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Post by ted1965 on May 14, 2009 9:40:47 GMT
There’s a few lively threads debating how well we can do next season or how high could we realistically finish. We as supporters deserve such threads and the sheer joy of debating such possibilities as Europe in years to come makes the senses tingle and the pulses race with anticipation and hope. There’s nothing wrong in having ambition, it’s my hope that once again we will compete at the top end of the Premiership as we did when I was younger in the old first division. I would love to see us battling some of Europe’s finest in front of the best supporters in the world.
What we do need to be careful of however is making ourselves look like arrogant big time Charlie’s who suddenly think they have arrived and are going to tell anyone who would listen. Those are just the supporters we have made fun of and basked in their ultimate failures when the inevitable happened.
The arrogance of the Albion purists as they proclaimed they would actually be best prepared to survive in the Premiership because they believed their own much over hyped profile in the media. I can remember some telling us they believed they could finish in the top half while ourselves and Hull would be doomed by Christmas. Hull supporters lauding it and dreaming of Europe when in reality they had only got halfway to safety early on in the season. Newcastle supporters who believe they are in reality a top 6 club in waiting simply because there’s 55,000 of them each home game and the media have convinced them they belong in the top 6. I would hate to see us fall into the same trap, it’s an easy one to stumble into and a damned difficult one to escape from damage free.
We have earned a lot of respect this season for our passionate honesty, we accept we aren’t always a thing of beauty but we are Stoke and we as supporters are very proud of that and of what the club has achieved. We have hard working honest players, a manager who has grown and become a calming influence over his team, one who keeps their feet on the ground. An owner who is a real supporter of this club and who has a vision of where he wants the club to be as time goes on. Those in the media who have slated us are waiting for the crash so they can pick over the wreckage, we should make sure they have no wreckage to pick over. The moment we start giving it the we have arrived that respect will disappear as fast as it came.
There are many clubs out there who’s supporters believed their time had come and who shouted it from the rooftops and embarrassed themselves in word and print, we are never slow to remind them of it when the opportunity arises and they in turn will not be slow to do the same. We should show just why this club is gaining a reputation for taking football back to it’s roots, passionate supporters who understand football and who accept their club for what it is. If we get ahead of ourselves the fall if it comes will be much harder to take or accept. No I am not being negative in any way, it’s a fabulous time to be a Stoke supporter and I hope this era will be a long and glorious one. We have everything in place to establish ourselves in the Premiership but it wont just happen, it will take time.
As the profile of the club continues to soar, so will the vultures begin to circle around our better players. That will be the acid test of how far we have come in such a short time, being able to hold onto our better players long enough to replace them with equal quality. We can kid ourselves that the better players will stay because of this season but in reality most players have pound signs in their eyes or agents who simply see them as a meal ticket and therefore it’s in their interest to move them on for large fees. Players such as Ryan sadly have a short shelf life at a club like ours, unless we pay him such a wage that he is foolish to refuse the reality is about 4 seasons maximum less after his season. The likes of Villa, Tottenham and Everton will be eyeing him enviously and as much as we would like to keep him, realistically we’re not in that position to fight off those clubs. The higher you fly the more you make yourself a target for the hunter. What we have to do is get to that level where we can prey on those clubs just below us or around us in the league, so as we lose our better players to those at the next level up from 5 to 9 in the Premiership that we can do the same and cherry pick those players from clubs 15 -20. Though first we have to establish ourselves in that bracket and it wont happen in one season.
At the moment the new supporters have discovered this wonderful thing called passion for the club, it’s something many have had for years, for some it was dowsed over the wilderness years and for some it’s a totally new experience. My only concern would be if things were a little tough if the new supporters would lose that initial fire in the belly. We will need that same intensity next season and beyond. Not only does it make us unique it’s also a wonderful selling point to players being courted. What we can’t afford are fair-weather supporters or players, people who lose interest when we’re say mid table and not progressing fast enough for their liking. I personally believe we have enough supporters who understand football and understand it’ll take possibly 4 or 5 seasons before we can make that step into that section of clubs who are challenging for top 10 every year.
That doesn’t mean we can’t finish higher next season just means if we do that we don’t lose sight of where we came from and how damned hard it was to get here. That one bad season can take it all away and complacency either within the club or the supporters can see us back where we came from and not knowing how long it will be before we’re back. I don’t think anyone at the club will show such complacency, both Coates and Tone seem to have mellowed over the years into calm, calculating single minded individuals who understand the difficulties we face and what will be required to overcome them. I like the vibes coming from the club, we’re not safe till we can’t be relegated and we’ve achieved nothing to we have actually achieved it, think we as supporters should do the same and simply enjoy the ride and all the ups and downs it will bring hopefully over many seasons of Premiership campaigns to come.
It’s wonderful going into the last 2 games with no real pressure, the players, manager and supporters can relax. We can enjoy the first non pressure games for almost 3 seasons. As we have had something to play for almost every game since Coates and Pulis returned.
I personally would settle for being sat in the same position next season, 36 games safe and sound and with no pressure on us at all. That may not be the progress some hope for but I for one would be delighted with it. We have come such a long way in a very short space of time so a little mid table mediocrity for a few seasons would do me nicely, after all mid table mediocrity at this level is an achievement we could only have dreamed about 4 years ago.
This club has shown football that it's not all about greed and champagne in the boxes, we are about passion and desire for the club, long may it last and long may we be unique.
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Post by Stokester on May 14, 2009 9:48:24 GMT
Great post, totally agree!
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Post by Beardy200 on May 14, 2009 9:50:40 GMT
Personally Ted i'd take a lot more years of mid-table mediocrity than that before i started to "expect" anything.
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Post by ted1965 on May 14, 2009 9:53:51 GMT
oh I agree beardy mate, we need 5 or 6 in my opinion to establish ourselves people forget it takes only one bad season to undo all the good ones. we need to just enjoy it while it lasts.
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2009 9:55:16 GMT
Agree totally Ted, establishing our top flight status has to be the main aim. Lets hope expectations remain realistic.
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Post by Beardy200 on May 14, 2009 9:56:06 GMT
oh I agree beardy mate, we need 5 or 6 in my opinion to establish ourselves people forget it takes only one bad season to undo all the good ones. we need to just enjoy it while it lasts. I will be Ted .... i will be ;D Plus i'll be here keeping the unrealistic muppets in check with you when the need arises ...... as it will  |
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Post by FullerMagic on May 14, 2009 10:00:42 GMT
17th will obviously be great for us for the foreseeable future when you see how hard Premier League football is to achieve and maintain. There are 15-20 equally big clubs in the Championship (and League One) who'd swop with us in a heartbeat.
But, if we do push the boat out and manage to attract the kind of targets that will will surprise fans and pundits alike (as we may well do this summer with Coates' financial muscle), it's only natural that expectations could change. We are, sadly, only human.
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2009 10:02:58 GMT
After what we've suffered over the last quarter of a century I would accept 25 years of Premier League "mid-table mediocrity" with the odd flirtation with glory every 4 or 5 years or so.
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Post by robwahlmann on May 14, 2009 10:42:32 GMT
I'd accept a mid table finish for the rest of my life if possible! I cannot explain how much I have appreciated this season playing against the best clubs in Europe. For most of my time as a supporter of this club we would actually have been pleased with mid table finishes in the Championship (I'm 44)! As long as we are able to stay in the Premiership I will be more than pleased to be honest! ;D
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Post by lancer on May 14, 2009 10:54:57 GMT
Accept it, ted. I'd snatch your bloody hand off!
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Post by scfc75 on May 14, 2009 10:57:31 GMT
Mid table with the odd cup final would suit me fine for the next 10 years.
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Post by JoeinOz on May 14, 2009 10:59:44 GMT
Overall in the top flight we've rarely been better than mid table mediocrity. Usually worse.
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Post by ted1965 on May 14, 2009 11:06:34 GMT
I would happily settle for the lifetime option myself, yes no reason why we couldn't win a cup, though don't let ukyestony know he doesn't like cups ;D.
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Post by Baggs on May 14, 2009 12:09:16 GMT
totally agree with Ted & Beardy
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Post by nicholasjalcock on May 14, 2009 13:23:50 GMT
There is a lot of good sense in this. But, it would be a mistake to settle for mid-table obscurity as other teams would sense this and exploit it? The knack, I suggest, is to combine modest expectations with greater ambition and even greater humility? Phil Brown still manages to combine very low expectations with conceit. I guess, TP, even if Stoke were Premiership winners would still be his humble, decent self. In some respects, TP, reminds me of our other great manager, Waddo.
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