STOKE TO MISS OUT

[dippyfc]

stoke to miss out on any points being given us and sheffield wed are just getting a fine . if it comes down to 1 or 2 points at the end of season then we have being let down . the english FA havent a clue

[twobanksoffour]

news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/stoke_city/7326470.stm

[Soi Cowboy]

I can't believe anyone expected us to be awarded points in the first place.

[northantsash]

unlucky but id rather go up on merit than get 2 default points and go up by the same margin. if we are good enough, which i believe we are, then we wont need handouts from the football league

[Lakeland Potter]

Nothing to do with the FA. It is a Football League rule that was broken.

[stokie01]

We would never get extra points.

[Mr Jon]

There's one silver lining to this cloud.

Let's include all our loanees in the matchday 16 for the remaining 5 games and incur a £10K fine. It's worth it to have a shot of automatic promotion surely!

After all, in the Football League's own words, it's the precedent, so we can't have any stiffer punishment bestowed upon us.

[PONTAFCE]

People who were even thinking off us getting an extra two points are mad they would of never allowed this,could you imagine the other teams around us there would of been loads of agro.

[Dr Oetcake]

Its all balls, we should have been good enough to beat them anyway, irrespective of whether their tea lady put too much sugar in the tea, their dressing room had 2 less coathooks than the required Fifa minimum, they stocked less than the mandated amout of Uefa recommended pies or whatever. This sort of stuff should be sorted out by league officials and our club should be working out how to get another 12 points from the 5 games to come, not another 2 points from a game that has been played.

[santy]

tonysloanies said:

Its all balls, we should have been good enough to beat them anyway, irrespective of whether their tea lady put too much sugar in the tea, their dressing room had 2 less coathooks than the required Fifa minimum, they stocked less than the mandated amout of Uefa recommended pies or whatever. This sort of stuff should be sorted out by league officials and our club should be working out how to get another 12 points from the 5 games to come, not another 2 points from a game that has been played.

Parkin would make damn sure everyone knew about it if there were less pies than required ;D

[Mr Jon]

tonysloanies - agreed mate, we should have won it on Saturday and we need to focus on the remaining 5 games.

However it just goes to show what a useless, impotent bunch of tossers are running the Football League. Not much point in having rules if the "punishment" is ludicrously ineffective.

[adri2008]

A £2k fine is utterly useless as a deterrent in this situation - why bother doing anything at all.

They may as well release a statement along the lines of: 'We don't really give a fuck about this rule, please feel free to abuse it as much as you like'

[Northy]

I agree that we should have won we should be good enough, top v 3rd from bottom
and if that is going to be the outcome stick 2 fingers up to them and make sure we get our 16 best players on match days irrespective of if they are on loan or not.
Max £9k fine as £1k of Leeds fine was suspended, however the league would probably set a new precedent if Stoke did it twice in a row and dock points.

[Mickstoke]

come on you lot! we're second and in the perfect position with fuller and shawcross back! we dont need the points anyways! stop getting downhearted at little things. nxt 3 games will show that WE R GOING UP, WE R GOING UP! ;D

[luke45]

Very disappointing but not one bit suprising, the Football were never going to give us points for it, and in the process we had to play cort for a full game on pain-killers because we couldn't take zakuani.

Whilst in the process one of there 6 loanees scores the equaliser! it's a joke, but that pretty much somes up the Football League and the FA when dealing with situations like these.

[Stick It On Cort's Head]

The most frustrating thing for me is that this has happened twice before.

Surely the punishment should increase each time this happens?

[y_oh_y_delilah]

'Dirty' points if they were awarded to us, wouldn't want them and would devalue promotion if they were awarded to us.....
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but, WHO CARES!!
;D

[GeordieDave]

If Stoke miss out on promotion they'll only have themselves to blame, too many draws at the business end of the season. Anyone actually at Hillsborough will know we let a poor Wednesday off the hook in the first half, we missed a sitter at one nil to kill the game and then proceeded to change our shape, focus and system and invited Wednesday on. We should be grateful of the point. Its a game we could have lost.

What about dropping four points at home to Burnley/Blackpool. Thats a far greater sin than Wednesday have committed.

I've kept my powder dry on this issue for long enough. There are some fucking right idiots on this board. Open your eyes for fucks sake. Stoke are throwing it away. Stop blaming everyone else bar ourselves.

Wednesday broke the rules, like the other teams who broke the rules they should get a fine.

During the summer recess the Football League/PL should then issue further directives and a new set of penalties should be imposed should this happen in the future.

Had they had six loanees on the pitch at the same time, we'd have an argument, they didnt and so there is no precedent.

Has anyone stopped to think about us?? That our side be weakened by not including two loanees on the bench is a crime in itself.

That we have a squad stenghtened by seven loanees is bad management. We should have tied more player down on FT contracts last summer and in the two windows.

Look at the teams around us, they do not appear to be teams that are relying almost exclusively on loanees, they appear to be settled sides to me that are complimented by one or two loans. Not fucking seven.

[Big John RIP]

GD we are not the only ones throwing it away so calm fucking down. I was at the game mate and to be honest if Nash had not fucked up that kick we would have won, they didn't look like scoring in a month of sundays. You say that having seven loanees is bad managment wake fucking up if we want to compete to get players like pearson and Ameobi then we need to speculate and loan them first. Hated coates for what he was like last time he was here but fucking hell im glad he's back now. Stoke have got there best team since the 70's and loans or no loans they are doing an half decent job!! Big John

[Davef]

The FL are opening a can of worms though aren't they by just issuing fines.

There's no way we were ever going to get the points, but Sheffield Wednesday should have the one they've won struck off.

And where do the FL draw the line.

Say, for instance, we select Paul Gallagher as a sixth loanee against Leicester, he comes on to score a goal to win promotion for us and send Leicester down?

What then?

[FullerMagic]

It was always going to prove impossible for them to fairly recompense us, but I can't see how they can keep that point. This is the first a team has benefited by having an illegal 16 to call upon throughout the 90 minutes and needs looking at with fresh eyes.

[GeordieDave]

bigjohnrip said:

GD we are not the only ones throwing it away so calm fucking down. I was at the game mate and to be honest if Nash had not fucked up that kick we would have won, they didn't look like scoring in a month of sundays. You say that having seven loanees is bad managment wake fucking up if we want to compete to get players like pearson and Ameobi then we need to speculate and loan them first. Hated coates for what he was like last time he was here but fucking hell im glad he's back now. Stoke have got there best team since the 70's and loans or no loans they are doing an half decent job!! Big John

BigJohnRIP

You argument is flawed mate, this is not the best team since the 1970s. It couldnt hold a torch to the side that had Chambo at his best in c82-83.

The side that included Chamberlain, McIlroy, Thomas, James etc in 83 was the best Stoke side Ive seen. For one magical season.

You've forgottent that with six games to go that season a one nil win over Man City put us, I think I'm right in saying, in a UEFA Cup spot only for us to subsequently throw it away when it mattered. The football at home to West Ham, Arsenal and LFC that season was some of the best Ive seen Stoke play. Away performances at Ipwich and Birmingham even had the anti-Stoke media purring.

I understand your points, and respect them, but you need to re-examine what Ive said for a moment. Stoke have won once in seven and have drawn at home twice to two teams out of the promotion race. We have thrown it away, that others are failing too has kept us in it. Our form is poor, we look nervous. I do agree however that we looked much better at Wednesday, should have won it in the first fifty minutes and in typical Stoke fashion were hanging on at the end.

I appreciate the loan market is now part of modern day football but many people agree that we should have made a better fist of pinning down players in the summer. I'm not detracting from the wonderful job Pulis has done, thats undeniable, but a core element of our side belong to other teams.

Promotions are usually won by sides that grow over time, that bond, that marry youth and experience. If we fail this season we need to bed down and build a side, not just throw loans at it and hope we get lucky.

There's much to admire about this current side, we have some real quality tied down on contracts like Lenny, Fuller, Shawcross. We also have a lot of shite that shouldnt have been here in the first place, namley Ant P Junior and Buxton.

One win in seven is throwing it away, hopefully Ameobi and Peaston and a rested Fuller will make all the difference.

And following a re-appraisal, I think you'll agree that this isnt the best side since the 70s. Even the side that prospered under Mills for a season would give this one a run for its money. Was it 87, the year Mickey Ginn broke our hearts and we went on the 20 game unbeaten run???

The team under Lou that finished 4th wasnt bad either.

Strip out the loans and the side is average at best. Thats a fact no one can deny, otherwise we'd not be playing five loans would we????