Captain Shawcross closing in on major milestone for club
RYAN Shawcross, selection permitting at Villa Park, should become the 10th most capped Stoke City player of all time this weekend. Last Saturday’s appearance against Ipswich drew him level with Frank Mountford ahead of what should be his 426th game for the club in all competitions this afternoon.
A Stoke player since joining initially on loan from Manchester United in August 2007, and promptly scoring the winner on debut at Cardiff, Shawcross became the proverbial port in a storm over the next 11 years.
Not that his own place in the heart of Stoke’s defence has ever been taken for granted, not least during those dark, if rare, periods when dropped from the starting 11.
Each absence, whether dropped after the first Premier League game at Bolton, or because of long lay-offs with back trouble, have been conquered with the steely resolve with which his very game has been characterised for more than a decade.
And this season, when dropped for his longest spell as a Stoke player, some six games in all, he was left defiantly cocking a deaf ear to those reaching for his obituary.
Return he did, to accumulate another half-dozen appearances ahead of this weekend’s game down the M6.
No player has better epitomised Stoke City’s DNA - and certainly not over such a long period - as the man made captain of the club way back in 2010.
And to him, therefore, fell the honour of shaking hands before the club’s first-ever FA Cup Final, its debut in the Europa League and for nearly all of those victories over his second favourite club Arsenal.
He now stands poised in this table to take his place alongside some of the club’s all-time great defenders, including three of the famous 70s back four, and could well find himself up to eighth place by the end of the current campaign.
And while top spot may remain a mirage on the horizon, reaching the grand old landmark of 500 remains well within reach given a fair wind. STOKE CITY’S TOP 10 APPEARANCES 597: Eric Skeels (1960-76) 542: John Mccue (1946-60) 511: Bob Mcgrory (1921-35) 493: Denis Smith (1968-82) 484: Alan Bloor (1961-78) 477: Peter Fox (1978-93) 473: Tony Allen (1957-69) 444: Jackie Marsh (1967-79) 436: Frank Bowyer (1948-60) 425: Frank Mountford (1946-57) /Ryan Shawcross (2007-)