[Lord Snooty]

Stoke City v Huddersfield Town
The Sky Bet Championship
Saturday November 21st - 15:00 ko
at the bet365 Stadium

Huddersfield Town travel to play Stoke City at the bet365 Stadium on Saturday afternoon for the first of 12 Championship games in 7 weeks between the International Break just gone and the FA Cup break at the beginning of January. Last time we had a break for the international matches, our brave boys went down to Swansea straight afterwards and came away with a surprise 2-1 win. That could've been down to Carlos Corberán having a full fortnight's training with his players, with only Pipa playing away for the Spanish u21s. As far as I know, it's a similar situation, with only Juninho Bacuna and Naby Sarr missing, the latter having been called up by Senegal for the first time.

Stoke on the other hand, have had the bad news coming out of the latest internationals that James McClean tested positive for Covid 19 after the Republic of Ireland's game with Wales at the weekend. So even if we were allowed into the ground, we wouldn't be able to boo him. Manager Michael O'Neill is hoping that Sam Clucas and James Chester will be available for selection, having been out injured.

Us and them have had similar seasons recently. Relegation from the Premier League, followed by Championship struggles. We both had a terrible start to the last campaign and after ten matches we were both in a position that no other team had ever survived before in this league. That both of us did survive shows that we are no push overs and we have both continued in a positive vein this time. They are only a point outside of the Play Off spots and we look reasonably good in comfortable mid table. But that could be deceptive. Three points in this will put us just a point behind the Potters and looking more than good.

Last time out, they had a 3-0 win away at the Madejski against the league leaders. Tyrese Campbell and Steven Fletcher gave them a 2-0 lead at the break and then sub Jacob Brown put the icing on top in added time at the end. We had a tough encounter with Luton at the JSS, coming from a goal down to get a hard earned point, with Carel Eiting getting his first Town goal. Seems like a lifetime ago. I hate international breaks!



A brief history of Stoke City: formed in 1878 as Stoke FC from a merger by Stoke Ramblers and Stoke Victoria Athletic Club. They didn't add City to the name until 1925.

They played at the Athletic Ground, later to be known as the Victoria Ground and would be their home until 1997. In 1888 they were one of the 12 founding members of the Football League. However, they struggled, finishing bottom of the league in the first two seasons and after the second they failed to get re-elected and were replaced by Sunderland. They were out of the FL for only one season though and were back in the following year when the 2nd division was formed.

The club went bust and resigned from the League in 1908, but were reformed soon after. They won re-election back into the FL in 1915, but the war meant they had to wait until 1919 to take up their place. They won promotion in 1922 as runners up to Nottingham Forest and were back at the top table for the first time since 1890. It didn't last long though as they were back down again straight away. And they went down again to Division Three North in 1926, relegated in their first season as Stoke City. Towards the back end of the season they had bought Charlie Wilson from us and it was his 25 goals that helped them win promotion back as champions at the first attempt.

In March 1932 a young 17 year old made his Stoke debut in a match away at Bury. That boy was named Stanley Matthews and would become one of football's most famous names. He scored his first goal in the next season in a 3-1 win at neighbouring Port Vale as the team won the 2nd division championship and then made his England debut soon after.

After a couple of mid table finishes, they had a 4th place finish in 1936, one point and one place behind us and under the management of Bob McGrory who had played for them for 14 years, clocking up over 500 appearances. He would go on to manage the club until 1952, an association with the club of 31 years.

There was talk of Matthews leaving in 1939 and meetings were held to prevent this happening. However, the war came along and nothing happened on the transfer front. After the war though, with Stoke setting up a realistic title challenge, Matthews did leave and joined Blackpool towards the end of the season. Without him, they faded badly and ended up in 4th position, which equalled their highest ever league position, but the Wizard of the Dribble was gone and the team struggled in the next few seasons.

They got relegated in 1953 as Town went up and Matthews won himself an FA Cup winners medal in one of the most famous matches of the era. McGrory resigned and the struggles continued until things started to change in the 60s when Tony Waddington became manager. His biggest coup was persuading Matthews to return. He was 46 years old by then, but was still the biggest draw in football. His second debut for Stoke was at the Victoria Ground in October 1961 against the mighty Huddersfield Town and the crowd was treble the previous home attendance figure when 35,974 turned up to see his return.

They won promotion in the following season, with Matthews scoring the second goal in the match that clinched it, a 2-0 win at home to Luton Town. The following season they finished 17th in the first division, but had a good season in the Cups. They reached the 5th round of the FA Cup. Over 40,000 turned out for the match against Swansea Town, because Matthews was playing. Of course, he scored in a 2-2 draw, which they lost the replay 0-2. He only made 9 appearances in that season. In the 1964 League Cup they made it all the way to their first major Final. They met Leicester City over two legs and the first match at the Victoria Ground was drawn 1-1 with Keith Bebbington scoring for Stoke. In the 2nd leg at Filbert Street, Leicester took an early lead but Stoke soon equalised through ex Busby Babe and survivor of the Munich Air Disaster, Dennis Violett. It wasn't to be though for the Potters as Leicester went 3-1 up on the night before George Kinnell scored a late consolation.

Matthews finally hung up his boots in 1965, shortly after he had celebrated his 50th birthday and shortly before Her Maj gave him a knighthood. Waddington pulled off another coup when he signed World Cup winning goalkeeper, Gordon Banks from Leicester, who had played against them in that 1964 League Cup Final. He was in goal when they finally won their first major trophy, the 1972 League Cup, beating Chelsea 2-1 in the Final at Wembley. His England rival Peter Bonetti was in the Chelsea goal, beaten in the 5th minute by a Terry Conroy goal. Peter Osgood equalised just before half time. Banks of England made many fine saves in the second half, but it was George Eastham who scored the winner, giving Stoke the win. Sadly Banks had to retire later that year when he lost an eye in a road accident.

They played a ridiculous 70 matches that season. They took part in the Texaco Cup, a competition for British and Irish clubs who hadn't qualified for Europe, and they also played in the Anglo Italian Cup which was tagged on at the end of the regular season. Add to that the FA Cup run to the semi finals, where they were beaten in a replay by Arsenal and the League Cup run to Wembley which had 11 games in it. They beat Southport in the first round, then Oxford Utd after a replay. Manchester Utd were next and that went to a 2nd replay. Bristol Rovers were beaten 4-2 in the quarter final, but then the semi final against West Ham was a four match epic. Firstly, the two normal legs were drawn on aggregate, the replay at Hillsborough was goal less and then the 2nd replay, played at Old Trafford was won 3-2. Right back Jackie Marsh played in 69 of the 70 games. What would modern managers think of that?

John Farmer, who had been ousted when Banks was signed, took over in goal, but after a couple of seasons, history repeated itself when Waddington went back to Leicester and signed the England keeper. This time it was Peter Shilton and it cost them £325,000, a record fee for a goalkeeper.

The League Cup win had seen them qualify for the UEFA Cup, but they lost on aggregate in the first round to FC Kaiserslautern. In 1973/74, they finished 5th in the league which qualified them for the competition again. But again, it was early elimination. This time it was Ajax who beat them, but only on the away goals rule. Denis Smith scored in a 1-1 draw in Stoke, but a goalless away leg meant they were out.

This golden age for the club though was coming to an end. Waddington resigned in March 1977 and they were relegated at the end of that season. They came back up though in 1979 under the management of Alan Durban. They stayed up until 1985 when they were relegated with what was at the time a record low number of points, 17. That has since been beaten buy Sunderland, Derby and another club I can't just think of.  

Peter Coates became chairman of the club in 1989, appointed World Cup winner Alan Ball as manager and took them down to the third division for the first time in 63 years. They then reached their lowest point when they finished in 14th in the third tier. Lou Macari took over when Ball was kicked over the stand in 1991 and got them to the Play Offs. We finished a place above them and a Huddersfield v Stoke final would've been immense. However, it ended up being Peterborough v Stockport.  

That defeat against Stockport must've hurt, but they had a chance to get revenge a few days later when the two teams lined up at Wembley for the Final of the Autoglass Trophy. This time the Potters came out on top, with Mark Stein on target in a 1-0 win. And it was Stein who would be top scorer in the following season as they went up as champions of what was now being called Division Two after the Premier League came into being and caused everything else to get renamed.

Stein was sold to Chelsea. Macari left to manage Celtic and Joe Jordan took the manager's job. Both of them didn't last long in their new jobs and when Jordan was sacked, they reappointed Macari after his departure from Parkhead. They made it to the 1996 Play Offs but were beaten over two legs in the semis by Leicester. They started the next season well, but faded to finish in 12th. The last game at the Victoria Ground was played against West Brom, which they won 2-1.

Macari resigned at the end of the season and was replaced by his assistant Chic Bates for the new era at the Britannia Stadium. He didn't last long and was replaced by Chris Kamara, who only lasted 14 games before the board persuaded Alan Durban to return. He was unable to turn fortunes around though and Stoke once more found themselves heading for the 3rd tier.

An Icelandic consortium took over the club from Peter Coates and appointed their first overseas manager in Gudjon Thordarson. It paid off well as the Potters won the FL Trophy again. Now known as the Auto Windscreens Shield they beat Bristol City 2-1 at Wembley in 2000. They reached the next two Play Offs, but lost in the semis both times, beaten by Gillingham and Walsall. They made it three in a row when they reached the 2002 Play Offs but were more successful this time. They finished a place above us, we had Macari in charge of us by now and a Huddersfield v Stoke Final would've been immense. We failed to get past Brentford though and so it was they who played the Potters at the Millennium Stadium. After disposing of Cardiff City in the semis, Stoke beat Brentford 2-0 with goals from Deon Burton and a Ben Burgess own goal.

Despite all this, Thordarson was sacked and replaced with Steve Cotterill. He only lasted four months and shortly after his departure, Stoke went on another golden era when they appointed Tony Pulis as his replacement. It wasn't immediate success though and Pulis got booted out after a couple of seasons, but when Coates bought the club back off the Icelanders, he brought him back as boss in 2006.

After finishing 8th in his first season back, he got them up to the Promised Land of the Premier League in 2008 as runners up to West Brom. They played at the top level for ten years and in 2011 reached their first ever FA Cup Final. They lost it 0-1 against Manchester City for whom Yaya Touré scored the winner. Despite the defeat, they had qualified for Europe for the first time in 37 years and this time it was the Europa League. They had more than one match this time though, getting through the qualifying rounds, through the group stage and into the round of 32, where they were beaten 0-2 on aggregate by Valencia.

They were now firmly secured in the Premier League as a hard to beat on a wet Wednesday night team, but Pulis resigned in 2013 to be replaced by Mark Hughes and then Paul Lambert, who couldn't prevent them getting relegated from the Premier League in 2018, the year we miraculously survived. Since then they have flirted with relegation to League One, but have so far managed to stay up.

Head to Head



Stoke lead the head to head with 29 wins to Town's 22, with 25 draws.

Last time out was a bit of a mixed bag, with away wins in both matches. We met at the bet365 in October last year with Stoke bottom of the Championship and us on the same points just ahead on goal difference. We left it late with a brilliant breakaway goal, led by flying winger Adama Diakhaby setting up Juninho Bacuna for our first win of the Danny Cowley era.

However, when they came up to ours on New Years Day, we were taken apart by a brilliant performance from Tyrese Campbell. Cowley called it a car crash of a performance. We went in at half time 0-1 down after Sam Vokes tapped in after a defensive cock up. But after the break, we came to life and 5 minutes in we were in the lead with two goals from set pieces. You did read that right. Two set pieces. Goals from set pieces.

First up was Steve Mounie heading home from a Karlan Grant corner and a couple of minutes later Danny Batth put Bacuna's free-kick past his own goalkeeper, England international Jack Butland. From there on in, it was all downhill. Nick Powell converted Campbell's cross to level the scores. Then Kamil Grabara punched a cross weakly straight to Campbell, who just lobbed it back over him into the net. It was Campbell again on target for the fourth and then Lee Gregory made it 5-2 in the last minute. Not our finest hour and half.  

Neither was the previous meeting in the EFL Cup in the season before. We were still a Premier League team and the Potters had just been relegated. Saido Berahino hadn't scored a goal for donkey's years. Can't remember how long it was, but as soon as we heard the stat, we just knew his drought would end that night. And it did. He put them ahead in the 53rd minute. With Town pressing for the equaliser and with Jonas Lössl up for a corner in the 7th minute of injury time, the ball got cleared high into the night sky. No problem, Juninho's under it. Oops!

Prior to that, we met each other for one season in the Premier League and Stoke took four points off us. We drew 1-1 at the JSS on Boxing day with goals from two players who would swap clubs in the summer. Tom Ince scored his first goal for us after ten minutes only for Ramadan Sobhi to score his first Stoke goal on the hour.

Ramadam-a-dingdong!

So now let's go back in time. Back through the mists to a far off time of baggy shorts and Brylcreemed bonces. To Easter 1920 and a double header on the Monday and Tuesday. We had just survived the financial crisis and the unwelcome takeover bid by the newly formed Leeds Urinals and we were heading full steam towards our first ever promotion. Stoke, having been founder members of the FL in 1888, were just back in the 2nd division after they had gone bust in 1908, reformed and then re-elected. This therefore was the first time we had spent time together in a league table and the first meeting took place at the Victoria Ground. We won it 1-0 with a goal from Sammy Taylor, his 26th of the season. Stoke came up to Leeds Road the following day and Taylor bagged his 27th and 28th goals and Frank Mann added a third as we won 3-0. Now the significance of these two victories is this. It was the start of a run of 8 consecutive victories that took us to the end of the season and a runners up position behind Spurs. Now tag on to that the first three games of the next season in Division One, which were all 1-0 wins, that makes 11 consecutive league victories, a club record that still stands today. Just like our much loved unbeaten run of 2011 though, there was a loss in there when we got beat in the FA Cup Final by Aston Villa, but as far as league games go, it's eleven. Wouldn't it be nice to do that again?  

Stoke came up a couple of years later and we met for the first time at the top level. We had back to back games again and we went down to theirs first and drew 2-2 with goals from Billy Smith (pen) and Ernie Islip. They came to ours a week later and the boy Mann scored in a 1-0 Town win.

They got relegated and we didn't meet up again for eleven years. It was 1933/34 and after a 2-2 draw at Leeds Road, Stoke got their first win against us at their place, beating us 3-0. their first goal was scored by the man featured heavily in the history section, Stanley Matthews. Tommy Sale and Frank Soo got the others. Soo was half Chinese, his dad was a Chinese sailor based in Liverpool. He married Beatrice Whittam in 1908 in Manchester and in a true stereotypical move, they opened a Chinese Laundry. Frank was the first player of Chinese origin to play in the FL and the first to play for England (just wartime international matches though, so not counted as proper England caps).

Matthews scored against us again a couple of seasons later, but it was Sale who was the one who would be the thorn in our side in the rest of the decade's meetings, including scoring a hat trick against us in December 1938 as they won 4-1 at Leeds Road.

Skipping through the next few decades to the 60s and that famous return of the soon to become Sir Stanley Mtthews, when they beat us 3-0. There were traffic jams for miles around as the fans flocked back to see their returning hero and they weren't disappointed as we rolled over and let Jimmy Adam and Tommy Thompson (2) score goals. We got our own back later on though in front of our second highest league crowd of the season (2nd behind the visit of Shankly's Liverpool), when we beat them 3-0. The crowd was 20,261 and we had goals that day from Len White (2) and Derek Stokes.

Fast forward to 1970/71, the season we were back in Division One. We played each other five times, twice in the league and an epic FA Cup 4th round clash that went to a 2nd replay. We lost at the old Vic in October 1-3, with Frank Worthington getting ours. The first FA Cup match was also down there and Frank scored again, as well as Les Chapman and Brian Mahoney. The replay came on the following Tuesday night at Leeds Road. A crowd of 40,363, including me and my dad turned up for what was possibly the worst match I've ever seen. It was 0-0 from the first minute to the last, so we went to a 2nd replay, at Old Trafford. We didn't go to that one as Jimmy Greenhoff scored the only goal of the game. Stoke completed the league double, winning 1-0 at Leeds Road with a Terry Conroy penalty.

A couple more to finish off this section. It has to be Peter Jackson and Terry Yorath starring in The Great Escape. It was 1997/98 and come the 1st of November, Brian Horton had been sacked and we only had 5 points, all from draws as we still hadn't won a game. Hadn't won a league game that is. Oddly we had beaten Bradford City in the League Cup and beaten West Ham in the first leg of the second round (we eventually lost on aggregate). So when Stoke polled up to the MacAlpine, Jacko had been in charge for 5 games with only a point at home to Portsmouth to show. Optimism was at a low. We took the lead just after half time, Lee Richardson firing home his first for the club. But on 79 minutes, right back Andy Griffin equalised, much to our annoyance. Can we not hold on to a bloody lead?! But hold on, up popped the legend Marcus Stewart a minute later to stick our noses back in front.

So into injury time, we gave away a corner. The Stoke keeper came up for it and we all knew they were bound to score the way our season was going. But no! The ball got cleared to Paul Dalton out on the right wing. There was an open goal gaping wide at the south side of the ground. Dalton was still in his own half as he took the ball on and with Jacko chasing him up the touchline shouting "SHOOT!", he eventually did just as the covering defender made a last ditch tackle. The ball seemed to take an eternity to reach the goal but it did and just as the defender looked like he would get back, the ball crossed the line and nestled in the back of the net to send the home fans wild. By' eck! We've won!

We won down at theirs later in the season. It was their first season at their new ground and weren't having a great time. Chic Bates had been manager when they came up to ours and he had been replaced by their former player Chris Kamara. We scored twice early on through Paul Barnes, against his old club and the legend Stewart. It was a magnificent performance and despite Danny Tiatto pulling one back in injury time, we held on for the win that took us out of the bottom three. The Great Escape was definitely on. On the other hand though, poor old Kammy got potted soon after and the Potters went down. Ah well, Stoke's loss was Soccer Saturday's gain.   Now what was that catchphrase, Jeff?

"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!"

So what's going on down at the old bet fwee six foive? Managed nowadays by Michael O'Neill, the former Brechin City manager. Born in 1969 in Portadown, County Armagh, he started his professional career as a midfielder with Coleraine having come from intermediate club Chimney Corner FC. By 1987, as an 18 year old, he was signed by Newcastle Utd for a hundred grand.

He was there for a couple of years, playing first division football, but the Magpies got relegated and O'Neill was sold. It was for a record fee though when Dundee Utd forked out £350,000 for him. After falling out with manager Jim McLean, he went to Hibs for three seasons, before going back down south and joining Premier League side Coventry City. That didn't go well, only making five appearances in two seasons and being sent out on loan to Aberdeen and Reading. So his next move was to drop down to the 3rd division with Wigan Athletic where he stopped for a couple of seasons before going back to Scotland with St Johnstone.

He didn't stay there long as he was off across the pond to the USA, playing for Portland Timbers. But he missed the porridge and so returned to Scotland with Clydebank in the 2nd division. Then he had a couple of seasons back in Norn Irn with Glentoran, before finishing his playing career back in Scotland's 2nd division with Ayr Utd. When he hung up his boots, he had 31 caps for his country, who he would go on to manage soon.

He started his managerial career though with Brechin City in 2006 in the Scottish 2nd division. Then it was across the water to Dublin and success with Shamrock Rovers. They won the Irish League title in 2010 and retained it in 2011. Then he led them to become the first Irish team to reach the group stage of the Europa League, beating Partizan Belgrade in the qualifying round. They lost all six group matches though.

Despite those losses, he still won the Soccer Writers Association Personality of the Year award and in December 2011 he was appointed manager of Northern Ireland. It didn't start well with heavy losses to Norway and the Netherlands, but things began to improve and they had some creditable results in the 2014 World Cup qualifying stage, notably drawing away in Portugal and beating Russia at home.

Results kept improving and they did qualify for the next tournament, Euro 16 in France. The first time they had qualified for a major tournament for 30 years. They were drawn into a really tough group alongside Germany, Poland and Ukraine. They lost to Poland, but then had a brilliant 2-0 win against Ukraine before the inevitable defeat to Germany. It was only a 0-1 defeat though and this got them through to the next round as one of the best third place finishers. Another 0-1 defeat though, disappointingly against Wales and from a Gareth McAuley own goal, saw them exit the competition.

He was offered the Scotland job, but turned it down. Then in November last year, he was appointed manager of Stoke City, whilst retaining his job with his country. The Potters were in the bottom three, but results picked up immediately, including that 5-2 victory against us on New Years Day. He was going to stay with Norn Irn for the Euro play offs but when they were postponed til October due to the pandemic, he decided to go full time at Stoke.

Who's in their squad then? Well we know two of them. Tom Ince and Tommy Smith played for us, one making it to club captain, one having a shots to goals ratio that must surely be the worst on record.   They also have Benik Afobe, but he's out on loan.

The lad who ripped our defence to shreads in that New Years Day drubbing is Tyrese Campbell. He was born in Cheadle Hulme in 1999 when his dad, Kevin Campbell was playing for Everton. Dad scored 148 career goals, most of them in the top tier with Arsenal and Tyrese has the potential to do something similar if his performance against us is a sign of things to come. He started out at the Man City Academy, but chose not to stay there, joining Stoke instead and scoring for fun in the u18 squad. He played some EFL Trophy games for the u23s, making his debut as a 17 year old against Bury, but then in Feb 2018 he came on as a sub in the first team in the Premier League away at Leicester. In the following season, following relegation, he flitted between the EFL Trophy side and the first team and eventually made his first start in the Championship in a 2-1 win over Leeds Urinals. It didn't lead to a continuous run in the side though as he went on loan to Shrewsbury Town in League One. And then last season, he got those two against us and established himself in the starting line up when Michael O'Neill arrived and played in all the post lockdown games.

Kev's kid

Welsh international Adam Davies, who came from Barnsley last year, was the number one keeper this season, having ousted Jack Butland from between the sticks. He has two caps so far for his country. I say his country, but he was born in Germany and brought up in Warrington. He had 5 seasons at Oakwell, winning promotion from League One twice as well as the FL Trophy. Butland has since moved on to Crystal Palace and his place on the bench was taken by Angus Gunn, who is on loan from Southampton. He signed for the Saints for £13.5m from Man City, but his last league game for them was in last season's disastrous 0-9 defeat at home to Leicester City. However, in the last few games Gunn has taken over as number one choice and Cameroonian keeper Blondy Nna Noukeu was on the bench in the last game at Reading.

They have more Welshmen in defence. Morgan Fox arrived in the summer from Sheffield Wednesday and James Chester signed in the summer, having been on loan last season from Aston Villa. Harry Souttar is an Aussie who signed from Dundee Utd in 2016. He spent last season on loan at Fleetwood. Also in defence there's another ex Barnsley player in Liam Lindsay and Danny Batth, who had ten years at Wolves.

Another centre back, who has been injured recently, is Ryan Shawcross. He started out at Man Utd, but has been at Stoke since August 2007 when he was sent on loan there, making the deal permanent shortly after. Stoke were in the Championship then and went up in his first season there. He played in all ten of their Premier League campaigns and played twice against us in 2017/18 when they got relegated and we stayed up. He's 33 years old now and not far off the 500 career matches landmark.

Another 33 year old with bags of Premier League experience is Nigerian international John Obi Mikel. That experience at the top level of course, was with Chelsea. He won the PL twice with them, has 3 FA Cup winners medals and one for the League Cup. Add to that a Champions League winners medal and one for the Europa League. He'd left Chelsea by the time we got to the Prem, but he played for Middlesbrough in the Championship a couple of seasons ago, but missed playing us. So this will be the first time he's been up against the mighty titan Jonathan Hogg.

Jordan Thompson is a Northern Ireland international, making his debut when O'Neill was in charge. And he was one of O'Neill's first signings when he got the Stoke job. Jacob Brown is a Halifax lad and played for Barnsley against us last season and gave our defence the jitters. We were speculated to be signing him in the transfer window, but he opted to go to the Potteries instead, signing for Stoke in September.

Somebody who has played and scored against us though is ex Chesterfield, Hull and Swansea midfielder Sam Clucas. He scored the opening goal of the 2015/16 for Hull against us as we got off to another disappointing start. Another one from Hull is Josh Tymon. He played in the Prem for them and is still only 21, so must've been still in nappies then. Even younger than him is Tashan Oakley-Boothe, who came from Spurs and has just broken through to the first team.

Up top, there are more who have scored against us. Sam Vokes scored for Burnley in the PL against us and Steven Fletcher scored for the Wendy against us in a famous match at Hillsbrough one night in May 2017. And the former Shaymen star Lee Gregory scored one against us in the New Years Day debacle.

Which just leaves James McClean, who's always popular amongst opposition supporters in November. He was a right knobhead when he played for WBA against us at the JSS in the PL. Our fans were accused of bigotry and all kinds of stuff, but he really does wind people up. Well we won't be this time because we won't be there so...……...

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Last line up before the international break away at Reading:
1. Gunn
14. Smith
36. Souttar
6. Batth
3. Fox
26. Campbell
13. Obi
34. Thompson
11. McClean
21. Fletcher
25. Powell

Subs:
7. Ince
9. Vokes
18. Brown
20. Oakley-Boothe
35. Tymon
37. Collins
40. Nna Noukeu


Club connections: Leigh Richmond Roose only played 5 games for us, all in 1911. One of them was our record victory at the time, a 7-1 win at Leeds Road against Birmingham. Before that, he had had two spells as Stoke's goalkeeper. He was an amateur, in a time when most footballers were professional, but was widely regarded as the best goalkeeper around.

In a game much different to today's soft arses, keepers were allowed to elbow opposing forwards and vice versa keepers being bundled into the back of the net whilst holding the ball was all well within the laws of the game. They were also allowed to handle the ball anywhere in their own half, a rule which Roose (known as Dick) used to dribble the ball, basketball style out of his area all the way to the halfway line to set up the attacks.

He was born in 1877 in Holt near Wrexham and was taught at school by novelist HG Wells among others at a school that preferred football to rugby. After school he went to the University of Aberystwyth and studied medicine. He joined the university footy team and became a bit of a celebrity with his ability to punch the ball further than most could kick it and his interactions with the crowd, which were unheard of back then. He was signed on by Aberystwyth Town and then earned his first call up to the Welsh national team in 1900.

Leigh Richmond "Dick" Roose

He wanted to be a doctor though and left Wales for London and a place at King’s College Hospital, joining London Welsh FC to keep his hand in. His name as a keeper though was getting around and when Stoke approached him, he agreed to join them, with them paying all his expenses, meaning he was a professional in all but name.

The people of Stoke had never seen owt like it. He entertained them by swinging on the crossbar and would interact with them during play. He also used to do the old jelly legs when facing penalties, but most of all, results on the pitch improved. He was so popular that fans would follow his hansom cab all the way from the station to the Victoria Ground when he travelled up from London for games.

Things weren't going well for Stoke off the pitch though and his extravagant expenses were a bit too much for the board of directors and they reneged on the deal, which saw him return to London and announce his retirement from the game at the age of 26. In London he got his Bachelor of Medicine and continued to live the London playboy life, but missed the footballing life and when Everton approached him in 1904, he was back. The Toffees were in contention for a league and cup double but ended up runners up in the league and lost in the cup semis.

After a half season on Merseyside, returned for a second spell at Stoke before he signed for Sunderland and helped them avoid relegation. He also helped Wales win the British Championships for the first time in 1907 before a broken wrist kept him out injured for a while. His antics were getting crazy now, including one instance where he climbed onto the crossbar when facing a corner and his name would appear in the gossip columns when he started a relationship with music hall star Marie Lloyd. He also received a 14 day ban for beating up and hospitalising a Sunderland director. Fourteen days? He would be imprisoned and banned for life if he did that now!

He had one game up in Scotland for Celtic as a guest player. It was a Scottish Cup semi final against Clyde and his eccentricities were on show again as he chased the Clyde goal scorer to the halfway line, just to congratulate him. Celtic lost the match and he wasn't invited back after he had a blazing row with their fans afterwards.

So he went back to the calmer waters of the Potteries and signed for Stoke's rivals Port Vale. He played against Stoke when Vale beat them 2-0 and he had to run away from an angry mob of Stoke fans, jumping into the river to escape. He bust his wrist again, but when he was fit again, he moved to the West Riding of Yorkshire and played those five games for Huddersfield Town in what was our first season in the Football League. They were the final five games of the season and after draws against Lincoln City and away at Hull, we beat Chelsea 3-1, then that 7-1 win against Birmingham before he moved on again after we lost at West Brom 0-1. The crowd for that Chelsea game at Leeds Road was treble the average attendance so maybe the news of the eccentric keeper had got around.

He signed for Aston Villa and then Woolwich Arsenal and retired soon afterwards in 1912. The FA had by now changed the rules on keepers handling the ball outside the area, which was definitely down to curbing the antics of a certain ex Stoke and Huddersfield goalie.

But then in 1914 the war broke out and LR Roose joined the Royal Army Medical Corps, serving in Gallipoli. He was listed as dead due to an administrative cock up as he had been wrongly recorded as LR Rouse. After Gallipoli he joined the Royal Fusiliers and went off to France where he became a father figure to his much younger comrades. He used his goalkeeping skills and in particular his strong throwing arm to rain grenades down on the enemy and he was awarded the Military Medal.

Sadly though, just a few days later, he and most of his regiment were killed in the final days of the Battle of the Somme on the 7th of October 1916, his body never being found. And to add to the family's woes, that administrative cock up meant that he was listed as LR Rouse on the Thiepval Memorial monument in northern France and the truth would remain uncovered for 87 years until a Welsh football historian discovered the mistake. That spelling error was eventually corrected and then in 2016, 100 years after his death, a plaque was unveiled at Wrexham's ground, his local club but one he never played for, to celebrate his life.

Another one from those far off days was wing half Harry Brough, who played for us before and after the war, playing his part in our 1920 promotion side. He made 60 appearances for us before Herbert Chapman sold him to Stoke, for whom he turned out 85 times.

Frederick Groves played 4 times for us before the first world war and then joined Stoke after the war and helped them in their 1921/22 promotion season, scoring 12 goals.

Harry Davies played for Stoke in the 20s as they fell down the league ladder from 1st to 3rd division. He stayed with them though and they won Division 3 North to win promotion back to Div 2. Then in 1929, Clem Stephenson retired from playing at Huddersfield Town to become manager and chose Davies as the man to replace himself in the team. He was our top league goal scorer for 1929/30 and played for us in the 1930 FA Cup Final against Arsenal, but then in 1931 after scoring 17 goals in 57 matches for us, he returned to Stoke City. Back there, he added more goals to his tally to become the second Stoke player to score over a hundred goals, winning promotion back to the first division. Later in life, having finished his playing career at Port Vale, he earned the Military Medal in WWII while serving with the Royal Army Service Corps.

The first player to score a hundred goals for the Potters was Charlie Wilson. He had been our top scorer for three consecutive seasons, including the first two seasons of our thrice champions seasons, but then lost his place to George Brown when he got injured. Second division Stoke signed him in 1926, but he couldn't help them avoid relegation, but his 26 goals in the 3rd division fired them back up again and he followed that with 38 in the next season and clocked up his 100th Stoke goal in 1930. For us, he scored 62 goals, putting him 17th in our all time goal scorers list.

Wilson's transfer to Stoke included his team mate Joey Williams as part of the deal. Unlike Wilson though, he had played enough games in the 25/26 season to earn himself a League champions medal for that season, his second. And following Stoke's relegation, he became the first player to win a champions medal and get relegated in the same season. After 86 games for Stoke, scoring 17 goals, he was signed again by Herbert Chapman, this time for Arsenal. He played his part in their run to Wembley in 1930 but was injured for the Final and so missed the chance to play against his old club. And in the following season, he was injured again, reducing his league appearances to just 9, that meant he missed out on a medal as the Gunners won the title.

Lou Macari had two spells in charge of Stoke. He took over in 1991 and won them the Autoglass Trophy and the 3rd division title before being tempted away by Celtic. But after less than a year he had been sacked there and returned to the Victoria Ground. He took them to the Play Offs, which they lost to Leicester and in the final year at the Victoria, they were relegated shortly after Lou was sacked. He came to us in 2000 as assistant to Steve Bruce and took over as boss when old fat head was unceremoniously dumped by Barry Rubery. He couldn't stop the relegation slump but did lead us to the Play Offs in the next season, which we lost to Brentford. Lou had brought his old mate Joe Jordan in as assistant and he's another Stoke connection, having been manager there for the year that Lou left to manage Celtic. The Town board, in it's wisdom, relieved Lou of his duties though after the Play Off defeat, stating his defensive based football was not what we wanted and replaced him with Mick Wadsworth. That went well!

Lou's lad Paul Macari played for his dad at both Stoke and Town, but wasn't all that good. He only totalled 18 first team games in his career that also included a short spell at Sheffield Utd. He is now the manager of Domino's Pizza in Hanley. His son, Lou's grandson, Lewis is on the books at Stoke in their development squad and has just made his Scottish u18 debut.

Tom Ince and Tommy Smith are both current Stoke players and Ramadan Sobhi was a Town player until we finally got shut earlier on this season. Ince came to us in the Premier League, highly rated and seemingly free scoring every time he played against us. It didn't work out for him though, despite some good performances, he still has scored more goals against us than for us. One of the best though was a tap in following a cracking pass from Zanka, against Watford to give us a last gasp victory.

Smith was team captain when we beat Reading at Wembley in the 2017 Play Offs after club captain Mark Hudson had lost his place in the side. Unfortunately he had gotten crocked during the match and was off the pitch by the time Christopher Schindler slotted home that famous penalty. Didn't stop him hobbling up those stairs to collect the trophy though. Earlier on in the season, he scored a last minute winner against Rotherham, one of the iconic moments of that promotion season.

Tommy made his league debut for Town in a 2-1 win away at Sheffield Wednesday in 2013. One of our scorers that day was another Stoke connection, Martin Paterson. That was the match televised by Sky Sports and was his first game back after he and Adam Clayton had been suspended by the club for a training ground bust up. The celebration following his goal was brilliant! Earlier in his career, he scored his first goal for Stoke on the same ground, having come through their Academy. He's now coaching in America.

Dean Whitehead was an unused sub in the 2017 Play Off Final, but he had been sat on the bench before at Wembley. In 2011 he was a sub for Stoke in their first ever FA Cup Final. He came on in the 62nd minute to replace Matthew Etherington, but the Potters got beat 1-0 by Manchester City. Before that, the semi final was also played at Wembley and Deano was again to come off the bench as Stoke stuffed Bolton Wanderers 5-0. He made 160 Premier League appearances for Stoke and probably unexpected when he came to us, made 4 Premier League appearances. He then took up a coaching role.

Diego Arismendi came on loan to us in 2012 from Stoke, but wasn't very good. He never made a league appearance in his three years at the Britannia Stadium and is now back playing in his native Uruguay. He played nine times for us.

Mick Kennedy played a couple of seasons for us in division 3. Signed by Mick Buxton from Halifax Town to replace club captain Peter Hart, who had gone to Walsall, he was a tough tackling midfielder who won Player of the Season in 1982. He was then surprisingly sold to Middlesbrough and later went to Portsmouth, with whom he won promotion to the first division in 1987. He played 95 games for us in his two seasons and then later on in the 90s, he turned out for Stoke 65 times, back in division 3. He died last year at the tragically young age of 57.

Colin Russell started his career at Liverpool, but only played once in their first team. A striker trying to oust the likes of Kenny Dalglish and Ian Rush from the team. So he came and tried his luck with us. And it payed off, he was brilliant. He formed a cracking attacking partnership with Mark Lillis and he scored 16 goals to Mark's 20 as we won promotion to the 2nd division in 1983. He only scored 7 in the next season, but one which stands out was the first goal of the Boxing Day derby as we beat the Champions of Europe at Bellend Road, with Lillis bagging the other. Strangely though, Mick Buxton sent him out on loan soon after. I can't remember the details, but I think it was some disciplinary thing. But the strange thing was, he didn't go out on loan to a lower league team, it was to Stoke City, who were in the first division. And he did alright. Played 11 games, scored twice, once against QPR and once against Liverpool in a 2-0 victory at the Victoria. And from there sadly, it was all downhill as he left Town for 3rd division Bournemouth and Doncaster Rovers and 4th division Scarborough and Wigan Athletic.

Paul Barnes signed for Stoke in 1990 as they were getting relegated to Div 3. He only scored 5 times for them. Later on, he signed for us and only scored twice, one of them against Stoke. But in between he was a York City legend, scoring 85 times for the Minstermen, including two in a famous League Cup win at Old Trafford against Manchester Utd.

Benik Afobe is still a Stoke City player, but he's out on loan. Don't know why he can't settle anywhere, but he is now onto his 12th club and he's only 27 years old. Of course, he was much younger when he came to us on loan from Arsenal. He was only 17 and made his Town debut from the bench away at Sheffield Wednesday in 2010. He scored his first goals in the same city a week later, scoring twice in a 5-2 win in the FL Trophy away at Rotherham, played at the Don Valley Stadium.
In 2018, he signed for Wolves from Bournemouth, having been on loan there. He was immediately sent out on loan to Stoke City, one of those loans where they have to buy him at the end of the loan deal. He ended up top scorer with 9 goals that season, but in the next one (last season), he was sent out on loan to Bristol City. That was when he knackered his knee, an anterior cruciate ligament injury, which would've put him out for the rest of the season normally, but with the Covid delay, he was back for the restart. He was back at Stoke for pre season, but has now gone on loan to Turkish side Trabzonspor for the season.

Full back Derek Parkin played for Town when I first started watching in 1968. He also played for Stoke in the 80s. He played 70 times for us and 45 for the Potters. In between that he played for Wolves for 15 seasons, clocking up 609 appearances, a club record. His career total is 724. Massive!

Jon Parkin, no relation to Derek, had a couple of seasons at Stoke and late came to us on loan from Cardiff. He didn't score for us and he wasn't really prolific for the Potters, but he has scored over 200 goals in his career, mostly in the lower leagues for the likes of York, Macclesfield, Fleetwood and Forest Green. He's known as a bit of a joker and whilst at Stoke he crashed a golf buggy, injuring team mate Steve Simonsen (before he became a Town penalty hero) in the process.

And finally, Chris Short came on loan to us in 1994 from Notts County, playing six times and later played a couple of seasons for Stoke in the 2nd division. He's now Head of Sports Science at Oxford Utd.


Stoke in popular culture: Stoke-on-Trent is an amalgamation of six towns, Stoke-upon-Trent being one of them. The others are Hanley, Tunstall, Longton, Fenton and Burslem where Port Vale play. The place is known as the Potteries, because that's what went on there for hundreds of years. Companies such as Royal Doulton, Dudson Ltd, Spode, Wedgwood, Minton and Baker & Co, were established and based there.

Stoke, of course was the home of Darts, like Sheffield is the home of Snooker. The World Professional Darts Championship was hosted at Jollees in the city from 1979 to 1985 and multi times World Champion Phil Taylor is from the city. Not just him though. Two-time Champions Adrian Lewis and Ted Hankey are also from the Stoke area. Other well-known players from or based in Stoke include Chris Mason, Andy Hamilton and Ian White.

Star of ITV's World of Sport in the 70s, wrestler Kendo Nagasaki was from Stoke. Man of mystery. Nobody knew who he was.



Croaky from Stokey Nick Hancock, who hosted the BBC show They Think It's All Over is Stoke City's famous fan. He was always banging on about them. Others from tv and radio who hail from Stoke include Anthea Turner and Bruno Brookes.

The Britannia Stadium has hosted a few gigs over the years. Superstars Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart, Elton John and errrm, Busted have all performed there, but I can't find any footage on YouTube of any of them.

That prick from Take That, Robbie Williams is from Stoke, but he's a Burslem lad and follows the Vale, so we won't be showing any of his videos. Instead we'll go for this lad. Ian Fraser Kilmister, born in Stoke in 1945, commonly known as Lemmy.






'ow to get theere an' wheere to sup:

Other Championship matches this weekend:

Barnsley v Nottingham Forest
AFC Bournemouth v Reading
Bristol City v Derby County
Coventry City v Birmingham City
Luton Town v Blackburn Rovers
Middlesbrough v Norwich City
Millwall v Cardiff City
Preston North End v Sheffield Wednesday
Queens Park Rangers v Watford
Swansea City v Rotherham United
Wycombe Wanderers v Brentford


Recent form - last 6 matches:

Town 1-1 Luton
Town 1-2 Bristol C
Millwall 0-3 Town
Birmingham 2-1 Town
Town 1-2 PNE
Town 1-0 Derby

Reading 0-3 Stoke
Watford 3-2 Stoke
Stoke 1-0 Rotherham
Swansea 2-0 Stoke
Stoke 3-2 Brentford
Stoke 2-2 Barnsley

Town are 13th with 14 points, Stoke are in 8th with 18.

Leading scorers:
Town:
Josh Koroma (3)
Fraizer Campbell (2)

Potters:
Tyrese Campbell (4)
Steven Fletcher (4)
Nick Powell (3)


November the 21st down the ages: How did we get on in previous matches played on this date?

Not bad actually, winning ten out of the sixteen games played. Some belters early on, beating Arsenal, Leicester, Derby and Chelsea, before losing at Halifax Town.  

1914: Arsenal (h) Div 2, WON 3-0 (Ralph Shields 2, Ernie Islip)
1925: Leicester City (h) Div 1, WON 3-0 (George Brown 2, Joey Williams)
1931: Derby County (h) Div 1, WON 6-0 (Dave Mangnall 5,George McLean)
1936: Chelsea (h) Div 1, WON 4-2 (Jimmy Richardson, Len Butt, George Barber og, Alf Lythgoe)
1942: Halifax Town (a) Wartime League North, lost 1-2 (Billy Price)
1953: Tottenham Hotspur (a) Div 1, lost 0-1
1959: Plymouth Argyle (a) Div 2, WON 3-1 (Kevin McHale 2, Denis Law)
1964: Norwich City (h) Div 2, drew 0-0
1970: West Bromwich Albion (h) Div 1, WON 2-1 (Jimmy Lawson, Geoff Hutt)
1981: Workington (a) FA Cup, drew 1-1 (Malcolm Brown)
1987: Bournemouth (a) Div 2, WON 2-0 (David Cork, Ian Banks)
1992: Burnley (a) Div Two (3rd tier), lost 1-2 (Phil Robinson)
1995: Leicester City (h) Div One (2nd tier), WON 3-1 (Darren Bullock 2, Paul Dalton)
1998: Bradford City (h) Div One (2nd tier), WON 2-1 (Paul Barnes, Grant Johnson)
2009: Hartlepool Utd (h) League One (3rd tier), WON 2-1 (Peter Hartley og, Robbie Williams)
2015: Sheffield Wednesday (a) Championship, lost 1-3 (Sean Scannell)

Ralph Shields, who scored twice against Arsenal on this day in 1914, also died on this day 30 years later. He signed for us from Newcastle Utd and was leading scorer in this season with 16. During the war he served as a bombardier and after the war, played his part in our promotion to the first division. He later was transferred to Exeter City and then Brentford. He retired in 1927 and emigrated to Australia. When war broke out again, he lied about his age, telling them he was 40, when he was actually 48. In 1942, while serving with the Australian Army Service Corps in Malaya, he was captured by the Japanese and became a POW in Sandakan Prisoner of War Camp, North Borneo. He died of malnutrition and beriberi on the 21st of November 1944 and was buried at the Labuan War Cemetery in Malaysia, aged 52.

Ralph Shields

George Brown, who scored twice on this day in 1925, is our all time leading goalscorer with a total of 159. That's 142 in the league (all in the first division) and 17 in the FA Cup. He is level with Jimmy Glazzard in league goals, he also got 142.

Dave Mangnall scored 5 in a match against Derby County on this day in 1931. Only Alf Lythgoe and Jordan Rhodes have repeated this for Town.

Denis Law scored for us in 1959 on this day. He of course, went on to become one of the greatest players the world has ever seen. This was his final season for us. Bill Shankly was about to leave us and become manager of Liverpool. He wanted to take Denis with him, but they couldn't afford him. So he eventually left in March for £55,000 to Manchester City, which was at the time the British transfer fee record.

That game in 2015 at Hillsborough was the first game of the David Wagner era. That went alright!


Quiz time:

1. Which ex Town player was Stoke's top scorer in 1926/27?
   
2. Who beat Stoke in the 1964 League Cup Final?
   
3. How old was Stanley Matthews when he returned to play for Stoke in 1961?
   
4. Which ex Town player holds Wolves' most appearances record?
   
5. Who is Town's all time leading goalscorer?
   
6. Which former Town player is buried at the Labuan War Cemetery in Malaysia?
   
7. Who is Stoke player Tyrese Campbell's dad?
   
8. At which ground did Benik Afobe score his first Town goal?
   
9. In which year did Stoke FC become Stoke City FC?
   
10. From which club did Stoke sign both Gordon Banks and Peter Shilton?
    
    
    CAN YOU NAME THESE POTTERS?
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

[Lord Snooty]

So the extra subs rule is back. We can now use 5 from 9 again. I would like to see young Phillips get a place on the bench. He's scored 10 in his last 6 for the juniors and B team. Must be a better bet than Adamant Diakhaby.

[Lord Snooty]

You missed one, Snooty.

https://www.htafc.com/news/2020/november...zPsp6_9y0Y

Tom Cowan spent a short period of his career on loan at Stoke City before going on to make over 100 appearances for Huddersfield Town over a period of five years.

The left-back was loaned out to Stoke City for only a few months but spoke fondly about his time spent in Staffordshire.

“I spent three months at Stoke, three very good months that I really enjoyed.

“It was Lou Macari who was in charge at the time, Stoke were at the top of the second division, aiming for around the Play-Offs to try and get into the Premier League.

“I really enjoyed the first month, I think we only lost once and won the rest of the games, but then Lou was poached by Celtic, so he went up to go and manage them.”

Soon after leaving the Potters, Tom joined the Terriers on loan before eventually joining the Club permanently.

“I went on loan to Town before I signed permanently, and it all changed for me from there.

“It was near the end of the season and we were in a bit of trouble, but eventually we climbed up the table. I then signed on a permanent.”

He would spend the next five years playing for Town, creating some of his best memories in the game.

“I loved it at Huddersfield Town, I absolutely loved the fans, the place, the stadium, everything about Huddersfield I absolutely adored.”

As a full-back, Tom wasn’t known for his goal scoring acumen, but there was one strike that still sticks in his mind.

“West Brom away it was, we were 1-0 down I think, and I just smashed one from about 30 yards into the top corner.

“The goalkeeper was Paul Crichton, who I ended up playing for Burnley with just after, so when I met up with him, I ripped him for that one.”

In his third season as a Terrier, Cowan suffered a blow to the knee, finding out he had a cruciate ligament injury that would see him side-lined for quite a while.

“I had to have reconstruction on my knee, so I didn’t play in my third season for the club.

“I came back and struggled to get back in the team, I understood it, but I really was desperate to stay at the Club.

“Before I went to Burnley, I remember standing in the centre-circle and clapping all of the fans, I really didn’t want to leave but sometimes you have to move on.”

[jjamez]

Pipsqueak out, titchsqueak out.

Mcclean got covid too I think so hes out.

These extra subs could help us in the long run as we did seem to tire, we now can replace players. But so can the other team.

Can see dd being right back, but it would be nice to see Rowe come in after looking promising in pre season

[theo_luddite]

Snoots - I'm only working half the days most weeks, I'm going to need a full week to read that one. Mind you, there's no free iFollow passes this weekend so maybe I'll read it down the pub while watching the results come in Soccer Saturday.

Ah, bollocks, it'll have to be a few bottles down the Theo's Arms again. Just the three of us - me, myself and I.

[Amelia Chaffinch]

Harry Potter, Harry Potter films
Peter Potter, Carry on Camping
Brian Potter, Phoenix Nights
Johnny Vegas, studied pottery at college

[Lord Snooty]

Correct Chaffers.

[SHEP_HTAFC]

Excellent thread Snoots ….must've taken a while. Bored in lockdown?
Have put Town to win this one. Spending two whole weeks with nearly all our players must give Carlos some advantage over most coaches.

[Lord Snooty]

Yes Shep. It helps to pass the time.

[talkSAFT]

deserves a round of applause, Snoots!
I hope you don't re-post same next season (maybe 'cos I hope you go up and Stoke go down), but I'd read it all again!