Stoke 'Club Focus' in FourFourTwo

[Olgrligm]

Thanks to the wonderful folk at Tiscali, I've been without TEH INTARWEBZZ for the past few days, so I don't know if somebody's done this yet. If not, however, here is a copy of the 'club focus' on Stoke City in FourFourTwo magazine, which I have painstakingly copied in by hand:

'Stoke City
No one likes them but they don't care, because inspired buys have pointed the Potters toward the Premier League

To their critics, Stoke City are the antithesis of the beautiful game: robust, uncompromising, ugly. But whatever your opinion, the Potters are most certainly effective - to the point where they are on the verge of a return to the top-flight for the first time in 23 years.

To the untrained eye, the renaissance has happened almost overnight, but the wheels were put in motion last season following the return of Tony Pulis as boss. Hardly the popular choice to replace Johan Boskamp in the summer of 2006, Pulis has brought transfer market success to make even the most sceptical Potters fans eat their words, with Ricardo Fuller, Ryan Shawcross and Liam Lawrence the triumvirate on which recent success has been built. Since his arrival from Manchester United this season, centre-back Shawcross had netted seven league goals by March, while winger Lawrence (12) and Fuller (14) gave led the way further forward.

With 59 goals from their opening 36 games, Pulis insists his side should be known as entertainers rather than spoilers. "Sometimes we don't get the credit we deserve for the football we play," he says. "You often hear managers saying we are big, physical and difficult to beat, but that can often be them getting their excuses in. I'd like to think we are far more than just that."

Liam Lawrence, a creative force from the flank, agrees. "We defend well and we have some big lads in the team, but we also have our fair share of quality. You don't get into this position in the league unless you have something about you."

Shown the exit door by Roy Keane a month after a tabloid sex scandal left him literally with his trousers down, Lawrence has since reserved his jaw-dropping performances for the pitch. Indeed, it's no coincidence that Stoke's revival followed Lawrence's £500,000 move to the Britannia in January 2007 and only an end-of-season slump curbed City's play-off hopes last season. "It was so disappointing," recalls Lawrence of their eighth place finish. "We went into the last game at QPR needing to score four or five goals just to stand a chance, but it was three draws in our last four games which cost us.

"The boys have shown that they've learnt from taht experience and with the new players brought in by Tony Pulis, it hasn't surprised me that we've been in the shake up for automatic promotion."

With a successful promotion campaign under his belt with the Black Cats in 2005, Lawrence's experience is crucial to his side's chances. He is in no doubt where the key to success lies. "Any team that has realistic hopes of going up needs a striker that is going to score 15 to 20 goals," he adds. "At Sunderland we had Marcus Stewart and at Stoek we have Ricardo Fuller, who is even better in terms of ability and pace. If we can keep him fit, it could make all the difference.

"To go up with the resources we've had this season would be a tremendous achievement and a great thing for the city. We've worked so hard to get into this position"

Should Stoke succeed, it's Pulis who should be lauded most. Having attained his UEFA A licence at the age of 19 while playing for Bristol Rovers, he feels ready for a crack at the big time, aged 50. "For the area, the people and everyone connected with the club, it would give me no greater satisfaction than to take this club into the Premiership," he says.'

There's a nice picture of the JS stand from the outside taken from the wall in the left corner. It's captioned 'The Britannia faithful have warmed to Pulis's side'. There's a little box adjacent filled with quotes from Gary Johnson, Aidy Boothroyd, Tony Mowbray and Alan Pardew.

Sorry for any mistakes etc.

[606Stokie]

Allready have it...

[algor]

Good read thanks

[daverichards]

I'm off to find that now

[anarchicalan]

...... "...... but that can often be them getting their excuses in......"

Unbeliveable!

Talk about hypocrisy!