the club already is self sufficient Nicky so we just carry on as we are simples, Smithers, I can see what youre saying about older players but its not a big problem to me, its a fine balancing act
Hughes has managed the age thing well by bringing some quality youth in, we were very top heavy towards the end with TP. Considering the budget restrictions he's done very well IMO.
I agree, I just hope he keeps picking up these young stars (Woolshied, Muniesa, Bojan to name a few) for bargain prices
Last words on this thread....some posters are getting complacent. In this league you have to run to stand still, rest on your laurels and you are down, with the added riches on offer next season, it will only get worse
That's probably the biggest factor in all this - the fact that if you are not going forward your going backwards, you only have to look at clubs like United and Villa for example. Playing devils advocate, it could be argued that we are punching above our weight already?
Last last words Smithers That is exactly the point I was trying to make, yes we are and have been punching above our weight since our return to the top league. Saying that...Pulis spent nigh on £100 Milliion, it kept us in the league and in the scheme of things, it was money well spent. No resale value of course, but in added turnover and that DOES include TV revenues, well spent. As I said earlier, Hughes is doing an excellent job, good football, good results and a happier fan base. But that was NEVER my point. Hey ho...have a good day
Southamptons resale value of home grown academy talent has been one of the most successful over the last few seasons
I think that Burnley, Aston Villa and Qpr (even though they are winning tonight), are 3 of the worst sides to be in the prem for some time. The standard of the bottom half hasnt increased much but the top half has decreased massively. If you have a half decent team you will stay up quite easily this season. Im not complacent just realistic and not getting carried away. I know where our limits are and im more than happy to keep within them
Comments (5) EQUALISING in the last minute like we did at Newcastle on Sunday certainly makes a draw feel like a win. We didn't deserve to lose, so Peter Crouch's header was fair reward for a hard afternoon's work from the Stoke City players. I'll admit the game wasn't a thriller, although it would have to have been several times more boring to match the Merseyside derby the previous evening. But entertainment aside, I still enjoyed the match because it displayed the qualities I admire in our side. We're a genuinely competitive, committed and honest team, and one which is not short of a bit of skill too. We display the best characteristics you'd expect from a football club and one whose qualities show exactly why we've managed to confound our critics. One of my biggest wishes is that others look at our club and our players and see the same things that I do. But that seems a forlorn prospect because Stoke City are viewed in a different light to what we actually are. We have pundits who continue to talk about our 'direct style' when, if anything, we are actually guilty of over-playing these days. We continue to have commentators who wax lyrical about our set-piece prowess when the reality is that we're not much cop defending or attacking them at the moment. We have journalists who make issue of our discipline and paint us as a team of schoolyard bullies when, in actual fact, we've now gone almost a year without receiving a single Premier League red card. We're mid-table in the Premier League when it comes to red and yellow cards, even below the holier-than-thou Arsenal, who have the exact same number of yellow cards, but also two red ones as well. The views of lazy journalists, ill-informed pundits and spiteful opposing supporters don't matter one little bit, but the problem with the perception of our club comes when match officials buy into it to. And they most certainly do, as we saw against Newcastle at the weekend. This isn't another rant at a referee who robbed us, though heaven knows it happens too many times, but a genuine question as to whether officials are allowing their pre-conceived ideas of us cloud their judgement? One referee awarded a penalty against us for holding in the area, but hasn't given another spot-kick for the same offence. In my view, that official acted as he did because of our reputation. You're left to wonder then whether this refereeing perception of Stoke City in any way contributed to the total mess of a performance from referee Kevin Friend at Newcastle? In the first half he issued a flurry of yellow cards against Stoke players for 'offences' that shouldn't have merited even a single one. That left us walking a tightrope of disaster for the remainder of the match, with several of our players knowing that one false step could see them red-carded. It is to their eternal credit that they managed to avoid this fate. One player who wasn't so disciplined, though, was Newcastle's Jack Colback. Having already received a booking earlier in the game he then went crashing through Victor Moses with a challenge which was quite simply as cast-iron a yellow card as you'll see. Suddenly, though, the referee, who'd been ruthless in his punishment of Stoke players, became quite shy with his cards and kept them in his pocket. Colback stayed on the pitch and, of course, a few minutes later he scored. Fair play to the lad for admitting afterwards that he'd been lucky to stay on the pitch. The accusing fingers here are pointed firmly at a referee who failed to do his job and who bottled out of a decision. We are left to wonder what the referee's decision might have been if it has been an already-booked Stoke player who'd made that Colback challenge? Actually, we don't need to wonder at all. We know the answer. It's so frustrating because we're not a dirty or cynical team. We don't play-act, we don't crowd referees like many teams you could mention and we're never involved in these type of these free-for-all melees you see from time to time in matches. We can be uncompromising and we do stand strong, but essentially we're a pretty honest team doing its best to get by and who stick together through thick and thin. Has our name become so toxic that these qualities are simply overlooked? Can pundits, journalists and officials not speak of us based on our merits, rather than viewing us through the distorted lens of our 'reputation'? Hope is a good thing. It was hope which kept us going through the darkest days of our extended exile from the top flight and it was hope that fed our love and belief in Stoke City when we looked dead and buried as a club. As we continue to hold our own in this toughest of leagues and to look ever upwards I hope the day comes when we're viewed, judged and treated according to who we actually are and not what people think we are. 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After Wednesday's and today's performance it is clear that the management made a serious error in not strenghtening our squad in January. Some posters on here agreed and thought we did not need anyone else. How wrong you were. I predict that we will be in freefall to the bottom end of the league. Keep the faith fellow Potters.
