Steve M

Move along. Nothing to see here...

[Steve M @jollypotta]

@bet365 Why isn’t Doué credited as an assist? He won the penalty

[Steve M @jollypotta]

@tSHandJ clips of the week. Weds 5.57am Sam Quek “Erling Haaland scored 100 last. Night”

[Steve M @jollypotta]

@bet365help is the app down? Can’t see my bets.

[Steve M @jollypotta]

Swindon? Really?

[BBC Radio Stoke Sport @BBCStokeSport]

🔴 Swindon 0-1 Stoke City ⚫️

🪢 An early penalty sees Cannon break the deadlock in the 4th minute!

🎙️ #SCFC summariser Danny Collins says...⤵️

#BBCFootball

[Steve M @jollypotta]

Tony can’t chuck an arrow to save his life. So unfair.

[Steve M @jollypotta]

https://t.co/z0iYEQ8g3z

2 hours of classic tunes from a different decade every week. All the previous shows are here. Have a listen. You might just like it. 👍🏼

[Steve M @jollypotta]

Catch me on Monday 7-9pm @6townsradio for Dancing through the Decades. https://t.co/YaPbQNa231 and click listen live. Hope to see you there

[Steve M @jollypotta]

@InfernoxCrimson Yes but he is a professional footballer and should be able to read the flight of a ball and make a decent fist of defending.

[Steve M @jollypotta]

Thompson is an utter clown. Worst defender at the club.

[Stoke City FC @stokecity]

45+2' 🟨 Thompson is cautioned following a foul on Bowler.

🔵 2-1 🔴⚪️

[Steve M @jollypotta]

If that’s a penalty, then football is finished. Fuck VAR. Give me the old days give me championship football. VAR gat out of our game.

[Steve M @jollypotta]

@ocooperrrr Lucky you. 🤣

[Steve M @jollypotta]

Hope you’ve got a tent.

[olleh @ocooperrrr]

@FinnDogBGP Putting my house on this Finndog expecting big things

[Steve M @jollypotta]

@marishawallace @SundayBrunchC4 You’re out. 🤣🤣

[Dyspraxia Awareness @DyspraxiaBiz]

Always here for anyone struggling with Dyspraxia. Either a parent with a Dyspraxic child or anyone with Dyspraxia themselves.

[Steve M @jollypotta]

Great assessment. An unbiased view that doesn’t just bash Stoke and their owners for the sake of it. 👍🏼

[Mike Holden @binaryfootball]

So Schuey is going to Stoke.

It's easy for us to judge from the outside, call him a money-grabber or say that he's making a big mistake.

But let's be real about this.

Long-term financial security is a big deal for any man and everyone has a price relative to their current means.

Not your means. His means. What's normal for, and what's expected of him. His ego, in his life, among his peers and his family.

Let's not forget that Schumacher was a very talented player, but not quite talented enough to make the grade at Premier League level.

He captained England at U16s, U17s, U18s and U19s - yet never pulled on the shirt of his beloved Everton.

Rather than enjoy the multi-million pound career he had good reason to anticipate, he had to scrape a living in the lower leagues for the next 15 years.

And he did so with honesty, humility and integrity.

My guess is that the Coates family wrote down a number that gets Schumacher to a place in his mind where - perhaps for the first time in his life - he doesn't have to worry about his long-term future anymore.

Or more to the point, his kids' future.

He clearly has a very strong connection with Plymouth - both the city and the club - and I'm damn sure he departs with a heavy heart. Even more so if the Argyle fans don't take this well.

But football is a fickle business. A lot can change in a short space of time.

It's all well and good everyone saying back yourself, and making empty promises about better opportunities in the future.

But nobody will be there to compensate him if that proves not to be the case. Stoke won't come back and offer him this contract again.

And of the two evils, I suspect the forgotten-man scenario carries with it the greater sense of anticipated regret.

Given everything he has achieved at Plymouth, how much better can it really get? It only becomes harder to keep punching up from here.

This is Schumacher's fifth season at Home Park and few managers nowadays go beyond 5 years without things going stale.

I'm sure it has reached the point where most of those Argyle players can predict what he's going to say next, so this might be a body of work that's close to completion.

FFP means that Stoke cannot throw around as much money on players as they would like, so headhunting the most desirable manager is the biggest impact they can make.

It speaks volumes that they've paid around £6m on their last 5 managers in compensation alone.

If Gary Rowett, Nathan Jones and Alex Neil were all tempted to walk away from comfortable jobs, why should we expect Schumacher to be any different?

Just because those guys all failed relative to expectations doesn't mean Schumacher will.

I'm sure Schuey is under no illusions. He knows this job is widely regarded as a poisoned chalice, or a hiding to nothing.

He knows the immediate prospects of the club are no better than the job he leaves behind.

But in his personal life, he can breath a huge sigh of relief and congratulate himself on a wonderful job. Even if the ending isn't the one he would have scripted.

And if he does happen to punch upwards with Stoke in this next chapter, then the ceiling is much higher.

In that context, you're almost inclined to frame this as a shot to nothing.

[Steve M @jollypotta]

@foxpunter Yep. I’m available. 👍🏼

[Steve M @jollypotta]

@pottersjohn He must have a few pre-written ones surely?

[Steve M @jollypotta]

Wonder when we will see AN’s statement 🤔

[Steve M @jollypotta]

Travers has to save that surely?