Branding Stoke City by Kevin Raftery

“Although I do not always agree with Mr Raftery he is the only one that gives the other side to the argument.”

“Well said alan10one, If I was Mr Coates, I would be taking Clueless to task about the rubbish dished up game after game! He must be embarrassed for the good name of his club. The question must be asked though, why he isn't addressing the problem. after all, it's there for all to see!! 27000 odd fans at home games can see it, away teams and managers can see it, the TV commentators can see it and often comment on it, why can't Clueless see it? I think it has now come down to the fact that he can't see or admit his limitations due to his own arrogance. Surely Kemp, Rudge, Francis & Co must be passing on their comments and observations. If Pulis doesn't take notice, what the hell are they there for!!”

“Kevin Raftery is correct, its boring boring rubbish. No shots on goal and some of you will defend that hoof ball, cant pass, no players in the box, defensive 2nd Div rubbish. Wheres all the singing gone at Stoke ?????. Its hard to sing when you have nothing, absolutely nothing to sing about. He has waisted 70 million of Mr Coates money who put his faith in him and believed in him but surly privately must be asking about our poor defensive football style. That first season was a backs to the wall season and he did what he had to but he is still playing backs to the wall football. Its supposed to be entertainment and its far from it at the moment.”

“The sooner Kevin Raftery/Raferty gets his dream job on TalkSport the better, he is genuinely expert at writing pieces to garner a reaction rather than state any sensible opinion...”

“Davjj I think that is the whole point even Lou did not take us to the promised land but the football was good”

“And who would you offer up as a replacement then Frank?”

“Pulis has served his purpose and got City into the Prem. Now he has gone as far as his talents will allow and so has become "unfit for purpose". It must be recognised that he cannot take the club any further so he should either leave or move over to allow someone with greater talents to move the club onwards.
What City are now playing isn't football, its just "push and shuv" with plenty of "hoof" thrown in! If they arn't already they will soon be the laughing stock of the Prem and Pulis will stand there spitting feathers and blaming everyone (including the Pope) rather than himself.”

“A couple of points to raise here. First is that the football under Lou was great fun Potteroldboy, Stein and Biggins, Sheron and Sturridge, pure entertainment. Secondly, by what process does Raftery's rubbish appear on here, the guy can barely write his name. I'm convinced his name is Raferty and he just spells it wrong. He bangs on about Durban but Stoke fans adored him at the time, we would sing "Alan Durbans Red and White army" for 20 minutes non stop. Granted Stoke are not producing the goods at the moment but to say it's the worst ever is just insane, does no one remember Dave Bamber, Geoff Scott, Lethal Keith Scott, Simon Stainrod, Mark Higgins, Alan Ball, Chris Kamara (as a manager), Brian Little, God I could go on all night. This is a new level of drivel by Raftery. Suppose his buddies will be on soon saying "Great stuff Kev, hear hear Kev". What a bunch of Wallies.”

“I remember the Liverpool game and think people were amazed at the prowess of the league champions more than anything. In the early eighties I remember Stoke getting a 2-2 draw at Man U so they must have at least attacked. Its poor football under TP, I even think that in the era under Lou Macari the football was more varied”

“what a utter waste of paper time and ink yes some games we will play the long ball but also look at etherington pennant on the wings we have played some good football and produced some fine results at home lets see chelsa man utd at home two draws liverpool an tottenham at home two wins that eight brillant pionts we gained .instead of pulling pulis down lets look at the real reason why the atmosphere at the brit as gone down like many a club that have got to the premier league in the past stoke have aquired more fans who sit in there seat and tell the life long supporter to shut up sit down and look at u as though ur scum when u sing even when the boys r struggling .What these people need to learn is u sing for the boys no mtter what the result is wether were winning losing or drawing the boys will play to the crowd pulis as hard working attiude at stoke u look at etheringhton crouch huth shawcross pennant upson woodgate shotton soreson just to name a few these boys have title winning crudecials behind but they play 90 mins for stoke so remeber this plastic fans were stoke we play how we want to and we sing when we want to by mr m. otter”