Stoke City Football Club: 150 Years of History and a New Era begins

[seanhrfc]

In line for a Dramatic Finish!

This could not have gone any better in terms of a dramatic end to the season. We now have 3 games left this season and they are HUGE games for this clubs history.

Domestic Cups
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This year we had another good run in the League Cup, reaching the semi-final. In all the games here we featured 4/5 U18 players showing the ability some of our youngsters have. This year it was not to be as United scraped through and went on the win the cup. Against Exeter we fielded a team with an average age of just 18 and we comfortably won. An equally young team was unlucky to get something out of the Spurs game.

Europa League Knockouts
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The Britannia became our fortress as we won all 4 of our home legs to help us reach the final! We came from behind against St-Etienne, Besiktas and Shakhtar showing the never say die attitude from our young team. However it was the old head Crouch who became a hero, scoring 6 crucial goals at the Britannia. I'm ecstatic to be in the final!

Premier League
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We had a small slip up against relegation threatened Southampton but after that we romped on to 5 straight victories. We showed our professionalism by winning by 1 goal margins and conceding just 2 goals across the 5 games. What a win against Everton, 2 late goals! Buzzing!

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With two games left to go, we are second in the league and we still have a chance of the title - what a season! Extremely happy with the 2nd half of the season form and I hope there is more to come. Such a tight league this year with big clubs dropping points left, right and centre.

Remaining Fixtures
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What a last 3 games we have! The Britannia will become our Fortress as we entertain United and Chelsea. Two wins and we have won the league. A draw against United and a win against Chelsea will rely on Utd slipping up. They face the already relegated Wigan at Old Trafford so that scenario of winning the league is unlikely. Nevertheless, we have guaranteed a place in the top 3, bettering the clubs all time finish of 4th and of course qualifying for the lucrative Champions League! All the pressure will be on United and Chelsea to get results, while we will have the backing of a passionate crowd. Elsewhere we face CSKA Moscow in the Europa League final being played at the Warsaw National Stadium to make even more potential history for the club. Exciting does not even come close to how to describe it!!!

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[Rootsey]

What a close end to the year mate. Good luck!!

 

[seanhrfc]

Fortress Britannia
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Stoke City vs Manchester United
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Our line up was based around creating as solid a back four as possible. Park Ji-Sung starts against his former club due to Noble's long term injury and Ledson being away on international duty. Crouch is preferred to Rodriguez as he seems to score goals in important matches. Ward-Prowse returns from injury to the bench while Ravel Morrison gets a starting spot in midfield. Meanwhile Man Utd produce a good-looking line up consisting of a solid defence, combative midfield, pace and creativity on the flanks and the combination of RVP and Rooney.

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From the look of United's line up it looked like they were coming to Britannia for the win but a short while in the game showed that they would be rather happy with a draw. They got men behind the ball and frustrated us forcing impatient players to shoot from long. Nevertheless we had the better of the game for the first 65 minutes and looked as though we could sneak a goal. This all changed when Huth received his second yellow and left us with 10 men. Man Utd finally started to think about attacking and came close to scoring a couple of times. The game finished 0-0, not a bad result but a frustrating one given how United decided to play. We have however secured the 2nd spot in the league meaning that Chelsea have nothing to play for in our encounter

Stoke City vs Chelsea
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With nothing to lose we went out to attack Chelsea from the off starting with attacking wing backs in the form of Gibbs and Chambers. Ward-Prowse comes back into midfield after a months absence and Rodriguez comes in place of Crouch in the hope to outpace their back line. Chelsea could not move up or down in the league from this game and consequently decided to play several squad players and even give a debut to 19-year-old Dion Conroy which on paper gives us even more chance of winning.

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A great way to finish the season with a victory over Chelsea. We dominated the game, particularly after Luiz's early sending off, keeping the ball well. We weren't prolific in creating chances, but the Ox took the biggest chance of the game and we defended superbly to clinch a 1-0 win. Furthermore, Chelsea failed to get a single shot on target. All attention was over to the United game now where Wigan needed to pull off an unlikely victory for us to win the league. I personally did not want any updates until our game had finished.

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Incredible! Wigan had done it! They had pulled off a remarkable victory with a solid defensive performance to lift them off the bottom of the table and of course more importantly to us drag United off the top. As the news of the full time result at Old Trafford reached the Britannia there was pandemonium in the stands that drove fans in their thousands onto the playing surface to celebrate with the players.

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We had done it! Stoke City had stolen the title from United hands in the final game in dramatic style. What a year for Shawcross too, being part of the England first 11 that won the World Cup and now being the first ever Stoke player to lift the Premier League Trophy. From 9th at the midway point to top at the end of the season, Stoke City had made history! We can't celebrate for too long though, in just a few days we will be off to Poland to play the Europa League Final.

League Table 2014/15
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[seanhrfc]

And then this happens......

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Thank **** I saved the game immediately after winning vs Chelsea, otherwise I would be fuming!

 

[vujevic]

I won league cup and finished second in my first season with total different approach.

 

[tiebreak]

Good story, i just sign the same head of youth, to everton

 

[seanhrfc]

I won league cup and finished second in my first season with total different approach.

Who did you sign?

 

[vujevic]

Who did you sign?

check this

 

[seanhrfc]

Stadion Narodowy - Europa League Final
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CSKA Moskow vs Stoke City
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With Ledson back from International Duty, the 17 year old comes into the starting line up for the Europa League Final. Our creative force in midfield is back to normal with Ince, JWP, Hughes and Ox who will cause problems. We will be looking to control the midfield, particularly as CSKA have opted for a midfield that only contains 2 isolated central players. They have pace and power up front that we will have to guard against but they are slow at centre back, hopefully we can exploit this.

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The game was full of attacks and with clinical finishing could have been full of goals. We managed to control the tempo in midfield but CSKA looked dangerous on the counter. The game went to extra time after a goalless 90 minutes but we were to play it with 10 men after Shawcross got sent off in the last minute. A tired team with a man down went out and showed the kind of dogged determination I admire to get two goals up. First a close range finish from Rodriguez and second a penalty converted by Oxlade-Chamberlain, both goals assisted by Ward-Prowse. It was real end to end stuff and CSKA managed to get one back with a close range header, but we clung onto our narrow lead to the end and we won the Europa League Trophy! That's a double for us this season, way above any expectations anyone had of this team. Now to build on this and continue playing great football and bringing the youngsters through.

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[jukilo]

Quality! Well done mate! Bring on the CL football (and the money eheh)

 

[seanhrfc]

Best 11
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[seanhrfc]

2015/16 Mid Season Update
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Transfers Out
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Selling Muniesa and Huth means that our first team is now completely English, if you consider Park and Walters reserve players who's main role is to help develop the youngsters. Dale Eve started out looking like he had potential, but with Butland here he was always going to have limited opportunities and Norwich made us a decent offer. Brek Shea spent the season out on loan at Hannover last year and they decided to take up the option of bringing him in permanently.

Transfers In
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Our big money signing was Luke Shaw from the Saints, a player I have been chasing from day one. 27m is extortionate, but only 5 million is up front and there are clauses where they will receive money if he establishes himself for us and England. If he is able to do this, he will be worth the money. Our second biggest signing is Steven Caulker. He spent the majority of the 2013/14 season out with a serious injury which has affected his development and last season he was pretty average, but I see the potential in him and at 23 he still has time to improve. Harry Kane is also a lad who has good promise but has had limited opportunities at White Hart Lane. He's big, strong, creative and a decent finisher so he is ideal for a complete forward role. It's a risk signing, but he needs an opportunity to show what he can do at this level.

Champions League
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We've started our debut year in the Champions League very well picking up 5 clean sheets in 6 games,topping the table and getting a very winnable draw against Schalke in the first knockout round.

Premier League
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We've had an excellent start to the season, especially compared to last season where at this point we were 9th. The highlight of the season so far is definitely the 6-1 thrashing of Arsenal. Though our 20th game marked the first time we have lost to Chelsea - Mourinho does not like us. Our draws have been against teams that we should be beating as well. But I cannot complain about 45 points from 20 games.

Reaping the Rewards of our System
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Stoke has most certainly become the hub of the English national team ranging from the youth teams to the mens. Mark Noble was also called up as a replacement and made his debut for England aged 28 - deserved recognition for him. Therefore, 10/23 were Stoke players! James Ward-Prowse becomes the first Englishman to win European Golden Boy since Rooney in 2004, he is turning into a top class player.

Key Developers
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[seanhrfc]

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Craaazy budget! Especially considering we only have 10m in the bank at the moment.

 

[seanhrfc]

Been offered 50mil for Hughes, keep or sell?

 

[jukilo]

Going very well again mate. Well done. Hope you keep this form. Schalke is definitely at your reach.

One more question though: will you release this tactic? Or it's for your pure fun? I respect whatever your decide. It's just a question

 

[seanhrfc]

Going very well again mate. Well done. Hope you keep this form. Schalke is definitely at your reach.

One more question though: will you release this tactic? Or it's for your pure fun? I respect whatever your decide. It's just a question

Don't mind releasing the tactic, but it would need some testing first. If you want to try it out, here it is:

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[jukilo]

Ok, thanks mate. Just started a new game in FM14, after some time on FM13. Will try this and come back to you again.

 

[seanhrfc]

Who are you playing with?

 

[Sherkey]

Been offered 50mil for Hughes, keep or sell?

Eh, Keep him. Crazy good player. Unless there is some outstanding regen you've got to replace him.

 

[seanhrfc]

Eh, Keep him. Crazy good player. Unless there is some outstanding regen you've got to replace him.

Decided to sell, its huge money and it opens a space for the 16-18 year old lads coming through. Got in a replacement, Jordan Rossiter, who I've paid over the odds for but he's only 18 and has huge potential.