Magic (Player) Roundabout

Still no news on Salif Diao.

Carl Hoefkens according to the Daily Mail could be on the verge of joining West Bromwich Albion for close on a £1 million.Jonathan Fortune according to the Times could be coming in for £400,000,although he would prefer an extended loan initially,presumably to preserve is current wage status for as long as possible

Things are warming up... excellent stage management,perhaps,by the club.

Richard Cresswell Signs For Stoke City

Well there's one we never expected.Hull City withdrew from their prospective deal for the Leeds player,initially -it was indicated -on medical grounds,but now less specific unresolved issues.He breezes through Stoke's medical,and signs up....assuming he stays injury free the club now have plenty of competition up front.

Cresswell,of course,joins up once again with Ricardo Fuller,with whom he enjoyed a very profitable partnership at Preston a few seasons back,when - if my memory serves me well - they reached the playoff finals.

Salif Diao next? Fingers crossed.

Stoke City 0 Aston Villa 2

Stoke went down to their second successive pre-season defeat against Aston Villa at the Britannia Stadium in front of just over 7,000 fans.Czech midfielder Patrik Berger,loaned to Stoke last season, netted in the 17th minute,with substitute Agbonlahor completing the scoring on 77 minutes,for a Villa side that was more or less in command throughout the game.

Fuller was Stoke's liveliest performer up front,and The Potters had a number of chances variously hit or headed over the bar or wide of the posts by Parkin,Lawrence,and Pericard.The latter again spurned two gilt edged chances.

Stoke: Simonsen, Wilkinson, Hill, Higginbotham, Dickinson, Lawrence, Matteo, Delap, Sweeney, Pericard, Fuller. Subs: Pulis (Matteo 73), Eustace (Sweeney 57), Parkin (Fuller 73), Sidibe (Pericard 53), Buxton (Dickinson 67)

And Another One Bites The Dust

Andy Griffin has moved from Portsmouth to Premiership newcomers Derby County,not to Stoke City,as we were hoping.

With family considerations in mind a further 3 years on Premiership pay would have made the choice an easy one, whatever emotional attachment he may have felt towards Stoke City.

Stoke City FC Manager Tony Pulis' Magical Pre-season Mystery Tour Continues

We have had an inkling for a couple of months that something was afoot with regard to Stoke midfielder Darel Russell,talk of buying property elsewhere and so forth.The online edition of The Times newspaper last night went with rumours that Darel was rejoining Norwich City at a fee of £600,000.

Sure enough today Darel left Stoke for his original club,although there seems to be no definitive statement on the transfer fee involved to date.

An entirely personal view is that this represents good business for 'The Potters'.Darel has served the club well for the last four years, but his limitations were often apparent.Through non-stop effort and his all action approach he often got himself into very promising positions without actually being able to capitalise on them.Midfield creativity to date has not been his strong point.

This week looks likely to see further players coming and going as Tony's 'Magic Roundabout' (dare I say) spins!

Real Madrid 2 Stoke City 0...

Stoke's fourth pre-season game was against illustrious current Spanish League Champions Real Madrid at Irdning in Austria.Real Madrid TV covered the match with commentary in English.In what was Real Madrid's opening pre-season game their team (with a fair sprinkling of first teamers from last season) proved too good for an industrious Stoke City team.

Led by their determined captain Higginbottom,Stoke were clearly up for the game and gave a good account of themselves.They went down to a splendidly taken goal from close in by Raul, and a rather dubious penalty in the second half by Soldado.

Patience Is A Virtue....

Stoke City FC fans wait patiently for developments on the transfer front.The last day or so has seen one year renewals to midfielder John Eustace and back up goalkeeper Russell Hoult's contracts.

Trevor Sinclair,in talks with the club in recent days, will not be coming having decided instead to join Cardiff City.At 34 he may indeed have 12 months left in him.We shall see....from afar.

A worry on the horizon for the club is that in May Liam Lawrence was bailed by police in the North East regarding an alleged offence said to involve an 18 year old girl.

All seems to have gone quiet for the moment on the Hendrie and Diao fronts.No definitive news on Griffin either.Weekly wage levels beyond those (sensibly)affordable by the club could prove to be the stumbling block here.

Waiting For Transfer News Stoke City FC Fans.......

.....put their time and talent to good use... huggy995 brings us a bit of fun.(To play click on the bottom left corner.)After the clip plays you can scroll along the bottom edge of the window to see other clips, many from last season.

Tony Pulis Back In Town

The Stoke City manager has returned to his desk after a 3 week holiday.He talks to Graham McGarry of Radio Stoke Sport about the forthcoming season :

Pulis Interview

Stoke City FC 2006 - 2007...Season in Pictures!!

Great work by blurbus...well worth 4 minutes of anyone's time....and the choice of music....

Jon Parkin Signs 3 Year Deal At Stoke City

Good news is the return of last season loanee Jon Parkin.This time the move is permanent with Hull receiving an initial £275,000 payment.Parkin made a favourable impression at the club toward the end of the last campaign,and was recalled by Hull just as he was showing good form and goal scoring touch for the Potters.

Stoke City Fixtures For 2007 - 2008...Out Today

Stoke's season kicks off in Wales with a visit to Cardiff City on August 11th.Charlton are the first visitors to the Britannia Stadium on August 18th.

The early fixtures not only present some interesting challenges but should also provide some real measure of the team's potential for the season as a whole.

Link:Full Stoke City Fixture List

Contract Offers On The Table At Stoke City?Or More A Statement Of Intent?

Stoke are seeking to retain Salif Diao,Lee Hendrie,Dominic Matteo, and Russell Hoult for next season.Kevin Harper and goalkeeper Rob Duggan have been released

Well That's It For Another Season....But It Wasn't Bad Was It?

Stoke could only manage a draw 1 - 1 at QPR yesterday,Sidibe getting a late equaliser, after The Potters fell behind early to Rowland's goal in the 6th minute.As it turned out none of the teams also chasing a playoff spot did Stoke any favours.

On balance finishing in 8th position is no disgrace.Interestingly the majority of fans just can't wait for next season to begin....something of a contrast to last year.

Get some of that El Kenno sunshine on the Costa Del Sol first though !

That Penalty !! Oh Dear Mr Salisbury.

From the Sentinel Stand it looked like a perfectly good clean well timed tackle by Salif Diao against Colchester on Saturday.Indeed it was. Not only did Salif make contact with the ball,but also with it well on its way, the Colchester forward was still upright!! Ref Graham Salisbury was considerably closer than we were....do refs sometimes see what they want to see, rather than what actually happens?