Taken from The Times:
'... Staying overnight in Stoke on Saturday, I couldn't help noticing portents of gloom. Instead of sweets at the checkout in Food Giant, they had razor-blades. Lots of razor blades. "You can't miss the Britannia Stadium, it's next to the incinerator," I was told. A nice cheerful spot, then ...
'I found myself feeling sorrier for Stoke ... I've got a natural prejudice in favour of the home side, the underdogs and the ones that can't score for toffee. Stoke had all three.
'There was additional tragedy in the fact that Stoke recently spent zillions on this big new stadium, only to find that Sunderland got a much better job for the same money....
'Until the very end, both sets of supporters mindlessly pointed extended
arms at each other - "you're going down, you're going down" - and somehow
derived the utmost pleasure from it.'
'... suddenly the Britannia Stadium down Stanley Matthews Way felt as
if it had returned to its former life as a grim industrial wasteland.'
' ...In case you're wondering bottom of my list is Stoke City Fans -
who seemed intent on beating us up even though they'd just beaten us and
won their first game in ages. I'm glad I won't have to visit that freezing
hell hole again - the Brittania Stadium that is '
'... With Portsmouth winning, Stoke dropped a place and into the relegation zone. Their fans defiantly sang "we are Stoke" but this lament began to sound like "we are stuck".'
Be Lousy, Be Poor, Be Joke City