This Sunday we play Stoke City.....

This Sunday we play Stoke City, generally considered to be the second oldest club in football (after Notts County) ,and for many, myself included, the road map to "How to survive in the Prem without selling your soul". Perhaps I should explain myself.
I have this naive (I'm told,regularly) notion that on attaining Premiership status, as our club did at Wembley last May, as Stoke did in 2008(after a 23 yr gap-nearly as long as us ,eh?), then that club should not Mortgage it's future to attempt survival in said division. Anyone remember Southampton,Derby,Middlesbrough,West Ham- top 4 in the championship since you ask- or
Palace,Blackpool,Ipswich,Leicester,Leeds,Reading,Watford,Burnley,Portsmouth,Barnsley,Birmingham,Forest,Coventry(9th
to 21st since you ask).
And the point?
The point is at least some,if not all,of these clubs did exactly that. Mortgaged their futures that
is.Only problem,just like the Banks nationally,the house was reposessed on relegation.Which is what Banks do.

But Stoke didn't.They took the flak-long ball,pub team,disgrace to the prem,troglodyte football included- and stuck 2 fingers up to the pundits.Under their estimable manager,Tony Pulis,this is a club that did things in their own fashion.Which,I like to think,is how we might do it,albeit in a contrasting footballing fashion.

It is inarguable that when Stoke came up they were somewhat limited. Didn't make them less attractive to their fans,or less succesful if, as an opponent, you couldn't cope with their aerial bombardment and their commitment to run through brick walls for their manager. Arsenal anybody?? As a template it worked for them.It is also inarguable that in the subsequent seasons they have gotten a great deal more sophisticated.Witness the addition of
Pennant,Etherington,Crouch,Upson,Woodgate,Palacios in the last couple of seasons. Add to that the solidity given by Sorensen,Delap,Walters,Shawcross,Wilson,Fuller,Huth,Jones Whelan and Begovic(and that's just half the squad) and you can see that this will be no easy game.Still,that's what I expect in the Prem.

We have,I believe,thus far followed the Stoke model in outline. Our football,tactically and aesthetically,is very different. To succeed we're going to have to rely upon our passing ability,our retension of the ball, and to establish a tempo that ensures WE are in charge of the game. To that end, Danny Graham for Lita will aid us.

Whatever the outcome,I believe it's still essential that we follow the Stoke model in financial and administrative terms.But let's please follow the Swansea model tactically and technically.That way we both win.

So it's 3 pm on Sunday.Can we continue to play the successful,posession based game that Brendan favours before that troglodyte section of our own fans start not only muttering but actually booing some of OWN players. Some of us can remember when Mamady Sidibe played for us, and we,like Stoke, seemed to think that the long ball launched from
Center Back into the opposition's penalty box was de rigeur.