Over the years, the bet365 Stadium has seen some bruisers, with a handful of Stoke City players standing out as the fiercest.
The candle for Stoke City’s hard men has been passed down from team to team, from Eddie Clamp to Denis Smith and beyond, occasionally, annoyingly, missing a side or two. We’ve chosen ten of the most difficult over the previous 30 years or so. And if you disagree, let them know.
Players such as Mick Kennedy, who was once sent off for kicking Bournemouth’s Matt Holmes after being wound up by John Butler being injured by a certain Tony Pulis, are just missing out. He could be a villain, let alone a harsh man. Ricardo Fuller would be a fool to mess with, yet he’s already on our list of the top ten magicians.
Many opponents didn’t like Jon Walters and Glenn Whelan, and Rory Delap deserves special notice. “Trust me, I’ve seen Rory in action, and it’s a sight,” his former teammate Liam Lawrence said. “The nicest are always the worst ones.”
A young ice hockey player is among the bravest to don a Stoke shirt.
“Wilko knew his strengths and weaknesses – and we knew exactly what we were going to get from him,” said Andy Griffin, one of his former captains.
“He’s as courageous as they come.” He’s almost the last of a breed of full-back who loves to protect. He enjoyed the gritty side of the game, getting sunk in and winning clashes with his wingers, and he always came out on top because he had such a large heart.
“But Andy was also quick and not a lot of people picked up on that. Rarely did you see wingers take Wilko on down the outside because he had a great burst of pace and was deceptively quick. You can imagine wingers thinking before a game, ‘Oh no, not Andy Wilkinson today. He’s going to be snapping away and give me no time on the ball’.”
The courageous defender suffered injury after injury till he had surgery in 2007.
“The doctors say it’s chronic inflammation of the knee, whatever that means,” he explained. “I had four injections that I thought would do the trick, but they didn’t.” Even lying on the couch can be uncomfortable, but I shall persevere. If I’m needed, I’ll give it my all for as long as I can.”
He fought for another 11 years, earning a promotion to the Premier League with Queens Park Rangers.
Hard might not be the best term to describe a natural force.
“The man is a monolith who possesses phenomenal guile and no little anticipation,” Sentinel journalist Simon Lowe observed near the end of Faye’s first season with the Potters in March 2009. “He prowls like a brooding lion, sweeping away the danger, while opposing forwards bounce off his massive frame.”
“Abdy was up there with Nemanja Vidic as the best centre-back in the Premier League for six to eight months,” Ryan Shawcross, Faye’s’son,’ remarked. He was incredible. Some of his performances that year were spectacular. He was nearly single-handedly holding us afloat.”
We’ll let the man summarize his own approach because we don’t want to start a debate.
“Uncompromising would be one word I’d use,” he remarked. “I despised strikers and saw it as my responsibility to defend rather than be a flashy dan.” I wanted to win the ball as much as possible and pass it to guys who were better at using it than I was.”