The reason that the Premier League is so engaging is because each team has something different to offer the league.
Under Tony Pulis the Potters sent us all potty, the Britannia Stadium was a fortress and the style of football was as basic as it gets. Since hiring Mark Hughes few would argue that the Welshman hasn’t been a success at the club. However, Stoke have become an average team with Hughes, they have lost their identity.
The Potters are currently languishing in 15th in the table, although they are unlucky not to be higher up the league, given the number of late goals they have conceded. Although it is no longer enough to be a decent side in the Premier League, you need to be a brand; a club must have an identity because otherwise they are just going to be making up the numbers.
Presently Stoke have very little to identify themselves as a unique team in the Premier League. Unless a club has millions and millions to spend, which Stoke don’t have, then a side needs something else to engage the neutrals.
Under Pulis Stoke had a unique brand of football that engaged fans all over the world; it gave people a reason to watch Stoke City. Of course each club has its fans and Stoke is no different, in fact their supporters are among the most passionate in the league. However this is not enough, there is a reason Stoke is often the last team to be featured on Match of the Day.
Stoke are not the only team guilty of this, there are many teams in the Premier League who you could argue are just making up the numbers, however the Potters have regressed from a team of serious intrigue, to just another Premier League team littered with foreign players and a much travelled manager.
The likes of Bojan, Affelay and Shaqiri are very exciting players, players perhaps many Stoke fans would never have believed would play for the Potters. Nonetheless there is a lack of romance around the Britannia stadium. Maybe this is what Stoke fans wanted, to mature in the Premier League, to no longer be considered as an underdog, and their latest acquisitions are certainly an indication of that.
Stoke City’s journey to the Premier League is a wonderful story, although now that they have made it and firmly established themselves, is there anymore romance left in their tale? There was something nostalgic about Tony Pulis’ era, Stoke were a throwback to an old style of English football, now they are just another Premier League team, without a realistic hope of any trophy success.
[ad_pod id=’ffc-survey’ align=’center’]
[ad_pod id=’writeforus’ align=’center’]