I recently dissolved my personal Twitter account. There were plenty of reasons for this, but a lot of it boiled down to just going weary of outrage, fake news, and outrage about fake news. It can be a cesspit, and while I did my best to cultivate a timeline that was generally made up of … Continue reading All football fans play the victim

"Act as if ye have faith, and faith shall be given to you. To put it another way, fake it till you make it." - Leo McGarry, The West Wing As our new manager might well attest, a lot of life is spent believing in things despite a lack of tangible proof. That's not a dig at the religious, because even as … Continue reading Back to reality

“I think we play a brave style of football. I think the areas we ask them to play when pressured – it doesn’t matter what the opposition do to us we ask them to keep doing things that we do in training. When it’s difficult and when there’s 10,000 fans wanting you to score – … Continue reading Shine on you Crazy Diamond: Nathan Jones’ footballing philosophy and Stoke City

A Queens Park Rangers podcast today commented on how their visit to Stoke came with a soundtrack of groans and grumbles from the agitated Potters home support. Even in one of the more entertaining games to be held at the bet365 stadium this season, there wasn't much to commend the atmosphere - the groans only … Continue reading Joyless division

In this blog series, we pay tribute to the people who write about our club, whether in print or online. If you want to suggest a great Stoke writer from the world of books, journalism, fanzines, blogs or more, let us know by emailing wizardsofdrivelpodcast@gmail.com.  The final season of The Oatcake has caused me to … Continue reading Great Stoke Writers: Trouserdog

“Dawn, I’m fed up” – David Brent in The Office This isn’t a blog about depression, but it does contain some talking about feelings, so you know what to do if that makes you queasy. This isn’t the inspiring story of how Stoke helped me combat mental illness. That’d be false. I don’t know if … Continue reading Feelings and football

"That's why. The dead. The body count. We don't like to admit the war was even partly our fault cos so many of our people died. And all the mourning's veiled the truth. It's not "lest we forget", it's "lest we remember". That's what all this is about - the memorials, the Cenotaph, the two … Continue reading Football’s relationship with remembrance has only caused damage to both

In the modern game, our access to the footballers we adore is limited. But what if you could go to the pub with a Stoke player? Who would make a good companion? Who'd get the ales in? Who'd be helpful on the quiz machine? Who wouldn't make a fuss of asking the bar staff to … Continue reading Rating Stoke Players By How Much I’d Like To Go For A Pint With Them

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.  Perhaps the international break came at the wrong time for Gary Rowett's Stoke. Having seemingly turned a corner with consecutive wins (and clean sheets) against Bolton and Norwich, Stoke's momentum was sapped with a frustrating home defeat to Birmingham. 17th in the table … Continue reading Latest defeat leaves Potters drifting further into the wilderness