CITY’S POTTERMOUTH BACK FOR GRUELLING CHALLENGE AND Q&A
NICK Thorley is better known to Stoke City fans by his voice.
Or rather, the voice he put on to play the part of Pottermouth, the radio phone-in regular whose battle cry as nerves grew towards the end of the 2007/08 promotion season captured the mood of the club and city.
Nick’s story in itself is pretty inspirational.
He is a completely blind charity worker who this month is running a 120-mile ultra marathon over two days to raise money to promote peace.
He will also be at the Guild Hall, Cheadle, tomorrow (7.30pm) with Radio Stoke presenter and partner-incrime John Acres.
The duo will host a Q&A and talk about the origins of Pottermouth and the poem that went viral – and how the words behind it ended up being framed in Tony Pulis’ toilet. Nick, originally from Lower Tean, will also talk about the challenges of being a blind ultra marathon runner.
Entry is free and donations
will go to the peace-building charity Cord, where Nick is fundraising manager.
“This autumn I’m doing my part, personally, to raise some money for the great work we do,” said Nick.
“I’m going to be getting
sponsored to run my furthest two day ultra-marathon to date – 120 miles. As part of my fundraising activity I’m looking for opportunities to speak at events – rotary clubs, after-dinner slots, churches – just about anywhere that would have me! As long as they’ll pay for my train ticket and offer a donation towards my fundraising target I’ll come along. I’m also obviously available to join any online events.”
The story of Pottermouth’s battle cry has gone down as one of the most iconic few minutes of broadcasting in the 53 years that BBC Radio Stoke has been on the air.
But it was as unexpected as it was a hit as Stoke City fought for promotion to the Premier League.
Presenter John Acres had been building a rapport with the mystery caller for the previous few months but nothing had hinted about that message left on the Praise and Grumble answer machine with four games remaining in the season.
John, right, said: “I reckon I heard it for the first time at about 5 o’clock (before the 6pm show) and I remember sitting in the studio on my own smiling and feeling a little bit emotional and thinking that we’d perhaps got something a bit special.
“It was unexpected. Up to that point Pottermouth had been leaving messages like ‘Peter Coates should sell Coates’s coats in the club shop to make money for the club. I would buy a coat for my club, John.’ All of a sudden there was this different side to him.
“He’d asked to put some music behind it and had I Vow To Thee My Country in the system already from a trail we’d done earlier in the season. I hoped it would fit and Rob Howell, who has put together the documentary, was able to put it underneath.
“It was in the era just before social media really took off so there was no Twitter to gauge reaction. Instead I had Ian from Scholar Green and Andy in his bumper truck lined up on the phones and for once Ian was speechless and it was probably the first time he wasn’t grumbling!”
It might have been just before social media became omnipresent but the battle cry was starting to go viral.
Acres, who now co-presents Radio Stoke’s breakfast show, said “We got a rush of texts in the final five minutes but it was the following morning we realised it had made a big reaction.
“That night after the Coventry game a fan had put it on Youtube and it kept spiralling.” Stoke won three and drew one of their final games to seal promotion and end that 23year exile from the top flight.
Tony Pulis’ wife Deb had the lyrics framed and it now hangs in his home office. But why did it work?
“It was the right man in the right place at the right time,” said Acres.
“He captured that moment when Stoke were a bit wobbly and stuck just the right chord.
“Perhaps in Stoke we have a habit of talking ourselves down but here was someone talking with such passion and pride about the big and small things in all our lives – from Josiah Wedgwood to Mark Stein and Limekiln Bank. Emotions were running high at that point of the season and this struck people right in the chest. It was a surge of belief that, yes we can do this.
“Ricardo Fuller told us for the documentary that it gave the players that extra little push they needed to get over the line and Mama Sidibe said this was the time when they realised they were doing it for the city, for the fans around the world. That meant a lot.”