I’m a huge Stoke supporter and likely to get the ‘your been biased’ etc but I’m a huge football fanatic. The injury to Aaron Ramsey is heart breaking for the lad because of the age and talent he has could all be finished before he’s even into his 20’s; however pictures all show that Ramsey with or without an extra contact would have had certain leg damage with 1 picture seeming to show that his leg was broken before any contact was made.

Arsene Wenger has been the biggest critic of Stoke ever since the first league encounter with his men last season; describing Stoke as ugly, unskilful etc. In a interview after the match he said that the three match ban Shawcross will get as “just ridiculous” – are you an idiot Mr. Wenger? your the most paranoid and hypocritical manager in this league by far what about the incident vs Bolton just a few weeks back?; Where Mark Davies was clattered in to by Gallas in a violent way and could of seriously injured the player just as much as Ramsey’s did; What did you say? “I am sorry if the tackle was not good, and I apologise. However, to complain that we went on to play, I think that is unfair.” – funny how you didn’t see the incident when a player of your’s could of seriously damaged another players career but if it’s the other way around you call for them to be kicked out of ball etc. But making life more difficult for such a young player is disgraceful by calling for his head to be banned for longer and even getting kicked out of the game.

The Arsenal Players – you should be disgraced with yourself; who was the first and last person to leave Ramsey’s side? Glenn Whelan – a Stoke player; but the two players who I’m going to moan about are  Sol Campbell & Cesc Fabregas  all you two wanted to do is get Shawcross sent off and did not care about the welfare of your team mate there is video evidence to prove this with Campbell screaming at the ref to get him off and Fabregas hounding him to get the red card out. The worst thing to come out of an Arsenal players mouth is from Bendtner he said “It was a terrible, totally mad tackle from Ryan Shawcross, and he is really smashing hard into Aaron.” – NO HE DIDN’T! check the replays, check the pictures; it was a 50:50 ball (with Shawcross closer to the ball) Shawcross goes in whole-heartedly with Ramsey’s studs stuck into the floor with him landing on his ankle in a bad way it was just pure accidental; what would they be saying if Ryan broke his leg in the same fashion?; bet that would be an accident.

The Arsenal Fans – When Shawcross was walking off the pitch in tears; numerous amounts of your ’supporters’ tried to get on the pitch to physical assault him and then all over the forums brand us as thugs?; just like your manager – hypocritical. On Facebook there was even a group to get Shawcross killed; so technically that’s a prison sentence for conspiracy of murder. So think again before doing these things on these Social Network sites.

What’s next for Ryan? – He’ll be training at Arsenal’s training ground with the England squad; this could be the make or break of his career and will know more come Wednesday against Egypt if he’s emotionally over the event or not; Ryan Shawcross is one of England’s hottest prospects but this accident could stop his reputation and start going on a slippery slope; thankfully for Ryan is that he has 2 of the best man managers in Capello and Pulis with also experience people of Peter Reid, Gerry Francis & John Rudge to support him through this highly emotional time. I hope the England boys will make him feel welcome and also try to support him and players like David Beckham, Steven Gerrard & John Terry’s words of wisdom could help the youngster.

Everyone is behind you Ryan 100% and if the chance comes along on Wednesday then show everyone what a quality player you are.

My rant is done; bit sketchy but the right mixture is there. Thanks for reading.

Is football different?  What would happen tomorrow if you physically lunged at a fellow employee with an intent to hurt them, or if your employer head butted you?  The likely answer is that you would walk out and it would take a real strength of character to continue working in those conditions.  It is clear that James Beattie possesses tremendous strength of character.  In an age where many fans are poisoned to side against football players as the nation buys into the stereotype of an egotistical highly paid whiner.  But think for a minute.  What if a good man who worked at his job every day was physically assaulted and then forbidden to move and do his job elsewhere? 

Today it is common for unhappy players to sulk, put a visible lack of effort in, or to manipulate the media in terms to force a move.  The sad thing is while people complain maybe that is the attitude that is rewarded in football today.  Maybe a good employee who walks the line is merely treat with disdain and his future and personal life overlooked by clubs for reasons of uncaring or incompetence?

How many times has Nicholas Anelka became a miserable presence and got his own way?  Anyone who saw Yakubu’s final days at Middlesbrough witnessed a player show a disrespectful lack of effort to demonstrate he was no longer of use to his employer.  As much as fans complain, this has proved to be the successful formula to get your own way and clearly it is the path to take in today, especially if you play for Stoke City.

While the details remain unclear on exactly what happened it is clear Tony Pulis acted in a manner unacceptable for a leader, and James Beattie has every right to feel unhappy and uncomfortable in his environment.  Pulis is entrusted with the development of Beattie as a player and a man who cannot communicate without physically lunging at you has not earned that trust.  It is also worth noting that Brian Laws was sacked a week later for a very similar incident.  The double standard is compelling.

James Beattie could have stayed home, held a press conference crying about it, or became a negative influence so Stoke were best rid of him.  He has done none of this and sources close to the dressing room stated that in a terse meeting Beattie was told to “stay fit and wait for the transfer window”.  Clearly this has been the case, and if you look back over Beattie’s career and see the opinion of manager’s such as Gordon Strachan and Tony Pulis himself when he could hold his temper and act rationally, you will see a reflection of Beattie’s character.  Consider the comments below from teammate Ryan Shawcross;

“Beatts has been his usual lively self. He hasn’t spoken much about what happened but he’s a character.

He’s a good lad and all the players like him. We hope he’s here for the rest of the season.”

Would you react in such a manner if you were attacked?  I wouldn’t.  Figures in the game such as Paul Ince have felt the need to pipe up and stick the boot in via the media, but Ince needs to look no further than the closest mirror to find a player who disrespects his current employer and engineers a move by wearing a Manchester United shirt while still a West Ham player.  Then West Ham manager Lou Macari even reported feeling threatened by Ince’s agent while engineering his move away from Upton Park and get his own way.  James Beattie has acted in a much more professional manner.

The incidents that occurred on transfer deadline weekend indicate the results of not shouting and screaming to get your own way are less than if you act in a negative manner.  Information regarding the facts below has come from a source within the club who wishes to remain anonymous.  The willingness to speak out suggest a divide of support toward Beattie among the Stoke employees.

Stoke City had received interest in James Beattie during the transfer window from Fulham, Sunderland, and Blackburn.  While the interest lingered it is commonly known that the end of the transfer window and deadline day rush is where most deals are finalized.  As an estimate of the 30 million pounds spent in the window, 20 million was spent on the last day so any competent club would be staffed and aware during the last days of the window.

Fulham in particular showed interest in Beattie and on the Saturday Fulham Chief Executive Alistair McIntosh had been in phone conversation with his Stoke counterpart Tony Scholes.  Scholes was made fully aware of the Fulham interest.  Fulham officials reported Scholes was impossible to contact Saturday night after apparently shutting off his phone, the same problem was reported on Sunday night.  Why was the chief executive out of contact at such a crucial time?

The conduct of Stoke became even more questionable on the Sunday when Scholes apparently reported to agents that no offer had been submitted by Fulham.  Unbeknownst to Scholes the agents were aware he was recorded on the phone by Fulham on Saturday night declining an offer.  Is this an acceptable way to treat an employee?

On Monday morning text messages were sent by Stoke to Fulham stating the offer was under consideration.  Less than an hour later the offer was accepted.  There was however one problem, James Beattie was in Sunderland with the Stoke team.  Just why James had travelled to Sunderland can be questioned for a number of reasons;

• Stoke were aware a club in London was interested in signing Beattie.
• Stoke had been warned by multiple sources of the logistical issues surrounding Beattie travelling north.
• Stoke were aware of the 5pm deadline when the transfer would need to be finalised by.
• James Beattie had not trained all week, so was the intention really for him to be involved or merely to ruin a transfer?  Stoke made 3 substitutions in the game without Beattie appearing, this despite Stoke not scoring in the game or even threatening much.

In the end time ran out and Beattie was denied a move, left to play for an irrational and sporadically violent manager.   So in today’s climate if you are a professional footballer looking for a move is the way to go about it to act professional and get your head down working through.  Not if you play for the incompetent Stoke City it’s not…apparently.

Stoke entertain Liverpool today at the Britannia, in lunchtime kick off. I’m sure Stoke will be looking to make amends for the 4-0 defeat to the hands of Liverpool earlier in the season, although last year we held the Merseyside outfit to two goalless draws. A year on and believe we are a much stronger side, whilst Liverpool are no longer a team to feared. Today with Torres, Gerrard, and Benayoun all out, and after their midweek exit out of The FA Cup, Stoke can surely smell blood. Liverpool are there for the taking

I’m crossing my fingers on the fitness of Tuncay, after he pulled his hamstring against Fulham. Last time out he was outstanding, and helped massively to construct our 3-0 half time lead, and it was nice to see his commitment. Tuncay defended from the front, chasing down everything in his eye line. This was refreshing to see after being used to seeing Fuller’s relaxed style. If Tuncay does start, I don’t really think it makes a difference who starts up top with him, although Fuller would be my preference. With Tuncay chasing down every loose ball, this will undoubtedly open up the space for Fuller. Ricardo impressed me when he came on against Fulham, his creativity opened up the cottagers defence on more than one occasion.

I’m optimistic today, and I can realistically see us winning.

My Prediction is 2-1

Goaaarrrrnn you Mighty Mighty Potters!

Stoke have today pulled out of a deal to sign England veteran David James. It appears that the deal fell through, due to the clubs not being able to agree on who should pay the ‘keepers wages.

I can’t say that I’m upset to hear the news, as I rate Sorensen as a better ‘keeper. In his day James was a world class player, who 5 or 6 years ago I would have loved to have seen him wearing the No1 jersey for Stoke.

Pulis clearly does not rate Sorensen as highly as I do, James was interested in joining us because he was offered first team football ahead of England’s world cup campaign. I understand Pulis’ desire to create more competition between the sticks, as I do not believe Simonsen would be able to make the step up for a prolonged period, should Sorensen be unable to play. James would not have earned his way into the team, he would have gone straight into the side for tomorrow’s game, otherwise he would not have even considered joining us.

This whole episode will clearly make Sorensen question his future at Stoke, especially with the reported interest from a number of top European teams. Pulis’ needs to understand that Stoke currently do not have the stature to have two ‘keepers of their quality, only the likes of Chelsea, Man Utd, and so on, have the pulling power to keep hold of two ‘keepers of such high quality. Neither Sorensen, nor James would settle for warming the bench in the Potteries, especially after they have both recently made public their ambitions, to play at the highest level possible.

Let me know your thoughts on the last couple of days events.

Speculation is rife in the media with David James, Martin Petrov, Luis Perea, Nikola Zigic and Joe Ledley possibly coming in and Richard Cresswell, Carl Dickinson, Ibrahima Sonko, Andy Griffin and Danny Pugh been linked by local newspaper ‘The Sentinel’ as players leaving The Brit.

But Stoke have made two signings in the last 13 hours or so with the arrivals of Diego Arisemendi from Nacional for £2.5 rising up to £4.8m and Danny Collins arriving from Sunderland for a deal worth £2.75m but these deals we’re in the pipeline a few days before.

David James is believed to be interesting Tottenham and Stoke and according to Rob Dorsett on Sky Sports News that Stoke are weighing up an offer. Portsmouth have recieved a bid from Tottenham believed to be a swap deal involving Carlo Cudicini and a Undisclosed fee but they rejected the offer. It’s also believed that Daniel Levy says he doesn’t want Tottenham to sign another goalkeeper unless another one moves on so it looks like it could go down to the wire for David James to move on to pastures new; just hope it isn’t us.

Martin Petrov according to The Sentinel is interesting Stoke in a loan deal; but whether or not Manchester City are willing to do a deal remains to be seen; he’s also interesting Tottenham but with the imminent signing of Niko Kranjcar it could see the end of there interest in the Bulgarian; this would be a major coup if Pulis can get Petrov to the club and would bolster our attacking options.

Luis Perea according to the Daily Mail is a target for Stoke in a loan deal. The Colombian can play Centre Back and Left Back seems a deal which we don’t really need due to having numerous amounts of defenders but he is a good defender with blistering pace and a monster of a player to come up against and would make our defence even more intimidating.

Nikola Zigic is also another player the Daily Mail is linking us with. The Z-Man is already a cult hero by many Stoke fans which sounds really odd; but true. He nearly signed for Stoke last season with Tony Scholes flying to Valencia to sort out a deal but nothing came of it. He went on loan to former club Racing Santander where he fount his goal scoring form which saw him as one of the hottest properties in the game. Standing at a modest height of 6′8″ he would be a major force in the box at the end of a Rory’s throws, Lawrence’s corners and freekicks. He has also been linked with a move to Wolves and Hull City; with rumours that he rejected the latter. I think there is something in this but that would see another striker on the move most likely to be fan favourite Mamady Sidibe.

Joe Ledley is interesting Tony Pulis once again according to Rob Dorsett of Sky Sports News but has competition from rivals Wolves; Pulis is a known admirer of the Welsh International and a deal could be done by 5pm today; and I think this is another signing which could be happening but with the speculation of £6m deal needing to take him away from the Welsh Capital hopefully will put Stoke off.

Richard Cresswell according to Sky Sports News is interesting Watford and are believed to be set to make a £750k bid as they see him as the replacement for Tommy Smith who left to join Portsmouth last week. I’d like to thank Cressy for what he’s done; but he needs to move on and I will be forever greatful to him.

Carl Dickinson is rumoured to be off to Leeds United in a second loan deal to join the West Yorkshire club to get more experience and this would be a good move for the lad.

Ibrahima Sonko is believed to be interesting Nottingham Forest in a fee worth £1.5m this would be a great move and can’t wait see the back of the donkey but could do a good job for Forest.

Andy Griffin could be off to East Midland’s club Leicester City; after a spat with Tony Pulis he’s not even had a look in the 1st team and has been widely tipped to leave the club and many are surprised he’s took this long to possibly leaving.

Danny Pugh is a surprising one and I have no idea where it’s come from so I can’t really comment about this; but if he does go i’ll be very surprised.

David James

Sunday papers we’re suggesting Stoke we’re chasing the England goalkeeper but have competition with Tottenham and Sunderland for his signature. All I can say is I hope not; at the age of 39 he hasn’t got long left in Football and I think Thomas Sorenson is a better keeper than the once England Number 1; if we we’re to sign a keeper I hope it’s Alex Smithies who again saved another penalty at the weekend.

Danny Collins

It’s believed that the Welsh International has been having talks with Stoke and is likely to sign before the transfer deadline a deal is believed to be from £2.5m to £4m; I’ll be honest I don’t see what he can bring to us but I’ll give him a chance and hope he proves me wrong; with the recent arrival of Huth and if Collins decides to come it spell’s the end to either Ibrahima Sonko or Leon Cort or possibly both; and with Sonko been linked with Nottingham Forest it’s likely he’ll be gone has he hasn’t impressed for Stoke.

Michael Turner

Hull best player was linked during the week with a move from Humberside to either Sunderland or The Potteries but is favoured to join Sunderland; a surprising link for Stoke as we don’t need any central defenders and with a fee of £12m over his head it’s really unlikely; but it’s believed Hull are considering with much thought wether to accept a bid of £6m, Daryl Murphy & former Stoke target Nyron Nosworthy.

Niko Kranjcar

It’s believed Stoke are extremely interested in bringing the Croatian International to The Brit but face stern competition from Tottenham & Everton. Portsmouth are willing to accept a bid of £8m which in my view is a snip; but with the recent arrival of Tuncay I think it’s unlikely he’ll be coming which is a shame because he is a classy player.

Diego Arismendi

The Uruguayan is a surprise link but it’s believed that he will be a Stoke player by Tuesday with a initial fee of $1.8m which could rise to £5m; I honestly don’t know a lot about this guy but the reports I have seen and seems we could have the next Wilson Palacios on our hands; his disciplinary record for his team Nacional is staggeringly high and he’ll need to learn not be so aggressive in England. He has been linked with a move to Italian team Cagliari over the Summer who are renowned for finding brilliant talent from South America so there has got be something about this guy to interest them.

Martin Petrov

A paper today suggested that Stoke are interested in the Bulgarian International with 1 year left on his deal at Eastlands it’s believed that if he was to leave the riches of Manchester City he’ll want to have an increase in wages which are big for Stoke City as it is so it’s another link which is just a tabloid filler; Tottenham are also interested.

A thoroughly depressing evening for the potters as they tasted defeat for the first time of the season. Stoke offered little to no resistance to Liverpool, and although there is no shame in losing at Anfield, it’s perhaps more the manner of defeat that sticks in the throat. Torres, Johnson, Kuyt and N’Gog punishing City for the kind of lacklustre performance we are beginning to expect away from ST4.

In truth the match was not a world away from the same fixture last year, only this time the early goal counted , and we seemed to resign ourselves to damage limitation after that. Apart from a bright start to the second half, it was an insipid performance from Stoke.

What was apparent was our weakness on the wings, as Benitez clearly had set his side to attack our full backs. Even though we conceded 4 goals, Both Faye and Shawcross equipped themselves fairly well, but were having to deal with a bombardment from the left, as Glen Johnson looked to impress the Kop on his home debut. An unusually out of sorts performance from Higginbotham and a usually out of sorts performance from Cresswell, seen Liverpool pierce our defence almost every time they pushed the ball out to the right.

It was a properly rubbish performance from Cresswell, I can’t defend him, Christ he can’t even defend, himself. Surely playing a player who is effectively a defensive striker, who we play on the left wing is pretty backwards. Glen Johnson looked worth every penny of the £17 million spent on him, while Dickie struggled to look good value for the £6.37 we should have paid for him. Perhaps it’s all a bit harsh on Cresswell, who is often hung out to dry on the wing. However if we are serious about progression, players like Dickie will have to be left behind and if we are content with not losing them, we should expect a few more 4 – 0 defeats this season.

Things weren’t that much more inspiring in the other half of the pitch with James Beattie cut a lonesome figure up front, as Liverpool’s defence coped admirably with City’s sporadic aerial and set piece threats.

A bleugh performance, and one to forget for Stoke.

Birmingham 0 Stoke City 0

If my mathematics are correct, we’ve now yet to score in more 270 minutes of of open play. I’ll try not to succumb to the hyperbolic drivel that some have, by declaring this as a must win six-pointer. It was however a match that Stoke will view as quite winnable, with the view that the 18 points on offer from the promoted sides are very attainable.

So expectation was much higher than it was at Anfield, however the fact remains that last season was a disaster away from home for Stoke. Much will depend on Pulis’ desire to stick with what he knows or whether we are willing to change, on the evidence on offer at St Andrews, well we may have to reserve judgement yet. Certainly the team selection reverted back to our strongest possible 11, which was nice, and even though it was probably a par-slightly below par kind of performance, it was a improvement on our midweek showing. We had more possession than we are used to, and in true we looked indecisive and unconvincing going forward, something that we’ll need to address before the transfer window closes, or if you are still awaiting a little hyperbole, transfer window SLAMS shut.

Pulis’ pragmatic approach away from home last year seen us really struggle to pick points up and the fear is that if the points dry up at home, well, we won’t get any points. There are signs that we are willing to soften his approach, pursuit of Paul Scholes and Danny Murphy in the summer although in the end fruitless, gave the indication that we were willing to evolve facets of our game.

The game itself was well contested, but resembled something like the unstoppable force vs the immovable object, or perhaps more aptly, the immovable object vs the immovable object.

It was that type of game.

Leyton Orient 0 Stoke City 1

Over 13 months in coming, but David Barry Kitson finally scored a goal for Stoke City. Perhaps it’s a false dawn of a our ginger hero becoming a free-scoring ginger hero, but his recent performances could suggest we are finally beginning to to see the player we thought we were getting when he signed.

It’s not unusual for Stoke to trip up in early cup ties, but there was no cupset to be had here. A second string 11 from Stoke managing (well, just about) to see off Orient, and although it was an opportunity to impress, few did.

Not least Kitson whose goal, a quite outrageously good volley, will now be looking to start some games with Beattie and Sidibe out.

What about transfer gossip I didn’t hear you say? Well.

With 10 days left to reinforce, the club are going the have to make some big calls if we’re planning on improving on a 12th place finish.

With the transfer of Joleon Lescott kicking of transfer merry-go-round of Distin, Collins, Dunne and Huth. With Lescott leaving Everton for Man City, Man City may be a Dunne too heavy of defenders so could send him back Everton’s way. But Stoke like Dunne to, but also like Collins. He doesn’t like Stoke, but likes Aston Villa, but they are keen on Distin. But then so are Everton, who armed with said oil money could buy the lot of them, whilst annoying Fulham, Stoke and who knows probably Aston Villa too, by purchasing Huth.

Easy.

We’ve been after said Huth for some time too. With us not agreeing terms with Collins, we’ll probably do all we can to attract, not that doing everything we can will equate to much.

O’Neil is another name we keep hearing, being honest, i’m pretty tired of hearing whispers of sweet nothings from the media, i wish we’d just pissing sign someone (Preferably not someone who used to play for Sunderland, as we only seem to scout outside of SR5, getting Peter Reid on board as assistant will no doubt help this).

We’ve had a bid of £5milllion for Roberto Canella turned down. Super news that we are after a left back, not so super that they won’t give us him.

What else? We’ve been somewhat ludicrously linked with Ken Jones in a £12million super swoop, James Morrison of West Brom fame, not-croaky-throated-housewives-favourite fame could be winging his way to the potteries, and Dean Ashton will either sign for Stoke, or retire. Or stay at West Ham.

—UPDATE—

Sunderland preview

Robert Huth should get his first start for Stoke, unbelievably Ryan Shawcross is still growing and is feeling the pain so could miss out. James Beattie could figure, but with Kitson and maybe even Tuncay available and fully fit, Beattie may have to make do with some bench warming.

For Sunderland, Craig Gordon could spare Marton Fulop some ringing ears if the unpopular around the potteries Fulop doesn’t recover from an apt heel injury. Danny Collins won’t play, mainly because he might not know which way to kick the ball as he looks to leave Sunderland, for Stoke.

Over the past week or so, a number of teams have been giving Ryan Shawcross the eye, in hope that he’ll return some eye for some eye to eye contact. Pulis, Coates and Shawcross have been united in dismissing rumours as rumours but press speculation has intensified due to Stoke chasing central defenders like Gok Wan has revealed to the world that centre halves will soon be so last season.  Both Robert Huth and James Collins have been strongly linked, and having had a bid accepted for the latter, Collins could indeed feature at the weekend.

If Shawcross should stay, as well as at least one addition to our defence, both Ibrahima Sonkoand Leon Cort will find themselves even further down a  swollen pecking order. Realistically we’d do well to cover the £3.5million initial fee for Collins by selling Sonko and Cort.

Not forgetting that there is some football to be played tonight…

Last season with 4 games played, Liverpool entertained Stoke at Anfield. The reds having enjoyed a good start, had beaten Champions Manchester United the week before. Conversely Stoke had lost 3 in 4, conceding 10 goals along the way. So with Torres and Gerrard et al, a home win looked inevitable. But after having a fairly legitimate looking Gerrard goal chalked off early on, a resolute City held firm and despite having 1,092 shots on goal, Liverpool stumbled to drop valuable home points.

This time around however, It’s Liverpool who have been slow out the blocks with an opening defeat against Tottenham. Even with Agger, Aquilani, Aurelio and Riera all out, and Skrtel rated as doubtful, i’d still fully expect another Alamo type effort from Stoke. Rafa could have some beard stroking to do however, if Skrtel doesn’t recover it could mean youngster Daniel Ayala making his full debut to deal with Delap bombardment.

A prediction? Why not.

Liverpool 1 – Stoke City 1

It is reported that West Ham have accepted a £3.5m bid for James Collins from Stoke. It is expected he’ll complete the deal later tonight or tomorrow morning; the deal could rise to £5m. A good signing in my opinion and many others.

 
Sky Sports News have revealed that Middlesbrough have rejected a bid from an unnamed Premiership Club for German defender Robert Huth; with Stoke been interested it’s the team most likely to be but with the more than likely arrival of James Collins it’s unlikely Stoke will go any further with Middlesbrough for the defender as his wages are staggeringly high.

L’Equipe has revealed that Olymipique Marsielle midfielder Elliot Gardin is to join Stoke on trial on Sunday; due to a fall out with manager Didier Deschamps he is unwanted by the French South Coast based club and Stoke have first option on the French U21 player for a deal of around €1m.

Robert Huth – According to the papers Stoke have made a bid for the Middlesbrough and German International defender with one claiming the deal will be done before Wednesday’s trip to Anfield. Believed to be in the region of £2.5m it would be a great coup and with him turning 25 tomorrow there is still plenty of years in the ‘Berlin Wall’. He started his career at Chelsea and made his debut at 17 but didn’t play much because of John Terry, William Gallas and Blues legend Marcel Desailly. With Jose Mourinho’s arrival it was going to be even hard for the German to get his chance with 3 world class defenders in his way (Terry, Gallas and Carvalho) and he wanted a move from Stamford Bridge and on the Transfer deadline in 2006 he signed for Middlesbrough for £6m on a 5-year deal. His first season for the Teesiders was not successful due to injury problems but when getting his chance coming back in the team after the sale of England defender Jonathan Woodgate he hasn’t looked back since and formed a successful partnership between him and England U21 player David Wheater. Since relegation to The Championship Gareth Southgate has been saying that if the right offer came in for the German he would let him go and it looks like a deal has been agreed. He would be great back up to Abdoulaye Faye and Ryan Shawcross as Ibrahima Sonko & Leon Cort don’t look good enough for the league so for £2.5m it would be a cracking bargain.

Likely Arrival And A Good One At That!

James Collins – Reports are suggestion Stoke have agreed a £5m deal with West Ham for the Welsh International. The ex-Cardiff player was snapped up by West Ham in 2005 with team mate and fellow countryman Danny Gabbidon in a £3.5m deal. But during his stay in London he has had several injuries including one that ruled him out for 9 months!; so you could class him as injury-proned. Despite his injuries he is a good defender and a colossal in the air and is well liked by The Hammers fans but for the fee been touted they think it’s a good deal for there club; I however think £5m is a couple of millions to much and also if we we’re to sign Huth and Collins that would mean there is an pending deal to sell a player which I’ll talk about later on the article.

Very Possible Arrival

Demba Ba – A paper suggested that Stoke we’re considering bidding for the French born Senegalese international. With his club Hoffenheim putting a £15m price tag on his head to ward away clubs for him it’s believed Stoke are willing to pay the whole lot for him!. Standing at 6′3″ he is a big presence in the air and his goalscoring record is extremely good with him scoring 53 times in 95 games thats less than a goal every 2 games! and with Stoke having plenty of fellow International team mates it maybe one of the those unexpected signings bit like Hull’s likely arrival of Alvaro Negredo for £12m.

World Class Striker

Ryan Shawcross – This is the sad part of the blog; it’s believed Liverpool, Manchester United, Everton are battling it out for our young star. Reports are suggesting that Man United have the upper hand against there Merseyside rivals as they have a breech of contract with Stoke and have first option on the young man this deal would be devastating news to all Stoke fans if it we’re to happen. With reports suggesting £5m would be enough well I felt sick and thought actually disgusted that we would be brought for such a low sum with Hull demanding £12m for Michael Turner then I want at least £15m with add ons and percentage of next sale and even if they do offer it we still don’t need to sell. We have seen him grow up so he is like our young boy growing up into a man and like most mothers do we don’t want him go. He has been absolutely brilliant for Stoke and like every Stoke fan I don’t want him to leave; but Tony Pulis, Peter Coates and even Ryan have said they have heard nothing from the 3 clubs so is it all tabloid rubbish? I desperately hope so. PLEASE STAY RYAN!