Stoke aim to defy the odds

Posted by Jon Champion on 13/05/2011

Tony Pulis faces the biggest day of his career in football. © Getty Images

Stoke approach their first ever FA Cup final as definite underdogs. Who says so? Well, their chairman, Peter Coates, whose online betting company has been offering odds as generous as 9/2 against the Potters lifting the cup.

To be unfancied suits Stoke perfectly well. Manager Tony Pulis has also sought to emphasise what he calls the “void” between the two clubs. He knows full well that his team lack the pedigree and poise of their opponents. What he doesn’t say but knows to be true is that Stoke’s boundless passion and persistence is often enough to bridge any gap in quality. Just look at last weekend’s victory over Arsenal.

I must confess that I am delighted to see a club like Stoke in the final. My ears have only just stopped ringing after the decibel-fuelled choruses of ‘Delilah’ that provided a raucous backdrop to the most one-sided semi-final in more than a century.

In this age of foreign ownership and style over substance, Stoke City stand out. They are the only surviving founder members of the Football League never to have won the FA Cup. Image concerns them not one jot.

Times are hard in the Potteries, and ever since Coates returned to the club in 2006, buying out a misguided group of Icelandic investors, the club has done its best to put a smile on the face of a city that has had more than its share of economic setbacks.

The chairman’s first act was to re-appoint Pulis as manager. To say his return was greeted with scepticism would be an understatement: 90% of the club’s fans suggested they would have preferred someone - anyone - else. Ask them now and you would get a very different response.

Pulis and his team have guaranteed a fourth consecutive season in the Premier League, they will play in Europe for the first time since 1974, and the biggest day in the club’s 148-year history is now upon them.

Many of Stoke’s finest former players will be in attendance. Gordon Banks, Denis Smith and Terry Conroy have places in the Royal Box. Conroy scored when Stoke won the 1972 League Cup - their only major honour. Eight weeks ago, he collapsed with an aortic aneurism and was told he had just a 10% chance of surviving the surgery that followed. Happily, he has defied the odds and the thought of being at Wembley has sustained him through the dark days of post-operative recovery.

All of the above mentioned players represented clubs other than Stoke, yet all have gravitated back to watch them on a regular basis. That says a great deal about a club that has a genuine heart. From chairman via manager through an honest group of players to the officials and staff, it’s an organisation that knows its place in the grander scheme of things. That’s why the 28,000 with final tickets are so lucky and why exiled Potters from across the world are scrambling back to savour an occasion many thought Stoke would never be part of.

An internet campaign has been launched encouraging Stoke fans to stay on at the final whistle even if Manchester City have won the cup. The aim: to ensure that a Mancunian moment of celebration has a Potteries backdrop to it. If the worst comes to the worst and their team is second best, they are determined that ‘Delilah’ will be louder than ‘Blue Moon’ when the cup is raised.

Stoke are set on making the most of their biggest day - come what may.

Mancini's defining moment

Posted by Rebecca Lowe on 13/05/2011

Roberto Mancini could win a domestic cup with a fourth club at Wembley. © Getty Images

After nearly 18 months in charge of Manchester City, and a defining week in his reign, I think Saturday will be the day that Roberto Mancini is judged. A win against Tottenham on Tuesday night secured Champions League football for the first time and now the Italian could end the club’s 35-year wait for a trophy in the FA Cup final against Stoke City on Sunday.

If, as expected, Manchester City beat Stoke to win their first piece of silverware since the 1976 League Cup, then Mancini will have done exactly what he was told to do by the club’s billionaire owners: finish in the top four and win a cup. However, should it all go wrong at Wembley, the jury will still be out. Is a place in the Champions League qualifiers an adequate return on the investment put into the club? I think that is yet to be determined.

I also think there are still legitimate complaints about City’s style of play, from fans and pundits alike, given how much money they have spent in recent seasons. I recently interviewed Nigel de Jong and put this issue to him. He said that we all know where the manager is from, and he is right. Mancini is from a country where a cautious style of play is ingrained into him. He is what he is, and if you are going to employ him then you have to accept that style of football.

If those in charge of Manchester City ultimately want to see a more attractive style, as Roman Abramovich did at Chelsea, they will need a fresh approach. They might be successful under Mancini and perhaps they will win the title next season, but they won’t do it playing expansive, carpet football. They will win it with 1-0s and 2-1s. I think it is a fair complaint from fans that they are not being entertained as much as they should be.

Of course, even if they do win the FA Cup on Saturday, Manchester City’s parade could be well and truly rained on. If they win silverware for the first time in 35 years, then they will surely be fighting for space on the back pages with Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United’s 19th league title, as it is likely the red half of the city will be celebrating the point they need against Blackburn. If United win and then City lose, it would be one of the worst days in the club’s history. So, given that scenario, City fans will be even more desperate to win the trophy.

Saturday will be a fascinating game. Manchester City’s vulnerability lies in crosses and they don’t look particularly hot from set-pieces. I think Tony Pulis might look at that and be encouraged about the Rory Delap long throw, and the delivery from wide positions of Jermaine Pennant and Matthew Etherington, should the latter recover from injury in time to take his place in the side. Really, Manchester City should win. End of story. But we could well have a shock on our hands given how impressive Stoke were in their 5-0 defeat of Bolton in the semi-final. Their subsequent form since then has also been eye-catching and has seen them rise to eighth in the table.

Given that Carlos Tevez made his return from injury against Spurs, albeit for only seven minutes, he will surely start at Wembley. He will probably play as the lone striker with two players wide of him, possibly David Silva and Adam Johnson. If Tevez is short of fitness, though, then Mancini will probably go with Edin Dzeko as Mario Balotelli is too much of a risk in the biggest game for City in many a year.

In fact, I don’t think we are going to see Balotelli in English football for much longer. He has certainly sparked debate in the media as he is a constant source of stories and everybody loves a character. But in some people’s eyes he has stepped over the line too frequently this season. I think if he had scored 20 goals like Chicharito in his debut season then he would be more of a loveable rogue. At the moment he is just a rogue.

Whether Mancini stays or goes, I think it is unlikely Balotelli will be at the club come August. However, given the kind of person he is and the talent he possesses, he could easily come on and score the winner in the FA Cup final and forever be a Manchester City hero.