I sent in a reply which should, but may not because it is against the Sentinel, appear this saturday on the letters page. Here it is..
Sir - I read the letters in last saturday's sentinel in great disbeief. I would like to respond to 2 of them please. Firstly, the one from John Becket of Newcastle "Lets face it. The lad (Bjarni) cannot play and Thordarson would struggle to pick a winning lineup if he were at Old Trafford". A little over the top I would say. I can also answer 'RJD' from Trent Vale here - he wrote "In my opinion, I do not think that one club in all four divisions would give him a game" - Who would you put as a right winger instead of Bjarni from the Stoke squad without playing anyone out of postition? I dare say that Bjarni would be welcome to most Nationwide league sides, including Division One outfits. The point about Thordarson - He is not a bad manager, He has actually won 50% of his games this season - and that is a good statistic - Brighton have only won 21 from their 40 games. This pathetic slagging off of players and the manager will not help the cause. Fair Enough - One could say Gudjon has little experience in the english game and Bjarni has off days - as all of the other players do, but being against the manager and players at this stage won't help and if you feel so strongly about it, perhaps you wont contribute to their wages and forget buying your ticket for the rest of the season? I sincerely hope that the people who make such rediculous remarks in this paper actually go to games and can back up their comments - and even if they do go to games, which to be honest - I doubt, then they must be watching a different game to me.
I was very upset that people who call themselves Stoke City Supporters could consider writing letters as pathetic as I was witnessing. I fully believe that Gudjon read the same saturday edition that I did, and I cannot blame him for reacting as he did.
As I say this.. I am not slagging off supporters, Stoke City have the best supporters that you could ever find - always turning up in large numbers to support the team, and I can even understand when the team are booed because if they don't perform, thats what you get - Stoke fans however, DO get behind the team eg. When the opposition goes 1-0 up and fans cheer them on instantly, this is loyalty.
What I don't understand.. and find totally unacceptable is people who probably don't even go to Stoke games slagging off the manager and players, particuarly Bjarni Gudjonson at this CRUTIAL STAGE OF THE SEASON. We are in a much more strong position than we ever have been in division two, and should we finish 4th, which looks entirely acheivable, WE WILL WIN THE PLAYOFFS.
'Oh yeah, what does he know' I hear you say.
Remember, we look excellent at home but are always outplayed away. Finishing 3rd or 4th gives you home advantage on the second leg, and if we perform like we can, and you know Gudjon will get the players up for this game, then we will go to Cardiff's Millenium Stadium - AND WIN - Remember the AWS Final in 2000? We can perform in finals - I know this - You know this. We have 100% record at Wembley - The Millenium Stadium would be the same.
THIS IS THE TIME TO BACK THE MANAGER AND PLAYERS.. SUPPORT THE CLUB THAT YOU CALL YOURSELF A SUPPORTER OF.
I have no doubt that most of you reading this article are thinking exactly the same and are fantastic supporters, Stoke have shown on many occasions what great supporters we have, but there may be somebody reading this article who slaggs off the team un-necesarily and if you want to go up, you have to get fully behind the team. All I have to say is.. If you call yourself a supporter, support.