From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Sep 2026
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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Sheffield Wednesday left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
Ben Wilmot 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tomáš Rigo. 1‑0 against Birmingham, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Stoke City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Million Manhoef 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.
Squad14 Sep 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I did not go to Fulham 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.
In brief
-
Player ratings
Tomáš Rigo takes the honours
-
Squad
The manager has not finished forgetting Lewis Baker's mistake
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Stoke City
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Stoke City are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Sep 2026
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ben Wilmot, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Stoke City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bae Jun-Ho 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
Million Manhoef 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
3 matches without a goal for Stoke City
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad31 Aug 2026
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.
Match29 Aug 2026
0‑1 to Wrexham, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The plan did not have a place for Ben Wilmot
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Aug 2026
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Million Manhoef 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Market24 Aug 2026
Stoke City bring in an old head
Joãozinho is 37 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Tomáš Rigo runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match22 Aug 2026
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 Bristol City? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from Triestina for Nathan Lowe 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Róbert Boženík 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
4 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Match15 Aug 2026
Coventry City left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market17 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. George Jackson has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market17 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Christopher Davies has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market17 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Oliver Morgan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Bae Jun-Ho 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.
In brief
-
Squad
The manager has not finished forgetting Lewis Baker's mistake
-
Boardroom
No investment in the facilities at Stoke City
-
Squad
Tatsuki Seko gets it from the manager
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sorba Thomas and Stoke City agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Róbert Boženík 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sorba Thomas, and the manager let it.
Market10 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Junior Tchamadeu’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tomáš Rigo 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Viktor Johansson wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Stoke City hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Viktor Johansson and Stoke City agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Bosun Lawal 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Stoke City have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Jesurun Rak-Sakyi 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.