Andy Tillson - Pottering On

Stoke City can announce that they have appointed Andy Tillson as their new manager. Tillson will move to the Stoke hot seat having only been part of the Exeter City coaching staff since retiring from football in 2003. Tillson, 46, has had a playing career which spanned over 16 years where he most notably played for Bristol Rovers where he was Captain and their record signing an accolade he still holds 20 years after.

Tillson was a hard hitting center back in his playing days, which fits in well with the style of play that Stoke offer. This however is no indication to how Stoke will play under Tillson.

Tillson’s first bit of business was to bring in a new assistant after he relieved David Kemp of his duties almost instantly. The man brought into replace him was another former footballer and man who has limited experience since his retirement, Carl Fletcher, the former Plymouth Argyle manager is set to manage the Stoke City team through their pre-season fixtures while Tillson looks over the team and decides who will stay and who will go.

Tillson’s first game in charge will be a tough one, taking on Everton on the opening day of the season. Everton are expected to win the game in comfortable fashion but Tillson’s never say die attitude won’t let Stoke go into the game thinking they will lose.

I have been hoping that someone would do a Stoke City story. I really hope you stick with it for the long term. Good luck.

I hope you do very well with Stoke, good luck

2013-04-20 22:44#93625 Jamesg237 : I have been hoping that someone would do a Stoke City story. I really hope you stick with it for the long term. Good luck.

Thanks. I hope to stick with it, at least for a few seasons and see where it takes me.

2013-04-20 22:46#93627 Justice96 : I hope you do very well with Stoke, good luck

Thanks.

Ruben Yttergård Jenssen joins Stoke City from Norwegian side Tromsø for a fee of £1.3m, he can play in various midfield roles. Yttergård Jenssen has spent his entire senior career at Tromsø playing just under 150 games for them since 2006. During his time at Tromsø he earned himself various call-ups to the Norwegian national team and has since earned 16 caps and has a single international goal to his name.

Being a natural central midfielder his biggest talent is his passing ability. His vision and orientation of the game combine with an outstanding left-foot to make him a powerful player. A player who is suited well to Stoke.

Stoke City can confirm that they have signed Ukranian international full-back Vitaliy Mandzyuk on a 3 year deal. Mandzyuk signs from Ukranian side Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk for a fee of £4.7m and is expected to be the starting right-back for the coming season.

Chairman Peter Coates made this signing happen after Andy Tillson made a request that Mandzyuk should be acquired for the Stoke City team and Mr. Coates obliged and flew out to the Ukraine to enter talks with both Dnipro and then Mandzyuk.

Mandzyuk has previously played for the famous Dynamo Kiev where he had spent his entire career, aside from a loan spell at Arsenal Kiev, before joining Dnipro for more first team football in 2010. Since that move he has shone and gone on to win 17 more caps taking his tally to 21.

Lol I read Mandzukic and I was like :O! Hehehe, anyways great start and I hope you don't play Rugby football :P!

Midfielder Dean Whitehead has left Stoke City to join QPR for a fee of £1.8m. Whitehead's contract was due to expire at the end of the season and with Ruben Yttergård Jenssen joining an already stacked midfield it looked certain that Whitehead would leave this summer. A few offers came in but the most lucrative was from QPR, with the entire fee upfront, and Tillson would jump on it.

Dean joined Stoke in 2009 for £5m from Sunderland and went on to play 128 games for Stoke scoring 3 times. Whitehead had been ever present in past seasons for Stoke until now. He had previously played for Sunderland and Oxford United.

Tillson had this to say "Whitehead was a player who wasn't in my plans for the season, he was out of contract and we had added another midfielder to the ranks. We needed to cash in on him before it was too late. QPR's offer was a great one and we wish Dean and his family all the best in London".

Good luck with this some nice transfers made already!

Results

Andy Tillson started life in the Premier League and at Stoke fantastically with 2 wins in the Premier League and 3 in all competitions. Stoke's performances in the first 2 games in the Premier League were well won. Four goal scored and none conceded shows that Stoke have got the ability to stay up this season, despite many saying otherwise. Beating not one but 2 top sides in Everton and Newcastle shows that.

Table

Barclay's Premier League Player of the Month

Stoke's Cameron Jerome and Ryan Shawcross came second and third respectively.

Barclay's Premier League Manager of the Month

Andy Tillson finished third behind Sir Alex Freguson and Roberto Mancini.

Stoke City Player of the Month - Cameron Jerome

Cameron Jerome has won Stoke City's Player of the Month award for the month of August thanks to his impressive performances against Everton and Newcastle, scoring a goal in each game and gaining an assist. These performances earned Jerome a place in the Stoke City team after previously being transfer listed. He got his games due to injuries to Kenwyne Jones and Michael Owen.

Great start to the story and superb results so far
Keep it up!

Stoke City are delighted to announce that they have signed Ray Wilkins to the coaching staff. The 56 year old coach comes into the Stoke City dressing room with an abundance of experience having played for sides such as Chelsea, Manchester United, PSG, AC Milan and the England national team as well as having non-playing roles at QPR, Fulham, Millwall and Chelsea.

Results

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An extremely poor month in terms of results for Stoke City. In the games against West Ham, Norwich and Swansea they should have taken maximum points but for fantastic goalkeeping and poor finishing. They should have also had a point against Chelsea but for a clearance off the line by Ivanovic to prevent Crouch.

Tillson had this to say - "I'm disappointed in the results. We had the chance to pick up a lot more points this month than we did and we failed to do so down to poor finishing. We gave too many chances to the opposition and it was down to Begovic that we managed to stay within touching distance in each game".

Table

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Stoke City's Player of the Month - Asmir Begovic

Begovic was by far Stoke's best player this month. Without the keeper Stoke could have lost by much larger margins.

A nice layout, and an excellent start. Some great signings too. Good luck with the rest of the season.