Stoke City Announce New Chairman
Today, Stoke City, Premier League football team, announced that owner Peter Coates was stepping down and handing over reins to childhood friend James Bradley.
Bradley in his playing days
Bradley, 68 (he would actually be 131 if I was going by his real age, he's my Great Grandad), grew up with Coates and they are said to be great friends. Having been born in Stoke, Bradley started his playing career for Stoke and made 199 appearances before he was
transferred to Liverpool for £420. At Liverpool he went on to win both the league and the European
cup. He ended his career back at Stoke in 1915 and vowed to return after a few years (ha ha) out of the game.
Bradley is said to only be taking over the responsibilities of Coates as the latter said 'I'm getting too old for this young man's game'. The money will still come from Coates and he is said to be completely trusting of Bradley to make good judgements.
Bradley released a short statement earlier which included the situation with current manager Tony Pulis "I've always like Tony, he's done an absolutely tremendous job over the years for Stoke, but as with everything in this world change is required to improve" After being asked about who he would like to replace him with Bradley replied "I approached Ole Gunnar Solskjaer over a week ago, but he said he was happy where he was and he would move to the league when the right team came in for him. This was a disappointing setback, but we have back-up choices in mind."
When asked about certain players Bradley stated: "Some players are completely overvalued at this club and are earning way too much P/W. This needs to change." When asked if he would go into more detail Bradley replied "Wilson Palacios has been a great disappointment in his short stay at Stoke City and he is the highest paid player in the team, we will be looking to offload him in the near future".
The press conference ended with Bradley releasing a transfer list:
Wilson Palacios - £4.5million
Kenwyne Jones - £4million
Danny Higginbotham - Best offer
Jermaine Pennant - Offers over £2.5million
I'M WILLING TO LISTEN TO OFFERS FOR ANY PLAYER OTHER THAN SHAWCROSS, HUTH, BEGOVIC AND N'ZONZI