This is to all the 5,000 + fans that travelled to Spain this week to cheer on the lads. We out sold Man United, Chelsea and Liverpool hence the poor allocation we were originally given. Stokies are true fans and I'm proud to be one of them. Even though we have been dire since Christmas we still swamped Valencia with fans and sang all through the game right up to the end. Whilst I know the European tour has now come to a crashing halt, we've travelled to Croatia, Switzerland, Ukraine, Israel, Turkey and Spain putting the Potters firmly on the European map. Hopefully we will be back there someday with another manager that actually cares about the fans to give them the reward they so thoroughly deserve.
Brilliant post Waddo Here's my appreciation to those who went to Valencia BEST fans and I heard you all singing loud and proud!
I have returned from Valencia and what an experienceit was. I was with various who post on the Oatcake. Namely Trebor 63, Lakeside Potter, Luke 45, Surreystokie, keepleft Tony to name a few. Tony Tams has no voice left, I hope he is ok tomorrow! We set off from Gatwick and have not seen so many Stokies in Gatwick in my life. We stayed in Alicante on Wednesday and then went up to Valencia Thursday morning. We went to Cathredral Square where the square was full of flags and a huge number of supporters. We learnt that we should be at the ground between 5:00 & 5:30 local time as it would take some time to get through security. When we go to the grond the 12 coaches from Benidorm had arrived! The locals did not comphrehend what was going on with the singing hours before the game. I trust you heard us all during the whole game. On the game I thought the team did us proud. Even Salif played reasonably although I think he was lucky to be on the field at the end! The first half we really should have scored! KJ really was up for it and had 3 chances to score. 2 efforts really produced good saves and the header which was his first chance was really poor. There was a definite foul just on the edge of the box on Arismendi which was not given whereupon Valencia broke away skinning DC down the left and scoring from close range. Still at 80 minutes I had hope but it got nasty in the last 20 minutes it got quite nasty. The referee who I think may have been the same guy as at Stoke and was really poor. We lost but I think that the majority of those that travelled really had a great time. Three in the party had seen all the away Europa games and picked out Istanbul as the best experience. For me that was the first time I had seen Stoke play competively in Europe and it was always live in my memory. Am driving up tomorrow with another guy locally and have already warned him I will bore him with details of the trip! I hope some of this is of interest!
So glad you enjoyed the trip, a shame about the result but it's been an adventure. You must be a very loyal supporter, travelling to Valencia and travelling to most, if not all, the home games from Kent. Well done. I hope you are rewarded tomorrow with a win vs the Swans, a must needed 3 points.
