Stoke City

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Back in January 2023, Stoke City signed Bersant Celina from Dijon on loan for the remainder of last season, but it's fair to say that his short spell at the club didn't pan out as well as he or chiefs no doubt would have hoped.

The Potters' former attacking midfielder made just eight appearances during his time with the red and white stripes, and having failed to record a single goal or assist, he returned to his parent club over the summer.

For supporters wondering where the 27-year-old has disappeared to, he's now playing his football for Swedish outfit AIK. Celina put pen to paper there earlier this month following a successful loan period.

With three assists to his name in nine outings for his new outfit, Kosovo's international looks to have finally found the ideal place to kickstart his career after an uncertain couple of terms.

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Stoke City have confirmed the signing of Christchurch United goalkeeper Scott Morris, who has signed a contract until the end of the 2024/25 season.

The New Zealand youth international has been training at Clayton Wood for the past few weeks, with the club having offered him a professional deal after impressing members of the hierarchy on his trial.

On putting pen to paper with Steven Schumacher's side, the 22-year-old said: "It has been a long-held ambition to test myself in England, which was something I explored a couple of years ago, and it now feels like the right time and right opportunity to develop my game."

The shot-stopper further added: “My immediate goal is to adapt to the professional environment, learn from my new teammates and be the best version of myself in training every day. It’s a chance I want to grasp with both hands.”

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During Stoke City's 4-2 FA Cup defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion, Liam McCarron made his debut for the club after coming on to replace Daniel Johnson after 74 minutes.

The Potters defender first put pen to paper in the summer of 2022, but after being immediately sent out on a season-long loan to local rivals Port Vale, he hadn't made a single first-team appearance prior to the game vs the Seagulls.

Speaking to the media in a recent interview, however, Steven Schumacher revealed that the door is open for the left-back to stake his claim in the senior squad from here on in.

“When I spoke to Alex Morris last week about him, I’d recognised Liam's name because I was sure we prepared against him last season when he played for Vale against us. I recognised that, that he was involved on my squad list so said, ‘Where is he?’ and he was training with the U21s still. He hadn’t been up at all with the first team."

“So I said, ‘Explain it to me Alex,’ and he said, ‘He's quick, he's got a lovely left foot, he can get up and down the pitch and he defends ok.’ I said we had better get him in the squad then because we need a left-back who can do all those four things."

“Obviously he hasn't had many opportunities here since he was signed so I spoke to the player and said, ‘Look it’s up to you, you can train, you can impress and you can try to take your opportunity. The door isn’t shut for anyone at this club.’ So he was in the squad because we needed him and I actually thought he did really well.”

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On this day: 17 January 2009

Stoke City introduced their new signing, James Beattie, to supporters for the first time, with the striker making his debut during the 2-1 defeat to Chelsea in the Premier League.

The Potters went ahead on the hour mark courtesy of Rory Delap who latched onto a pass from the forward to chip his effort over the top of Petr Cech.

However, with just three minutes of normal time remaining, Juliano Belletti netted the equaliser with a header at the far post, before Frank Lampard's drive from the edge of the area secured all three points for Luiz Felipe Scolari's side.

Speaking during his post-match interview, Tony Pulis said: "We are desperately disappointed but you have to give credit to Chelsea. We knew we were going to have to defend. Thomas Sorensen was brilliant. He made some superb saves. When we scored we thought it might just be our day, but the lads have been smashing and I can't fault them."

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Stoke City's Wouter Burger was always confident that his new Stoke City team would click.

The Dutchman was one of 17 new signings in what was an incredibly busy summer in the Potteries.

The season started with Alex Neil in the dugout and the former Sunderland manager won four out of his first six games in charge.

However results quickly changed, a new look Stoke City team lost six times in their next eight fixtures.

The new year brought in new hope. Steven Schumacher has yet to taste defeat since replacing Alex Neil in December. The Potters undefeated in their last seven league games.

Wouter Burger joined Stoke from Swiss club Basel in pre-season, the 22-year-old believes the team is in a good place right now:

"From the start I felt the Championship was a hard competition, where we were a team new to the league and to England."

He continued, "It always takes time to get to where it should be and with us it took a little bit too much time.

"The last couple of weeks we have played better football, more attacking football and the defence is enjoying it a bit more.

"We always thought we were a team that couldn't get beaten easily, but we also have to be a team that is winning more games.

That's the next step to turn the season around into something more positive," Burger said.

"I think we are really growing as a team and it feels good to be part of."

Click here to listen to Wouter Burger speaking to BBC Radio Stoke

Stoke City's Lewis Baker says he's learning so much playing under new head coach Steven Schumacher.

The midfielder has started the last three games and has scored in each of his last two appearances.

Speaking to BBC Radio Stoke, Baker says he's happy to be playing again:

"I'm very much enjoying it, I think all the lads are really enjoying their football at the moment.

We're learning so much and you can see in our game we're expansive, we want to be on the front foot, we want to play good attacking football. We we want to be hard to beat."

Stoke City are undefeated in their last seven league games.

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On this day: 15 January 2011

Stoke City secured a 2-0 victory over Bolton Wanderers to move up to eighth in the Premier League table which saw them go level on points with their opponents.

At the end of the first half, Danny Higginbotham scrambled the ball home from a Tuncay corner, before Matthew Etherington doubled the hosts lead from the penalty spot after he was brought down by Zat Knight.

Having lost at the Britannia Stadium, as it was known at the time, Owen Coyle's side had therefore suffered five successive league defeats away from home.

Speaking during his post-match interview, Tony Pulis said: "The conditions were difficult for the players but I think there was some great football produced by both teams. The lads have gone out there, got three points and now we move on."

Fans views on midfielder Lewis Baker's form after 1-0 Rotherham win

Lewis Baker's goal helped Stoke City extend their run to seven league games without defeat. Here's what you had to say.

Marcus - Lewis Baker can score goals if he can stay fit. I think Steven Schumacher will have a selection headache with his next team going forward.

Thomas - We need to keep the run going, Stoke have missed someone like Lewis Baker. He's scored two goals in the last two games. He's a good player.

Mark - I think he has been excellent, he looks hungry and interested. A few people have said he could be on the move, but from what I've seen, Schumacher likes him and he seems happy.

'He's Premier League quality'

Former Stoke City captain Denis Smith believes midfielder Wouter Burger has got what it takes to play in the top flight of English football.

The 21-year-old has been a key player for the Potters this season and Smith says the Dutchman is thriving under new head coach Steven Schumacher:

"He looks like he's enjoying playing football and he's passionate about playing football. He's been superb,"

Burger has been a big part of Stoke's run of seven league games without defeat including Saturday's 1-0 win at Rotherham.

After another strong performance Smith told BBC Radio Stoke other clubs will be watching him:

"He put in a captain's performance again, hopefully we can hold on to him, the lad has been superb."

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Ahead of Stoke City's upcoming encounter against Rotherham United, we take a look at the opposition in more detail, and it's fair to say that they have been in disappointing form this season in the Championship.

The Millers are currently at rock bottom of the table having secured just three wins and nine draws since the start of the campaign, with 14 defeats from 26 games meaning that they have struggled to pick up points on a regular basis.

The South Yorkshire outfit's worst result came in the form of a 5-0 loss to Watford back in November, but they certainly can't be considered pushovers having beaten the likes of Middlesbrough, Coventry and Norwich.

In terms of key players to watch, Potters fans will be no stranger to Sam Clucas, with the club's former central midfielder having joined as a free agent over the summer following his departure from the Bet365 Stadium.

Leam Richardson's familiar arrival has made an impressive start to life with his new team where his volley against Sunderland has been nominated for the December Goal of the Month award, so he could be one to keep a close eye on.

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Stoke City have been handed a boost after learning that Mehdi Leris is fully fit for tomorrow's trip to face Rotherham United in the Championship.

Delivering an update during his pre-match press conference on Thursday, Steven Schumacher said: "He’s fine, he’s ok. He has followed all the protocol he needed to follow and has had an assessment this morning with the doctors and he’s fine."

Tyrese Campbell, Ben Pearson and Frank Fielding are also set to be back at the head coach's disposal, in addition to Jordan Thompson who has finished serving his suspension, while Enda Stevens has returned to training, but this game will come too soon for the left-back who is still building up his fitness.

Josh Laurent and Lynden Gooch both remain sidelined, alongside D'Margio Wright-Phillips, who is completing the last stage of his rehabilitation, and Junior Tchamadeu, who is away representing Cameroon at the Africa Cup Of Nations. (Stoke On Trent Live, external)

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Having been appointed in December 2023, Steven Schumacher has made a positive start to his tenure having won one and drawn three of his opening four games in the Championship, with his only defeat coming in the FA Cup against Brighton last weekend.

The Potters head coach therefore has the opportunity to equal a record set by one of the club's former managers, Brian Little, 26 years ago, when he travels to Rotherham United on Saturday, because he could become the only boss since the veteran to have gone unbeaten during his first five league games in charge.

Initially at Aston Villa, the now 70-year-old made the drop down when he accepted the job with the red and white stripes, and he made an excellent beginning to life in the dugout, winning 14 out of his first 20 games, sitting pretty and competing for automatic promotion.

However, the second half of the season turned out to be the complete opposite, with the club only able to secure seven victories from their remaining 26 fixtures, meaning that they eventually finished 8th in the table and missed out on a place in the First Division.

When announcing his decision to resign in July 1999 after just the one term in charge, Little said: "I have tried my best and the disappointment is very hard to take. I hope the supporters understand that it's best that I leave".

Considering that Stoke are unlikely to complete another major squad overhaul, Schumacher will be hoping that his reign continues on an upwards trajectory, with his aim certainly being to get the Bet365 Stadium outfit back to the Premier League at some stage in the near future.

Stoke City blogger and podcaster George Weaver from Potterlytics, external shares his thoughts on what business the Potters need to do in the January transfer window:

"The clear one at the minute is left-back, now that Iversen has come in as goalkeeper. I'm glad to see we did that as quickly as we could just to get it sorted straight away. It's obviously been on the mind of the people behind the scenes that we needed that goalkeeper. I think other than left-back, centre-back possibly as we've seen a little bit of a depreciation in the quality there. Luke McNally started very well but he has dropped off a little recently."

"There's a new manager in with a different way of playing and we've said that Stoke are going to try and recruit to profiles, but I do think that profile has now probably changed quite a bit, particularly in terms of full-backs and central midfielders."

"At this juncture I'm sure where Schumacher sees the squad that he has got and where we are going to need those extra players, other than a left-back coming in and probably a centre-back as well."

"Strikers, we've got Wesley, we've got Gayle and we've got Ryan Mmaee who is probably first choice at the minute and who's been doing excellently over the past few weeks. I would be surprised if Wesley and Gayle are up there in Schumacher's plans as the players he wants to be starting more than a couple of games between now and the end of the season."

"If he does bring someone in, that would be really good competition for Ryan Mmaee, but we forget that Tyrese Campbell can play there as well, especially if there are people around him in the same way that we have seen in the last few weeks, so it will be very interesting to see what kind of striker he brings in if he does go for that."

• When Stoke and Rotherham faced each other in the reverse fixture of this game back in August, Steven Schumacher's side ran out 4-1 winners.

• The Millers have only secured one victory from their past nine matches against their upcoming visitors across all competitions.

• The Potters are currently unbeaten in their last three away encounters and will be hoping to extend that to four this weekend.

• The Bet365 Stadium outfit have 19 wins, 13 draws and have suffered 14 defeats against their opponents throughout their club history. (11 v 11, external)

• Leam Richardson's men are rock bottom of the Championship table as it stands, while the red and white stripes are 19th, with three points having the potential to take them as high as 15th dependent on other results.

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With Enda Stevens being the only natural left-back that Stoke City have in the building, supporters have been calling for the hierarchy to recruit another senior player in that position, but Steven Schumacher doesn't seem in a hurry to dip into the market for a fresh face.

When asked during his pre-match press conference ahead of the Rotherham United game whether he believes he is light on numbers, the head coach said: "There's a few areas of the pitch that we want to strengthen."

"We've obviously got people who we feel can play at left-back as well, so I know we've had an injury at the moment to Lynden Gooch, he can play there. I think Jordan Thompson can play there, Enda Stevens who is back on the training pitch can play there, Junior Tchamadeu when he comes back, Ki-Jana [Hoever], so there's plenty of people that can play there."

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Stoke City and Rotherham United most recently faced each other back in August 2023 in the second round of the Carabao Cup, with the hosts securing an emphatic 6-1 victory at the Bet365 Stadium.

The Potters were 2-0 up after 18 minutes thanks to goals from Wouter Burger and Ryan Mmaee, before Sean Morrison pulled one back for the visitors.

From there on, Alex Neil's side, at the time, were prolific, with captain Josh Laurent bagging a brace, alongside Tyrese Campbell and Mehdi Leris who also beat Millers goalkeeper Dillon Phillips to find the back of the net.

Despite Steven Schumacher now being at the helm, the new head coach will be hoping that his outfit can replicate the same kind of result this weekend as they did last year, with three points having the potential to steer them further away from the relegation zone and push them higher up the table.

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With Stoke City set to hit the road for Saturday afternoon's trip to face Rotherham United in the Championship, Steven Schumacher has been speaking to the media at his pre-match press conference to discuss a variety of topics.

On the FA Cup defeat to Brighton: "There was loads of positives from the game, I felt we played really well, especially in the first half. The stuff we'd worked on in the week in the training about getting our press right and being brave when we had the ball, I felt we did that."

On the Millers: "They are a huge threat. I think obviously they've changed manager as well recently. They are in decent form, they beat Middlesbrough in their second to last home game, they drew at Sunderland at home who are two really good teams and they picked up a point away at Blackburn, so they are definitely no mugs."

On Luke Cundle: "He's an all-round midfield player, he can do a little bit of everything. He puts his foot in, considering he's only really small, he competes really well and he's got unbelievable energy and enthusiasm, gets himself in important areas, both defensively and when we attack, so yeah I think it's a good signing for us."

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Despite Glenn Whelan leaving Stoke City back in 2017, the former talisman has been keeping a close eye on the club's form and results ever since.

Speaking to BBC Radio Stoke's Lucas Yeomans, the former Republic of Ireland international has been talking about the transfer window and whether he thinks Steven Schumacher is likely to green-light any further incomings or outgoings before the end of January.

"It's a transition stage for everybody, and with the window coming up, I'm sure he'll be looking to bring in a couple of players and unfortunately, there's going to be a couple of players who he doesn't feel are quite good enough or don't have the quality that he's after, so there'll be some sort of change."

"He'll be looking to bring in a couple of players hopefully to improve the squad, to make an impact and listen, this is football. The football business is that if players are coming in, there's definitely going to be those that are leaving also."

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Former Stoke City striker Martin Paterson has landed his first managerial position, taking over at League One Burton Albion.

The 36-year-old, who made 16 appearances for the Potters scoring once, left Swansea in December when then boss Michael Duff was sacked.

He takes over a Brewers side that are 17th in League One and without a win in three games since the start of 2024.

"I am ready to take this step," Paterson told the club website.

"I have developed my coaching over several years and have extensive experience of being an assistant coach at first team level."

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This Saturday, Stoke City travel to the AESSEAL New York Stadium to take on Rotherham United for their latest encounter in the Championship, with kick-off at 3pm UK time.

The Potters secured a 4-1 victory when the two sides met in the league last year, and it would appear that the club have a strong track record when it comes to getting one over on their opponents throughout their history.

Looking back to one of the most memorable fixtures in particular on Tuesday, 11 November 2008, Tony Pulis' side booked their place in the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup with a 2-0 win over the Millers.

After scoring directly from a free-kick, Glenn Whelan gave the hosts the lead, before Danny Pugh fired his shot past Andy Warrington to wrap up the game, not forgetting that Dave Kitson also had a goal disallowed after being judged offside by the linesman.

Speaking during his post-match interview, Pulis said that it was "absolutely fantastic times" for his men, with the former manager having made nine changes to the team that played out a stalemate against Wigan Athletic in the previous game.

Stoke Line-Up: Simonsen, Wilkinson, Cort, Shawcross, Dickinson, Pugh, Whelan, Olofinjana (Amdy Faye 58), Cresswell, Kitson, Pericard (Fuller 73).

Subs Not Used: Sorensen, Delap, Phillips, Sonko, Wedderburn.

With Daniel Iversen and Luke Cundle already in the building, Stoke City are likely to continue making a couple of further additions over the coming weeks, and Gabriel Sutton, external has name-checked two potential transfer targets who he believes could be a good fit for Steven Schumacher.

Speaking to BBC Radio Stoke's Lucas Yeomans, he said: "In terms of players lower down the leagues, I'm a huge fan of Ali Al-Hamadi at AFC Wimbledon. He's arguably been the best player in League Two this season and he's only 21. Very good, quick, strong centre-forward with a real eye for goal, so I think he could be an option for Stoke potentially."

"I also think Marc Leonard at Northampton. He's currently on loan there from Brighton. I think if Stoke picked him up, I think that wouldn't be a bad idea either depending on what your midfield situation is."