Marked for Junior Tchamadeu
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom30 Aug 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Stoke City
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Stoke City offered $3.6M; Bolton Wanderers said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Market30 Aug 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Stoke City may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
The offer went to Crystal Palace this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Boardroom30 Aug 2027
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.5M — a club that wants Romain Esse enough to be asked twice.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Nathan Collins was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match28 Aug 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Stoke City and Watford, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tottenham have kept their man, and Stoke City go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Aug 2027
Julani Archibald damages knee ligaments — 15 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 15 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
The offer went to Admira Wacker this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Market16 Aug 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Aaron Cresswell: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Stoke City have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market16 Aug 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market16 Aug 2027
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match14 Aug 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Marcel Łubik gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Aug 2027
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Stoke City lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market9 Aug 2027
Granada come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Stoke City did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market9 Aug 2027
The phone has started ringing about Ben Wilmot again, and this time the name on the line is Barnet. Stoke City are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Stoke City
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Junior Tchamadeu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” David Osamuyimen commits to Stoke City for another 3 years.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Stoke City would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Market9 Aug 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Bae Jun-Ho’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market9 Aug 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Nikola Jojić may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Stoke City
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad2 Aug 2027
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Stoke City lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market2 Aug 2027
Ben Gibson hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stoke City can pretend not to have heard.
Market2 Aug 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Palermo is saying, and nobody at Stoke City is enjoying the guessing.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Bae Jun-Ho and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Stoke City can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Too much change too quickly at Stoke City
12 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Jul 2027
Julani Archibald damages knee ligaments — 39 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 39 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market26 Jul 2027
Barnet come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Stoke City did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Stoke City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Tchamadeu is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad26 Jul 2027
16 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Tommy Watson in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stoke City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch26 Jul 2027
“I did not go to Reading to sit and watch. I want to come back to Stoke City and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
A loan move for Milutin Osmajić is in the works
Stoke City have made the call to Palermo. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market26 Jul 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Maksym Talovierov has his answer from Stoke City; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Jul 2027
Julani Archibald damages knee ligaments — 49 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 49 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market19 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market19 Jul 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Stoke City, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
No thanks: Daniel Fila rejects the move
Stoke City had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Venezia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Stoke City asked and Bournemouth said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Junior Tchamadeu falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad19 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Luca Bombino commits to Stoke City for another 4 years.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Tommy Watson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
Jack McGlynn asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Julani Archibald
58 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stoke City lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market12 Jul 2027
Watford pay $5.7M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Market12 Jul 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Stoke City, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market12 Jul 2027
Add another name to the list: Barnet have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Junior Tchamadeu. The answer from Stoke City has not changed — yet.
Squad12 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stoke City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Southampton wanted more than $670.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Middlesbrough have kept their man, and Stoke City go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Ben Wilmot
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
A loan enquiry to Venezia: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Julani Archibald
68 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stoke City lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Stoke City
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Stephen Scott has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Stoke City can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market5 Jul 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Stoke City, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market5 Jul 2027
The name of Ben Wilmot has come up in conversations Stoke City were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
The offer went to Southampton this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Everything agreed with Brighton, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Nathan Collins was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A move Tobías Oscari would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Tobías Oscari is living that version at Stoke City, and it tends to show in the first month.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jun 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Julani Archibald
77 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stoke City lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market28 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market28 Jun 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Stoke City, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Nathan Collins and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
$16.0K on the table at Burnley. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
$140.0K was the most the club would pay and Southampton were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Liverpool have kept their man, and Stoke City go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Brighton: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Sorba Thomas
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jun 2027
94 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Stoke City lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Colchester United wanted more than $7.2M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Stoke City may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market14 Jun 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Stoke City, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market14 Jun 2027
The offer from Luton Town for Tomáš Rigo was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market14 Jun 2027
The name of Ben Wilmot has come up in conversations Stoke City were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
The offer went to Southampton this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bae Jun-Ho and Stoke City agree another 5 years.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Middlesbrough have kept their man, and Stoke City go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom17 May 2027
The caretaker keeps it: Stephen Scott confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Squad17 May 2027
Miguel Ángel Brau and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout17 May 2027
A fresh start for Rodrigo Bentancur under the new man
Nothing resets a career like somebody arriving who did not pick the side last season. Rodrigo Bentancur has taken the hint, and Stoke City are getting a version of him the previous regime had stopped seeing.
The dugout17 May 2027
Milan Smit gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market17 May 2027
The name of Junior Tchamadeu keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Stoke City say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad17 May 2027
Junior Tchamadeu has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
The dugout17 May 2027
Ben Wilmot knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Stoke City, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout17 May 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Maksym Talovierov has written the date down.
Squad17 May 2027
Bae Jun-Ho is starting to belong
Somebody to talk to at the next peg, a few words of the language, and a training ground that has stopped being a foreign country. It never appears in a scouting report and it decides most signings.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom10 May 2027
Still nobody in the Stoke City dugout
39 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Squad10 May 2027
Nathan Collins was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout10 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Divin Mubama, and the manager let it.
Market10 May 2027
Ben Gibson told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Ben Gibson has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Stoke City.
Market10 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with George Hirst’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market10 May 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout10 May 2027
Sorba Thomas has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Sorba Thomas has written the date down.
The dugout10 May 2027
Lewis Baker knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Stoke City, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad10 May 2027
Ben Killip wants to know why he earns less
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Stoke City have no good answer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Apr 2027
Divin Mubama in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stoke City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Apr 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was George Hirst’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Stoke City.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Marked 7.74. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Matthew Clark could afford to be generous.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Joe Buršík asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market19 Apr 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Stoke City, another week without a signature from Bosun Lawal.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
12 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The terraces19 Apr 2027
Supporters make their feelings known about George Hirst
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Stoke City would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Apr 2027
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Stoke City can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Match10 Apr 2027
The wait goes on for Stoke City
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Boardroom12 Apr 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ruben Curley has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Boardroom12 Apr 2027
Still nobody in the Stoke City dugout
11 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Divin Mubama was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match10 Apr 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Marked 6.81 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Matthew Clark to a room that had heard them before.
Squad12 Apr 2027
One booking too many, and Ben Johnson sits out. Stoke City lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Stoke City
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Stoke City is running low.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Rodrigo Bentancur and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Stoke City are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jack McGlynn, and the manager let it.
Match27 Feb 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jesurun Rak-Sakyi. 1‑0 against Charlton Athletic, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Marked 8.26 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Marked 7.01 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Loan watch1 Mar 2027
36 appearances at Oldham Athletic and the goals keep coming. Stoke City are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Rodrigo Bentancur was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Feb 2027
Molde come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Stoke City did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market22 Feb 2027
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Stoke City can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Match20 Feb 2027
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Junior Tchamadeu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The terraces22 Feb 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Bae Jun-Ho has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match20 Feb 2027
Derby County made Stoke City work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Match20 Feb 2027
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Marked 8.05 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Feb 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Stoke City have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market1 Feb 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Bosun Lawal had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Stoke City
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market1 Feb 2027
The bid was some way short and Stoke City did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market1 Feb 2027
Sam Gallagher hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stoke City can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Stoke City close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad1 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stoke City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match30 Jan 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Stoke City did not have in the autumn.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hull City have kept their man, and Stoke City go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Stoke City have gone to Brentford with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Market18 Jan 2027
The offer from Köln for George Hirst was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market18 Jan 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Stoke City, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market18 Jan 2027
Crewe Alexandra pay $1.9M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Boardroom18 Jan 2027
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Market18 Jan 2027
Oxford United pay $920.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
A goal and an assist for Bae Jun-Ho — 7.74
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.74 beside his name.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Justin Devenny and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Norwich City have kept their man, and Stoke City go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market4 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market4 Jan 2027
The name of Justin Devenny has come up in conversations Stoke City were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Nathan Lowe is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Stoke City asked and Everton said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Loan watch4 Jan 2027
“I watch every Stoke City game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Derby County runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Joe Buršík
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
A performance of 8.32 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
Junior Tchamadeu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Stoke City told Michael Svoboda something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Sorba Thomas asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Milan Smit has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Market16 Nov 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Tatsuki Seko may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The penny has dropped for Joe Buršík
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Stoke City the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
A side in position 15 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.