Stoke City: Potters make inquiry about Blackburn and Sweden's Martin Olsson

“Mate I have no idea why we are not after Figeuroa, Hondoran Intl', mates with pally at wigan and on the Intl' front. Killer left back and super fit! Sign him up TONE! And his contract expired June 30th....”

“I'd be happy if we get Olsson however, don't know why we don't try looking a bit further afield for a quality LB.

Shalke 04s Austrian Christian Fuchs would be perfect for Stoke as he's very solid at the back, brilliant at crossing and great (and by that I mean truly awesome) at set pieces (and as an added bonus he's tall). I implore everyone to check him out on youtube.

His agent has tried to pimp him out to United before so a move to the premiership might be advantageous for his carer as the big premiership teams will get to have a look at him on a weekly basis, and if we can keep hold of him for a season or 2 or 3 and sell him at break even or a profit then even better. And he's only 26!

He joined Shalke for about £3.5 so we should be able to get for something liket £5m. We need to be spending money like this (as we did with Huth) to get the quality we need rather than trying to raid the bargain basement.”

“As I said Knob, I'm not going to continue this argument as you will never ever admit to being wrong about anything due to the obvious defects in your personality. I will say this though and feel free to quote me on it, what a total Knob you really are.”

“well said dope, honestly you could not have made my point better for me with that post if i had tried for a month and you did it with just a few words.
thank you.
see dope, it takes a real man to admit the truth , something i was wondering if you were or not ! good job”

“Well, Knob. I agree that Mr Johnson's is not the only opinion on here that matters, but your's IS rubbish. But I fully respect your right to spout that rubbish. And so you should respect our right to state that we feel you are spouting rubbish.”

“johsnon, i dont care about being right or wrong, mine is opinion. i just care about pointing what an arrogant, lying so and so you are who will come on here and say anything just to make your opinion seem like the only one and mine be rubbish! you harp on and on and on and on and on and on and on about how what i say doesnt matter to you, but then you go on and on and on and on and on and on to me telling me that it does !
you have to live with your oafish self, i dont. thank goodness
have a wonderful day !!”

“Just for the record, in my opinion Managers can get players fit, they influence things like positional play and tactical awareness, they can give players the confidence and belief that they need but they don't make footballers. Mark Stein was born a footballer, he just needed Lou Macari to convince him of the fact. Also Knob, I have no interest what you think of these comments so save yourself the trouble of responding to them. It's my opinion and nothing a zero like you can offer is going to change it.”

“It is a simple fact that I never made the comment "a manager really does nothing more than fill out the squad sheet on Saturday" and I am happy to swear on my life that this is the case and I ask Knob to offer any proof. He can't because I never said it. As usual with Knob's posts the whole point of it is to try to make out that he is right and others are wrong, it's part of what this inadequate fool does. I didn't write this comment and I don't even agree with it. I won't offer any further argument on it when Knob retorts to it because this idiot never backs down. For him it's not about Stoke or anything else other than to try to convince people he does not even know that he is someone worthwhile. Again it's what inadequate people do. Very sad really but the brighter people on here know it's true. Cue more drivel from Knob because he will be incapable of letting it go.”

“flint, i know who says the brain dead things on here and i know who sad that one.and it was NOT you. BUT, you are totally misinterpreting what im saying. There is a a very small percentage of players, like the ones i listed who are just born football geniuses, but the rest of them are good footballers who usually get better due to how a manager uses him. The manager is the head of the team, he is the person that controls his players, tells them what to do,how to play, applies his tactics etc. Johnson spouts on many occasion how Pulis "has got Stoek City where he has today" but then, when things are going bad, like most of last season, he comes up with those quotes that i said to exonerate him from blame. So, what has Pulis done to turn Stoke City around if he basically does nothing and its just the players ?? Come on, he either does things with the team or he doesnt ! In Pulis' case, if he had the talent of say a Man U as his team, i could understand it being mainly the players, but he hasnt. He has the squad of players he has had over the last 4-5 years, so his influence is what gets them to do what they have done. Same for any other manager, Ferguson, Guardiola, Redknapp, Mancini, Mourinho, Moyes, McCarthy,Pulis and on and on doesnt matter the grade of team they manage the manager is the one given the credit for getting the team of players to do what they do and it isnt just by filling out the bloody squad sheet on saturday”

“It pains me here to admit it but you might be shooting Dave with a bullet that has my name on it soccerfoot. Your quote "a manager really does nothing more than fill out the squad sheet on Saturday" sounds like something I would say in anger after a loss, hence why you picked it up. You can say stupid things in anger after all!

Got to agree with the principle of what Dave is saying because if everyone could play football I'd head down to the stadium to the manager and ask him sign me up! There's a certain percentage that will ever have the talent to get to the top ranks of football - Mel can say more on this if he wishes to - but those who do get to the top have to have a certain amount of natural talent. But I do see what you are getting at in that coaches/managers will have an influence in how a player performs for a team and thus how they can become a fantastic player rather than a pub-league over-achiever. The players you list soccerfoot are not exactly uncoachable as well. C Ronaldo was guided by Fergie before becoming the talent he is now, Guardiola was the coach who realised that Messi needed to be closer to the goal to score the goals and moved him from the wing to the centre. I'd wager there was a coach behind Gazza, Sir Stan and George Best as well that influenced them but I'm not willing to hazard a guess on the names.

So as mad as it is, both of you in my opinion are right; just on certain aspects. Dave on it the amount of failures in football it takes to get the professionals we see on the pitch but also soccerfoot in how a manager can influence a player rather than simple man-management or tactical nous.”