Stoke City v Millwall

the potters
looking
back
WITH THE SENTINEL’S PETE SMITH
here are a few good ways to introduce yourself to
TStoke City fans as a manager and winning at Arsenal
has to be up there with the best.
It was August 1981 when
Richie Barker took over
the reins. To put it into
context, that’s a month
before the first television
broadcasts of Only Fools
and Horses and Postman
Pat, a month before Steve
Bould made his debut,
and tickets cost £1.80.
A crowd of 28,212 saw
Lee Chapman coolly slot
home the only goal of the
match past Pat Jennings
just before half-time at
Highbury. Following a rule
change that summer, it was
Stoke’s first three-point
haul. Barker would go on
to take the Potters to the
verge of the European
qualification playing a
scintillating brand of
football before a tactical
Damascene moment on a
Lilleshall coaching course.
Stoke had just come
through two seasons
back in the top-flight
when Barker emerged
as first choice to replace
his Sunderland-bound
pal Alan Durban, whose
own approach to visiting
Arsenal 11 months
previously has earned
him a place in folklore.
Having lost their first
two away matches of the
season 5-1 at Norwich
and 5-0 at Nottingham
Forest, Durban had the
temerity to field a fiveman
midfield, earning the
wrath of pundits.
“If you want
entertainment, go and
watch clowns,” he told
reporters, adding in a
Sentinel interview 20
years later: “My job was to
send the Stoke supporters
home happy, not entertain
the ****** Arsenal fans.”
Barker and Durban,
former team-mates at
Derby and coaches at
Shrewsbury, had gone to
watch games together
that year, even though
Barker was a Wolves
trainer at the time. They
would still watch games
together in retirement,
living near each other in
Shropshire before Barker
died at the age of 80 in
2020.
Barker later recalled: “I
didn’t make too many
changes but we brought
in some good signings
over the season, like
Dave Watson – who won
England caps with us –
and Sammy McIlroy from
Man Utd in the spring.
We stayed up and tried
to keep building. In
came George Berry and
Mickey Thomas and I
remember the first game
of that next season, also
against Arsenal, when
Mark Chamberlain made
a tremendous debut and
we beat them again 2-1 at
the Victoria Ground.”
Michael O’Neill and
Gudjón Thórdarson also
started their spells at
Stoke with wins but the
result on Day One hasn’t
always been an indicator
of what was to come.
Tony Pulis lost his two
debuts at Walsall and
Southend, Lou Macari
lost his first Bradford and
Tony Waddington lost
at Plymouth. Still, three
points this afternoon
would be nice.
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