Bottom of the fair play league Stoke City... 41 ... Yellows ... 2 ... reds does that happen to a team that plays good football?
Weird how many fans hate adkins none of us could imagine hating him I'm sure but would it be different if he was manager of another club or are we just nicer fans than all these other clubs!
The very things we loved Adkins for (his long speeches, quotes, cheery bonhomie) may also be the things that annoy other people. However, most of that has gone...he now sounds like a thoughtful and intelligent manager...doubt he would annoy anyone who was unfamiliar with him from the lower leagues.
He does seem to have trimmed his dialogue a tad. Been busy for months, and now on hols and got round to listening to his pre match musings again. definitely more economical! Do you think he has coaching for this?
Adkins reads widely and is an avid learner...I'm sure this 'new' image is deliberate. He mentioned once that his wife told him off about some of his oft-repeated phrases such as 'on the bus'.
Interesting read on the Stoke FC forum - there is a great level of hatred amongst their fans for our Nige. In part I'm not surprised as I do think Adkins can come across a little smug but if it riles opposition supporters then I'm all for it! They are very cocksure about tomorrow and some of this seems to be sourced beyond their feelings about a disparity in "quality" between the teams with some declaring hatred for the club - perhaps not helped by the emergence of an angry Saints fan on there. They seem less bothered with the suggestion that Saints will regularly finish above them in five year's time.
Well i am glad they hate Adkins makes my hate for Pulis feel more deserving. Very arrogant fans they have on that board
Had a couple of very happy trips to Stoke in the Eighties and remember a particular Saturday night in 1984 when despite winning 3-1 we had drinks bought for us all night!
Not sure Adkins reads "widely". He's got a few of those old self-help motivational books that he probably got when he was laid up in hospital and he rereads them every few months or so. All his "quotes" are strraight out of those books. Not that I'm critcising him but he just doesn't strike me as being particularly erudite.
Having browsed their Forum, I would like us to win now, just to see how they react, especially if it is a bit controversial. Funny up to now I had a great deal of respect for Stoke City Football Club, still have for the Team but not their fans if that is a general example.
Sounds like they have a chip on their shoulder. That level of venom is usually reserved for local rivals or a bigger club that is condescending. We are not near Stoke so they must feel inferior to us As said, lot to admire about Stoke...good midtable finishes ever since promotion. They also played well against Liverpool.
To be honest , i dont think you can base your opinions of a football club or the fans on what people say on a forum. Most fans who browse forums are out spoken and normally consider themselves super fans. As you have probably seen on this forum.
Definitely not going to be an easy game, but I think Saints can win it. Try and take advantage of a defense that may start off unorganized and grab a quick lead. Stoke *can* score especially given our defense isn't the greatest and we are weak in the air whereas they are strong. But it will force them out of their usual gameplan and we know we can score too. But if Stoke goes up at any point, I think that will probably be it for us. As for Stoke hating Adkins, they have a history with him going back to when he managed Scunthorpe. To be honest, I think Adkins probably does have a bit of extra dislike for Stoke as well. Without making any judgments as to aesthetics or the effectiveness of varios tactics I think it's fair to say their style of play is rather different than what Adkins prefers in his teams. The Stoke fans are making a mountain out of a mole hill, but fans tend to do that. We would probably be the same. I don't think the Stoke fans are crazy bitter people or that their dislike of Adkins is indicative of how fans of other teams feel.
Whilst on the subject of managers, Tony Pullis is in the papers talking about qualifying for Europe. Ideas above their station? Over confidence ahead of the "banker" of the day as per all the expert pundits? As for Pullis "Mr Merchandise", anybody running a book on how much merch the bloke is going to wear today? You would think even a small town club like Stoke would pat their manager enough for him to go to M&S to buy his own gear rather than relying on handouts from their club shop!
If Stoke fans went into many forums of any team they'd see venom, they're not a popular bunch unfortunately for them. That probably adds to their sensitivity and Adkins hate, they've got a very 'us against the world' attitude and are constantly slated for being dirty and playing nasty football. So Adkins has an interview ahead of the Stoke match where he talks about us needing to play good football (because that's how we function) and us keeping clean and not committing fouls (because they will punish us and we're so angelic and nice) and they take up the defensive and start the name-calling. Let's not pretend we're any less sensitive, any time a rival fan pops onto our board and even mentions relegation then there's always 4-5 who pop up to have a go at them.
I guess trixter would say the same about some of the obsessive posts on here about Fat Sam! This one though came as a bit of a surprise as it was from a Club not known for being outspoken on anything, and I don't think we have ever been unfair to them!
