year. Many fans were excited to see the young talent on offer, especially from lightning winger Scott Cooper and Left back Graham Richardson winger. Striker Martin Seman also starred. 2-0 victories against Crystal Palace and Peterborough saw Stoke ‘A’ into the quarter finals where they narrowly lost 2-1 to a full strength Spurs team, Spurs scoring the winner after extra time.

The FA cup was not so productive, after struggling through on penalties against Luton in the 3rd round; Stoke then lost 1-0 in a very poor match against Middlesborough. The manager was not happy so the team set things right in the next league match against Newcastle, winning 4-0 and taking second place.

The first leg against Mallorca was a tight, scrappy affair. The players travelled there in high spirits, expecting an easy game. It was not to be, and a late Dean Bowditch equalizer was enough to get a 1-1 draw and the crucial away goal advantage.
The second leg was a much better game, Stoke were leading 2-1, with Mallorca pressing hard, when disaster struck in the 71st minute. Fabrice Grondin played a delicious through ball for Eero Peltonen to run on to. Ian Hughes rushes out to close down the angle, and forces Peltonen out even wider. The Finn then checks back onto his left foot, wrong footing Hughes before calmly slotting the ball past the Stoke Keeper’s scrambling right hand into the far corner of the net. 2-2 the final score line read. Mallorca had gone through on away goals, knocking Stoke out of the cup and giving them nothing to look forward to but the league, starting with a tough game against Chelsea next…(interestingly, two players from that Mallorca team go on to play for my team later on in my career – which is something I hadn’t realised before writing this)
The Chelsea game was a must win game, but many stoke fans were expecting a thrashing, with the players going out of the UEFA cup; they expected their heads to be down for a couple of weeks. One fan was quoted as saying ‘I’ve got a season ticket to the Brittania this year, but I may miss the next few games until they sort themselves out, then they’ll come back better than ever, fresher than ever, with only one thing o focus on.’ The manager however, was not going to wait a few games before sorting things out and did a very small amount of psyching up in the dressing room before the match. Those of you who have read the whole story from the first post are no doubt aware of the score line here, for those who haven’t or missed the link, please refer to the link on my first post to get a summary of the game.

The players continued their consistent form in to the end of the season, boosted especially by Simon Watson returning to fitness and top, top form. A 5-1 victory against Tottenham was revenge for the league cup quarter final and the players and fans, Chairman and manager were all delighted to finish the season in 2nd place in the English premiership, 11 points behind Arsenal and 1 in front of Newcastle. A certain pundit was not so impressed however, ‘Ah told ye, ye dunnae win anythin’ with kids, an’ they still ha’ nay won nothin’’ The manager was happy and in a press conference said this, ‘ I am very happy that we finished second in our second season in the premiership, we were disappointed with going out early on in the UEFA cup, but I feel that it really helped the lads dig in and really focus on finishing behind Arsenal, and qualifying automatically for the champions league’ When asked about whether they can challenge arsenal’s league dominance, he replied ‘they are far and away the most consistent side in England at the moment but I do feel that they will be entering a transition period soon, four or five of their players will soon be past their best and it is up to us to pounce on the chance, because certainly at the moment they are probably not beatable over a season.’ Many of the newer ‘top flight’ Stoke fans were disgruntled with their managers opinion but the die hards were content, remembering where their team was only a few years ago and witnessing the complete transformation of the club.

The chairman’s end of season statement was slightly later than usual, due to him entertaining a few high profile players on a yacht loaned to him by a Russian Billionaire… ‘I am delighted by the fantastic work and continued progress of everyone at the club. We have achieved yet another hurdle on the path to greatness. We are firmly established as a top premiership team, and a good run in the champions’ league next season will give the players and everyone involved with the club the extra boost and experience, not to mention money, that the club needs to fulfil its ambitions. The premiership title is now a four year plan and if things keep improving as they are, we will have another trophy to pair with our famous FA cup trophy in our mostly bare trophy cabinet.’

With bookies and most pundits finally accepting Stoke as a force to be reckoned with, their thoughts turn to the upcoming European championships and the inevitable departure of England manager Paul Jewell and who will replace him, it all depends on successful seasons in 2015/2016….

2nd W19 D11 L8 F82 A53 pts68

Players performances

Watson p35 G31 Ast 10 MoM 12 Avr 7.66
Bowditch p41 G27 Ast16 MoM 6 Avrr 7.37 fans player of the year...again!
Moseley 10 assists
Tacio Avr 7.37

Champions league
Schalke 1-0 Chelsea

Simon the snail

:eek: Huge apologies to all the Stoke fans out there. Please mentally replace 'the cobblers' with 'the potters' and forgive my Stoke city ignorance.

Simon the snail

Seaon Summary 2015/2016

After ending the season on such a high last year, it was going to be very difficult to improve upon the previous years effort this time around.
In an effort to establish Stoke city as a top team for decades, the manager decided to spend money on youth - starting with improving the training facilities to world class standard and then stealing five youngsters from various clubs. Central midfielder Lee Abbott was bought from Nottingham forest for 265k, right back Tim Robinson from Wigan for 375k (both players having played a number of first team game for their championship clubs last season despite being 15 and 16 years old.) Spanish defensive triplet Navarro, Ramos and Ruiz were also brought in on frees which upset a few fans who wanted and expected their club to maintain a strong English base.
The manager then looked to strengthen the team for the short term. Bruno Mezenga, a brazilian forward joined Stoke from Paris on a free, having agreed a deal in February. Jay McEveley was bought for 4m to add depth to the defence and the manager gambled on 20 year old Dm/AMC Gary Day from Luton where he had had a fantastic season the previous year in the championship.

Meanwhile the manager had been even more busy getting rid of players - which took many fans by surprise and some began to question their clubs ambitions. esposoto was shipped off on a free to Plymouth whilst aging favourite Paul Gallagher was given to Inverness to end his career. Andres D'Alessandro was also released to lower the wage bill. Asa Hall was sold to Leicester for 825k and unsettled Rossi Jarvis was a 2.1m aquisition for Man city. Young striker Martin Seman was sold to Club Brugge for a massive profit of 3.2m and promising keeper Petri Vaha-Pesola was sold to Chelsea for 3.3m. Then the biggest shock yet came. The fans were scocked, surprised and amazed when they turned their sunday papers to the back page to find that Francisco Javier Lopez, the man who scored 4 goals versus Shakhtar the previous season had been offloaded! Stuttgart had apparently gotten themselves a bargain! 4.5 million was still a club record sale, however. With a profit of almost 14 million, many fans were distraught, others, the cleverer ones were wondering who the manager had spotted, to sell 5 players to raise transfer funds for. He must be pretty amazing, they reasoned - for our manager wouldn't take a massive gamble...would he? A week passed and Stoke city had been very quiet on the transfer front, when slowly, news began to leak out of the Brittania stadium and into tabloid gossip columns. Apparently Long time Stoke target Cees Janssen had had a row with his Osasuna coach and was being allowed to leave for in the region of 18 million pounds. Sure enough, very soon after, the player was travelling to England for a medical and was a few says later officially photographed holding up a red number 23 shirt standing next to a beaming Stoke city manager. For an as yet unproven player (think Dirk Kuyt in real life), 15 million pounds was a lot of money and Stoke fans were very anxious to see how their record signing fared up against the best defences in the premiership.

The league season started relatively well for Stoke, featuring a 5-3 victory versus Leeds and a 4-1 win against Aston Villa. The only thing that marred the early season was a string of injuries from star striker Simon Watson - from pulled hamstrings to fractured cheekbones.

Stoke did not bother with the league cup or FA cup, putting youth teams out in both cases, and promptly losing 1-0 to Villa and 3-1 to Leeds. The manager was much more interested in the two biggest prizes in football, the champions league, and league. Although the league looked almost out of sight already with a Jermain Defoe led Arsenal streaking clear at the top.

Stoke were drawn with Rangers, Inter and Shakhtar in their group, strating with a fixture versus Scottish rivals Rangers. They proved no match for the mighty (yet Simon Watsonless) Stoke and were promptly thrashed 3-0 with goals from five times fans player of the year Dean Bowditch (2) and 1 from substitute Emil Samuelsson to kick off Stoke's first ever Champions league campaign. They then travelled to Inter Milans San Siro stadium. After getting the Inter players autographs, Stoke went 2-0 down. A converted penalty from newly establised first team player Gary Day forced Inter to score another to stay safe. Simon Watson came on for the last quarter of an hour and got one back for Stoke but Inter were able to hang on to the victory. In the third champions league game, Shakhtar came to town, again. With a full strength side, Stoke were able to finally start with the promising partnership of Watson and Janssen up front and, predictably they both scored in their teams 2-0 victory. In the return leg, Simon Watson was again injured, and what made matters worse was that Dean Bowditch was carried off to a Ukrainian hospital after only 3 minutes. What made matters better was that Janssen scored his first hat-trick for the potters (not the cobblers!!) in a convincing 5-2 victory with Day and Markus Kinnunen scoring the other two. The scoreline was repeated in the next game against Rangers, where Mezenga got two, Bowditch one, right back Greg Halford one, and young right winger Scott Cooper one. With qualification secured, Stoke had a chance to push Inter into the UEFA cup when the Milan club travelled to the Brittania. Not bothering with autographs this time, the manager was extremely satisfied with a marvellous 2-1 victory, including a fantastic individual goal from Simon Watson ( picking the ball up just past the half way line, dribbling past the two central midfielders before peeling off left, taking the ball round the outside of the right back, reaching the by-line and triking the ball with the outside of his foot so that it curled past the keeper, into the far post and in.) and Bruno Mezenga profiting from a fantastic Moseley cross. Stoke were in the Knockout stages as winners of their group!!

As the transfer window opened, some disturbing rumours were coming out of the Brittania stadium. With one and a half years left on his contract, Stoke captain Josef Broz was refusing to sign a new one, believing that Stoke did not have the resources. A number of clubs became interested and it seemed as if Stoke were about to lose their most influential player and arguably one of the best left backs in the world at that current time. When an 8.25m bid from Roma came in, the offer was accepted and Stoke captain Josef Broz walked out of the Brittania stadium for the last time, got in a parked taxi and was whisked off to Rome. Stoke also sold Markus Kinnunen to Newcastle for 5.5m after he had not scored since the 5-2 victory against shakhtar. With days running out before the window closed, Stoke did not have a proven left back to continue their champions league campaign and keep them in the top four in the league. Whats more a new captain had to be chosen.
As the transfer window drew to a close, neither of these things had happened and teenage left back Graham Richardson had a huge half of a season in front of him.

With the manager claiming that Richardson was the reason he sold Broz, the next game against Newcastle was a sell out, with fans turning up in their thousands to take their first good look at this supposed teenage senstaion. When their team trudged off the pitch at the final whistle having conceded four goals and only scoring two, Stoke fans were not entirely optimistic about the rest of the season. One fan was quoted as saying, 'we are really going to miss Broz out there, not only are we lacking defensive cover on the left but we also are suddenly a team without leadership. Hopefully we can hang onto a champions league place but to be honest I expect to be playing in the UEFA cup next season.'

With the first leg of the champions league knockout round against Deportivo looming, the Stoke players were hard at work learning how to defend. They didn't learn quick enough, though and lost 3-2 with goals coming from Tacio and Morrisson. Luckily they were playing away from home and thus only needed to win 1-0 at the Brittania to go through on away goals.

Veteran defender Aaron Mokoena was named as the new captain and Stoes performances began to pick up again in the league. They were occupying third place but about 10 points behind Spurs in second place. Their only hope of a trophy this season lay in the Champions league - and that task was surely impossible for a small club like Stoke. They made it through to the quarter finals though, with a fantastic 4-0 victory in the home leg against Deportivo. Janssen and Bowditch both scoring two. With one of the easier draws in the quarters - a tie against Sevilla, the Stoke team were optimistic about reaching the last four. Graham Richardson had settled down and was producing some consistent, yet not mindblowing, or even Broz standard performances.
Sevilla travelled to England for the first leg and it was them with the away goal at the end of the game. Gary Day and Cees janssen did ensure that Stoke travelled to Spain with the advantage however. Stoke now faced their biggest task yet - they had to keep a clean sheet! Either that or set Simon Watson/Cees Janssen amongst them and win win by a ridiculous margin. But this is the Champions league quarter final! The best eight clubs in Europe! Sevilla realized Stokes plan and swiftly defended deep and man marked Watson, so the stoke strike force was nullified. So they scored from midfield instead. Moseley and Tacio putting their team into the semi finals after keeping a rare clean sheet as well.

A proper giant of a team faced Stoke in the semi's. The players stepped off the plane to the sound of a loudspeaker 'Hallo Stoke City. Wilkommen nach Munchen' German giants Bayern Munich were the opponents, and certain pundits were predicting a one way game, 'Look a' them, they're wee keds. Ah cannae see any way tha' they woon't come away withoot a thraashing. The Germans are too experienced.'

Bayern took the lead early on through Neumann and defended doggedly through ninety minutes. Cees Janssen scored in the ninety first. With a vital away goal to take back to Stoke, excitement and expectation was rising. The whole country had become Stoke city supporters. With that support spearing the team on, plus a woefully poor Munich side, the potters cruised into the final, 4-0, with Watson and Morrisson both getting a brace.

And in the final, Stoke face the the team from the San Siro on neutral ground, in the Lerkendal stadium, Trondheim. However, this team from the San Siro is the real deal, the red team, AC Milan.

Prior to this match Stoke had finished off their season in style, securing 3rd place with a 5-1 victory over Chelsea followed by a 6-0 one against Newcastle, so the players were on form, but tired.

The match began and Milan took it by the scruff off the neck and held it there. The Italian clubs superior class was easy to see, mastering the midfield with ease, their players dictated the play creating chance after chance after chance, only to be denied time after time after time by specialist champion's league keeper David Button. Thanks to him Stoke managed to reach half time at 0-0 where the manager had to make some tactical changes. Stoke began the second half playing the same way but slightly narrower, their game plan was to play on the counter attack and get the ball to Simon Watson ASAP. Stoke got their first shot on target in the 53rd mnute. The game became slightly more even, but Milan still had more possession. Then stokes second shot on target happened in the 78th minute, it was pushed behind for a corner. With the game descending to inevitable extra time this could well be Stokes ast chance to score in normal time. James Morrisson crossed it from the right, aiming for Gary Day on the penalty spot, Day leapt high, met the ball with his head, and the ball went flying towards the bottom left corner! Stoke had a third shot on target! But no goal. the keeper saw the header early and got down well to his left to save...but he fumbled it, the ball bounced loosely in the box for less than a second before an inrushing boot connected. As the player wheeled away, all the TV cameras saw was '9 Watson' on the players back before he was buried under a scrum of his own players. Stoke had 10 minutes to hold on in order to win the greatest club prize of all. They did. the whole of England was in ecstacy. as Aaron Mokoena lifted the cup nobody doubted for one moment that this team would win this again next year, and the league, and the world cup...then they calmed down.

The chairman released a statement the same night praising the team and manager, 'This has been the most fantastic end to a season I have ever experienced as chairman. I am extremely proud of the players and manager. We are satisfied with the third place in the league but hope to challenge Arsenal for the title next year. We have established ourselves as one of the greatest teams in Europe and it is my dream that we can turn this one success into the beginning of a new, successful era for Stoke football club. More of the same next year please.'

3rd W18 D10 L10 F82 A52 pts64
Watson p42 G22 Ast11 Avr7.4
Janssen p47 G30 Ast9 Avr 7.26
Day p50 G13 Ast8 MoM7 Avr 7.52
Bowditch wins fans player of the year for the sixth time running.

The champions league success meant that 6 Stoke players wer included in the England sqaud for the European Championships, Button (GK), Hughes(GK), Moseley (MLC), Watson (ST), Bowditch (ST) and Day (Dm,AMC). england lost to sweden 3-2 after extra time in the quarter finals and Sweden lost 1-0 to Holland in the final.

Arsenal won the premiership with 81 points, Tottenham were second with 75.

England needed a new manager...