The fixtures for Stoke City came out about 4:00 a.m. CDT, and are available for your viewing pleasure at the Stoke City FC website. Personally, I'll probably be in the UK for a wedding for a friend in early September, so I will be getting up to Stoke for the Everton match on September 13th at Britannia. At this time, I haven't seen anything from Fox Soccer as to what matches they'll show, but I am looking forward to the inevitable "Watch Parties" this coming season.
It will be interesting to follow them during the summer transfer window as well. I hope they don't buy too many new players. It seems like buying a few good ones in key positions is better than trying to replace the whole team. We should start a transfer season thread (or use this one) to begin the endless speculation around signings. Let me start by saying Solano's contract for West Ham was non-renewed. He's getting old but they guy can still play.
The schedule indicates they will be in Austin Training camp somewhere between July 15 and July 29. Anyone know more specific dates?
I don't, but am guessing there will be some informal friendlies. I'll see what I can dig up and get back to the group. This would include clarification to see if "Austrian" is really where they're going to be, or if this is a typo which should be "Austin".
Speaking of shirts, why are we not wearing our home kit against the Capitals? I hate the all-white kit.
Hey all, from a friend from across the waters. That is the new Stoke away shirt i'm not a lover of it but i still bought it as i have the new home too. Will be looking forward to next seasons games, i have been keeping an eye on yourselves and hope sometime next year to fly over for a couple of games.
I especially don't like the numbers. Hard to read at night from the booth. But if I had to choose between all white on a Texas summer evening, and all black, I'll go with all white
Stoke seal £5.5m Kitson transfer Kitson started his career with non-league Arlesey Town Stoke have signed Dave Kitson for a club record fee of £5.5m from Reading. The 28-year-old striker has agreed a three-year deal with the Potters after scoring 54 goals in 111 league starts for Reading, including 10 last year. Full Article
Also: England goalkeeper Scott Carson will join West Brom from Liverpool after rejecting a move to Stoke. (Daily Mirror, Daily Star) And from a rumor site (so low reliability): STOKE CITY – Spotted at the Britannia My mates Dad saw RYAN GIGGS at the ground today, which would be an interesting development indeed. Giggs is surplus to requirements at OT, and even given Sir Alexs obvious affection for him will not let this stand in the way of Giggs having one big pay day, and Stoke to get the swoop of the century.
Another big signing today, Seyi Olofinjana. Talented midfielder formerly playing for the Wolves. http://www.stokecityfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10310~1351455,00.html Looks to be another good step to try to stay up.
Here's my take on Stokes weelin an dealin soo far They were all ready a solid team in the back, and with a quality forward like Kitson and a Sturdy man in tha middle like Olofinjane things are lookin good for the Potters .
Ok this has nothin ta do with Stoke, or their signings or their dealings, but it has everything to do wit hthe fact that Robbie Kean, an Irish national player and one of their top goal scorers of all time, has been signed from Tottenham by the home team of everybodies favorite barkeep down at Mother Es, Liverpool. I'm sure Johnny is just as pleased as punch about that.
Its a shame that the Potters couldn't get a work permit for Austin, he will make a good player for the future... Hopefully, the other avenues can pull him in.
Guzan had the same issue last January when he tried to make the switch from Chivas to Aston. He tried a gain last month and it's going through. We may get lucky and have the same sort of thing happen in the January transfer window.
Hopefully the Potters can get him back, yes. Picked up another midfielder, Amdy Faye. I know he is just on loan, but it further supports the notion that the back line is good, just adding strikers and midfielders. Still time for on loan guys, but the season is about to get into full swing. Go Potters!
No, the Potters were trying to get Jamaican International Rudolph Austin (midfielder) as a transfer, but he was unable to get a work permit in Britain. You can see an article on this at Skysports.com. There was also a short piece on this at Chanticosarmy.com.
It looks like Stoke have a lot of players that are going to play for their countries in World Cup qualifiers. The question I have, does that help Stoke or hurt them? I personally think that it helps them to have players that can play top flight football away from their "club" team. More experience, different teammates, etc.
I'm always a big fan of international duty for a team's players, as it's a reflection (typically) of the quality of a footballer, especially for countries that are typical powerhouses like Germany, Spain, The Netherlands, Brazil, Argentina, etc. From an ideology stance, I also like supporting your country, which is something I think Americans don't do as well as I'd like. Naturally, there's also the issue of a player getting hurt, or an international occuring close to or at the same time as a league match. Remember Michael Owen and the 2006 World Cup knee blow out during the Sweden match? I think he's just gotten back to form in the last year or so. So for Stoke, I think it helps for now. However, that could change depending on injury, number of games played, etc.
Injuries are always a concern, but I usually don't blame the international duty for the injury. Bad tackles can happen anywhere. Even practice. I hope to h@ll that the team stays healthy. I am more wondering on the team coming together as a team. With some of the recent acquisitions, will it hurt to have them leaving practice and team a few times this year?