Stoke fan in peace...

[ORFYDUCKMAG]

Evening one and all

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond to my trespassing on your territory.

It was obviously a bit of a stupid/ brave risk venturing on here  asking about your perceptions of all things Stoke City.

I’ve seen the whole range of tones/ comments haven’t I?!

Nothing has really surprised me in terms of positives or negatives. Given the Pulis years/ our recent political trends/ the caper of a section of our support over the years... I knew what was coming. We are divisive club in the sense that folk seem either charmed by us (plenty of begrudgingly respect) or else we are downright despised! Believe me, we are as divided in house – getting our fanbase to reach a consensus on anything from Brexit to Pulis is impossible. There are plenty of lefty football purists who buy our mag at least!

As with any city/ club though, there’s more to it than meets the eye: generalisations were always going to crop up. That's the nature of what we do isn't it?

I also expected a lot of love for our old ground compared to our new place. What I would give to go back and stand once more on that old Boothen End terrace at The Victoria Ground.

What was heartwarming was the depth of knowledge and rich memories that football fans hold onto. I love the obscure links we have between our cities/ towns/ clubs through mates/ family jobs etc.

I sent out these 5 questions to fans of over 20 clubs. So far, it seems that fans of Wolves/ Everton/ Sunderland/ Liverpool/ West Ham/ PNE/ Oldham and Man City have responded in enough detail to warrant an individual article in the fanzine. I didn’t bother with Crewe, Vale or Arsenal for obvious reasons. One foaming Gooner did hijack the Liverpool to forum to have a pop though – him doing that made me feel like less of a sad b****** for what I was doing on there!

Whenever matchdays return to our lives, I will get cracking on some of these, publish them and then post them onto the respective forums.

I will have one more check in a few days in case any late contributions have surfaced. Cheers to moderators for allowing this as well.

Whether you were dismissive/ funny/ bitter/ knowledgeable/ brutal or complimentary – thanks very much for your time. Some wonderful stories emerged out of this – it made me realise how much we all have in common (every club seems to have a similar cross-section of folk).

Best wishes

@ORFYDUCKMAG

[cdbearsfan]

👍🏿

Good luck with the article.

[SoccerHQ]

Now answer our questions:

Were you a raver at Shelleys laserdome?

Have you ever had tea in Keele SU with Neil Baldwin?

Do you know the African car reverser?

[tony scott]

I’ll give it a go 1 No to far away in North Staffs 2 plenty of players Alan Hudson Terry Conroy Sir Stan Gordon Banks Rory Delap and lastly the Most Memorable Harry Burrows.3 The only game I really hated was 6 0 drubbing in the 1960s a lot will mention the 2: 2 at Villa but that’s with hindsight. 4 The support always been very vocal and used to see plenty of shirts North Wales  where I used to live. could create a good atmosphere at the Vic. 5 Haven't been to the Brit, stood on the Bootham a couple of times lively, great time against Everton ,after our Game had been Postponed ,due to fog against Man City and our coach dropped in on our way back from Maine road. Could see that happening today.

[ChicagoLion]

Yes Cheers ORFY

[curiousorange]

That 2-2 match, I remember at the time I'd been going through a lot of issues with my now ex-, and I was listening to it back in the box room at my folks wondering if life would ever get better.

Well, eventually I did meet somebody else and Villa did get promoted, but I think at that time it was the most bereft I've ever felt.