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Post by LGH87 on May 3, 2024 10:24:12 GMT
Collins was always rated as the much better player in the footballing world. I don’t think people on social media quite understood what we had with Collins tbh. It’ll be interesting to see if he makes that step up from Brentford. He’s still only 23 so can still reach the upper echelons of the game. People understood exactly what he was. A very promising, if slightly raw, young defender. He’s not really kicked on from that either unfortunately. He’s still got time but he’s another youngster who you massively over rated. He's amassed Transfer fee's of what, nearly £60m already and he's only 23.
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Post by LGH87 on May 3, 2024 9:03:31 GMT
Why? We sold him for an absolute fortune that he isn’t worth. It was a great deal. Because without FFP he'd still be a Stoke player and he's country miles better than what we have. The trick is to firstly sell players at their maximum value, which with Souttar we did. Secondly is then to replace them for a much smaller fee with as good or better. That's the bit we've seriously failed with up to yet. We start getting this process right more often than wrong and we can start to look upwards, similar to the likes of Brentford and Brighton.
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Post by LGH87 on May 2, 2024 9:23:06 GMT
The way I see it is we need 6/7 first 11, starting signings. With the likes of Gooch, Rose, Leris, Ennis, Laurent, Thompson as bench players. Whereas last summer we had such small numbers we almost had to sign players for the starting 11 and their backups. As it's transpired, a lot of those signings haven't quite made the grade but will be more than adequate as back up/bench options. GK CB CB LB DM/CM LW ST I think that’s a fair assessment. It will be interesting to see what kind of budget we have to work with. I think based on last summer's spend plus the money we brought in and the fact that the last year of a sizeable loss on FFP will have been removed, should give us a competitive budget.
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Post by LGH87 on May 2, 2024 9:17:17 GMT
How is it unnecessary when we've just come as close to relegation as we ever have in 6 years, and the general consensus is that the squad is so shit the manager can't be expected to achieve anything with it? If that's not ripe for another rebuild then nothing is, else what's the point of it all? Because the squad is capable of better. Coaches need to do what they are paid to do. Coach and improve. Focus on bringing in quality over quantity. Half a dozen decent players with the correct mindset would make a huge difference. The way I see it is we need 6/7 first 11, starting signings. With the likes of Gooch, Rose, Leris, Ennis, Laurent, Thompson as bench players. Whereas last summer we had such small numbers we almost had to sign players for the starting 11 and their backups. As it's transpired, a lot of those signings haven't quite made the grade but will be more than adequate as back up/bench options. GK CB CB LB DM/CM LW ST
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Post by LGH87 on May 2, 2024 7:37:10 GMT
From the relegated clubs; Jay Stansfield (Birmingham) Sorba Thomas (Hudds) Johansson (Rotherham) All would improve us. And if we wanted them badly enough, we'd get them. Stansfield isn't Birmingham's player, he's on loan from Fulham.
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Post by LGH87 on May 1, 2024 12:10:30 GMT
Go and spend a saturday afternoon on Piccadilly mate, it might actually surprise you and take a look around the smithfield estate and immerse yourself in some local history at the excellent museum. Yes Hanley has gone to the dogs in places but it's not a complete dump, far from it. It just needs some time and money spending on it, just like Sheffield has, Leeds has, Nottingham has. It's far from a lost cause but the main issue is people with attitudes similar to yours (& the lack of public transport links). A fair bit of money was spent creating The Hive at the back of the Potteries centre and now look at it - 5 out of the 7 units are now totally empty and there's no one ever there. When it was first done it looked nice and brought a bit of the Manchester/Leeds/Bristol-esque culture to Stoke and now it's dead. Culture has a very hard time thriving in Stoke. I bet the same will happen to the new canal development after a few years too. It's almost like us Stokies don't want nice things The issue with the Hive is it's location, it's out the back of everything. There's no footfall unless you purposely go there. The other mistake was that they filled the units with chains that aren't great and are overpriced. Had that been built somewhere else in town, it may well have thrived.
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Post by LGH87 on May 1, 2024 8:41:03 GMT
I disagree. It’s ok. There’s some great spots up there and attitudes like yours are the real problem. Seems like your attitude to the town is exactly opposite to your attitude to the football club- interesting! As far as you can compare town centres to a football club, I would say the club is in fact much better run and maintained than Hanley, which is a complete dump Go and spend a saturday afternoon on Piccadilly mate, it might actually surprise you and take a look around the smithfield estate and immerse yourself in some local history at the excellent museum. Yes Hanley has gone to the dogs in places but it's not a complete dump, far from it. It just needs some time and money spending on it, just like Sheffield has, Leeds has, Nottingham has. It's far from a lost cause but the main issue is people with attitudes similar to yours (& the lack of public transport links).
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Post by LGH87 on May 1, 2024 8:30:37 GMT
My mum letting me have the day off school and taking me on the coach that day will forever be the thing I'm most grateful to her for.
It's mad to think that a game of that magnitude we only took 500 but it really was not a nice place to go back then.
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Post by LGH87 on May 1, 2024 8:08:55 GMT
I don’t think Diamond Lights by Hoddle and Waddle is a bad song. It stacks up with a lot of those types of songs from the 80s. It's a certified banger and I've mad a couple of poor attempts over the years to try and get it to go viral and make it to xmas no.1 Unfortunately I haven't got the motivation or the loss of dignity that the likes of ladbaby have to actually make it work. No doubt some cunt will do it one day and it will be massive.
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Post by LGH87 on Apr 30, 2024 14:23:47 GMT
The only way I can see it happening is if we loan him again with an option to buy the following season when he will be worth a lot less and with only one year left too. Also gives us the safety net of not having to sign him if he can't eradicate the brainfarts from his game. If a deal like that can be done, then I definitely think it would be worth pursuing. I know we have Junior but we've seen this season there's plenty of games for them both in a 46 game season. I don't see how that stacks up. If Junior had been fit since his return from ACON (I know he was for a bit), then how would that have played out? Junior is our player, he's the future and he wouldn't play second fiddle to Hoever, nor would Hoever do the same. Signing Hoever doesn't make sense to me given our need elsewhere. Of course we have greater needs elsewhere but if the deal can be done & the budget allows another loan with a cheapish buy option next summer, then I wouldn't be against it. We've seen both deployed further forward and both can play on the right hand side of a back 3 too.
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Post by LGH87 on Apr 30, 2024 11:12:34 GMT
maybe we could do a deal with wolves for both Cundle and Hoever how will we afford Hoever , at least 3.5mil to clear wolves ffp for him , and his 40K a week wage 🤷♂️ The only way I can see it happening is if we loan him again with an option to buy the following season when he will be worth a lot less and with only one year left too. Also gives us the safety net of not having to sign him if he can't eradicate the brainfarts from his game. If a deal like that can be done, then I definitely think it would be worth pursuing. I know we have Junior but we've seen this season there's plenty of games for them both in a 46 game season.
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Post by LGH87 on Apr 30, 2024 8:56:34 GMT
Also just seen that Adam Davies (GK) and Rhys Norrington Davies are out of contract this summer. Even Jayden Bogle is, too. Would go for a triple swoop from SHU! RND would be a really good signing He's been injured, a lot. We'd definitely need to bring another in too but if we give Enda a new deal, we may struggle to keep them both fit and we're back to square one.
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Post by LGH87 on Apr 30, 2024 8:50:13 GMT
The good thing about macron is they give us bespoke kits and have definitely delved in to the heritage of the city, classic retro kits etc and they’re released and on the shelves a lot earlier than 90% of other clubs. They have been synonymous with a shit period for the club though I think it’s time for a change but I wouldn’t want to be served an identikit off the shelf number like adidas used to. We need a manufacturer that actually cares like macron have done. the macron hate is odd. Some quality kits and no templates It's because some see them as a "cheap" or "tacky" brand. They're incorrect of course.
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Post by LGH87 on Apr 28, 2024 23:48:09 GMT
The good thing about macron is they give us bespoke kits and have definitely delved in to the heritage of the city, classic retro kits etc and they’re released and on the shelves a lot earlier than 90% of other clubs.
They have been synonymous with a shit period for the club though
I think it’s time for a change but I wouldn’t want to be served an identikit off the shelf number like adidas used to.
We need a manufacturer that actually cares like macron have done.
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Post by LGH87 on Apr 28, 2024 8:50:05 GMT
it was widely reported that some top flight clubs in Europe are after him, so I think there's a fair chance he'll be going. would that be so bad? If we make a profit we're in good nick to reinvest. We might even be able to sign a player or two who can score goals. Tit. Of course it would be bad. I haven’t seen a player actually lead through their actions in a stoke shirt since we came down but burger genuinely tried to put the team on his back when nearly everyone else was playing like shit. Granted, at times there was a touch of the Joe Allen’s about it, trying to do everything and ending up making it worse, but mostly he looked like a player you need to build a solid midfield around. If we can get a big fee, then he has to be sold and the money reinvested. We were spoilt in the prem years where we managed to keep hold of our star players in the main. The likes of Southampton, Brighton and Brentford have to sell them constantly, the trick is in how you replace them. If we sell Burger for £10m+ then we’ve made good profit and that cash can be reinvested on his replacement and is a good chunk in to the centre half and striker fund. It’s simply the way clubs like us have to operate now due to FFP.
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Post by LGH87 on Apr 28, 2024 8:40:24 GMT
He was amazing just as useless and invisible as he was for us.. Tripe…..his link up play and movement was good. He’s now made over 40 appearances this season and scored about 5 goals for a team cemented in the play offs. Useless and invisible …….😂😂😂😂 Not a bad record considering he plays a lot deeper for them than he did for us.
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Post by LGH87 on Apr 27, 2024 16:34:54 GMT
15 shots, 8 on target.
Some very good chances to score amongst them too.
With the right recruitment in the summer, we may actually enjoy ourselves next season.
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Post by LGH87 on Apr 26, 2024 13:17:17 GMT
Give the success of Bae, I wonder if we're looking at any of his korean teammates to use any potential wildcard slots on? Going back to page 1, this tweet was posted. There's only 1 where are the other 4? Click the tweet.
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Post by LGH87 on Apr 26, 2024 12:36:53 GMT
Give the success of Bae, I wonder if we're looking at any of his korean teammates to use any potential wildcard slots on?
Going back to page 1, this tweet was posted.
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Post by LGH87 on Apr 26, 2024 10:53:25 GMT
The posters all in support and saying they want him to continue. Answer this question: Do you see Shumacher taking us to the Premier League next season or the season after? I dont care about whats he's done this past season and just escaping relegation. He did help Plymouth romp to the League 1 title last season so he can get promotion, but I just cant see him doing the same in the Championship based upon what Ive seen. We have won a few games, playing some nice football along the way - but even if he signed 15 new players in the summer I just cant see him taking us to the promised land. Most of the games we won playing counter-attacking football away from home with less than 50% possession. We havent dominated, or gone on any long run of 3-4 wins in a row. I quite like the guy and his brand of football, but we seem destined to be Championship mid-table under him. Unless Im seriously missing something??? Would you have thought the same about Pulis at the time too? We were fucking awful under him at times then he managed to sign Hendrie, Burger, Delap, Diao & Griffin adding them to the core of Ric, Mama, Lawrence, Eustace & Higgy and the rest is history. Even though we didn't go up that season, the foundations were set for the following season. If Schumacher/Walters/Dublin can find the right 5/6 players in the summer, who knows what the next two years could bring.
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Post by LGH87 on Apr 26, 2024 8:30:31 GMT
I think we have seen enough to see what he brings to the table next season, after a summer of restructure. Nobody knows what went on behind the scenes really, with so many rumours flying around. Clearly something did, but since Walters arrived, things have been stabilised. I imagine there will be a fair turnover of the playing staff again, to mould the squad and equip the squad, for his style of play. I think a few on here would change their views if they knew what went on. Do you think it'll ever come out or will we have to wait for an autobiography from someone involved?
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Post by LGH87 on Apr 26, 2024 7:28:20 GMT
How much would people be happy to pay for Souttar? 3m tops. It's an interesting one because I wonder how much of the fee they've paid and we'd also have to factor in the wiping of the add ons. Add in how much he's worth due to amortisation too and the fee could actually be quite low.
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Post by LGH87 on Apr 25, 2024 8:11:24 GMT
Tye hasn't been at the levels you would expect for a good couple of years, I'd say he won't be happy with his output either. But Alex Neil asked his striker hold the ball and was hit with long balls, under Schumacher if we get it right the patterns of play right, its going be a lot more suited to a striker running in behind. One thing you can't really argue with is he frees up more space for the midfield and wingers because the drop a bit deeper because they're aware of his pace. He's clearly a well liked lad around the place too, we could do worse than having him about. that being said we could maybe do better, but thats going cost. He's a better option wide than Vidigal & Haks, although Schuey seems extremely reluctant to play him there after stating very early on that he'd need to do more defensively if playing wide.
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Post by LGH87 on Apr 25, 2024 8:08:08 GMT
page after page of Campbell debate based on a tweet from an account that has no record at all as being ITK. Stoke supporters debate Stoke players on Stoke message board in unlikely plot twist. alright clever dick, you know what I'm saying though. Majority are talking like he's definitely signed a new deal when it could well be (almost definitely) bullshit and he's still heading for the exit door.
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Post by LGH87 on Apr 25, 2024 7:35:27 GMT
page after page of Campbell debate based on a tweet from an account that has no record at all as being ITK.
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Post by LGH87 on Apr 24, 2024 14:51:30 GMT
If he didn't want to be here, he wouldn't be celebrating an important victory would he I prefer footballers proving it on the pitch not in the tunnel. As a marquee signing he has been woeful. Hopefully StS can get a tune out of him but I have serious doubts. I'd sell if possible. Easier said than done though. He's been shite I agree but I don't put that down to him not wanting to be here, which was the point I was making.
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Post by LGH87 on Apr 24, 2024 12:27:02 GMT
I must be watching a different game to most poeple, tidy player, good striker of the ball, finds himself in goal scoring positions and got a real eye for a pass, hard to see whats not too like It's mental mate, I'm not sure what's happened to Stoke fans this season but it's like some have had lobotomy's. The whole confusion over a head coach instead of a manager was bad enough
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Post by LGH87 on Apr 24, 2024 12:25:59 GMT
He's a "home" player at best - not that quick -if you were at the Plymouth game you could not help notice he never got the better of their full back, except when he cut inside and scored. Too lightweight for the championship especially away from home. So he has his uses but limited. If he can go on the Arnold Schwarzenegger body building course over the close season he may improve getting knocked off the ball, but then a Usain Bolt course to get his speed up. "He never got the better of their fullback except when he cut inside and scored a goal" 😆 🤣 Priceless 😆
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Post by LGH87 on Apr 24, 2024 12:09:45 GMT
I saw that when it was posted on instagram at the time. I wondered why Pearson calls them "my little boys" but I'm guessing he's maybe one of the leaders in the dressing room. Knocks on the head the myths about him not wanting to play for us now AN has left too In what way has he looked like he wants to play for us? By hugging his mates in the tunnel? If he didn't want to be here, he wouldn't be celebrating an important victory would he
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Post by LGH87 on Apr 24, 2024 12:08:04 GMT
I'd love it if we could move Ben Pearson on in the summer and have Burger as a proper deep-lying midfielder, instead of running around like a headless chicken, collecting yellow cards. Has Pearson ever been match fit since he's been with us? I actually think Burger is better as an 8, he isn't good enough positionally to play as a six full time. Look at the difference Thompson made as a 6 on Saturday and he's nowhere near the player Burger is but he knows the role better. I'd argue we'd be better served signing a better 6 and play Burger and a new signing as the 8's.
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