Stoke

[SW4Baggie]

Had a peep on Oatcake last night and saw this gem re: McClean.

He's not a footballer. he's like someone who has won a competition. (to play).

One of the more complimentary comments. 

A bit unfair really. He gets a lot more crap than he deserves. They've just never taken to him for reasons that everyone is aware of. I like him, but he should never be allowed out in public in November.

Limited but hard working, and sadly whilst he seems a decent lad in his community, he carries too much baggage for someone with his level of ability.

I thought he’d be decent enough at this level, but it seems he’s bang average in the Championship too. Quite how he got so much game time for us in the PL is baffling... though maybe our relegation shouldn’t be...

[Dreamkiller]

Had a peep on Oatcake last night and saw this gem re: McClean.

He's not a footballer. he's like someone who has won a competition. (to play).

One of the more complimentary comments. 

A bit unfair really. He gets a lot more crap than he deserves. They've just never taken to him for reasons that everyone is aware of. I like him, but he should never be allowed out in public in November.

Limited but hard working, and sadly whilst he seems a decent lad in his community, he carries too much baggage for someone with his level of ability.

I thought he’d be decent enough at this level, but it seems he’s bang average in the Championship too. Quite how he got so much game time for us in the PL is baffling... though maybe our relegation shouldn’t be...

I've seen more footballers who don't seem to care than I like to think of, particularly in the past few years. McClean's the epitome of the word limited, but like Jon Walters, you've got to admire players who've made it to Premier League level through grit and determination. 

I think he'd look better in a good team. Better players around him would buy him more time and space. He needs that time and space to work in. Giving him the ball when he has someone on him is as pointless an exercise as you can get. 

Some of our players haven't yet worked that out, or are more likely wanting to pass on the responsibility. It makes him look bad in front of a fanbase who are waiting for just that.

[Squid]

Had a peep on Oatcake last night and saw this gem re: McClean.

He's not a footballer. he's like someone who has won a competition. (to play).

One of the more complimentary comments. 

A bit unfair really. He gets a lot more crap than he deserves. They've just never taken to him for reasons that everyone is aware of. I like him, but he should never be allowed out in public in November.

We didn't force him out. Big Dave sat down with him and asked him to stay, but he thought the grass was greener elsewhere. In fairness, it looked like a good deal for both parties at the time, especially considering the spending Stoke were doing last summer.

[Ampadu's Left Boot]

If you're going to bang on about a long term project then fans have to see something early on that gives you confidence that the club is going in the right direction.

Jones record so far is really poor and nothing suggest he is the man to take Stoke forward.

He just screams lower league manager to me.

It's hard to disagree with that. The problem is that the club has so many issues - just too many to go into without me getting banned for boring you all with, so it's difficult to contemplate just how difficult all the previous mistakes are to rectify.

He may well be just a lower league manager, but that doesn't mean he can't adapt. Too often in football management now, people get chucked onto the scrapheap for making a mistake, rather than being allowed to actually learn from the mistake. 

There were definite signs of green shoots towards the end of last season, and when all is said and done, this was still only the first game of the season. 

I won't write the guy off yet, and after sacking three managers and backroom teams in the past year and a half, our club can't really afford in FFP terms to do it again, bearing in mind we had to compensate Derby and Luton to appoint their management teams as well.

The worry is that supporter pressure will get to the players to the point where the manager won't be able to do anything to prevent a slide that leads us to dumping a potentially good manager. We're in vicious circle territory here.

Yeah I can understand that. 

Rowett looked a decent appointment and had a good record in the Championship so I have to think if he couldn't get a tune out the players then there was something wrong somewhere. Therefore you probably have to give the next man a bit of time for a club that was on a downward spiral. Jones probably deserves a bit of patience right now but we all know you don't get that time in football. We all want results now.

That's right. I doubt Rowett's as bad a manager as we made him look. His problem was that he saw our squad and thought "Happy days" when in reality it was and largely still is a festering corpse. We could have had a complete clearout and started again on the playing front, but FFP is killing us. We can't do what the owners are easily capable of doing.

I think Rowett is a very good manager, though the football his teams play isn't too pretty to watch. Despite all the problems with your squad, I'm convinced you wouldn't have been too far away from the top 6 last season if you had stuck with him.

[Dreamkiller]

I honestly think that would have been too much of a stretch. At no point did we look even remotely like a top 6 team. 

Considering how shit both our teams were when we got relegated, I looked at how you performed last season with total envy. I’m sensing I’m going to be doing the same again this season, irrespective of whether you actually manage to get promoted. 

It’s really difficult to describe the mess Stoke are in to anyone outside of our own supporters because even we find it absurd. I’ve never known a situation like it, but basically, we have a bomb squad of players that will carry on dragging the club’s finances down until we’re rid of them. Many of them were signed for ridiculously high fees, on ridiculously high wages, and who now look only marginally better than League 1 standard, so no one can or will buy them.

Only when we’re rid of them will any manager really be able to rebuild the team in any meaningful way. That may well take two to three years, by which time we’ll well and truly be a mid table Championship side for whom our Premier League days are just a distant memory.

[Shabby Russian]

I honestly think that would have been too much of a stretch. At no point did we look even remotely like a top 6 team. 

Considering how shit both our teams were when we got relegated, I looked at how you performed last season with total envy. I’m sensing I’m going to be doing the same again this season, irrespective of whether you actually manage to get promoted. 

It’s really difficult to describe the mess Stoke are in to anyone outside of our own supporters because even we find it absurd. I’ve never known a situation like it, but basically, we have a bomb squad of players that will carry on dragging the club’s finances down until we’re rid of them. Many of them were signed for ridiculously high fees, on ridiculously high wages, and who now look only marginally better than League 1 standard, so no one can or will buy them.

Only when we’re rid of them will any manager really be able to rebuild the team in any meaningful way. That may well take two to three years, by which time we’ll well and truly be a mid table Championship side for whom our Premier League days are just a distant memory.

Which is why Stoke need to choose a manager and stick with him. Looks like gradual patience change may be the key to Stoke's immediate future.

As for MaClean, hard working and limited is a fair summary. Perfect squad player for a Pulis team.

[Derek Hardballs]

I honestly think that would have been too much of a stretch. At no point did we look even remotely like a top 6 team. 

Considering how shit both our teams were when we got relegated, I looked at how you performed last season with total envy. I’m sensing I’m going to be doing the same again this season, irrespective of whether you actually manage to get promoted. 

It’s really difficult to describe the mess Stoke are in to anyone outside of our own supporters because even we find it absurd. I’ve never known a situation like it, but basically, we have a bomb squad of players that will carry on dragging the club’s finances down until we’re rid of them. Many of them were signed for ridiculously high fees, on ridiculously high wages, and who now look only marginally better than League 1 standard, so no one can or will buy them.

Only when we’re rid of them will any manager really be able to rebuild the team in any meaningful way. That may well take two to three years, by which time we’ll well and truly be a mid table Championship side for whom our Premier League days are just a distant memory.

Which is why Stoke need to choose a manager and stick with him. Looks like gradual patience change may be the key to Stoke's immediate future.

As for MaClean, hard working and limited is a fair summary. Perfect squad player for a Pulis team.

They need a manager who gets the best out of the squad they have.