Marked for Bae Jun-Ho
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match15 Sep 2027
A 1‑0 win over Accrington Stanley, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match18 Sep 2027
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Jack McGlynn will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Stoke City escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Stoke City — 7.93
1 for Justin Devenny, marked 7.93, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad20 Sep 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jack McGlynn and Stoke City agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Bae Jun-Ho 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.
Transfer targets20 Sep 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Arsenal have kept their man, and Stoke City go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout20 Sep 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.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Marked 8.28 — 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.
Back issues
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.
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
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
Steady
Squad26 Apr 2027
Rodrigo Bentancur 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.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The terraces26 Apr 2027
The crowd has taken to Bae Jun-Ho
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match24 Apr 2027
Three points for Stoke City, 1‑0 the final word against Millwall in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Jean-Ricner Bellegarde was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.18. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
The goals keep arriving from Nikola Jojić’s exile
11 goals in 44 games at Oldham Athletic — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Stoke City updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Stoke City told Nathan Collins something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Bosun Lawal
“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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Mar 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad15 Mar 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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Divin Mubama 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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Nobody could get near Bae Jun-Ho
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Michael Bailey was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Stoke City dressing room was either.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The plan did not have a place for Jack McGlynn
Nobody at Stoke City is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Match13 Mar 2027
Point won or two lost for Stoke City?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Swansea City? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Market15 Mar 2027
The George Hirst talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Stoke City know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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
Triumph
Market25 Jan 2027
As if he never left: Nathan Collins returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Nathan Collins is a Stoke City player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Market25 Jan 2027
Terms done: Tomáš Rigo is going
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Newport County waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Stoke City is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market25 Jan 2027
The offer from Swindon Town for Justin Devenny 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.
Market25 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Stoke City asked and CSKA 1948 said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match23 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: George Hirst. 1‑0 against Sheffield Wednesday, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match19 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jean-Ricner Bellegarde. 1‑0 against Birmingham, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Rodrigo Bentancur 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.
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
Upbeat
Market11 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Oldham Athletic waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Stoke City is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match9 Jan 2027
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and Bristol City spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Transfer targets11 Jan 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
Ben Wilmot 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
Barrow AFC 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 targets11 Jan 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Stoke City have done the hard part with Tottenham, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Crystal Palace is saying, and nobody at Stoke City is enjoying the guessing.
Match9 Jan 2027
A 1‑0 win over Bristol City, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad11 Jan 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
“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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Nobody could get near Bae Jun-Ho
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Ben Pearson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Loan watch30 Nov 2026
16 appearances away from home and 9 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Michael Bailey was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Stoke City dressing room was either.
Market30 Nov 2026
Million Manhoef is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Stoke City has been clear about where Million Manhoef stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad30 Nov 2026
One booking too many, and Michael Svoboda sits out. Stoke City lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“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
Squad21 Sep 2026
59 days out for Luca Bombino after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stoke City will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match19 Sep 2026
6 matches without a win for Stoke City
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Stoke City are no longer polite ones.
Match19 Sep 2026
6 matches without a goal for Stoke City
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Ben Johnson 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.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
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 terraces21 Sep 2026
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The form table has caught Ben Killip
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
The afternoon belonged to Bae Jun-Ho
A mark of 7.28, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Michael Bailey after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.