IT’S A CASE OF MIND OVER MATTER FOR POTTERS BOSS
MICHAEL O’neill wants to use the time left this season to nurture Stoke City’s winning mentality even if that isn’t enough to get into the top six.
Stoke, in 10th, head to ninthplaced Middlesbrough today sitting 10 points outside the Championship play-offs with 11 games left.
It has been a season when they haven’t been able to string together enough wins to really challenge and O’neill said: “We know roughly how many points we would need to get to get towards the top six. It’s going to be 70-plus points, which will require us to achieve two points or more from the remaining fixtures we have. “The biggest frustration when
I look at the league is that we haven’t put enough winning runs on the board. That’s what we want to try to put in place in these remaining fixtures.”
Stoke are looking to complete back-to-back wins for the fourth time this term but haven’t made it three on the spin since 2016. O’neill is looking to improve in all departments to help put that right. He said: “Given the number of clean sheets, the disappointment is more that we haven’t won more of those games. If you look at five or six of those draws, they could quite easily have been five or six wins with a bit of quality.
“You are always striving to improve in the final third of the pitch. That’s where you’re consistently trying to improve.
“The teams who are above us have either got someone who has scored a significant number of goals like Ivan Toney or Joao at Reading, as examples of that, or they’ve conceded fewer, which has been Swansea’s model of being in the top six. They haven’t had a prolific scorer, goals have been shared between Ayew and Lowe. “We want to add to the goals we have and make sure we’re as tight as we can be at the back. That’s the recipe for being a really strong team.”
1
Why was a lane between Sutherland Road and Commerce Street, in Longton, known as Handcuff Alley?
2
Nearly 40 players turned out during a benefit match at Vale Park in 1964 for two Port Vale stalwarts, one of whom was Roy Sproson. Who was the other?
3
Why did a visit by Gustav Hamel in 1913 attract huge crowds at Longton and Stone?
4
In which manor house in South Cheshire is there claimed to be a ghost known as the Grey Lady?
5
Why did the death of King George V in January, 1936 avert a potential catastrophe at a Burslem cinema?
6
Which former North Staffordshire politician acquired the nickname Hammer of the Left?
7
Which Staffordshire hamlet was the birthplace of an Archbishop of Canterbury?
8
A miner from Silverdale became Australia’s Prime Minister. What was his name?
9
Who were Stoke City’s opponents in 1955 when it took five matches to decide a cup-tie?
10
Which celebrated American author visited the Nicholson Institute at Leek in 1899?
ANSWERS
1
Handcuff Alley in Longton was so called because it led from the police station to the courthouse.
2
A benefit match was staged at Vale Park in 1964 for longserving Port Vale players Roy Sproson and Selwyn Whalley.
3
Gustav Hamel attracted huge crowds at Stone and Longton in 1913 as an early aviator flying a 50hp Bleriot monoplane.
4
A ghost known as the Grey Lady is claimed to haunt Little Moreton Hall, near Congleton.
5
In January, 1936 heavy snow caused a roof collapse at the old Palace Cinema, Burslem, which fortunately was closed following the death of King George V.
6
The former North Staffordshire politician known as Hammer of the Left was the Newcastle MP John Golding.
7
The Staffordshire hamlet of Stanton, near Alton, was the birthplace of Gilbert Sheldon, who became Archbishop of Canterbury.
8
The ex-silverdale miner who became Prime Minister of Australia was Sir Joseph Cook.
9
Stoke City’s opponents in an FA cup-tie in 1955 that ran to five matches were Bury.
10
The American author was Mark Twain.
I FOUND it interesting to read the letter by Alan Ibbs (TWWW, February 13), with a photograph of Paper Sun.
Some years ago, I was living in Chesterton and spent Sunday evenings in the lounge bar at The Black Horse.
I was in the same quiz team as Paper Son’s former bass guitarist Alan Bennett.
Alan’s fame had spread to Adelaide in South Australia.
On my annual visit to meet friends and relatives, I overheard a conversation between a group of Australians on the next table in a bar restaurant, one of them using the word ‘cook’ not ‘cuck’.
I asked him if he was a Stokie? He claimed not, saying he was originally from Alsager.
He had been a salesman for conveyor belts, spending hours at a brickworks in Chesterton with buyer
Alan Bennett, who was a ‘most awkward bloke’ and he had never got an order.
I realised it was approximately midday in Chesterton. I called the Apedale Heritage Centre and the phone was answered by Alan.
I told him I was in a bar, talking to a man who knew him and I handed my phone to the Australian. They spoke to each other for a while and are now the best of friends.
So, if any of those ladies who danced around their handbags at the front of the stage in the 1960s/1970s, wish to meet Alan, they now know where to find him and he still looks the same!
LES MASON BURSLEM
Do you remember seeing bands of yesteryear? Let us know your memories at waywewere@ thesentinel.co.uk
PORT Vale are considering moving training away from their base at Vale Park as part of a review by director of football David Flitcroft. The Vale currently train on their own pitches, behind the Bycars End, but Flitcroft, pictured, said a possible move is something he is looking at.
Speaking at Thursday’s fans’ forum he said: “We are in discussions whether we look at a new training ground, to implement changes to a new training ground off site.
“Is it a different environment where players are training at an elite training campus...so it is different to coming to the club every day so matchdays feel special.
“We have had those initial discussions and they are ongoing.”
Manager Darrell Clarke praised the current facilities, but said he does want matchdays to feel different next season.
He added: “I suppose it is all about improving as much as we possibly can. I don’t think the facilities are bad if I am honest with you. We have two pitches at the side of the stadium.
“I would say it’s not always great training at your actual stadium if that makes sense, being at the stadium on a consistent basis. There are different reasons for that. The training ground is the players’ sanctuary.
“From the start of next season… I like my players in a collar and tie and suit, smart. I think it is an occasion when you come home. You have the fans in. But if you are coming into the building every single day…
“There are different ways we can look for that. In a perfect world we would get our own training ground base which is like an elite academy so to speak. That takes time and takes a lot of finances, or we work with what we have got and try to make the best of what we have got because the facilities are decent.
“I think it is a case of how can we do that, how can we do it if we are training at the stadium every day? How can we make matchday that little bit different? There are different ways and circumstances.
“That won’t necessarily be this season but it certainly will be next season. We are trying to improve as much as we possibly can and change things around but also having those class facilities which enables a manager to be able to coach and get the facilities spot on.”
Meanwhile, Vale are also investigating why they have had a number of muscle injuries this season.
Clarke said, as part of that investigation, he would have liked more data about what happened before the start of the season.
He said: “The lads had five months off didn’t they? So they had five months off with a four-week pre-season plan. So, my information is…what did they do in that five months? I can’t find any data on it. Why not?
“My lads at other football clubs, I had data monitored on stuff like that. That is the way I work. With some players, if they take an inch, they will take a mile, then there are your honest pros who will do everything absolutely right.
“But it is not always about not doing enough. They have maybe been doing too much in that five months.
“Have they been doing too much road running? I think it goes back a long way. Would that be part of the problem? Yes, I think it possibly is. Would there be other factors within that? Yes, I will give you another one, we have had one reserve game this season. We have got a squad of 30 players. How does that happen?
“I know we have had problems with Covid but for me players need match fitness surely, even if they are not in the team.
“So, we have a game arranged for next Monday, the 22nd , a game against Hereford. So, I think there is a mixture of things of why, without pointing the finger anywhere, that players have had so many muscular injuries.
“If we had nine or ten contact injuries, like Popey’s arm, we can’t do a lot about that.
“But we are not talking about any contact injuries, we are actually talking about muscles and there are a lot of things that go into that, why we have had so many.”