Stoke should fly says Paul

PAUL LAMBERT returns to Stoke today and says he is surprised they are not higher in the table.

Lambert, below, was fired by the Potters in May after failing to keep them in the Premier League.

Now he has another tough challenge at Ipswich, who are at the foot of the Championship and already seven points adrift with one win in 20 league games.

Stoke are

12th and Lambert expected successor Gary Rowett’s side to be doing better.

He said: “The club did well to keep a lot of the lads who played in the Premier League. The squad they’ve got, how strong it is, maybe at this moment in time should be higher. They invested the way they did and they were always my tips to go up. Stoke still might get in that top two but they probably thought they’d be up there already.”

Lambert had only two wins and seven draws in 16 Premier League games at Stoke but he expects a decent reception on his return.

He said: “The crowd saw we gave everything and I don’t think anyone will close the door on us and say we never gave it a go. We came in at a really hard time and we drew too many games. That was the bottom line.”