match to remember – stoke city v plymouth argyle 1992/93

Sunday marks the 20th Anniversary of our Second Division Championship clinching victory against Plymouth Argyle at the Victoria Ground. Here is the match report from that game which appeared in Issue 79 of The Oatcake:

WELL here it was at last, the chance we’d been waiting for. Our destiny was entirely in our own hands – it didn’t matter who did what elsewhere, as long as we won this match then we would be promoted as Champions. You could put away your calculators and stop permuting what, ifs and buts from other teams and watch the match knowing that tonight we could do it, we could achieve something that seemed only a distant dream in those black, depressing days at the end of the Ball/Paddon era. If any good omens were needed then I was informed of a good one just before kick-off when somebody informed me that it was three years to the day since our never to be forgotten relegation celebration at Brighton in 1990 when over 3,000 Stoke fans showed that they would stick with the club no matter what, a day when we pledged that we would be back (okay it took a year or two longer than expected, but we kept out promise).

Plymouth’s recent form had been erratic to say the least. A 3-0 home defeat against Exeter had been followed by a 5—2 win at West Bros (still can’t stop giggling at that one) and a victory against Brighton, two results which had been followed in turn by a home defeat to the Vale. It was nice to see Peter Shilton being given a rousing reception as he ran to the Boothen End just prior to kick-off, though I’m not so sure that everybody would have been so sporting after that if Plymouth had taken the lead, as they nearly did with the game only three minutes old. A good one-two out on the wing allowed a Plymouth player plenty of space to get in a telling cross. His centre eluded all of the Stoke defenders and found its way to the unmarked Warren Joyce some 7 or 8 yards out from goal. He placed his header inside the near post only to be denied by a spectacular flying save from Peter Fox; even then the danger was not removed, as the ball fell to Joyce who this time fired in a shot from close range which miraculously Foxy managed to save as well as he was getting back up. It was a truly brilliant piece of goalkeeping from Foxy and they must rate as two of the best saves of his career, they were certainly the two most important!

Just how important those saves had been became even clearer just sixty seconds later when the Victoria Ground exploded with joy. Shawry nicked the ball past a defender and into the area, before looking up and playing a pass into Foghorn’s path. We watched in delight as our number six evaded one tackle before crashing the ball into the roof of the net. A never to be forgotten moment and a never to be forgotten mental! We could have made it 2—0 a couple of minutes later but T.G.O. elected to shoot, missing the target in the process, when a square pass to the unmarked Paul Ware would probably have yielded a more profitable return. Still, when a striker’s confident he has a go at those chances and we don’t moan when they fly in.

After a ten minute period when we looked well in control, our visitors began to enjoy more and more of the possession. In fact to such a degree that we found ourselves pinned back into our own half for most of the opening period, rarely threatening Shilton’s goal – Foxy was far the busier of the two ‘keepers. We needed the half-time break to get our composure back and for Lou to sort out any tactical changes that he thought necessary. But it was to little avail as Plymouth continued to dominate, territorially at least, in the second half. In truth Stoke allowed themselves to get a bit anxious and panicky during that second half, often just thumping the ball up the field to relieve the pressure. We could count our blessings that Plymouth lacked that killer instinct up front, but we still had to be wary as with the amount of possession they were enjoying the Pilgrims were always likely to snatch something.

We needed to make a move to relieve the pressure off us and thankfully Lou was only too aware of this as he made the substitution that probably clinched the game for us, bringing on the eager Rooster for Warey about twenty-odd minutes from the end. The introduction of our popular wide man gave us that extra dimension on the pitch as he was able to take the ball into their half of the field, thus relieving the pressure on our over-worked defenders. Indeed Rooster set up a chance that almost gave us an unassailable two goal lead. His deft footwork inside Plymouth’s area gave him the chance to chip the ball to the far post where Foghorn rose highest to get in a header. Unfortunately his effort just lacked enough power allowing Shilton the chance to get across and make a smart save.

As in the first half Foxy was the busier of the two men between the sticks and was called on several times to kick the ball clear or make important claims inside the area. He did all of these tasks perfectly, proving himself to be a rock at the back when we needed him most. There was one moment of anxiety when he allowed the ball to go across him to get it on his favoured right foot. Though Foxy knew exactly what he was doing one or two Boothen Enders had a panic attack and somebody must have said something stupid because he turned around after clearing the ball and showed what he thought of his critics: Don’t worry Foxy it was only a few people letting the tension get to them.

The final whistle couldn’t come soon enough and after playing a couple of minutes of stoppage time the referee finally put us out of our misery by blowing for full—time. In doing so he signalled just about the best pitch—invasion the Victoria Ground has ever seen. Supporters danced about and hugged each other, both on the pitch and on the terraces, the sheer emotion of the occasion got the better of all of us. I don’t know if I am alone in thinking this, but as far as I’m concerned this was better than Wembley last season — it just meant more!

Stoke City: Fox, Butler, Sandford, Cranson, Overson, Gleghorn, Foley, Kevan, Ware, Shaw, Stein. Subs: Russell. Regis

Attendance: 19,718

home is ware the heart is

We were deeply upset to hear the news that Paul Ware has passed away at the age of just 42. Warey still remains one of our favourite Stoke City players and this article, which appeared in Issue 103 of the fanzine, paid tribute to him after he left our club for Stockport County in September 1994.

HOW CAN IT BE that once again Stoke City have made the criminal mistake of losing the services of a player that cost the club nothing and yet stood to give them so much?

I refer of course to the departure of Paul Ware who signed recently for Stockport County, having found himself effectively frozen out of the first team picture at the Victoria Ground for over twelve months.

At only 24 years of age Paul Ware should have been poised for a full and exciting career with Stoke, having shown excellent promise during the near six years that he has been in the first team picture. However, we have now, with barely the blink of an eye, said a quiet goodbye to one of the most committed and passionate players to have pulled on a Stoke City shirt during the last few years.

For my money the entire blame for Paul Ware’s regrettable decision to leave Stoke has to be laid firmly at the feet of Joe Jordan. While Joe resorted to playing right-backs in midfield (and taking seemingly any free transfer that was going) to cover the gaping holes in the middle of our team he continued to ignore a genuine midfielder already at the club, and one who had never let the side down whenever he had been played.

Joe arrived at the club announcing that every player would be given the chance to prove themselves, but Paul Ware received only one game under Joe – the 2-6 thrashing at Luton for which he was obviously made one of the scapegoats.

Other than that appearance it was reserve team football for Warey during the last year and recent reports say that he had even been relegated to training with the youth team during the week! How can things ever have reached such a situation for one of, if not the only, brightest young prospects at Stoke for many years?

It is true that prior to Joe’s arrival Lou Macari had also dropped Paul Ware from the starting line-up but Lou was gambling on experience to help us get a steady foothold in Division One, hence his decision to bring in midfielders Micky Gynn and Toddy Orlygsson on free transfers. Lou knew what Paul Ware could do and that he was still a young player. I feel sure that Warey would have been a regular back in the starting line-up by now if Lou had not left for Celtic.

My only conclusion about Paul Ware’s demise from the squad picture under Joe Jordan is that either the new manager just didn’t like him or that he may have spoken out of turn. What other reasons could there be?

Warey in action at Peterborough in the Autoglass Trophy Area Final. His winning goal that night took Stoke to Wembley in 1992.

Looking back on his time at Stoke City I can only really recall good memories of Paul Ware. Every time I think of him I remember the great goal at Peterborough that took us to Wembley, or the sight of a young man tearing about in midfield challenging for every ball as though his very existence depended upon it.

To me Paul Ware typified everything that is good in a football player. Though originally from Congleton in Cheshire (and rumour has it, a Manchester City supporter as a boy) Warey is your archetypal local boy for whom playing for his side meant giving everything he had to give, and playing with a heart, passion and fervour that showed the outcome of the game really did matter to him.

One of my most abiding memories of Warey is of him trudging off the pitch at Telford, after our shock FA Cup exit in 1991, and being the only player who really looked devastated at the embarrassment of the result. I made a point of mentioning this in the match report of that game which appeared in Oatcake 55 and to my mind it summed up perfectly the kind of attitude that he took with him into each game he played for Stoke City.

I know he didn’t make his debut in this match but my earliest memory of Warey came in the never-to-be-forgotten Christmas clash against Manchester City at the Victoria Ground in the ’88-’89 season. The Maine Road club arrived with 12,000 fancy-dressed fans in tow and were fancying their chances of gaining three points. Paul Ware, just 18 years old at the time, was brought into the side by Mick Mills at right-back and gave a memorable performance, as he put the T well and truly into both Tenacious’ and Tackling’. If I remember correctly he was substituted late in that match, probably to avoid being senf-off!

After that game he steadily became a regular member of the first team squad, particularly under Alan Ball who admired his kind of no-nonsense approach to football, though at only 20 years old he had to survive the boo-boys, who decided to make him the latest in a long line of young local players they love to hurl abuse at.

He answered his critics in the only way he knew how, by playing even harder and scoring goals at vital times for the club. In no time he had won over most, if not all, of his doubters and he steadily became a favourite with the supporters.

When Lou Macari arrived at the club he found in Paul Ware just the type of player that best suited his “up and at ‘em” style of football. Warey would chase every ball that came within twenty yards of him, put his head into places where others would think twice about sticking their feet and generally give nothing less than 100% total effort for the cause. In the 1991-92 season he particularly impressed in the match at West Brom when his powerful running from midfield had the attendant press reporters (and the West Brom manager, Bobby Gould) predicting big things for a player who was still only 21.

Though not as prolific as say Steve Foley when it came to getting goals, Warey nevertheless chipped in with some vital strikes for The Potters. He scored a dramatic equaliser in the promotion battle against Birmingham at the Victoria Ground, and then later set up the late winner for Bertie by bravely charging down an attempted clearance from a Blues defender. His thumping 25-yard strike at Reading pulled us back to 3-3 while the home fans were still singing “you’re not singing anymore” to us, having only just taken the lead themselves.

As we mentioned earlier though his most memorable moment in a Stoke shirt must have been when he scored that stunning free-kick at Peterborough United in the Autoglass Area Final which secured us our place at Wembley. After that game, the Sky TV commentators were also predicting a big future for such a prodigious young talent.

Tragedy struck for Warey though with an injury that meant he had to sit out the Autoglass Final, missing out on what should have been the greatest moment of his career to date. Nobody said that football was ever meant to be fair, but Warey didn’t bemoan his terrible bad luck and instead got himself fit again to play a full and telling part in the following year’s Championship season.

Warey was a versatile player for Stoke and could play in either defence or midfield. He showed in one match though that he could even turn his hand to an out and out striker’s role. As Stoke toiled in vain against a struggling Huddersfield at the Victoria Ground Lou threw Warey off the substitutes bench and into the centre-forward’s position. Within minutes of that bold move he had the ground in ecstasy with two headed goals to put us on the road to a crucial three points. Once again Paul Ware had been asked to do a job by a Stoke manager and he had gone out and done it with no questions asked. I’m sure that if you’d asked him to put on the goalkeeper’s jersey he would have played well enough to slake a daim for a regular place in that position!

If there was a fault you could pick with Paul Ware it was that he often played with his heart and not his head. The worst example of this came in the criminal Autoglass home defeat to Port Vale when he and Carl Beeston (both local lads!) got a bit too carried away with their tackling as they saw Stoke slipping to a disastrous defeat.

That said though, young Warey got his act together for the vital league dash at Vale Park a few weeks later and rt was his tireless and unstinting work from midfield which played a significant part in helping to set up a night of glory for Stoke City.

In football  these days players like Paul Ware are a rare commodity. He was an energetic and willing workhorse for The Potters, never shirking any job that a manager might put his way, always giving everything he had. He may not have been the most elegant player, and indeed his inclusion in the team this and last season would not have been the instant answer to all of our problems, but Paul Ware was a vital and much needed member of our club set up.

I can’t speak for other Stoke supporters but for myself the departure of Paul Ware to Stockport County is little short of a tragedy. Seeing that he had no future at Stoke under Jordan, Warey agreed to join Danny Bergara at Edgeley Park just one day before Jordan himself was given the push. However, he refused to change his mind over his decision as he had already given his word to the Stockport manager. I suppose we shouldn’t expect anything else from somebody as honest as he is.

Farewell Warey, I hope everything works out for you at Stockport and I hope you realise that there are people at Stoke who appreciate everything you did for our club. Thanks!

 

match to remember – stoke city v aston villa 2008/09

WE WAITED a long time for this day, a very long time indeed. And we earned it too. After all of the bad days over 23 years, all the disappointments, all of the humbling defeats against the likes of Crewe and Vale and all of the other clubs we should never really have been playing so regularly in the first place.

Liam Lawrence puts Stoke 1-0 up from the penalty spot

Top flight football returned to the Britannia Stadium and did so in spectacular style, delivering a match, occasion and finale that will live long in the memory of all of those Stoke City supporters who were fortunate enough to be there to witness it. This is what we had waited all of that time for, what we endured all of that suffering for.

After the slap-in-the-face defeat at Bolton it was difficult to hope for too much from a game against a side so strongly tipped and widely respected as Martin O’Neill’s Aston Villa. However, in the wake of the Reebok set-back Tony Pulis had been quick to address some of our shortcomings and we had new faces in the line-up, in the shape of Amdy and Abdoulaye Faye, plus the return to the starting XI of crowd favourites Ricardo Fuller and Liam Lawrence.

Ricardo Fuller celebrates putting City 2-1 up

From the word go it was clear that The Potters were not nursing any hangovers from the Bolton defeat. It had been put behind them and they went into this match in the right frame of mind and with exactly the right approach. They took the game to the visitors and displayed no fear of either their opponents or the big occasion.

What a delight it was to not only be watching top flight football but to be watching Stoke competing well at that level. Villa were technically better than us and that was only to be expected but at no time did we ever looked over-matched or out of our depth. In fact we quickly showed that we had within our arsenal the type of weapons which could do our opponents harm.

Fuller and Lawrence were creative and in Rory Delap’s long throws we had a tool to cause panic in the visiting defence. In fact, we should have taken the lead when one of Delap’s efforts was propelled into the box and picked out Amdy Faye for a header which should have been dispatched into the net for a debut goal.

We didn’t have long to wait for a goal though as referee Mark Halsey turned down an appeal for a penalty at our end and then awarded one at the other when Delap was felled. Lawrence stepped up to drill the ball home and the Britannia Stadium exploded. I honestly thought the roof was going to lift off the place.the ball home and the Britannia Stadium exploded. I honestly thought the roof was going to lift off the place.

John Carew makes it 1-1

You could have almost ended my Premiership experience there if you’d wanted. Stoke were back in the top flight and leading in a game against a genuinely good side. I think back of dark trips to Bournemouth when such a possibility seemed such a distant and unlikely prospect.

As much as Stoke are derided for their style of play it has to be said that this game was an entertaining thriller which would have graced ANY Super Sunday special on Sky. It had just about everything!

Villa capitalised on Stoke’s failure to clear the ball properly with a goal of genuine quality from John Carew and then almost took the lead when Barry failed to connect with a ball straight across the face of the Stoke goal.

If Carew’s goal had the hallmark of class stamped across it then what can you say about the gem that followed from Fuller? His flick and turn to take Lawrence’s pass past Laursen was just brilliant and got the finish it deserved as our Jamaican Magician drilled the ball into the far corner of the net. Will we see a better Stoke goal this season?

That should have been enough to win the game but a carelessly conceded free-kick by Diao gave the visitors the chance to get the ball into our box and after a weakly hit shot and a fortuitous deflection Laursen was able to poke the ball home for what looked like a point-saving goal for Villa.

Mamady Sidibe nods home Stoke’s winner

In truth, how many of us would truly have been disappointed with a 2-2 draw? Yeah, we’d know that we’d let two leads slips, the second just eight minutes from time, but it would have still been a very creditable outcome.

 Stoke though were not prepared to settle for a point and put Villa through a bombardment of late pressure. A couple of late throws from Delap came to nothing, including a header from Cort which looped onto the top of the net, before the final attack of the match, in the 4th minute of injury time, he launched one final missile into the area and super sub Sidibe back headed the ball into the bottom corner of the net.

It was the greatest EVER mental at the Britannia Stadium, as players and fans alike celebrated what we all knew was the winner. You just live for moments like these!

What a day, what a game and what a finish. We have some really tough days ahead of us this season but we showed here that we have the spirit and the belief to make a real fight  of it.

I don’t think I will ever forget this game!

STOKE CITY: Sorenson, Griffin, Dickinson, Cort, Ab Faye, Lawrence, Am Faye, Olofinjana, Delap, Fuller, Kitson. Subs: Diao, Sidibe, Cresswell.

ASTON VILLA: Friedel, L. Young, Davies, Laursen, Shorey, A. Young, Petrov, Barry, Re0-Coker, Carew, Agbonlahor. Sub: Routledge.

Attendance: 27,500

This match report originally appeared in Issue 443 of The Oatcake

keen by name, keen by nature

KEVIN Keen began his football career at Wycombe Wanderers in 1982 where he made his debut at the tender age of 15 and 209 days against Hendon, a record that still stands to this day at Adams Park.

Keeno joined West Ham in 1983 and played his first game for the Hammers in a 5-2 defeat against Liverpool in September 1986. After a ten year spell at Upton Park, in which he made 219 apps and scored 21 goals, he signed for Wolverhampton Wanderers as part of a £600,000 deal in 1993. Despite being a regular in his first season at Molineux (42 apps and 7 goals – including one against Stoke in a 3-3 Anglo Italian Cup match), Keeno signed for the Potters early on in the 1994/95 season.  Lou Macari knew all about him from his brief stint as West Ham manager and spent £300,000 to bring the midfielder to the Victoria Ground. Keeno’s first Stoke goal actually came on his home debut in a 1-1 draw against his former Wolves team-mates.

Injury problems restricted his first couple of seasons although he became a favourite with supporters in his final years at the Britannia Stadium, winning a couple of Player of the Season awards along the way. Despite another Player of the Year award at the end of 1998/99 Brian Little saw fit to release Keeno on a free transfer, only for new manager Gary Megson to re-sign him that same summer for one final year in the Potteries.

He eventually joined Macclesfield Town as a player then manager in 2000 before going into coaching with the Hammers where he works with their acclaimed youth and academy set-up.

Keeno often stood head and shoulders above everyone else around him during some of the lowest points in our modern history. During a glut of dross following the move to the Britannia Stadium, Keeno was one of a few players who supporters could feel proud about when he ran out in a red and white shirt.

We knew he’d never stop running for us or probing for space down that right touchline, and when he was on the pitch we always had that ‘bust-a-gut’ creative spark going for us.

Keeno was never a player with blistering pace, nor a direct winger as such, but when he wore a Stoke shirt the area of turf that he was playing on would always look busy and there was always that feeling that something could happen.

A home game against Sheffield United on Boxing day 1997 still stands out. With the score at 1-1 and the game in the last five minutes a ball was played down to right touchline with a little bit too much pace for any of our players to catch. Everyone in the Britannia Stadium seemed to give it up as a goal kick. Then, with the ball rolling on towards the white paint we saw the sight of Keeno appear at full stretch, wrapping a boot around the stray ball and sending it back into the six yard box for Peter Thorne to prod home.

Rather typical of Stoke City at the time though we then went and conceded an even later goal at the other end to make it 2-2. Regardless of that though, it was impossible to take away from the work Keeno put in to what should have been the winner that day.

While the likes of Zidane and Beckham created goals out of nothing with an inch perfect pass or pin-point cross there will always be players like Kevin Keen who could create exactly the same moments and goals out of nothing more than absolute determination, drive and persistence.

Along with Nigel Gleghorn, Keeno was that exact same type of wily old midfielder that we’ve wasted far too long trying to replace.

Fond memories of his Stoke career include that outstanding Van Basten-like first time volley from a near impossible angle against Derby County in 1995, surely one of the all time great goals to be scored in front of the old Boothen End. A free kick some 40 yards out was played towards the back post by Nigel Gleghorn, where Keeno smashed the ball into the roof of the net, first time, on the volley. It was a goal which went on to open Nick Hancock’s 1996 Football Nightmares video – as a definition of a goal crafted in heaven – “unless you’re a Derby County supporter” added Nick.

Other highlights include his winning goal in the first ever Potteries derby at the Britannia Stadium in 1997, and another swirling header in a 1-1 draw at Vale Park the season before.

Whether playing for West Ham or Wolves he always had a good goalscoring record against Stoke down the years and his goals in a Stoke shirt were always memorable moments too.

He was also one of a select few players to have his own comic strip in The Oatcake during his time with the club – Kevin Keen – Quiz Machine – from the 1998-99 season. Keeno was so delighted with the piece that he rang Oatcake HQ to get several copies of that particular issue for his family!

Look up ‘keen’ in a thesaurus and read – alert, animated, ardent, avid, devoted, eager, fired up, lively, spirited. The dictionary concept – enthusiasm. It’s stating the bleeding obvious here but you can’t help but feel he strived to live up to that surname.

He also had a habit of taking his clothes off while celebrating in front of the Boothen Paddock, particularly his topless celebration in the pouring rain during one Central Sunday Match Live match against West Brom. The terrace in-joke seemed to be if he scored two the shorts came off as well – we never found out!

Keeno eventually bought the curtain down on his Stoke career in 1999-2000 season. It was very much a case of out with the old and in with the new following the Icelandic takeover, and our veteran midfielder was one of the eventual casualties under Gudjon Thordarson. His last goal for Stoke came in a 1-2 home defeat to Bristol Rovers in December 1999.

After that match he played one final home league game against Oldham Athletic (0-0) shortly after Christmas. The second half of the season saw new signings Mikael Hansson and Bjarni Gudjonsson in particular staking their claim for Keeno’s old spot down the right touchline.

And so, with the turn of the new Millennium one of our longer serving players was to be no more at Stoke City.

Kevin played one last game for the Potters – coming on as a very late substitute on the final day of the season away at Reading.

It’s testament to what a popular figure he was when even after his move to Macclesfield there were still quite a few Stokies who would make the short trip north to the Moss Rose, just to watch an old crowd favourite when we didn’t have a game. Back then there was a few Stokies who used to post Macclesfield updates on our internet message board.

Kevin Keen – a model professional, a good player and one that we were always proud to have playing for our club, particularly during some difficult later years following the move to the Britannia Stadium.

by Gareth Cooper

This article first appeared in Issue 419 of The Oatcake

an angel on one shoulder, a devil on the other

By Martin Smith

THESE DAYS I find myself torn as the endless war of attrition wages away on our very own Internet forum. As arguments rage backwards and forwards I find myself agreeing with both sides of the divide and siding with one camp, only to desert over to the other when a better and more compelling argument is made.

As anybody who accesses The Oatcake message board will know, the battle is being fought, once again, over the issue of manager Tony Pulis. It is a chasm that just won’t seem to go away.

There are those who speak out on his tactics, team selections and the way we set out to play the game, and they find themselves up against the supporters who want to stick up for the manager.

Those who speak out against TP point out the negative football and what they see as poor team selections, while those who defend him fiercely point to a current top half of the table league position, a trip to an FA Cup final, playing in Europe and our fifth season in the Premier League.

Each camp points to its own supporting arguments and decries those of their opponents and we seem locked in an endless tide of arguments and even bitter acrimony.

My problem is that I’m like a leaf blowing in the wind. There are times when I am in total agreement with one side and then find myself wholeheartedly agreeing with something said by the other.

I sometimes feel I have an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, both of whom are shouting into my ear and trying to get me to join forces with them.

I find myself wholly agreeing with the critics and detractors who complain about the poor standard of football we typically have to endure on our travels and the devil on my shoulders urges me to join in with the tirade against the manager and his methods.

But then the angel has their say and I can see the merits of the counter-argument. We’re safe and solid in the Premier League and until recently we’d lost only three of our first ten league away games of the season. It might not be pretty but it was working.

But then you see the arguments about the wasted transfer millions and the buying of players who don’t fit our system, and then using them at the expense of players who are much better equipped to best enable TP’s own specialised brand of football to work to its fullest effect.

No sooner than am I agreeing with that sentiment than the angel points out to me that ALL managers make transfer deals they later wish they could take back.

Okay, we signed Charlie Adam and Peter Crouch and they’re not the ideal partnership if it means we stick Jon Walters out to the wing. But then it’s not like we’re struggling in the bottom three places and as the angel points out, even Alex Ferguson wasted £19m on David De Gea, while Chelsea pissed £50m up the local pub wall when they signed Fernando Torres. And let’s not even get started on Liverpool and their £35m for Carroll, £20m for Jordan Henderson and £17m for Stewart Downing!

At this point I’m firmly in the happy camp and I can’t even begin to understand why anybody is moaning about anything but that doesn’t last long.

The next argument points out that Tony Pulis is actually a very lucky manager who has been backed in financial terms far more than most of his peers and yet all he can do is plod his team to 45 points every season and a lower mid-table position.

Well, that is true to an extent. We are the third highest ‘net’ spenders over the past couple of seasons and we should have seen a bigger improvement for that sort of outplay.

But then again, what does it matter what the manager has spent? The Coates family were happy to give him the money and they continue to point out that they’re perfectly happy with the job Tony Pulis has down for Stoke City. In six years we’ve gone from being a mid-table Championship side with moderate prospects to a mid-table, respectable, stable and well-run Premier League outfit. In a lot of People’s eyes that’d be money extremely well spent.

And so it goes on, new thread after new thread, reply after reply and argument against counter-argument.

Each side makes great points and yet each side is usually wrong as often as it is right. And that’s why I find myself torn between wishing TP would ‘grow a pair’ or let someone else have a go and then hoping that he stays at the club for the next 20 years and continues to do exactly what he’s been doing up to this point.

A good argument is a good argument and that’s why so many of them are as compelling and persuasive as they are. It’s hard to disagree with so many of the points made.

However, a lot of these arguments are made from an entrenched position which people have bunkered down behind as the debate has grown more and more fierce.

As the arguments have continued some, though not all, have painted themselves into a corner to such a point that to admit that the other side has got any sort of point at all is to fatally weaken your own position.

Ultimately you have to weigh up both sides and try to find a genuine middle ground.

For myself, I love the fact that Stoke City are in the Premier League after being out of it for so long. Some of the memories we have already accumulated over the past five years are ones I shall take to the grave with me. It has also been a delight that my own two sons, after paying their dues in the lower divisions, are seeing a Stoke City playing in the top flight.

I can’t deny though that our style of football often troubles me and that going to away games has become something of a chore. I have always known that we’re going to lose far more away games than we ever win and I’ve travelled all over the country to watch terrible Stoke sides , slumping to one loss after another down the years.

This is different though. This is a collection of very good Stoke players turning out very poor football, and not by accident or lack of talent but by deliberate design. Our approach is to try and strangle the life out of every away game and then try to nick something, often without even really doing any attacking, towards the end.

It’s an approach like that which has seen us win just one of our last 21 league away games and it does make me despair.

Ultimately though, the one thing which really matters to me more than anything is the stability we have at the club right now. After so many years of turmoil and upheaval we now have a club which is stable and, up until now, relatively safe.

The football may not be pretty whenever we venture away from Trentham Lakes but in most other respects we are actually a club which has been on the up and up.

Sometimes in life we’re all guilty of looking more closely at what other people have got than what we ourselves have.

Ten years ago we’d have killed for what we have now and a manager with an annoyingly negative approach to games would have seemed like a small price to pay for everything which has come our way.

We all have an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other and for now I’m listening more to what the angel is saying. Things are not perfect and I do have my grievances but overall I can’t complain.

That so many fans do complain comes more from the depth of passion for the club, rather than a desire to find fault for the sake of it. Their concerns are almost entirely genuine .

And those who so unstintingly back the manager do so from a position of sincere belief that the club is in a good place and under the stewardship of a manager who will keep it there.

It seems though that until such time as we have an event which can unify both sides of the current divide that the war will continue and that people like me shall find themselves being swayed, from one side to the other and then back again.

Such a chasm in supporter opinion though is not a healthy thing to have at any club, regardless of how riveting a read it makes for the message boards.

This article appeared in Issue 532 of The Oatcake

king of the road – alan hudson tribute

IF ANY Stoke City supporter over the age of thirty was asked to pick their all-time Potters Xl, we would feel pretty confident that the name Alan Hudson would almost certainly appear in one of the midfield positions.

Anyone who had the pleasure of witnessing him perform for Stoke during his, and our, hey-day in the mid-seventies will testify to the incredible talent that was Alan Hudson. Can Stoke City ever have had a more naturally gifted midfielder than Huddy?

In the late Sixties and early Seventies, the game was blessed with some of most flamboyant entertainers ever to have graced English football pitches. There was George Best of Manchester United, Rodney Marsh of Queens Park Rangers, Sheffield United’s Tony Currie and the nomadic Frank Worthington. To that list you could quite easily add the name of Chelsea’s Alan Hudson.

Chelsea and Alan Hudson went together like Christmas and Santa Claus, and it was hard to imagine him at any other club, and certainly not one outside of London. As was the norm with his kind of player, Huddy had something of a playboy image, always up with the latest fashions and a regular patron of the trendy Kings Road nightclubs.

Having made his Chelsea debut at the tender age of seventeen, Huddy seemed destined for a glittering career at Stamford Bridge. Before his 21st birthday, he had already won a European Cup Winners Cup winner’s medal, played ten times for the England U-23 side and picked up a League Cup runners-up medal.

The thought of Alan Hudson even contemplating leaving Chelsea at this point seemed laughable, but not half as much as the prospect of him signing for an “unfashionable” club such as Stoke City. However, during those Waddo-inspired days, miracles did happen, and incredibly, in January 1974, The Potters shocked the country by clinching Huddy’s signature for a fee of £240,000. In fact, Waddo had even offered Chelsea £500,000 to team Huddy up with his fellow Blues star, Peter Osgood, one of the most prolific strikers in the game, but failed to complete that half of the deal.

The transfer had amazed everybody with few unable to understand why Chelsea would part with a player as gifted and influential as Alan Hudson, and even fewer could understand why a player like Hudson would come to Stoke.

The fact of the matter was that Chelsea were flat broke and Huddy was genuinely convinced that Stoke City were a club going places.

Perhaps he’d been influenced somewhat by being on the losing side against Stoke in the 1972 League Cup Final, but undoubtedly the real reason was Tony Waddington and his ability to sell the potential of the club to any player. Huddy has often said that it was Waddo who impressed not only himself but also his father, who advised him to sign for Stoke City.

There are those who argue that one player doesn’t make a team, and maybe they are right. However, in the case of Alan Hudson and Stoke City we saw an example of one player exerting such a massive influence over the club that he was able to completely turn around the flagging fortunes of the team.

When he arrived at the club, Stoke were lying precariously in 17th place in the First Division, and the only real aim for the rest of the season was to avoid relegation. From the first match Huddy played in though, against Liverpool at the Victoria Ground, the season began to take on a whole new complexion.

Crowds came pouring back through the turnstiles, results improved dramatically and Stoke began to bulldozer their way up the table. Some of the Huddy-inspired football was breath-taking, and the division sat up and took notice, particularly on a memorable day in February when Don Revie’s all-conquering Leeds United side was stopped dead in its tracks. Leeds had arrived at the Victoria Ground unbeaten in 29 league matches since the start of the season, needing only to avoid defeat to equal Burnley’s 53 year-old record of 30 matches.

Leeds’ hearts were broken though, and Burnley’s record remained intact as Stoke pulled off a sensational, and some would say unlikely, 3-2 victory, with Huddy scoring his first goal for the club. That was the highlight of a memorable second half of the 1973-74 season at the Victoria Ground, as Stoke went on to finish fifth and clinch a place in the following season’s UEFA Cup competition.

Huddy had shown what a massive difference one player could make to a team, and he showed that the brilliant start to his Stoke career had been no fluke by improving his form into the 1974-75 season, when he was an ever-present in the side, as Stoke made a genuine attempt at winning the Championship.

Alan Hudson was the conductor of the orchestra for Stoke, and the media and experts enthused over his exceptional midfield form. There was no shortage of people queuing up to heap praise on a player who simply had everything you could wish for in a midfielder.

Though passing was his forte, Huddy was blessed with superb vision and awareness, he could tackle with the best of them and his ability to dribble put many a winger to shame.

Huddy’s supreme ability was all the more breathtaking considering some of the pitches on which he demonstrated his genius. On pitches that resembled a bog, and would almost certainly now be deemed unplayable, Huddy showed that they were playable. Sometimes your memory plays tricks on your mind, but fortunately proof is available. Just take a look at Huddy’s performances against Derby County and Manchester City on the ‘Magic Moments” video and you’ll see just how incredible his talents were.

Such a talent could not long be ignored by England and sure enough Huddy was called up to the national side by Don Revie. An unfortunate drink related incident during his time in the Under-23 team had seen Huddy banned from the England team for some time but once he was back in the frame he took his chance in glorious fashion by masterminding England’s midfield in a 2-0 win over world champions West Germany at Wembley and then earning a second cap against Cyprus in a European Championship qualifier. Huddy again played his part but it was big Malcolm Macdonald who grabbed the headlines by scoring all the goals in England’s 5-0 victory.

Incredibly though, that was to be it for Huddy’s international career. Don Revie was at the time destroying what little chance he had of making a great England team by refusing to pick any player who showed the least bit of individuality or dared to question his robotic methods. Not surprisingly Huddy was one of those players and tragically he was ousted from Revie’s plans.

Huddy in action against Franz Beckenbauer in March 1975, when he inspired England to a 2-0 victory over world champions West Germany

What a criminal waste that a player like Huddy should make only two international appearances while other far less talented players went on to grab a display cabinet full of caps. We are almost too embarrassed to think of modern players like Carlton Palmer and Geoff Thomas making more of an England career than Huddy did.

Whether his shoddy treatment at the hands of Don Revie affected him or not we don’t know but things took a downward turn for Huddy after that.

The 1975-76 season was not a good one for Stoke. They failed to live up to expectations, finishing in mid-table, and Huddy himself had a much quieter season. As any Stoke fan will know the 75-76 season was doubly disastrous for Stoke as it saw the event which would plunge the club into a crisis from which it would never fully recover.

The storm which blew the roof of the Butler Street Stand also blew out the flame that had flickered so brightly for Stoke City in the Seventies. Players had to be sold to cover the costs and Huddy became one of those players when he moved to Arsenal for £160,000 shortly into the 1976-77 season.

You would have thought that a move back to London would have been ideal for Huddy but his choice of clubs was more debatable. The Gunners are not the type of club you would associate with a player of Alan Hudson’s style and character and sure enough, despite an FA Cup Final appearance in 1978, Huddy never really settled in at Highbury and in the summer of that year he had his contract cancelled.

Like so many other players at the time Huddy tried his luck with the Seattle Sounders in the American circus that was the NASL. Huddy may claim that he enjoyed his time in the States but it was a level of football that was never really taken seriously by the rest of the world and for the people who had so adored him in his time in England it was a case of out of sight, out of mind.

You might have been forgiven for thinking that Huddy was finished in English football but he crept quietly back to Chelsea in 1983. He failed to make any impact back at Stamford Bridge but he was to have one last moment in the sun as Bill Asprey turned to him in a time of need for Stoke.

The Potters were rooted to the bottom of the table and in need of a miracle to escape. Huddy was brought back to the Victoria Ground in a deal that took Mickey Thomas to Stamford Bridge and amazingly history started to repeat itself.

His legs may not have been as good as they were but his brain had lost not of its awareness and he inspired a Stoke revival that made the “Great Escape” pale by comparison.

He missed over half of the following season, though it is highly doubtful whether even he could have done anything to help a Stoke side that had relegation written all over them from the first game of the season to the last.

After a mere handful of games at the start of the 1985-86 season Huddy picked up a hamstring injury which led to him finally hanging up his boots for good at the ageof 34. It was as a quiet end to a career that had certainly had its share of great moments but which had achieved only a mere fraction that his talent and potential had promised.

With his playing days over, Huddy chose to stay in The Potteries area and embarked upon a series of usually failed business ventures, not least his nightclub in Newcastle. Nowadays though Huddy is more well known for his weekly column in the Sentinel which has seen him stir up a great deal of debate, and often anger, with his controversial and strongly held views.

He gets a lot a criticism for the things he writes in his columns but it would be a tragedy if Stoke supporters, particularly the younger ones, were to forget just what a brilliant player Huddy was for Stoke. In many ways he is similar to Jimmy Greaves, who is thought of these days as an outspoken and often ridiculed TV pundit but was, in his day, one of the greatest strikers England has ever produced.

Huddy’s career can be likened to that of George Best. Both players blessed with an incredible talent and yet both guilty of wasting what should have been the greatest time of their career. George Best was effectively finished in English football at 26, and Alan Hudson was packing his bags at Arsenal and heading off to America at 27. Both players seem to have self-destructive tendencies which cannot have helped them during their playing days. With Best it was a basic lack of discipline and an obsessive love of the fast life. Though Huddy is well renowned for his social activities it is more likely his mouth which has got him into the most trouble.

When Huddy has something on his mind he comes out and says it, as we’ve witnessed many times in his columns. He’s constantly “having a go” at people and personalities from his own playing days and you have to feel that he didn’t get on too well with them then either.

Making enemies of people is never a good thing to do but it seems that Huddy made a few in his time. How many of these people were instrumental in denying him the chance of improving his playing career and how many have helped stick a knife into his hopes of staying in the game, perhaps in a managerial capacity?

His attacks on ex-Stoke team-mates currently holding managerial positions (Shilton, Pejic and Smith to name but three) and indeed other managers suggests that Huddy is aggrieved that players that he considers were less talented than him have got on in the game while he has not.

The petty squabbling that goes on between Huddy and Stoke fans these days (ourselves included) and his needless attacks on other figures in the game do not do him justice. He was a brilliant player for The Potters but he has done much to diminish his respect and stature with a Stoke following that once hero-worshipped him but has long grown weary of his bitterness and rantings, especially at a time when the long-suffering supporters have at last enjoyed at least a modicum of success.

The Huddy we like best is the one who did his talking with a football, not with a pen. The Huddy we prefer to remember is the one who could drink an Irish Navvy under the table on a Friday night, and then go out and take the Liverpool midfield to pieces on the Saturday afternoon.

One of the best stories you’ll ever hear from a footballer is the one Huddy tells relating to the famous free-kick at Birmingham in 1974-75, when he and Geoff Salmons are seen talking over the ball before Salmons floats in the kick for Jimmy Greenhoff to score with a header. The match commentator commends them for their tactics but Huddy will tell you they were actually discussing the route of their pub crawl that evening and which nightclub they would be visiting.

Now that is the kind of character Huddy was, and should be remembered for. A brilliant player from the Kings Road who, on his day, really was the King of the Road.

 The article first appeared in Issue 108 of The Oatcake in on 10th December 1994

match to remember – stoke city v leeds united 1986/87

IT WAS Leed United’s bad luck that they should come to the Victoria Ground four days before Christmas in 1986. Bad luck because Stoke were blazing their way up the table, part the way through a storming run that would eventually propel them all the way from rock bottom to 4th place in the space of just ten weeks. From a team that couldn’t hit a cow’s arse with a banjo from two paces in August, September and October, Mick Mills’s side were now a fearsome attacking force, ready to dish out a savage beating to any team unlucky enough to catch them on a good day.

Not that Leeds were at all worried when they visited the Victoria Ground on Sunday 21st December. We were still in a lower mid-table position and they were just a couple of points outside the play-off places. A victory would strengthen their own promotion credentials and they had already beaten us at Elland Road early on in the season.

For one Leeds player – goalkeeper Mervyn Day (pictured below) – there was a point to prove as well. The season before he and his Leeds team had come to Stoke and been walloped 6-2 as Mark Chamberlain had run amok. This time they wanted revenge and Day went so far as to promise that Stoke would not score six goals this time around…

The Sunday dinner time kick-off and all-ticket restrictions – demanded by the Police – kept the crowd down to just 12,358, but the atmosphere was still electric as Stoke fans anticipated another entertaining game. We did though have no idea of just how entertaining the game would prove to be.

It was all Stoke from the word go and Leeds were left breathless and chasing shadows as The Potters simply bypassed their defence at will. Nicky Morgan had been a revelation following his arrival from Portsmouth a few weeks earlier and he was on the scoresheet after only five minutes as he drilled the ball home from inside the area to make it 1-0 to Stoke.

Scarcely had Leeds had time to recompose themselves than they were 2-0 down. This time it was Carl Saunders seizing on a loose ball to score with a sweet finish. We can only wonder at this stage if Mervyn Day was remembering his less than prophetic words to the press ahead of the game!

Stoke’s pressure was utterly unrelenting and merciless and the Leeds players looked as shell-shocked and bewildered as their 1,500+ supporters as the barrage continued at the Stoke End.

From a dead ball situation the ball looped behind Lee Dixon inside the area and he stunned the entire crowd with a breathtaking overhead kick to send the ball sailing over Day and into the far corner of the net. It was 3-0 to Stoke and there were only 20 minutes on the clock!

At this point many teams would take their foot off the pedal and start to stroll, or at least showboat, but that was not what Mick Mills’ side did. With players like Dixon, Parkin, Ford, Kelly, Morgan, Saunders and Heath all in superb form we almost couldn’t help but play killer football.

Any hopes that Leeds had of making it into the half-time interval with their dignity and a fighting chance of a recovery intact were to be blown away as Stoke finished the game off before 45 minutes were up on the clock.

Nicky Morgan drilled home another shot from inside the box to make it 4-0 and then just a minute before the break Tony ‘Zico’ Kelly curled home a peach of a free-kick from 25 yards to make the score a scarcely believable 5-0 as the teams left the field for their half-time cuppas.

To be on the Boothen End and down on the concourse when that whistle went was to witness a collective state of disbelief amongst a sea of happy faces and hoarse voices.

As delighted as we all were, the breathtaking, non-stop nature of Stoke’s football and the FIVE mentals we’d celebrated had taken it out of us. This might be the only occasion in the history of our club where the supporters were more shattered than the players at half-time!

We all prepared ourselves for what was sure to be a much calmer second half, but were in for another 45 minutes of non-stop action. Stoke came roaring back at Leeds straight from the re-start and it was only the award of a generous penalty for the visitors, from a referee who was by now taking pity on them, which gave them some respite as John Sheridan made it 5-1.

Mervyn Day might have been keeping his fingers crossed that he would avoid the embarrassment of conceding six for the second season running but his hopes were crushed just after the hour mark. Stoke’s attacks were just relentless and when the ball ran for Tony Ford inside the box he hammered home in front of the Boothen End to make it 6-1.

But Day had promised it wouldn’t be six-goal scoreline this time around and he was proved right after 72 minutes as Stoke surged forward again and Nicky Morgan smashed the ball home to complete his hat-trick and make it 7-1.

We were actually still celebrating that goal when Leeds caught us out straight from the kick-off as Ian Baird went up to the Stoke End and made it 7-2 in front of their own fans who, by this time, had gone into their “we’re not bothered anymore” pissing around antics.

That would actually prove to be the final score but don’t think for one minute that Stoke actually sat back and coasted for the last 20 minutes. They carried on attacking until the very last minute, especially as substitute Keith Bertschin was desperate to get his name onto the scoresheet as well.

An eighth goal just wouldn’t come though. Day made some decent saves, a couple were cleared off the line (including one quite clearly with the use of an arm) and we had two cast-iron penalty appeals turned down. It finished 7-2 but it could, and perhaps should, have been eight, nine or even TEN!

Lee Dixon, Carl Saunders, Nicky Morgan, Tony Kelly and Tony Ford celebrate after the game

It’s hard to remember such an ovation as the one which greeted the final whistle of this match. The players didn’t milk the victory as much as they tend to these days but even so they had to acknowledge the adulation of a Stoke support that could scarcely believe what it had just witnessed.

You walked out of the Victoria Ground that day as though you were floating – privileged to have witnessed such an awesome display of football and finishing from a Stoke City team. It’s hard to recall a day similar to this when we had done EVERYTHING right for an entire 90 minutes.

Some Stoke fans will claim that they actually enjoyed the previous year’s 6-2 win more than his one, perhaps because it was our second home game after the dreadful ‘Holocaust’ season or maybe because of the stunning individual performance of Mark Chamberlain at his very best?

In my mind though this was the one. Leeds were a good team in 1986/87 and would go on to make the Play Offs and FA Cup Semi-Final come the end of the season, unlike the year before when they’d finished in lower mid-table, yet Stoke had simply ripped them to shreds and stripped them of any excuses whatsoever.

Stoke City: Fox; Dixon, Parkin; Talbot, Bould, Berry; Ford, Kelly (Bertschin), Morgan, Saunders, Heath.

Leeds United: Day, Aspin, Robinson (Ritchie); Thompson, Ashurst, Swan; Doig, Sheridan, Baird, Edwards, Rennie.

From Issue 367