Stoke Refuse To Throw In The Towel, Use Sneaky Tactics To Dry The Ball At The Britannia

Alan Duffy

13th, December 2011

10 Comments

By Alan Duffy


The Daily Mail’s photos of Ryan Shotton and his amazing hidden unicolor ball-dryer

According to the Daily Mail, the powers that be are investigating Stoke City after their rather clever/sneaky use of towelling vests worn by their players in the game against Tottenham.

The vest allowed the Potters players, and Ryan Shotton in particular, to dry the ball before taking a long throw and thus eliminate the need for towels provided by ball-boys at the Britannia Stadium, which had become an extremely contentious issue.

However, apparently The FA and the Premier League  have seen footage from Sunday’s game which clearly shows Shotton using the towelling vest to dry the ball. The Potters, on the other hand, are adamant that they’ve done nothing wrong.

“It’s a towelling vest that is the same colour as the shirt, ” said a club spokesperson. “The only stipulation is that, as long as the undergarment is the same colour as the predominant colour of the shirt, then it’s not a problem. It does not stipulate what fabric it has to be.”

The Potters will never be the most popular of sides in the Premier League. With his ugly brand of kick and rush (and throw) football, it could be argued that manager Tony Pulis is damaging the development of the game in this country. However, if it’s in the rules, then so be it. Other clubs will just have to stop moaning and get on with it.

Posted in Stoke City

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10 Comments

  1. Archbishop Betty Snagcock says:

    what make the rules against stoke because they don’t play in a way that develops England?? football is only about winning and if they’re doing so it should just be accepted

    they are doing better in the europa league than anyone else and in my view are a lot more entertaining at the brittania than arsenal are at the emirates

  2. KingEric7 says:

    If your main attacking threat is using long throws then I think a “towelling vest” is the least of your concerns.

  3. Mizman says:

    Stoke are boring “towelling vest” or not

  4. Rob says:

    They can play as ugly as they like but the thing that annoys me about their throw ins is that they waste about 20 seconds taking them.

  5. Mr. Sparkle says:

    “The Potters will never be the most popular of sides in the Premier League. With his ugly brand of kick and rush (and throw) football, it could be argued that manager Tony Pulis is damaging the development of the game in this country. However, if it’s in the rules, then so be it. Other clubs will just have to stop moaning and get on with it.”

    I’m pretty certain all the other managers do that job just as well. I mean, buying foreigners for the academy and giving them spots over local lads; well yes, I don’t reckon you’ll get much of a talent development with that.

  6. WildScotsman6 says:

    Maybe we should change the rule on how to throw in the ball. Only underhand throws from now on, hahahahah!!!

  7. SL says:

    It made me laugh when every throw took 45 secs and they were chasing the game against QPR, it broke up any momentum.

    They tried to cheat with towels too when QPR started to take an equal amount of time. So they withdrew them and tried to sneak towels to stoke only, it got their physio sent off.

  8. Ben says:

    Why are Stoke Fans always obsessed with Arsenal? I will never get it. Yes Arsenal’s fans clearly must be horrible given how loud they were at Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge this year. /sarcasm

  9. np says:

    Agreed, I don’t mind the towelling vest or regular towels on the side of the pitch but I hate the time it takes them to take the throw-in. Spending 30 seconds on every throw is time wasting and should be cautioned. There should be a 6 second rule similar to the goalkeeping rule to keep the game flowing.
    If other teams start taking that long for throws they would get yellow carded but as its part of stoke’s strategy it seems to be ok?

    Stoke fans became obsessed with arsenal after the shawcross/ramsay incident and the whole ‘he’s not that type of player’ response and the whole football vs. anti-football argument which we don’t need to get into again.

    I don’t care how any team plays (parking the bus is fine by me as is using long throws like stoke because its effective for them) my only concern is keeping the game flowing. Either that or stop the clock when the ball goes dead.

    I think a study showed the ball was only active for 60-something minutes out of 90 in a football match.

  10. dc says:

    I have been a Barcelona fan since I was a young child, even living in Barcelona for a while. And despite my unrequited love for tiki-taka, I absolutely love Stoke City.

    Variety is good in football, and I have a lot of respect for a team that goes out with a focused and effective plan to score goals. Stoke aren’t a negative team at all, at least not in the last 2 years or so when ive been watching them in the EPL. They don’t park the bus like a Mourinho or Allardyce; they go and try to attack, and everyone on their team, from forwards to defenders, play a role in both scoring goals and defending. Despite their obvious differences with a team like Barcelona, their team work ethic is just as fantastic.

    I think The Ramsey incident gave them a bad rap, but overall I don’t feel they play that dirty; for me, diving is worse than playing overly physical.

    You can’t say that they are a step backward for English football, because their teamwork and lack of modern prissiness I think really encapsulates good football, regardless of whether they score most of their goals with scrappy headers or intricate passing moves.

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