DavidBeckham

Into the Final Stretch Things stayed very much the same as we completed our games in March. Sky Bet Championship Unfortunately, Fulham overtook us at the top and they are now on 86 points, 1 point ahead of us with seven games to go. On the bright side, we managed to extend the gap between ourselves and Bournemouth in third. Premier League is within reach! We are on a 9-game unbeaten run but too many draws meant the more consistent Fulham outfit overtook us at the top. If we want the title, we need to win more games in the final stretch as Fulham rarely drop points. FA Cup The squad players failed to impress in the FA Cup as we crashed out in the fourth round against Ipswich at the bet365 Stadium. It is highly unlikely that the second stringers will dislodge the 1st eleven in the remaining run of games. Star Performer Josh's performances improved considerably as the season went on and he is now playing at such a high level that he is in with a shout of bagging the Player of the Year award. The Englishman has been such a creative outlet at left-back, creating 9 and scoring 3 in 28 starts in a very productive campaign so far. If we somehow manage to pip Fulham to the title, Rory will be very disappointed if the young left-back doesn't sweep the end of the season awards.

Decent start to the season! You should definitely stay at Grimsby and bring them all the way to the top!

If you keep up the December form you should be able to stay up! Keep up the good work mate!

Good choice mate! I don't think the Spurs fans will be too pleased with Lee going to manage their rivals too! Wait for the Spurs job!

Yes mate! The football has moved on considerably from the Pulis' Era and we have been on the right side of the results! So far so good! Thanks mate! Lovely to hear that from a big Stoke fan like you! We have exchanged places with Fulham so much throughout the season and we will certainly do our best to finish in the right position at the end! Great seeing you mate! It has been too long! And yes, the gap has made the save very stress-free so far

Midway Point The fans are very happy with the first half of our campaign \o/ Sky Bet Championship Things are really tight between ourselves and Fulham, but Rory is just happy that there is some breathing space from 3rd-placed Bournemouth in a very frantic season so far. The top two sides are only separated by goals conceded and we face a very tall task trying to finish ahead of the Cottagers as they have a better squad than ours. The boys were so consistent in our 8-eight winning run before a slight blip towards the end of November. Hopefully, the two wins in mid-December will kickstart another good run of results in a very busy period. Carabao Cup The second stringers continued to perform admirably in the Carabao Cup but an excellent Liverpool outfit was far too strong for us as we were beaten 3-5 in a goal-filled quarter final! Player of the Half-Season The biggest surprise of the season so far had to be the level of performances from Hal Robson-Kanu. Rory deployed HRK in the inside forward role down our right wing and he has been cutting in and smashing balls into the goal like peak-Arjen Robben. He also has terrific timing arriving in the box to nod crosses in from our left-sided players. We are all hoping that he can keep up his goal-scoring ratio as we need all the help we can get to keep up with a very strong Fulham side.

Unfortunately no! I've been pestering the board for the senior affiliate but they have rejected me on every occasion! Thankfully, Elanga, White and Caicedo were all available on free loans and we snapped them up without any hesitation!

Tough draws there but I'm confident that you will overcome Porto! KUTGW mate!

He has been solid with 2 assists and 2 goals in 6 starts! However, he tends to get anxious or apprehensive during games and I believe it is due to his low determination. Can't complain much though as we are not paying anything for him!

No player is bigger than the club. The money is more than enough to get in a replacement! Agree with what you did!

Congrats on the title win! Fantastic work

Solid Start Rory has had a solid start to his tenure at the bet365 Stadium. After ten games, the Potters sits second on 21 points, two points behind leaders Fulham and we are just ahead of Bristol City and Nottingham Forest on goal difference. Things have been really tight at the top of the league and I can't help but think that this will continue throughout the campaign. We began with a bang against Reading but things got rough as we suffered a three-game winless run. Rory wasn't too worried though, as the level of performances were encouraging. As the boys began to gel, results improved and we are now unbeaten in six in the league. Carabao Cup We managed to progress past three opponents in the Carabao Cup playing our second string and a tough Nottingham Forest outfit awaits us in the fourth round. Deadline Day With no money left in the bank, we somehow managed to bring in three players on loan for absolutely no money on deadline day. Anthony Elanga is the best of the lot and his incredible speed and flair meant he will go straight into our starting 11 in the left wing spot. What a steal this is! Harvey White came in to further strengthen our central midfield, and it is a position where we suffered a couple of injuries early on. He will get most of his game time in the cup games. The last deadline day signing is another very exciting one, and we were all surprised that Brighton allowed a player of Moises Caicedo's quality to come in on loan for no money. Our midfield has enough quality but lacks mobility, and Moises is the perfect addition to complete our transfer businesses! It was good to hear some nice words from a certain legend at the club.. ..but our football is very different from how he played his

Sorry mate! I'm sure he's much better in real life but his acceleration of 7 and the decision to play with a high line meant we had to off-load him We needed money to strengthen the squad as well!

To be honest, I haven't had the chance to use it much but based on past experience, it works well against formations with 3 at the back and 2 up top! The instructions are the default ones of the vertical tiki-taka style and I believe the underlap instructions force the players to work the channels. I also realised it is important to have left-footed strikers in the STCL spot and vice-versa as they are vital in providing additional width.

Let's hope that the big 3 continue to falter and you can storm your way to the title! KUTGW mate!

No worries mate, enjoy ur holidays and have a good break!

Great to have you here mate! I'm not too sure about that though as I'm sure the journey to the Champions League will take a few years! I use the 4-3-3 for the majority of our games but there are times when we may switch to this against 5-at-the-back formations. I also use this to close out away/neutral ground games if we are a goal up with ten minutes to go!

Start of a new Era Stoke City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke Football Club in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke-on-Trent was granted city status. It was one of the twelve founding members of the Football League in 1888. They won their first and only major trophy to date, the League Cup, in 1972, when they beat Chelsea 2–1. Their highest league finish in the top division is fourth, in the 1935–36 and 1946–47 seasons. They played in the FA Cup Final in 2011, finishing runners-up to Manchester City; and reached FA Cup semi-finals in 1899, 1971 and 1972. They competed in European football in 1972–73, 1974–75 and 2011–12. They won the Football League Trophy in 1992 and in 2000. Stoke's home ground is the 30,089 all-seater, bet365 Stadium. Before it was opened in 1997, the club was based at the Victoria Ground, which was their home ground since 1878. The club's nickname is The Potters, after the pottery industry in Stoke-on-Trent, and their traditional home kit is a red-and-white vertically striped shirt, white shorts and stockings. Their traditional rivals are Midlands clubs West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers, whilst their local rivals are Port Vale with whom they contest the Potteries derby. Following their relegation to the Championship in 2018, Lambert was replaced with former Derby County boss Gary Rowett. Despite spending nearly £50 million on players in the summer transfer window, results and performances were poor and Rowett was subsequently sacked on 8 January 2019 with the team 14th in the table. He was replaced with Luton Town boss Nathan Jones. Stoke went on to end an uneventful 2018–19 season in 16th place with a record number of draws (22). After achieving just 2 wins in the opening 14 games of the following season, Jones was sacked on 1 November 2019 with the team in the relegation zone. Northern Ireland boss Michael O'Neill was confirmed as his replacement a week later. Results improved under O'Neill and the team managed to avoid relegation, finishing in 15th. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the entire 2020–21 campaign was played without supporters present as Stoke again finished in mid-table. Transfers Out With negligible transfer funds provided by the board, Rory initiated a major clear-out and let 17 players whom he didn't plan to utilise in the upcoming campaign go in a very busy summer. Transfers In As for transfers in, nothing much could be done as the squad already had 6 players on loan and the limit for match day squads is 5. Rory is also relatively confident that most of the current players can compete at this level. Hal Robson-Kanu Henri Saivet Two experienced campaigners were brought in on frees to strengthen the wide areas. Harry Toffolo We also needed cover at left-back and Harry was Rory's choice in the only deal which involved a transfer fee. Rwan Fabrice Muamba also recommended one relatively unknown striker from Brazil and he was brought in on a cheap loan deal Perhaps disappointing a couple, Rory will be playing his football on the ground in a 4-3-3 Vertical Tiki-Taka formation. Let's hope he doesn't have to turn to long throws to grind out results in the upcoming season! And with that, the new era begins..

Peter Coates was Stoke's Chairperson when Tony was in charge! His son, John Coates, has since taken over the reins and it seems like the father and son have very different visions on how football should be played Peter is still a director though!

Definitely mate! A new chapter begins at long throw city!

Alberto Gomes is going to be excellent for you! Already looking really good and he's only 18 another regular season of football at his old club will definitely take his game to the next level.

Great to hear mate! Looking forward to the next update!

The aim is to take Stoke as far as possible. Hopefully we can reach the very top before FM23! Rory's reply on long throws before he went into management! It will be dependent on the personnel he can put together When you move into management, will throw-ins be a valuable piece of your attacking weaponry? RD: I think it's an important part of the game. On average, you get between 20-25 throw-ins a game. I'm not going to be out there for hours teaching them how to throw it long, but you've got to give them a bit of information and work through routines of how to retain possession. If somebody's got a long throw-in, it would be daft not to utilize that if you've got strength and height in your team, but I'm not going to base my managerial career on trying to find someone who can throw a ball. Cheers mate! Unfortunately, it will be quite challenging to go full Tony Pulis as the board expects us to play possession and attacking football. I'm pretty sure Rory's Stoke will play on the ground more!

Stoke hire club icon as new manager Championship strugglers Stoke announced club icon Rory Delap as their new manager on a two-year contract on Monday. Stoke City have officially appointed Rory Delap as the club's new manager, reports Mundial. He replaces Michael O'Neill, whose stint with the Potters ended after twenty months. Rory John Delap started his playing career at Carlisle United and impressed enough to earn a move to Premiership side Derby County in 1998. In 2001, Delap joined Southampton for a club record of £4 million. After spending five years on the south coast, he moved to Sunderland. Following a brief spell on Wearside, Delap was loaned to Stoke City in October 2006. In just his second match for Stoke, against his parent club Sunderland, Delap suffered a broken leg. Despite this, Delap signed a permanent contract for Stoke in January 2007. He went on to become a vital member of the squad and his long throw-ins helped Stoke gain promotion to the Premier League and consolidate in the league. After spending six seasons at Stoke, Delap had short spells with Barnsley and Burton Albion before retiring in December 2013. A midfielder by trade, he was renowned for his long throw-in ability. Between the touchlines, he was famed for his fitness and work rate, which gave him a valuable role in breaking up opposition play. Delap was a talented javelin thrower in his youth, and was touted to represent Ireland in the Olympics after his throw-ins shot to prominence following Stoke's promotion to the Premier League. After finishing his playing career, Delap returned to his former club Derby County where he began his coaching career. After coaching the club's under-18 team, he replaced Darren Wassall as the under-21 head coach in February 2016, winning the U21 Premier League 1 Division 2 title in his first season in charge. Despite the lack of first-team coaching experience, Stoke clearly believes he is the right man for the job. Rory Delap said: “I’m excited to be making my first move into management with a club with such huge tradition and history. “I have spent considerable time discussing the role and the club’s objectives with the Chairman John Coates and the board. We want to improve on the club’s recent finishes in the Championship, while at the same time bringing through some of the academy graduates we have at the club. This is my first job as a first-team manager but I’ve been working towards this for a long time. I’ve worked closely with some of the best coaches in the game and I’m confident in my own abilities and those of the team around me. “I know it won’t be easy – managing a football team never is – but I’m here to work hard. I’m really looking forward to getting started and to the challenge ahead." Game Status Current Version: 22.4.1+1662587 (m.e v22.4.0.0) Database Size: Large Selected Nations (Leagues) England (Sky Bet Championship And Above) France (Ligue 1 Uber Eats Only) Germany (Bundesliga Only) Italy (Serie A Only) Spain (First Division Only) ..but can he do it on a cold rainy night in Stoke?

Definitely mate, I'm on my new laptop now and thinking about new save ideas!