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Stoke City Football Club - a professional football club from Staffordshire, England has a history of playing in the top-flight of English football since its inception, as they are one of the twelve founding members of the Football League when it was introduced in 1888.
However, the club has had some turbulent times in the recent past. Though, they made a return to English football's top-tier as recent as the 2008-09 season, by winning automatic promotion to Premier League on last day of the 2007–08 season, finishing in second place, in the Championship (second tier of English football).
Since their return, they've performed pretty consistently and managed to finish mid-table in the Premier League in all their seasons till 2012-13:
Stoke City's league rankings from season '08-'09 till '12-'13
2008–09: 12
2009–10: 11
2010–11: 13
2011–12: 14
2012–13: 13
The Pulis period
All this time, Stoke were managed by Welshman Tony Pulis, under whose tutelage, Stoke's playing style was more of like playing a wrestling match and not a football match on a football field.
Also notable about Stoke was their form at home, the Brittania Stadium - which was Stoke’s "fortress", as it was really difficult for any visiting team to pick up points.
There's a famous saying about Stoke and their home form, which even applies to arguably the best footballer on the planet, Lionel Messi - "Can he do it (what he normally does, destroying opponents) on a cold windy night at the bet365 Stadium against Stoke?" is now a common sentence used in the build-up to most matches at the bet365 Stadium.
Change is the only constant
Now, after this period of stability, and mid-table (outside top 10) finishes for half a decade, Pulis left the club by mutual consent in the summer of 2013. Stoke replaced one Welshman with another, hiring Mark Hughes for the managerial job.
A hugely experienced coach at Premier League level, Hughes had managed Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City, and Fulham, and in his most recent job, he had parted company with Queens Park Rangers. So, Hughes was a free agent when Stoke came calling. After Hughes' arrival, Stoke made immediate improvements in their Premier league standings:
Stoke City's league rankings from season '13-'14 till '15-'16
2013–14: 9
2014–15: 9
2015–16: 9
Future looks bright
After making this improvement in their ranking, last (2016-17) season Stoke returned to their much accustomed, 13th rank. However, there's been a vast improvement in Stoke under Hughes, not just in their general Premier league ranking, but also in their style of play.
Their style of play is no longer the wrestling one which was under Pulis, rather they depend on a solid defence, led by their captain Ryan Shawcross, and choose to hit teams on a swift counter-attack.
Some good signings in recent seasons have helped their cause - such as Bojan Krkic, ex-Barcelona star; Xherdan Shaqiri, ex-Inter Milan and ex-Bayern Munich star; and a few more.
Coming to this season, Stoke did well for themselves in the summer transfer window, yet again: signing Kurt Zouma on loan from Chelsea - which will bolster their defence as Zouma is one of the best prospects in world football in central defence.
They've also signed Jese Rodriguez, again on loan, from Paris Saint-Germain - Jese is an ex-Real Madrid player - a very versatile, and attacking player - capable of playing on the wings, as an attacking midfielder, or as a striker.
Darren Fletcher - ex-Manchester United midfield anchorman, also joined Stoke City, and is expected to be the brain of the midfield whenever he plays. Stoke have also signed a few more players and have improved the quality of their squad from the previous season.
I see this Stoke team again staking their claim for a top-10 finish this 2017-18 season in the most competitive league in football, Premier League, and if Hughes is given enough time with the team, he can make them go even higher on the table.
All in all, the future for the Potters, is indeed, forwards and upwards.
Stats and player/team info credits – Wikipedia (Wikipedia.org), and Premier League (premierleague.com)
