Vår man på plats (Dave)
Lite kommentarer från Dave kommer här. John Ritchie-statyn, sponsorpengar, matchen mm.
Boys,
Great result yesterday.... It really is good being a Stoke fan at the moment.
Main sponsors "The Britannia building society" gave over 2,000 complimentary tickets away. This helped swell the crowd to Stokes largest since Chelsea in the F.A.Cup.
Britannia also gave a cheque to the club for over £900,000 as part of the "save & support" scheme. This scheme involves a % of the interest from supporters saving accounts being given to the club. Around £6 million has been generated since the it was introduced.
Originally the money was for youth development but it now more than likely goes towards player agent fees. Recently published figures show that Stoke are the second highest payers to agents in the division.
For the second game in a row Stoke had supporters allocated in the away end.
It certainly looks more impressive with Stoke fans on all 4 sides.
The John Ritchie bust looks the absolute bollocks and is situated behind the Boothen.
His son & grand children were presented to the crowd at half time.....It brought a tear to the eye I can tell you.
On to the game
It was a big game for Simmo in goal today with new loan signing Fulop replacing Hoult on the bench. Simmo proved his worth with a great second half save.
Your new shirt sponsor Dicko came in for the suspended Pugh and he showed that he has more to his game than just blood & thunder.
Griffin at times looked like the Griffin of old with pacy runs & gritty determination.
The midfield is really coming into its own now. Delap continues to get round the pitch linking play quietly & effectively (Its what he does). Unfortunately, his booking means that he will miss the Q.P.R. match.
For me, Whelan had his best game in a Stoke shirt so far. He has so much more to offer than Eustace. Lawrence is a tireless worker. His goal was superb. He now has 12 league goals & 14 assists. His yellow card means that he is 2 bookings off a 2 match ban.
Fuller had a bit of an off day but he is entitled to that I suppose. To be fair to him he was marked heavily by the Ipswich players. Fuller will have to show discipline in the trip to his old club Preston on Tuesday. As we all know he is 1 booking off a 2 match ban. When he played against another one off his old teams Southampton recently he let himself get wound up by the small band of Southampton supporters and his general frustration that
night led to a booking late on. It makes you wonder whether he should get himself "tactically" booked on purpose so that he can get the suspension out of the way.
Come to think of it, If he does get booked at Preston he will miss Burnley at home and Norwich away. Its crucial that he is available for the Watford & Bristol City fixtures later on.
........Dave
