West Ham v Stoke City: Fuller facing disciplinary for fighting with Andy Griffin
STOKE City manager Tony Pulis says striker Ricardo Fuller faces internal club discipline after he was sensationally sent off for clipping colleague Andy Griffin during today's 2-1 defeat at West Ham.
Fuller was dismissed shortly after West Ham's 51st minute equaliser after raising a hand to his captain during a brief dispute as Stoke waited to kick-off again.
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Stoke City's Ricardo Fuller faces disciplinary after hitting Andy Griffin
Fuller now faces a three-match ban for violent conduct – and a probable heavy fine for an astonishing dereliction of duty.
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by E.B., Stoke
Monday, December 29 2008, 12:28PM
“Why do we put up with the disgraceful Fuller anyway,He is bone idle and does not score enough goals,get rid of him in the January window,and bring a decent man in.Stoke rely on team spirit and hard work to survive,Fuller has destroyed that. If Fuller stays Stoke will certainly go down.He made all our away fans at West Ham,of which i was one, the laughing stock of football. Get rid of the petulent prima donna before he destroys the dressing room.”
by Tony Farr, Sydney , Australia
Monday, December 29 2008, 10:29AM
“Watched on Fox at 2am Sydney time and I am dumbfounded at what I saw! The incident also made it to the 6pm channel 9 news in the sports segment by the presenter ( knowing nothing about soccer) who sarcastically said that the manager was not "stoked" over the incident. We are the "joke" team of the premier league!Fuller must go!”
by graham, stone
Monday, December 29 2008, 10:07AM
“fuller and griffin should both go public and apologise to all the stoke fans.it should not be dealt with in house,stoke fans deserve an apology”
by Steve G, Stafford
Monday, December 29 2008, 9:00AM
“Griffins challenge was poor but Fuller was a disgrace.
griffin has played extremely well all season as have most of the players.
Fuller is a luxury when the opposition have the ball. Why? Because his workrate is negligable. Whilst Kitson/Mama/ Creswell are expected to chase here there and everywhere to defend he is allowed to stroll around. Sometimes taking two or three minutes just to get back on side thus effectively reducing us to 10 men.
When he has played international matches it takes him 2 weeks to recover whereas other players, not just from our club but others too, seem to take a couple of days.
I'm just beggining to wonder if Kitson would have scored 5 or 6 goals if he was allowed to stroll around while his teammates did his work for him and if he was allowed to take penalties. Who knows?
One thing is clear Fuller and Griffin to a lesser degree let everone down yesterday and as i drove into work this morning radio pundits and commentators are laughing at us.
Thanks Fuller! thanks for making us the laughing stock of the premier league. God only knows who will want to sign for a team in the bottom thre who's players fight with each other in front of 35,000 fans. Happy new year!”
by john, Eaton Park
Monday, December 29 2008, 8:51AM
“If you slapped somebody on a factory floor you would be out of the gates quicker than he left the field.But being a footballer that will not count.”
by Ivan K., Hanley
Monday, December 29 2008, 8:29AM
“Frankly, a16 year old apprentice would've given a better challenge, so Fuller's frustrations (NOT his actions) were understandable. Griffin was clearly injured by then & should have come off before the goal. But it'll be hard for Stoke fans to forgive Fuller because, unlike the 2 previous games where many of us felt a point in each would've been decent enough, this West Ham side were definitely beatable.
Even though we've given away at least 5 points, IMO all's not lost yet. I still fancy a fully-fit 1st choice Stoke side to avoid the drop... assuming we can bring in at least a couple of decent signings. But it looks like we may have to look to Europe or the Championship for those, rather than the Prem. I think there's now NO CHANCE that quality players like Hyypia - a name mentioned often here - will leave their current clubs for Stoke. But, FWIW, I still have faith that Pulis will keep us in the Prem - but only just.”
by robert, new zealand
Monday, December 29 2008, 6:31AM
“Shame on any player to strike one of their own team mates.Fuller's frustration of being up front most of a game with basiclly no support needs to be looked at as the body language from him is their for all to see. To see silly tackles that result in oppersition goals knowing that it puts more preasure on the only forward is crazy. This team needs to start being a team so we all can be proud to say who we support where ever we live in the world.
Do we have any good midfielders who may want a go up front beside fuller or will fuller now not want anyone up there . this may be kitson's problem, no team spirt to gell the forward pair.”
by Steve, China
Monday, December 29 2008, 12:18AM
“Unbelievable - unfortunately watched the whole event via satellite. Gutted to say the least
Yes Fuller should be punished but we should be careful in saying sack him because frankly we have no alternatives - Sidibe is at least 1month away (and will not score more than 3 until the end of the season), Kitson probably could be hastened to fitness but honestly has not looked like scoring and Pericard/Cresswell are too poor a combo for league1 let alone the premiership.
We should also look to what part Griffin coming back has had on this situation - there could be a worrying split appearing in the dressing room if the captain is the focus of dissent. I would like to see AB Faye with the armband - not to punish Griffin - but really to scare the hell out of any players not pulling their weight (could you imagine Fuller try to slap him?)
Seriously though TP needs to get a grip and very soon - he needs quickly to bring in cover for the front (at least 2 possibly 3) in Jan before looking to "sack" Fuller. If we can't get anyone decent in then I'm afraid love or loathe him we must play him to have any chance at all of staying up.”
by Brian, Kidsgrove
Sunday, December 28 2008, 11:57PM
“Fuller justifiably questioned Griffins half hearted challenge which led to west Hams goal,you can't condone Fullers actions after but Griffin was never good enough for Newcastle or Derby so why Stoke make him captain is beyond belief.You can't play one of the seven dwarfs at full back in the premiership. Keep Fuller and ship Griffin out.”
by John, Tittensor
Sunday, December 28 2008, 11:25PM
“Shameful, a disgrace and embarrassing for the Club, Manager and supporters. Pulis now needs to show the leadership and sack Fuller ¿ the team is stronger than an individual.”