News from the bet365 Stadium as Jon Walters starts new role as interim technical director at Stoke City
Jon Walters is urging Stoke City fans to create “a wall of noise” in the first 10 minutes in a crucial home game against Middlesbrough as they fight for survival in the Championship.
Walters, so popular at Stoke as a player, has now been parachuted back into the club as technical director at a huge crossroads. The team dropped into the relegation zone last weekend and has 12 games remaining, including six at the bet365 Stadium, to decide their fate. He knows the mood around the club has been angry and that frustration has boiled over – but he is making a personal plea to supporters to back the side to the hilt from kick-off on Saturday before it is up to the players to dictate what happens next
“I know for many years there has been a disconnect but I’m not going to come in and point the finger and say, ‘He is to blame’ or, ‘He is to blame,’” said Walters. “We’ve got to look forward. From now, from today, from the weekend, it’s the first game of the season. We’ve got 12 games to go..
“I think the DNA of this club, the DNA of Stoke City, is that when the chips are down we stick up for each other. The people from this area, I class as my people, I’m one, we stick up for each other.
We’ve got a young team, a lot of players coming from different parts of the world, who don’t know what this place can really be like. They need you. We’ve got a very, very, very good young head coach, one of the best in the country in my opinion, who needs you. He doesn’t know what this place is like when it’s rocking. I need you.
“So this is a call to arms really. Let’s get this place, for the first 10 minutes, rocking. Sing Delilah until your heart bleeds, let’s get every song out there for 10 minutes. Give me 10 minutes. I need you to do that on Saturday.
“And then it’s up to the players to take it on but let them feel what it’s like here as an atmosphere. That’s my message. We need this weekend. There are 12 games to go, a huge 12 games, and it starts now, today, and Saturday here.
“I never ask for anything but I want that 10 minutes, a wall of noise.”
