Stoke & Staffordshire

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  1. A burnt-out building and car can be seen, surrounded by bushes and telegraph poles. There are two workers in high visibility jackets.

  2. A woman with blonde hair tied back in a bun is sitting on the bottom row of a three-tiered amphitheatre next to a fern. She is wearing a stone necklace, a grey long-sleeved top and grey bottoms. The amphitheatre is made of stones secured in metal cages and topped with sand-coloured paving slabs.

  3. Johnny Vegas stands in a workshop with his hands on his hips and head cocked to one side. He is standing behind a table with large brown clay models with white paint on them.

  4. A woman with her hair tied back smiles at the camera, she is wearing a pale pink T-shirt with a cardigan, and is holding her child's rucksack. Behind the wall is painted in white, blue and purple, with a presentation board on the wall to the right.

  5. Two women are sat on a bench in a park. One is obscured by the tree, she is talking to a female reporter.

  6. Two female police officers and a young boy are kneeling down. One officer has an Alsatian puppy sitting in front of her.

  7. A primary school viewed from the pavement outside. A green sign stating it is Ash Green Primary Academy and green gates and railings mark the perimeter. The school is a two-storey red brick building with playing fields to the left and cars and a mini-van parked in an area in front of it.

  8. St George's flags fly from lampposts in Highters Heath in south Birmingham Picture date Wednesday August 27, 2025.

  9. A tractor pulls a form of plow behind it across a field of short, yellow stalks.

  10. Stoke can be optimistic despite 'frustrating' loss

    Mark Elliott
    Stoke City commentator for BBC Radio Stoke

    Ben Wilmot of Stoke City competes for a header with Chris Mepham and Nat Phillips of West Bromwich Albion during the Sky Bet Championship match between Stoke City and West Bromwich Albion.Getty Images

    Mark Robins described the defeat by West Bromwich Albion as "frustrating" and it's hard to disagree.

    Stoke could have had penalty of goals. They hit the post through Divin Mubama and saw Bae Jun-ho fire wide when well placed. They probably deserved at least a point.

    It took a rare error from Viktor Johansson to gift Albion a goal and whilst they always looked a threat, it wasn't a game in which the Swedish goalkeeper was overly busy.

    The same could probably be said about his opposite number Josh Griffiths, and the biggest takeaway from this game and the first four games of the season is that games involving teams at the right end of the Championship will be tight and like this one, could go any one of three ways.

    West Brom looked like a good second tier side who are well drilled, competitive and robust. Stoke look like a good and equally competitive second tier side too.

    There will be countless close games for the Potters this season as we saw at Southampton and at home to Derby when Stoke came from behind to win.

    Even Sheffield Wednesday made a game of the contest at Hillsborough which Stoke eventually won comfortably and they were meant to be the exception given their troubles off the field.

    If Stoke can win anywhere near three out of every four matches for the rest of the season, and look as competitive as they did against the Baggies in the games they lose, it'll be a great season.

    The performance in defeat and the impeding addition to the matchday squad of new signings Tomas Rigo, Lamine Cisse and Steven Nzonzi suggests the unbeaten run may be over but optimism around the club and the fan base should very much remain.

  11. Ceramic artwork with three flying ducks at the top of a frame. Turquoise ceramic tiles are interspersed with other larger tiles with phrases or words on including tater dina, snappin, lobby, puthery, channock and buzz

  12. A firefighter in a yellow dinghy holds a met sheep to his chest. Another firefighter is in the water next to the boat holding the dingy.

  13. Tomas Rigo is introduced to Stoke fans

  14. Coventry City goalkeeper Brad Collins points during a match.

  15. Pictured is a brownish-red crayfish swimming underwater.

  16. A view of the junction on the A4061 near Great Saredon, where Saredon Road meets Wolverhampton Road in Cannock. There are road signs and road markings and lampposts and grassy verges with shrubs and trees.

  17. A black and white selfie of two teenage girls with long dark hair smiling and putting their thumbs up.

  18. A woman with short blonde hair, glasses, and a blue and purple scarf, smiles at the camera.

  19. Stoke need to keep feet on the ground - Robins

    Robins: 'The confidence is there'

    Stoke City manager Mark Robins insists "nobody is getting carried away" as they aim to maintain their 100% start to the Championship season against unbeaten West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.

    Robins made 10 changes as the Potters lost 3-0 at home to League One side Bradford City in the EFL Cup on Tuesday.

    They will be looking to bounce back against West Brom and make it four wins out of four heading into the international break.

    "The level of focus is there and it is really important," Robins told BBC Radio Stoke. "It is really key to maintain that good start that we have had, and that is all it is - nobody is getting carried away.

    "We just need to maintain that concentration and really focus on us and make sure we carry out the plan. It will be near enough a full house, which is fantastic at this stage, and those expectation levels go up alongside it.

    "It is really important that we keep our feet on the ground and understand what it takes to win football matches or put in performances that warrant winning matches, against a really good West Brom side that is under new management and that has fundamentally changed, because they have brought in a lot of really talented boys, albeit they may lose two over the next 24 hours or so."

    Stoke and Middlesbrough are the only Championship sides to win all three of their opening games, and are only separated by goal difference.

    Following their cup defeat Robins has called on the fans to "maintain their support".

    "The support have to maintain, so when things don't go as well as we hoped, just stick together and get us through that and help us over those periods because it will happen in a season.

    "It is difficult; it is not going to be 46 games where everyone is going to roll over and we will win them all. We know it is going to be tough, but also we can't put barriers there for ourselves."

    Listen to the full interview with Mark Robins and more on BBC Sounds

  20. A computer-generated image of a large building whish is brick on the lower level and green and black on the upper level. People can be seen walking around the building, some talking to each other.

  21. A woman presses the red stop button as she stands on a bus. A man can be seen standing in the background.

  22. 🎧 'Thomas looks like a proper Stoke winger'

    'If I was a winger, I'd want to play like him'

    "He looks like he has found a new home and it is really exciting. It was asked last week if he was a proper Stoke winger and it looks like it, doesn't it? He loves to take on his full-back, gets crosses into the box and makes things happen.

    "If I was winger coming through at Stoke, I would be thinking 'I want to play like him'."

    Matt Sandoz joins Pete Smith to discuss Sorba Thomas and Mark Robins' media conference ahead of their home fixture to West Bromwich Albion.

    Can Stoke go into the international break top of the Championship?

    Listen to the full episode and more on BBC Sounds.

    Listen on BBC Sounds

  23. A Google Street View image of London Mill in Ashbourne Road, Leek. The building has at least four storeys and is made of red brick. The windows are square and Edwardian in style.

  24. A bald man wearing a black Abbey Hulton United polo shirt stands next to a football pitch with a clubhouse in the background.