Mushy Peas and Gravy  takes a look at what the rest of the season has in store for SCFC!

The table currently looks like this…

Stoke are guaranteed the play-off no matter what happens. 4 points from the last two games against Colchester away (24th and lost 5-1 at home to Coventry last weekend) and Leicester (20th and still in trouble)

Hull face Crystal Palace at home (6th and not lost since end of February) and Ipswich away (7th and best home record in the league)

Bristol City have got tough games at Sheffield United away (8th and beat Hull 2-0 with ten men) and Preston at home (15th and in great form second half of season.

I think West Brom will win the league as they only need 4 points against Southampton (22nd and in real trouble) and QPR (14th the revival has faltered a little).

Stoke will finish second, Hull third, Watford fourth, Crystal Palace a suprise fifth and Bristol City sixth.

In the play-offs Hull will beat Bristol City and Crystal Palace will just see off Watford. The play-off final will see Hull and Palace fight it out….either one could go up!

More importantly though, Stoke will finish second and get promoted!

Cristiano Ronaldo…who is he?!

He left a message on the Praise and Grumble line, a poem for Stoke.

It’s been on BBC Radio Stoke, it’s been on Midlands Today and yesterday it was played at the Britannia (albeit too loud and distorted)

Here it is….

There’s going to be a massive atmosphere, something that is giving me goosebumps even as I type this!

It’s a must win game, in my opinion if we win then the thought of automatic promotion is back on; a loss and then it’s likely to be a long hard sturggle through the play-offs.

We also need to hope for other results to go our way. West Brom and Hull both have difficult away matches this afternoon. Lets hope that Sheffield United, who are only 5 points off the play-offs can provide more than a match than their fellow Yorkshiremen Barnsley did in midweek. James Beattie is on top form at the moment, he’s showing he is of Premiership quality and if he has a good game then Hull could be in trouble (as a side point, if we do go up then perhaps a look at James Beattie?).

West Brom are at Norwich, who after a dreadful start to the season have climbed to midtable mediocrity. Lets hope that they can cause an upset today!

Get to the Britannia and get behind the mighty potters!!!!!!!!

Mushy Peas and Gravy  looks as why this has happened.

Gallagher was the star of Stoke when he was last at the Britannia in 2005/6. Now he can’t get a game and has fallen out with Tony Pulis.

Gallagher confronted Pulis about why he wasn’t getting a game I don’t think that Pulis would have taken kindly to it.

Pulis told BBC Radio Stoke “He hasn’t done as well as the other players. I didn’t see him the first time around.”He hasn’t done as well as the other players. I didn’t see him the first time around.

“Last time he was here the club was going nowhere so he was probably the top player here. There are good players as this football club now.”

Gallagher is currently playing reserve team football and probably won’t play for Stoke again…shame he showed some promise

There are some people though who follow Stoke week on week. The Sentinel and BBC Radio Stoke both follow Stoke in great detail. Mushy Peas and Gravy  has been looking at the good, that bad and the ugly.

BBC Radio Stoke

John Acres

BBC Radio Stoke’s chief sports man. You’ll hear him reading the sports news everyday on BBC Radio Stoke. He also does Praise and Grumble on a Friday at 6pm. Match-day coverage at Stoke, Acres will be there fronting it.

Originally from Plymouth in Devon, Acres is an adopted Stoke. He’s been at Radio Stoke for over 5 years since starting his career at BBC Radio Devon.

Fair play to him, he seems to be fairly passionate. Who am I to criticise a southerner coming to Stoke and showing an interest. But he is not a commentator. He should leave that to Nigel Johnson. Football commentary on the radio is as much about what you don’t say as what you do say. He says far too much. Every little thing that goes on, on the pitch, Acres will tell you. ‘Pulis is standing there hands in pockets’, ‘Pulis moves around in his technical area’. We don’t need to hear your voice all the time, that’s what Dennis Smith is there to summarise for! He should take some tips from Nigel Johnson, who is a SCFC legend.

Nigel Johnson

Over 1,500 games commentating on Stoke in over 35 years. He is an institution, employed by both BBC Radio Stoke and Stoke City he is loved and adored by fans. Having started life as a headteacher at Heron Cross High School he moved to radio where he started commentating on such things as Cricket and…Port Vale!

He’s seen it all; promotions, relegation’s, takeovers, manager changes, stadium changes. Will he see a promotion this year?

His commentary style is succinct. His low stoke accent fills wherever you listen. He still is a commentator and may frustrate you because there aren’t enough score updates or he doesn’t tell you where the ball is, but still he is the voice of Stoke City.

The Sentinel

Martin Spinks

Martin Spinks is Mr Stoke City when it comes to the written press. He writes everyday about them in the Sentinel, does the match reports, and generally makes a nuisance of himself!

His close relationship with Tony Pulis makes his hard to shift and he is not best liked by many people. His gushing match reports tell you that Stoke were great, even if they weren’t. The reason for this is because if he says the wrong things then he will have his privileges taken away; such as his unnecessary tunnel pass (why can’t he just wait in the Press Room like all the other print journalists).

He has got a nice monopoly going though so he’s probably not too worried.

Poor old Jon Parkin. You make a bit impact on loan, get the dream move to a club on the up…….then have to bench warm all year before eventually being pushed out of the team all together when some new loanees come in!

It’s understandable why Jon Parkin will be off in the summer. Ever since he joined Tony Pulis has been saying that his attitude is too laid back and that football isn’t a job to him, it’s a hobby. That can’t be much of a confidence booster can it?

He’s been put on remedial duties all year. Such as being sent with Russell Hoult to BBC Radio Stoke to have his legs waxed for charity!

Possibly the final nail in his coffin was his misses on live BBC TV in FA Cup third round against Newcastle. Two chances he had to make himself a hero, yet he didn’t!

The Austin Aztec are a Texas based franchise (if i kept using brackets thats all you’ll see, so read the glossary at the bottom!) bought by SCFC director Phil Rawlins. Mushy Peas and Gravy went along to the reasonably well attended evening at the Britannia to see what the link will mean for Stoke.

Now you have watched that here is a glossary of terms that the Yanks use when talking about socc….I mean football.

Soccer – Quite simply, the Americans already had a game they call Football by the time Association Football reached the US so they called it Soccer.

Franchise – How US teams are referred to. They cost between $25,000 – $350,000 (£12,500 – £175,000) to buy. Buyers have to guarantee operating budgets of up to $1,500,000 (£750,000) a year for the franchise. For their money, they get support from the league on such areas such as media and branding. Most importantly though, they own the right to build the only USL team with a large geographical area.

USL – In it’s third decade of operation, the USL stretches throughout the US, Canada and even into the Caribbean. Whereas the MLS (Major Soccer League) is all about big business and having the best, well-known players. The USL is much more about nurturing home-grown talent from the region. There are leagues for both Men and Women, Boys and Girls. It’s ever expanding and in a few years could rival the MLS.