After another successful season for Stoke City, we find ourselves embarking on what may prove to be our most difficult season since our return to the top flight. The squad needs improving and we have been linked with a number of decent players which will hopefully allow some of the fringe players to move on and strengthen the squad. We were treated to two Wembley appearances last season and have a European adventure to look forward to as a result. These extra games, coupled with another tough Premier League campaign, will bring about a requirement to have some depth, and above all, quality, in our squad. Tony Pulis has previously enjoyed the wheeling and dealing of the British transfer windows, but has tended to leave most of the work until the final few days. We have been heavily involved in 'Deadline Day' transfers in recent years and, whilst this is often exciting for the fans, it has also led to the failure to capture of quality players who have been offered deals elsewhere. Whilst we have to put our faith in the club to identify and sign quality players, we are often left frustrated when players, who we have identified on the forums, have gone to other clubs. But we have to remember, the management at Stoke City have proved through ongoing improvement that the club is in good hands. The sale of Tuncay did not prevent the club from moving forward based on last seasons achievements and seeing Jamie O'Hara sign for Wolves may be seen as 'the fish that got away'. My concerns for this season are that we may need to spend big in order to be in a position where we can combine the excitement of European Football with some guarentee of retaining our top flight status. The teams coming up from the Championship this season are stronger than previous years and European football is bound to take its toll on the squad. The fringe players at our disposal seem miles off what is required at the present time and we have been pretty lucky with injuries last term. Can you imagine not having Etherington, Pennant, Huth for lengthy periods during the season? What have we got to replace them? At the moment, very little! Pulis is correct when he says that it will be a busy and expensive transfer window, but I don't think we can afford to leave new signings until the end of the August. This could prove to be a very important window for Stoke City as a club and the next few weeks will be very interesting indeed. Regards TP
Unless we bring in more quality we will be fighting for survival next season. Our squad is way too thin for Europe and the Prem! Larsson gone to Sunderland today, that's another we have let slip by..........
Can't really see that larsson is any better than what we have. Really hope TP can pull out yet another couple of gems like Walters and Pennant.
