Why Mick should look no further than Stoke as the ideal blueprint!

New Football FanCast columnist Wayne Lloyd-Smith feels that if Wolves need a blueprint for PL survival then they should look no further than Stoke City.

If Wolverhampton Wanderers are looking for a blueprint for Premier League survival, they need look no further than Stoke City. Yesterday's priceless 1-0 win over Blackburn Rovers all but assured The Potters place in the Premier League next season and confirmed them as one of this season's real success stories. Stoke started as odds on favourites to go straight back down, but Tony Pulis has defied those critics. They've got the basics right, made themselves hard to beat at home and mixed the successful players of last season's promotion team with experienced Premier League ones. Signings like Thomas Sorenson and the January purchases of James Beattie and Matthew Etherington have complemented the likes of Liam Lawrence and Ricardo Fuller.

The season started out with two fixtures that have encapsulated their season. A disappointing opening day 3-1 defeat to Bolton pointed towards a long gruelling campaign for The Potters. However, their qualities at home (owed massively to Rory Delap's long throw) helped defeat Aston Villa, a win which becomes even more impressive when you consider Villa's away form this season. In contrast to Hull City and West Brom, Stoke have relied on their ability to be hard to beat at The Britannia Stadium and try to pick up the odd point away from home. Although Hull can point to the fact they spent some of the early part of the season in the Champions League places and had a win at The Emirates, Stoke have been consistent and can even point to their own win over the Gunners. Granted, they have been in and around the relegation zone for most of the season, there has never been a time in the season when their form has really dipped. Again, in contrast to the other promoted sides West Brom and Hull City, the former having a dreadful campaign and the latter dropping like a stone since Christmas.

All of this is a testament to the management of Tony Pulis, who was famously sacked by the club in June 2005 for not signing enough foreign players. Thankfully for City, he was reappointed a year later and was to mastermind Stoke City's promotion to the Premier League for the first time last year.
As far as Wolves are concerned, they should certainly do better than their disappointing first Premier League campaign in 2003/04, when they went straight back down at the first attempt. Keeping players like Championship top scorer, Sylvain Ebanks-Blake, and bright youngsters Michael Kightly and ‘keeper Wayne Hennessy should be a priority. With the experienced Mick McCarthy at the helm and the backing of Chairman Steve Morgan, Wolverhampton Wanderers are in good hands. If they're in need in any sort of inspiration though, they should just look up the road at the Britannia for an example of success at staying up.

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