Where else could I start my new blog than my beloved Stoke City? I can ramble all day about my local team but this time I actually feel I have a valid point to make concerning the media furore surrounding what has become better known as the ‘Pulis-ball’. The Potters’ transfer deadline day acquisitions and Arsene Wenger’s renewed criticism about Ryan Shawcross, labelling Stoke’s style of play as more rugby than football have given me a reason to rant.
Stereotypes can stick to a football club for decades. Spurs and West Ham are still portrayed as purists of the game and for some it will always be ‘Dirty Leeds’. The chanting of ‘Boring, Boring Arsenal’ has only recently become ironic following their swift change in style and free flowing football of the last fifteen years.
Don’t get me wrong Stoke’s ‘up and at ‘em’ approach hasn’t won many admirers – most notably a French whinger who tries endlessly to detract the attention away from his young wonder kids and their inability to show fighting spirit when they travel north of Birmingham; trophyless wonder kids I hasten to add. He is still bitter about the injury to Aaron Ramsey despite replays showing no malice was intended whatsoever by Ryan Shawcross.
The moans and groans of the national media and football purists alike aren’t the only thing ripping through the Potteries like smoke from a bottle kiln. The groans can be heard amongst our very own. The fickle few seem to have warmed to our baseball capped genius and realise that Rome actually wasn’t built in a day. Big Sam’s Bolton side had to endure the sour grapes and now it is our turn. But as we try yet again to consolidate our position in the best league in the world (anywhere between 9th and 14th) I cant help but notice that transition is upon us – we’ve just signed a winger that likes to run forward for heavens sake.
As the tallest team in the league and the Rory Delap factor, of course we are easy to characterise. Long ball, long throw, raw-meat defenders, minimalist midfielders and high-rise strikers is what people have come to expect, with Matthew Etherington supplying the only outlet going forward and a sublime solo effort from Ricardo Fuller now and then. At times, particularly away from home this was the case, especially in the first season. I remember going to Old Trafford with two banks of four – damage limitation with four centre halves across the back and four centre midfielders along the middle. Then we conceded just two minutes in and had left ‘Plan B’ 40 miles back down the M6. A 5-0 scoreline proceeded.
Even as we tried endlessly to reach the promise land of the Premier League, the debate loomed around Stoke-on-Trent about the style of play, just without media intrusion. Manchester City fans would remember only too well in the Kevin Keegan era whereby to win a game you would have to score four. 4-3 thrillers are great but not when you are on the receiving end of them. I’d take a dire 1-0 grind any day. Pardon any cliché, but the history books show one thing – scorelines and league positions. It’s easy to say now, but my thoughts were the same in Pulis’ first term as manager before he briefly left for Plymouth. In the 2004/05 season Stoke went on a run of seventeen games where no more than one goal was scored, be it 0-0, 1-0, 0-1.
After being exiled in the lower leagues for 23 years, Pulis repaid the faith shown in him by chairman Peter Coates and led the club to promotion two seasons ago. The jury was immediately out and Stoke had been written off before the season had even begun. An opening day fixture away to Bolton and a meeting with ex-manager Gary Megson seemed like a game that could really kick start the season. A horror fifteen minute spell saw the Potters 3-0 down at half time against a team that everybody knew would be fighting for survival the same as Stoke. The gulf in class wasn’t actually that huge. A mixture of inexperience and a few lapses in concentration was a rude awakening for what was to come in the next nine months of how unforgiving the Premier League is. A certain bookmaker who name is cringed at in the Potteries even paid out after the opening day on all bets for Stoke to be relegated (Paddy Power – nice publicity stunt).
Perhaps this result was a blessing in disguise and despite what the purists and pundits would say – without that extra quality in your ranks, there is only one way to stay in the league – no nonsense defending, 100% commitment and to get in the faces of teams. Play to your strengths right? I know Arsene Wenger wants every promoted team to pretend to be West Brom. Playing your way out of the Championship is great but trying to pass Arsenal off the field only has one outcome – defeat. And in the Baggies’ case as usual I suspect relegation.
It was the January transfer window that sparked the first eye opener in the Potteries and the signal of what was to come. After comparing Stoke to Battersea Dog Homes, Pulis swooped for Matthew Etherington and James Beattie. He picked up these two strays, gave them a home, made them feel welcome and then reaped the awards. Etherington’s attacking prowess and Beattie’s eye for a goal rejuvenated the whole club and spurred the squad on to safety. I’m not trying to kid anybody though here and I am aware that Stoke will always be linked with defenders and Pulis will always have a soft spot for a courageous ball winning centre half.
After proving all the doubters wrong and finishing a tremendous twelfth after a two decade exodus, it was time to prepare for second season syndrome. Of course Pulis signed Robert Huth and Danny Collins to strengthen at the back as most would call typical Stoke buys but it was the arrival of Turkey captain, Tuncay which surprised everybody most. With Aston Villa hot on the heels for his signature following Middlesbrough’s relegation it seemed a move to Stoke was dead in the water. But with a £5 million price tag Pulis got his man – a player with versatility and virtuosity who can ghost around in the ‘hole’ or play as a conventional striker with flamboyant touches and creativity seemed something of a throwback for long-ball Stoke didn’t it?
Admittedly Tuncay hasn’t brought out his best yet in a red and white shirt but the organised way in which Pulis sets up his team has made it difficult for the Turk to make an impression. Often starting from the bench, Tuncay has failed to make the impact everybody had predicted. Pulis had made no secret that big Mamady Sidibe and Fuller were first choice. Despite Sidibe’s lack of goals his all round contribution has culminated in Stoke’s success in the last three seasons. It is no surprise that when the Mali international doesn’t play; the Potters have picked up less points. It’s a big statement to make and perhaps a tad biased but a goalscoring Mamady Sidibe would cost an absolute fortune – tongue in cheek maybe but Freddie Kanoute anyone?
Pundits had began to disregard Stoke as relegation fodder – Gary Lineker and co were aware of the Fortress Britannia factor and despite the away performances often seeming like ‘men against boys’, most people in and out of Stoke-on-Trent thought home form would carry us through again. This was the case but Pulis had set one of his main goals to be the away form. Barring a few lapses (7-0 at Stamford Bridge the most notable) Stoke had stopped getting hammered on the road and even recorded a famous victory over Tottenham at White Hart Lane. Yes it was snatch and grab but it’s that luck and never-say-die attitude that stops you from free falling back to the doldrums of the lower leagues.
So now we are here – third season in the promise land and optimism running high of bettering last season’s total of 47 points and eleventh position. The defence seems solid with Ryan Shawcross looking like a seasoned professional commanding everything around him at the ripe old age of 23 – an England cap surely must be looming this year. Despite obvious links during the transfer window with defender after defender, perhaps as surprising as a well-timed Paul Scholes tackle – Pulis signed not a single one.
It has been well publicised that Stoke have lacked goals only hitting the net 34 times last season. Realising this problem Pulis has gone ‘un-Pulis like’ in the summer transfer market. Stoke have always played better football than Match of the Day’s highlights would show but with the new additions and Rory Delap’s starting berth in the team looking questionable, it will be difficult for Saturday nights to be the same again for any neutral that has usually fallen asleep before Stoke’s game is shown last on MOTD. Of course it is difficult to focus away from the notorious human catapult that is Rory Delap especially when stats have revealed such things as ‘Rory Delap touched the ball more times with his hands than his feet this afternoon at Molineux, taking 29 throw-ins compared to making 28 passes’.
The new additions to Stoke’s squad are midfielders Marc Wilson from Portsmouth and Jermaine Pennant from Real Zaragoza who certainly falls into the Battersea Dogs Home philosophy. Chairman Peter Coates splashed his cash allowing Pulis to bring in record signing Kenwyne Jones for £8 million from Sunderland who I’m sure he hopes will be that goalscoring Mamady Sidibe the club has desired. Arguably the biggest coup was the capture of Eidur Gudjohnsen from Monaco; one of the most intelligent footballers around – his eye for a pass and reading of the game is second to none. In Teddy Sheringham fashion, what he lacks in pace is made up for by his football brain. Of course a little leggy now from his Chelsea days but if he can find his form and fitness then the Britannia Stadium could well see shades of his partnership that blossomed so well with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink years ago. Ipswich’s Jonathan Walters also made his way to the club who Pulis has long admired.
Former England U-21 international, Pennant has undoubted quality and on his day can cause problems for any defender. His off-the-field antics have overshadowed his career and following his move to Spain, it seemed he had disappeared into the wilderness but now it seems he has a lifeline in the form of Stoke City and the management of Tony Pulis. If he performs, he will be well aware that his loan move could well become a permanent one in January.
Kenwyne Jones has often been labelled ‘inconsistent’ but I feel he will have a point to prove. To be linked with a £10 million move to Liverpool only two seasons ago shows the potential of the Trinidad and Tobago star. Having previously been on loan at Stoke for three months back in 2005, he will be welcomed with open arms and hungry to show just why Peter Coates dug deep in his pockets for his services. Since Mark Stein in the Lou Macari days we have not had one striker we could call ‘The Golden One’ again; although Ricardo Fuller is very close to that mantle.
Jonathan Walters had long been chased by Pulis. For a nominal fee of £3 million, the Welshman believes he has the best player from The Championship. There is no doubt he has quality and an eye for goal but I think Pulis’ other motive for his signing is his versatility. Walters can play either as a striker or a winger. How much better than Liam Lawrence is he is something I am keen to discover; bearing in mind that Lawrence was considered the best player in The Championship too and again contributed numerous assists as well as a goal tally in double figures from the right wing position.
Of course it is early days, and it would be wrong to expect to roll back the years to the time under Tony Waddington during the 1960s and 70s with some of the country’s best ball-artists donning the stripes of Stoke City – stars such as Jimmy McIlroy, Denis Viollet and Peter Dobing through to Alan Hudson, Jimmy Greenhoff and Terry Conroy. And not forgetting Stoke’s great son, Sir Stanley Matthews.
So where previously Stoke have been all about graft and supposedly short on guile, let’s hope whilst still maintaining a solid base in the Premier League the people of Stoke-on-Trent can go to work on a Monday morning still in awe of their stars in stripes from the weekends games and the talk of the offices are about flowing football and triangular passes rather than how many throw-ins we had.
