Michael Mortume

Striker - Stoke City
28 Aug 2027
Saturday
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Marked for Michael Mortume

11 Edition

The Stoke City Courier

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad12 Oct 2026

Josh Flint arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Josh Flint has, at Stoke City, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Squad12 Oct 2026

A falling-out at Stoke City

George Hirst and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings12 Oct 2026

Million Manhoef runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad12 Oct 2026

A row about effort at Stoke City

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ben Johnson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout12 Oct 2026

No hiding place for Jésah Ayessa

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jésah Ayessa, and the manager let it.

The dugout12 Oct 2026

Half-satisfied: Anthony Mitchell on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

Squad12 Oct 2026

The formation has left Michael Mortume behind

Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Stoke City will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.

The dugout12 Oct 2026

The form table has caught Josh Flint

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 ratings12 Oct 2026

The one thing George Hirst could not do

Shots: 8, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.

In brief

Back issues
10 Edition

The Stoke City Courier

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings5 Oct 2026

Nobody could get near Bae Jun-Ho

Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match3 Oct 2026

Stoke City make it 3 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Stoke City have 3 straight wins of it.

Squad5 Oct 2026

A move Michael Mortume 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. Michael Mortume is living that version at Stoke City, and it tends to show in the first month.

Squad5 Oct 2026

Tommy Simkin 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.

Squad5 Oct 2026

Words at Stoke City training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. George Hirst 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.

Squad5 Oct 2026

Words exchanged at Stoke City

Ben Johnson 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.

Match3 Oct 2026

Stoke City get the job done against Portsmouth

A 1‑0 win over Portsmouth, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings5 Oct 2026

Róbert Boženík was the difference for Stoke City

Marked 7.87. 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 dugout5 Oct 2026

A satisfied Anthony Mitchell

“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Anthony Mitchell could afford to be generous.

In brief