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Post by iplayinthehole on Feb 25, 2016 17:15:04 GMT
Someone needs to kill this thread with fire and then salt the earth.
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Post by daveuppercut on Feb 25, 2016 17:29:02 GMT
Exactly this times infinity! Someone needs to kill this thread with fire and then salt the earth.
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Post by Pugsley on Feb 25, 2016 17:31:11 GMT
That was Steak and Chips today back then though, not Jam tomorrow I see, so it's still all about managing expectations, but a little more palatable! Got you now. H It's a stonewall fact that the goalposts regarding expectations were moved to another planet circa May 2013.
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Post by sheikhmomo on Feb 25, 2016 17:49:32 GMT
I see, so it's still all about managing expectations, but a little more palatable! Got you now. H It's a stonewall fact that the goalposts regarding expectations were moved to another planet circa May 2013. Quite right pugs. A bloke goes in the Sentinel now to tell you what a fabulous job he's doing when we have a centre forward playing at right back and that's now viewed as sign of progression. Goalpost have as you say moved a fucking mile!
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Post by Pugsley on Feb 25, 2016 17:52:01 GMT
It's a stonewall fact that the goalposts regarding expectations were moved to another planet circa May 2013. Quite right pugs. A bloke goes in the Sentinel now to tell you what a fabulous job he's doing when we have a centre forward playing at right back and that's now viewed as sign of progression. Goalpost have as you say moved a fucking mile! Perhaps he needs to polish his crystal ball and foresee the amount of injuries we will get....
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Post by Mr_DaftBurger on Feb 25, 2016 17:54:01 GMT
It's a stonewall fact that the goalposts regarding expectations were moved to another planet circa May 2013. Quite right pugs. A bloke goes in the Sentinel now to tell you what a fabulous job he's doing when we have a centre forward playing at right back and that's now viewed as sign of progression. Goalpost have as you say moved a fucking mile! Brilliant management by Hughes. I am convinced he has identified our long term solution to right back and paid fuck all for him! In fact he has an aversion to paying money for right backs! Maybe Hughes and Tone are not that different!
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Post by okeydokeystokie2 on Feb 25, 2016 18:01:48 GMT
... or wingers either come to that - Cresswell, Asaba, Greenacre etc... ;-) Yup! It's a weird thing to say! That's fair criticism. I preferred Matty and Pennant, and they formed part of his best team, but... he did have a habit of playing a fairly lumbering forward out wide too.
Don't think you can argue with Lawrence or Cresswell in the Championship - both effective. Sweeney, Asaba and Greenacre, not so sure! He also played Hoekstra and Chadwick early on didn't he? Although neither were what you would call rapid.
Weren't we linked with Routledge at one time too?
I concede that my argument of Tony liking pace out wide looks a bit flimsy! I'll stick with liking to get through the pitch quickly...
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Post by bayernoatcake on Feb 25, 2016 18:27:49 GMT
Yup! It's a weird thing to say! That's fair criticism. I preferred Matty and Pennant, and they formed part of his best team, but... he did have a habit of playing a fairly lumbering forward out wide too.
Don't think you can argue with Lawrence or Cresswell in the Championship - both effective. Sweeney, Asaba and Greenacre, not so sure! He also played Hoekstra and Chadwick early on didn't he? Although neither were what you would call rapid.
Weren't we linked with Routledge at one time too?
I concede that my argument of Tony liking pace out wide looks a bit flimsy! I'll stick with liking to get through the pitch quickly...
His best team for us had pacy wingers then he abandoned it and got the sack!
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Post by sheikhmomo on Feb 25, 2016 19:12:05 GMT
Quite right pugs. A bloke goes in the Sentinel now to tell you what a fabulous job he's doing when we have a centre forward playing at right back and that's now viewed as sign of progression. Goalpost have as you say moved a fucking mile! Perhaps he needs to polish his crystal ball and foresee the amount of injuries we will get.... Yeah, with Wilson out for the season, Shawcross and Cameron out for lengthy spells, Muniesa's injury record, Tex deemed not good enough for Fleetwood and Johnson well into his thirties, all known in advance of deadline you have to sympathise. How could you see this coming!
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Post by Pugsley on Feb 25, 2016 19:15:31 GMT
Perhaps he needs to polish his crystal ball and foresee the amount of injuries we will get.... Yeah, with Wilson out for the season, Shawcross and Cameron out for lengthy spells, Muniesa's injury record, Tex deemed not good enough for Fleetwood and Johnson well into his thirties, all known in advance of deadline you have to sympathise. How could you see this coming! How many defenders can we have in a 25 man squad? Perhaps they looked but no one of suitable quality was available.
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Post by sheikhmomo on Feb 25, 2016 19:19:20 GMT
Yeah, with Wilson out for the season, Shawcross and Cameron out for lengthy spells, Muniesa's injury record, Tex deemed not good enough for Fleetwood and Johnson well into his thirties, all known in advance of deadline you have to sympathise. How could you see this coming! How many defenders can we have in a 25 man squad? Perhaps they looked but no one of suitable quality was available. Well I when you've voluntarily cleared out a midfielder who was getting no game time from the 25 and lost three defenders I think there's your space right there. The ceremonial fucking off of van Ginkel freed up another space. There are always players available if you want them enough. Any moaning about injuries at the end of the season will look exceptionally lame.
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Post by blurtonboy on Feb 25, 2016 19:22:17 GMT
From my observations on this website, some people from a certain side are cunts, then again, the people from the other side are also cunts.
Can we forget the past & look too the future, this club has never been in a healthier position, a position that could eventually see this club become something that we all could not ever imagine.
Less backbiting & point scoring.
We all support STOKE CITY.
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Post by Pugsley on Feb 25, 2016 19:28:33 GMT
How many defenders can we have in a 25 man squad? Perhaps they looked but no one of suitable quality was available. Well I when you've voluntarily cleared out a midfielder who was getting no game time from the 25 and lost three defenders I think there's your space right there. The ceremonial fucking off of van Ginkel freed up another space. There are always players available if you want them enough. Any moaning about injuries at the end of the season will look exceptionally lame. We've binned MvG who was on loan for an £18million CL player - you can't blame the 'team' for that, Imbula looks the real deal. I agree about defenders.
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Post by Pugsley on Feb 25, 2016 19:30:24 GMT
From my observations on this website, some people from a certain side are cunts, then again, the people from the other side are also cunts. Can we forget the past & look too the future, this club has never been in a healthier position, a position that could eventually see this club become something that we all could not ever imagine. Less backbiting & point scoring. We all support STOKE CITY. Yeah, and some people in the middle are pontificating c words as well. Don't read it if you don't like it.
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Post by Titan Uranus on Feb 25, 2016 19:31:38 GMT
From my observations on this website, some people from a certain side are cunts, then again, the people from the other side are also cunts. Can we forget the past & look too the future, this club has never been in a healthier position, a position that could eventually see this club become something that we all could not ever imagine. Less backbiting & point scoring. We all support STOKE CITY. Very good points Blurtonboy but... Some people on this messageboard still cannot accept that Tony was one of our greatest managers and took us from near obscurity to the near pinnacle of English football. Sad ...very sad.
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Post by bayernoatcake on Feb 25, 2016 19:38:48 GMT
From my observations on this website, some people from a certain side are cunts, then again, the people from the other side are also cunts. Can we forget the past & look too the future, this club has never been in a healthier position, a position that could eventually see this club become something that we all could not ever imagine. Less backbiting & point scoring. We all support STOKE CITY. Very good points Blurtonboy but... Some people on this messageboard still cannot accept that Tony was one of our greatest managers and took us from near obscurity to the near pinnacle of English football. Sad ...very sad. With the investment anyone should have been able to do it really.
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Post by blurtonboy on Feb 25, 2016 19:44:50 GMT
From my observations on this website, some people from a certain side are cunts, then again, the people from the other side are also cunts. Can we forget the past & look too the future, this club has never been in a healthier position, a position that could eventually see this club become something that we all could not ever imagine. Less backbiting & point scoring. We all support STOKE CITY. Yeah, and some people in the middle are pontificating c words as well. Don't read it if you don't like it. Hate the church me.
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Post by RAF on Feb 25, 2016 20:04:00 GMT
From my observations on this website, some people from a certain side are cunts, then again, the people from the other side are also cunts. Can we forget the past & look too the future, this club has never been in a healthier position, a position that could eventually see this club become something that we all could not ever imagine. Less backbiting & point scoring. We all support STOKE CITY. Very good points Blurtonboy but... Some people on this messageboard still cannot accept that Tony was one of our greatest managers and took us from near obscurity to the near pinnacle of English football. Sad ...very sad. Thats bollocks, Ive not seen one post where he isnt in someones top 6! H
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Post by stokerstayinup on Feb 25, 2016 20:24:16 GMT
Yes 18th between our relegation in 1984 and our promotion in 2008, you can look it up. Mills Ball Macari Jordan Bates Kamara Little Megson Thordarson Cotterill Boskamp I make that 11.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2016 20:37:52 GMT
Yes 18th between our relegation in 1984 and our promotion in 2008, you can look it up. Mills Ball Macari Jordan Bates Kamara Little Megson Thordarson Cotterill Boskamp I make that 11. Presumably, without looking, you'd also include a fair few interims like Paddon, Hartford, Kevan, maybe include Macari twice plus Pulis' first stint. That would take it up to 16. Would you include Durban (after Kamara was sacked)? Maybe even Sammy Chung. Edit: or maybe not Sammy Chung as Bally obviously took over from Mills.
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Post by ChesterStokie on Feb 25, 2016 21:05:07 GMT
Okay fair enough. It looks like you are lining up your arguments for May just in case. Nothing like being ahead of the game. Can't fault you. I don't think there's any doubt our qualification for the Europa League came about by the fact that we avoided the two Manchester clubs in the semi-final. People can bitch and whine all they like about that point of view but is it wrong? We were all ecstatic for a reason when we avoided Citeh and and The Shit in the semi-finals and though I'd never try to water down the achievement of reaching the FA Cup Final, that's a fact. Finishing seventh over a grueling 38-game Premier League season would be a notable achievement by Stoke and would probably mean we'd break the 60 point mark and finish above the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and Everton. It wouldn't need the luck of a random ball being drawn out of a bag and though you may argue that it would be by default because bigger, richer clubs have won the cups and qualified for the Champions League, it would be well worthy of a place in the Europa League. I wouldn't begrudge Pulis that bit of luck in getting Bolton. He was well due that luck given that in the previous year's competition we'd been drawn against Arsenal, Man City and then Chelsea in successive rounds! And it wasn't THAT lucky, statistically we had a one-in-three chance of getting them.
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Post by foxysgloves on Feb 25, 2016 21:24:39 GMT
Okay fair enough. It looks like you are lining up your arguments for May just in case. Nothing like being ahead of the game. Can't fault you. I don't think there's any doubt our qualification for the Europa League came about by the fact that we avoided the two Manchester clubs in the semi-final. People can bitch and whine all they like about that point of view but is it wrong? We were all ecstatic for a reason when we avoided Citeh and and The Shit in the semi-finals and though I'd never try to water down the achievement of reaching the FA Cup Final, that's a fact. Finishing seventh over a grueling 38-game Premier League season would be a notable achievement by Stoke and would probably mean we'd break the 60 point mark and finish above the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and Everton. It wouldn't need the luck of a random ball being drawn out of a bag and though you may argue that it would be by default because bigger, richer clubs have won the cups and qualified for the Champions League, it would be well worthy of a place in the Europa League. How can you be certain we wouldn't have beaten Citeh or United in the semi? If we'd played as we did v Bolton we could quite easily have beaten either of them.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2016 21:33:49 GMT
Very good points Blurtonboy but... Some people on this messageboard still cannot accept that Tony was one of our greatest managers and took us from near obscurity to the near pinnacle of English football. Sad ...very sad. Thats bollocks, Ive not seen one post where he isnt in someones top 6! H 1. Waddo 2. Macari 3. Hughes 4. Thordarson 5. Boskamp 6. Megson
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Post by elystokie on Feb 25, 2016 21:46:47 GMT
From the West Scrum mb -
"Just had a browse on a premiership statistics website and have found some very unsurprising results.
Total Passes = 20th Total Accurate Short Passes = 20th Average Pass Completion % = 19th Average Shots per game = 20th Average Shots on target per game = 20th Average Shots in the Penalty Area per game = 20th Average Goals scored per game = 19th (Villa are 20th) Average Possession % = 20th
I know pro Pulis people will claim the only statistic that matters is the one that says we are 14th, but its clear we are lucky to be in that position and quite frankly the above statistics makes me embarrassed of our league position. Whats the point in staying up if we cant enjoy it?"
Surprisingly a lot of 'em seem to want rid of him, the ungrateful bastards.
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Post by stokerstayinup on Feb 25, 2016 21:49:41 GMT
Mills Ball Macari Jordan Bates Kamara Little Megson Thordarson Cotterill Boskamp I make that 11. Presumably, without looking, you'd also include a fair few interims like Paddon, Hartford, Kevan, maybe include Macari twice plus Pulis' first stint. That would take it up to 16. Would you include Durban (after Kamara was sacked)? Maybe even Sammy Chung. Edit: or maybe not Sammy Chung as Bally obviously took over from Mills. As funny as it is,I'm sure Gods wasn't including Pulis in his list of failed managers!
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Post by GoBoks on Feb 25, 2016 21:51:13 GMT
In doing a little research, I inadvertently discovered some interesting stats, not only about our great team, but also our great managers. First the team: Stoke have now had 117 years of playing football in an organized competitive league. We have spent 61 seasons in the top flight (52.1%). We have managed to end in the top half of the top flight 18 times (15.4% of our time in league football, 29.5% of our time in the top flight) - Hopefully 19 this season We have managed a grand total of 7 good Cup runs (I defined a good Cup run as reaching at least the semi-finals and only the FA and FL cups) with 1 cup victory to show for our efforts. We have entered European Cups (defined as the main 2 competitions) a total of 3 times. My conclusion from the above ...... Are we are all a bunch of deluded twits for thinking that Stoke City is the greatest team the "multiverse" has ever seen? However,...... Assuming we do end top 10 this season, almost 16% of our top half finishes will have been achieved in the last 3 years. The only time this has been bettered is when we achieved top half 5 years in a row (ignoring the war break) between 1935 and 1947. All of which led me to THAT old chestnut ...... Who is our best ever manager? Here are the contenders: Horace Austerberry 1897-1908. Top half = 3/11 (27.3%) ; Cup Runs = 1; Euro = 0 (Europe wasn't invented by then) Bob McGrory 1935-1952. Top half = 6/18 (33.3%) ; Cup Runs = 0; Euro = 0 Tony Waddington 1960- 1977. Top half = 5/17 (29.4%) ; Cup Runs = 4; Euro = 2 Tony Pulis 2002-2013. Top half = 0/10 (0%) ; Cup Runs = 1; Euro =1 Mark Hughes 2013-TBD. Top half = 3/3 (100%) ; Cup Runs =1; Euro = 0 Based on the above, and assuming that success achieved is the criterion used to determine "greatness" it has to be Tony Waddington by a nose from Bob McGrory with a potential future contender in the shadows in the form of Mark Hughes. That's my vote anyway! While others, Lou, et al, may have positioned the club well by winning promotion, signing players and generating feel good factor, apart from Arthur Reeves and Bill Rowley in the 1800s, (1 top half each), no one achieved any meaningful success in terms of overall league position or cup success. So there it is ... Roast away!
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Post by samba :) on Feb 25, 2016 21:53:54 GMT
Waddo he won a cup
Nobody remembers a team that hasn't won anything
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Post by ColonelMustard on Feb 25, 2016 21:55:45 GMT
Who had the most clean sheets?
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Post by MarkWolstanton on Feb 25, 2016 21:55:59 GMT
I don't think there's any doubt our qualification for the Europa League came about by the fact that we avoided the two Manchester clubs in the semi-final. People can bitch and whine all they like about that point of view but is it wrong? We were all ecstatic for a reason when we avoided Citeh and and The Shit in the semi-finals and though I'd never try to water down the achievement of reaching the FA Cup Final, that's a fact. Finishing seventh over a grueling 38-game Premier League season would be a notable achievement by Stoke and would probably mean we'd break the 60 point mark and finish above the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and Everton. It wouldn't need the luck of a random ball being drawn out of a bag and though you may argue that it would be by default because bigger, richer clubs have won the cups and qualified for the Champions League, it would be well worthy of a place in the Europa League. How can you be certain we wouldn't have beaten Citeh or United in the semi? If we'd played as we did v Bolton we could quite easily have beaten either of them. Completely agree with that Foxey. Problem is we wouldn't have. The laundry women would have been doing overtime washing Tone's underwear and we would have played the waiting for something to drop game. Sadly that was the way it was and is with Tone which I suspect we both know. It is a frustration that many have with the guy I guess.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2016 21:56:07 GMT
Tony Pulis
( I'll get me coat)
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