There's a now-infamous old thread on our (Stoke's) board about us signing Bale from Spurs. It's full of absolute catastrophising about how garbage he is, not a footballer, shows how little ambition we have, going down if this is the level of player we're going for etc etc etc etc. Always worth a giggle to review now.

That’s about the size of it.. Allen suspended, Powell injured, don’t think Thompson or Clucas will be fit. Our wing back Tymon may have to fill in, which he’s done before to reasonably good effect to be fair. Crossing fingers but if you’ve got any steel and guile in there you’ll play through us piss easy.

Wouldn't know about ticket sales but someone on our board said you'd sold 2k.. could be bad info. I wouldn't normally with a home game but I'd be quite tempted to take a point tbh

Alright Rovers, thought I might as well start a quick thread as the board's semi-resident Stoke fan. I live in Chile but come from Stoke, so finding myself in the unlikely position of being the world's leading expert in the Potteries-Chilean football crossover, I signed up when Brereton (Diaz) got his sensational call-up to La Roja. Crazy crazy story, especially living through it here and him coming from a couple of miles down the road from me on the other side of the world. Looking forward to seeing him on Saturday, and how we deal with him... Anyway just thought I'd give a bit of Stoke perspective on Saturday's game.. Since O'Neill took over he's been ever-so-gradually turning things round after the disastrous Rowett and Nathan Jones experiments. We were rock bottom and eight points from safety when he took over at about this time two years ago and saved us from potential oblivion, so has an awful lot of credit in the bank. The way he's brought young players like Tymon, Souttar and Ty Campbell through to be key first-teamers is a particular highlight, although the jury's still out on his signings record. We were in desperate need of a defensive mid in the last window and he decided it was unnecessary, which means we have a slightly ragged band of talented but flaky bodies in the middle. Expectations flourish quickly in football and last season, while offering solidity and tantalising glimpses of the team we could be, ended up being underwhelming overall, never really looking like worrying the playoffs and finishing one spot ahead of you in 14th. This season feels like another step up and we find ourselves in a good position to secure a spot in the top six - I think most of us would be very disappointed if we didn't. As well as our similar league position we've also had very similar recent form, so it should be a close game. In fact our last two fixtures are exactly the same - Posh at home and Bristol C away - from which you've come away with a slightly better record, getting four points to our three. Last night's defeat to Brizzle was one of those games for us, we played pretty well, dominated possession and had about five or six excellent chances but just couldn't put it away. Conversely at home against Peterborough we were bloody awful but came away with a 2-0 win. The main issue for us is injuries and suspensions.. we've had two late red cards in the last two games so Joe Allen will miss Saturday's game (ordinarily this would be a good thing for us but we're so thin on the ground we need bodies in there), meanwhile our best goalie is injured along with Powell and Souttar, probably our two best players, while Campbell is still on the comeback trail. Might start, might not. Bit hard to pick a lineup before press conference news but it will probably be something like Davies Ostigard Batth Chester Smith Sawyers Vrancic Tymon (or Thompson or Clucas depending on who's fit) Doughty Brown Fletcher I'd rather see Campbell starting up top and Ben Wilmot in place of Chester. Apart from BBD I don't know a great deal about your team other than remembering Dack running the show against us last season (I think? Or the one before). I noticed he wasn't in the squad last night.. How has Pickering been doing? He was always one we kept tabs on at Crewe, seemed a stand-out young player. Anyway I hear you're bringing 2k or so so should be a decent fiery atmosphere. I think it'll be a good battle but I'm not too confident with our frail midfield and the injuries we've got (and your on-fire Chileno.. if he gets at creaky Chester we'll be in trouble). Enjoy the day if you're going, all the best.. see you in the playoffs in May 😉

Nice finish. That rifled near post shot seems a bit of a signature goal for him

As in "t'owrate duck, ast thee ad thy eowtkeeks yet this meowneen?" PM for private dialect lessons, good rates

That’s the place. I’ll not argue with your summary either 😄

Maybe “thick” was the wrong word but considering it’s her second language it’s still totally recognisable as Stoke (in words like “received” and “open arms” and “eet”. Actually more or less everything really).

Rather marvellously, his Chilean mum speaks with quite a thick, instantly recognisable Stoke accent. Love eet duck

I think she was about sixteen when her family moved to UK. But yes, she wants a bloody roasting for not speaking Spanish to her kids as they were growing up. I’d be pretty pissed off with her for that if I was Ben.

Wrong end of the stick mate

Christ I didn’t realise he came on for you lot yesterday. That’s pretty bloody impressive having played 90 mins in Chile at 3am Friday UK time. I’ve done that trip innumerable times and I would not be in condition to play a football match within a few hours of arriving…!

You should only need a VPN if you’re in the UK, the majority of games are available to overseas subscribers on iFollow or the club service.

Yeah my team Stoke is on there too because we have our own “service”, although in actual fact I believe it’s basically the iFollow feed contracted out through the clubs - as far as I know every Championship club offers this, particularly to overseas viewers. You’ll have to join up to the Rovers version.

Someone hook a brother up, you lot must have iFollow or something similar?

Probably be a good match in terms of football style/culture/approach as well. Mind you I can warn him he could learn to speak like a native in Castilian Spanish, he's still going to struggle when he gets to Chile 😃

I think the only thing on that list Surridge hasn't been criticised for this season is positioning. He was getting slated on our board for diving for a penno a couple of games ago 😀

S/he's being facetious, his name is Surridge without the T. Weirdly a T has appeared in my post even though I didn't put one in the original 😕 Crossing fingers for Campbell, he's been steady in the 23s so far. Will really make the difference for us if he can quickly get back to form and fitness.

Both can be true. It was a good finish but the goalie probably should have stood up better, which is what the poster you quoted was saying

If you completely ignore the last few months maybe. We have three forwards at Stoke I’d play ahead of Surridge at the moment - Brero would probably be starting for any team in the division in the form he’s in..

I’d say the vast majority of the credit has to go to Mr. BD himself

I think Tyrese Campbell is better but he’s coming back from the sort of long injury that can really fuck over a young player’s career. You’d be daft to consider swapping Ben at the moment. Jury’s still out on Surridge, he’s been ok but missed a few good chances too. Not a starter at the moment for me.

And he’s scored again Another good near-post finish for the third in a 3-0 vs Venezuela. Puts Chile back in with a fighting chance with other results going their way too.

There was an audible “our ball!!” picked up just now by the mics in Chile-Venezuela, which made me chuckle.. Chile winning 2-0 with two easy headers from set pieces, Ben not done much of note apart from get caught offside and be a bit too armsy and kneesy for the ref

We'll do you a swap with Sam Surridge