Anthony Stokes (F free agent b.1988) [Archive] - Page 42

tetsujin1979

12/01/2016, 7:47 PM

rumours on twitter he's going to Hibs on loan (in the Scottish Championship) until the end of the season: https://twitter.com/HFCTransferNews/statuses/686974048027447296

Anthony Stokes loan deal done and agreed. Now to await official confirmation from Hibs and Celtic. Unbelievable piece of business #goals (https://twitter.com/hashtag/goals?src=hash)

DeLorean

14/01/2016, 9:40 AM

Dundee United have reached an agreement with Celtic (http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/35311478) but don't seem too hopeful.

Hard to imagine Stokes going there really with the situation they're in.

geysir

14/01/2016, 9:37 PM

"It's up to the player to decide. He's got loads of options."

Nice to be wanted.

DeLorean

14/01/2016, 10:07 PM

Loads of fairly crap options for a guy who was holding his own in the San Siro and the likes not so long ago.

Ol� Ol�

15/01/2016, 8:04 AM

Loads of fairly crap options for a guy who was holding his own in the San Siro and the likes not so long ago.

Common theme is that each option is in Scotland. And they're probably the only options in Scotland. It looks like he wants to stay in Scotland. A link with someone like Panathinaikos earlier in the season does demonstrate that he held his own in the CL.

DeLorean

15/01/2016, 1:51 PM

Starting to look like Hibs (http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/35311478) again.

Ol� Ol�

15/01/2016, 2:05 PM

Starting to look like Hibs (http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/35311478) again.

He clearly doesn't want to go to the Euros.

DeLorean

15/01/2016, 2:14 PM

Don't think any of those options will bring him there.

paul_oshea

15/01/2016, 3:31 PM

He clearly doesn't want to go to the Euros.

He clearly doesn't have much of a choice. NO PL teams would come in for him. He has done nothing in the last 2 or 3 years, and done very little overall in his career.

Ol� Ol�

15/01/2016, 3:37 PM

He clearly doesn't have much of a choice. NO PL teams would come in for him. He has done nothing in the last 2 or 3 years, and done very little overall in his career.

The PL isn't the be all and end all. I'm sure his agent could sound out Championship or continental clubs.

paul_oshea

15/01/2016, 3:49 PM

Yes, because so many of our players have played on the continent at some stage.

Its not but its definitely better than the championship, thats the reason championship teams keep trying to get promoted to it.

Charlie Darwin

15/01/2016, 4:14 PM

Its not but its definitely better than the championship, thats the reason championship teams keep trying to get promoted to it.
I've always said the top Championship clubs are Premier League teams waiting to happen.

geysir

15/01/2016, 6:01 PM

......and some of the bottom premier teams are a championship team waiting to happen.

Celtic fc appear to agree terms with every club that comes asking to take Stokes away.

Ol� Ol�

15/01/2016, 6:13 PM

Yes, because so many of our players have played on the continent at some stage.

Stokes probably has the most recent Champions League exposure of any Irish player is my point in that regard.

Ol� Ol�

19/01/2016, 8:25 AM

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2016/0119/761229-anthony-stokes-hibernian-celtic/

No matter how many goals he scores for Hibs at this level, I don't think it'll do him any favours if he moves on during the summer.

Waste of talent.

CraftyToePoke

19/01/2016, 5:09 PM

Be funny if he delivered the match winners to deprive Rangers automatic return to the top flight up there though, if that would have been in his / Celtics thinking at all. I know one Rangers fan I work with did not want this guy at Hibs.

SkStu

19/01/2016, 5:30 PM

In fairness, if he has his head screwed on right he will tear the arsehole out of the Scottish Championship. He is a quality talent. Just a lazy idiot.

Ol� Ol�

19/01/2016, 11:21 PM

In fairness, if he has his head screwed on right he will tear the arsehole out of the Scottish Championship. He is a quality talent. Just a lazy idiot.

Christ, yeah. There should be no limit to what he can bang in between now and season's end. Once he's bothered.

kennedmc

20/01/2016, 12:26 PM

In fairness, if he has his head screwed on right he will tear the arsehole out of the Scottish Championship. He is a quality talent. Just a lazy idiot.

He's not actually that lazy. He is not a a quality talent.

The reality is he is just not that good. Yes we had high hopes when he was 15/16 but like countless other footballers, he couldn't transition from very promising teen to professional football.

That is why at 27 he can only get a move to a club in the 2nd tier of Scottish football.

SkStu

20/01/2016, 1:14 PM

He's not actually that lazy. He is not a a quality talent.

The reality is he is just not that good. Yes we had high hopes when he was 15/16 but like countless other footballers, he couldn't transition from very promising teen to professional football.

That is why at 27 he can only get a move to a club in the 2nd tier of Scottish football.

I completely disagree. He is of sufficient quality that a premiership team and a host of other relatively high profile teams were willing to spend money to take him there. He is of sufficient quality that he was a standout player in a game against Germany not too long ago. He is of sufficient quality that he was breaking goalscoring records in the SPL for Falkirk and scoring goals for fun for Hibs in the SPL.

When you can do those things you have quality. When you stop doing those things you look at what the external factors are that have stopped you from doing those things. It is clear that his head is not screwed on, he doesn't apply himself when he is not the centre of attention and prefers to sulk and he courts controversy in his professional and personal life. All of the above suggests to me that he is a bit lazy and a bit of an idiot.

Junior

20/01/2016, 1:28 PM

Can't disagree with any of that. I don't think you can dispute his talent (and I'm not saying he is Rooney or Messi!!) but clearly his attitude off the park both for club/country and in his personal life have not helped him one bit, in fact held him back from delivering on his potential.

DeLorean

20/01/2016, 1:49 PM

That is why at 27 he can only get a move to a club in the 2nd tier of Scottish football.

There were at least two SPL clubs in for him as well. He's clearly a lot, lot better than the Scottish Championship, and I'm not his biggest fan by a long shot.

kennedmc

20/01/2016, 3:16 PM

I completely disagree. He is of sufficient quality that a premiership team and a host of other relatively high profile teams were willing to spend money to take him there. He is of sufficient quality that he was a standout player in a game against Germany not too long ago. He is of sufficient quality that he was breaking goalscoring records in the SPL for Falkirk and scoring goals for fun for Hibs in the SPL.

When you can do those things you have quality. When you stop doing those things you look at what the external factors are that have stopped you from doing those things. It is clear that his head is not screwed on, he doesn't apply himself when he is not the centre of attention and prefers to sulk and he courts controversy in his professional and personal life. All of the above suggests to me that he is a bit lazy and a bit of an idiot.

Fair enough - we will disagree. There is a lot of footballers who are idiots - hardly stops players getting to the highest leve. For Scotland his goalscoring record is pretty average.

I believe all of the stuff around Stoke's attitude and personal life etc. , simply distracts from the fact he is a very average footballer.

Maybe he is disillusioned with how it all turned out for him in footballing terms, i.e ending up in Scotland at 21.... and he can't accept it so he acts up....

tetsujin1979

20/01/2016, 4:21 PM

Fair enough - we will disagree. There is a lot of footballers who are idiots - hardly stops players getting to the highest leve. For Scotland his goalscoring record is pretty average.

I believe all of the stuff around Stoke's attitude and personal life etc. , simply distracts from the fact he is a very average footballer.

Maybe he is disillusioned with how it all turned out for him in footballing terms, i.e ending up in Scotland at 21.... and he can't accept it so he acts up....

Across the three teams he's played for (Fakirk, Hibs and Celtic) he's averaged around a goal a little over every 2 games, that's pretty good.

Ol� Ol�

20/01/2016, 4:45 PM

Crosby87

20/01/2016, 4:48 PM

This guy really stokes the flames when it comes to opinions.

kennedmc

20/01/2016, 5:54 PM

He's got plenty talent. Look at him in the Champions League for Celtic or against Germany for Ireland. He was excellent against AC Milan in the CL whilst playing with lesser players. That says enough to me.

There's stuff about his personal life that sheds light on why he ended up losing focus on his football this season but there's been plenty off-field issues with him over the years. It's a real pity.

I lived in north London 03 - 05 and used to go and watch Arsenal reservers because they had Stokes, Cregg, o'donnell and Sean Kelly.

Stokes looked very good as a 16 year old - very good technique but lacked pace and anticipation.In fact Arthur's lupoli was there at the time was far quicker.

Then along came Niclaus bendter and unfortunately for stokes he looked twice the player Stokes did.

So I'm personally not surprised Stokes ended up where he did, the odd half decent performance doesn't make a career.

geysir

20/01/2016, 7:15 PM

Stokes was culled by Wenger because in all probability he saw that he would not make the grade, despite doing well on loan at Falkirk and if truth be told he hasn't done anything of note outside the SPL. The SPL is the only place where he has consistently thrived. So far his peak was his partnership with Hooper at Celtic where they traded goals willy nilly, that was the fruit of Stokes working hard and being disciplined, as good as it got for a player with Stokes' talents.
However, Hooper was deemed the senior partner who got the relatively big money move to EPL Norwich and has singularly failed to make an impact there even in the championship. Is anybody claiming he's a lazy git who wasted his talent?
Stokes is a very decent striker by SPl standards and evidently has a good technique on the ball but he's not much more than a good epl striker.

DeLorean

20/01/2016, 10:02 PM

Is anybody claiming he's a lazy git who wasted his talent?
Stokes is a very decent striker by SPl standards and evidently has a good technique on the ball but he's not much more than a good epl striker.

The problem, for me, is that Ken seems to be saying that he's not surprised Stoke's has 'ended up' playing in the second tier of Scottish football at the age of 27. I think he's more than done enough to prove he's miles better than that level. It's certainly a waste of talent that he's in this situation. Whether he's English PL quality is highly debatable even if he had apply himself to the maximum. He's actually the ninth highest goalscorer in SPL history (SPL as opposed to top tier but still...).

geysir

20/01/2016, 11:06 PM

Is anybody claiming he's a lazy git who wasted his talent? refers to Hooper's life in the english championship.

I don't know if we can read that much into Stokes choosing Hibs (over ICT) for the next few months, perhaps it's Alan Stubs/was offered a good deal/won't have to leave home. Perhaps his long term is to prove himself to Celtic or just be with Hibs after they win promotion to the spl or find another club after he has re-established his cred as a decent striker. Hibs are a big club by Scot standards and still get crowds of 11k for championship games.

DeLorean

21/01/2016, 8:52 AM

Sorry, picked you up wrong about the wasted talent bit. I suppose there's no external factors to throw at Hooper, that I know of anyway. I would have expected him to do better at Norwich but Cameron Jerome tends to bang them in at that level. He seems to be doing okay at Sheffield Wednesday now at least. I presume he saw the move from Celtic to the English Championship as a progression, he hadn't lost his place at Celtic or fallen out with anybody as far as I'm aware. Sometimes these things work out, sometimes they don't.

I don't really think it's comparable to Stokes' situation where he lost his place completely at Celtic and proceeded to ensure it stayed lost, with his twitter outburst. He's been moved on because he's not wanted there, that seems clear enough even if Deila and co. are diplomatic in public. I agree completely about not reading too much into the fact that he chose Hibs over Inverness and Dundee United, but the latter two would have indicated a plummeting career trajectory anyway. I think the very least he should be doing at this stage of his career is playing regularly for Celtic, even if that's coming off the bench where he can try to impress his manager and give him something to think about.

Fixer82

21/01/2016, 1:29 PM

I think Stokes could be a decent Championship striker but can't ever really see him cutting it as a first 11 player in the EPL, week in week out

kennedmc

21/01/2016, 6:23 PM

I think the very least he should be doing at this stage of his career is playing regularly for Celtic, even if that's coming off the bench where he can try to impress his manager and give him something to think about.

yeah agree on above.

tetsujin1979

22/01/2016, 9:54 AM

Targetting a call up for Euro 2016: http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/35378833
Best of luck.

DeLorean

22/01/2016, 10:17 AM

From what I've read (there & elsewhere) I think it's a misleading headline. He has said that he sees no reason that he can't get his Irish place back but I haven't read anything about it being in time for the Euros. Maybe that was the direct question though.

More importantly, that hair transplant is the most impressive one I've seen yet. Wayne Rooney should go see his guy.

SkStu

23/01/2016, 10:13 PM

Lazy b@stard waited till the 90th minute to score on his (re)debut... ;)

DeLorean

23/01/2016, 11:41 PM

Or a whole 19 minutes after coming on as sub :)

SkStu

24/01/2016, 5:31 AM

After his daily 3:00 nap...

DeLorean

24/01/2016, 10:16 AM

Goal here (https://youtu.be/g9ggNK7s4q0?t=1m8s)

geysir

24/01/2016, 5:40 PM

...........
I don't really think it's comparable to Stokes' situation where he lost his place completely at Celtic and proceeded to ensure it stayed lost, with his twitter outburst. He's been moved on because he's not wanted there, that seems clear enough even if Deila and co. are diplomatic in public. I agree completely about not reading too much into the fact that he chose Hibs over Inverness and Dundee United, but the latter two would have indicated a plummeting career trajectory anyway. I think the very least he should be doing at this stage of his career is playing regularly for Celtic, even if that's coming off the bench where he can try to impress his manager and give him something to think about.
A tweet is a reflection of a moment in time. it just happens to be a recorded moment in time, nevertheless it is evidence of idiocy in society where a tweet is elevated to anything more than a random expression. Stokes expressing frustration at not being selected, imo, doesn't qualify as an outburst. We don't know what happened at Celtic to relegate Stokes to obscurity, but we know it was not just the tweet, Delia apparently has a list of indiscretions.
Lennon was able to manage Stokes, it's not as if Stokes is a delinquent or has suddenly turned into one, he's the same as he ever was. Delia just happens to be the worst manager Celtic have had in my living memory and that includes every manager going back to Stein. I seriously doubt that Stokes has changed into some different animal, other than what existed when Celtic were a functioning team under Lennon and he was banging in goals.
If Stokes functions to his standards at Hibs, it's proof enough for me that he was good enough to play for Celtic now, instead of the mediocrity that current play there. Time will tell.

Charlie Darwin

24/01/2016, 5:43 PM

Deila would have some competition from John Barnes and Liam Brady I'd say. Although, granted, neither of those had a league with no other competitors in it.

geysir

24/01/2016, 11:22 PM

I like Liam, always have and John Barnes reminds me of Lenny Henry, so that leaves Ronny Deila alone at the bottom of the barrel.

OwlsFan

25/01/2016, 11:29 AM

I would put my house on Stokes not making a breakthrough at Arsenal. He may get a few games in the Carling Cup but there's too much competition at Arsenal. He'll end up at Norwich or somewhere.
Sad but likely.

Interesting going back and reading the first few pages of the Stokes thread in 2005 and all the superlatives, particularly from Eirebhoy (RIP), but there was no fooling Peadar!

DeLorean

31/01/2016, 9:58 PM

I assume Stokes is cup tied for the League Cup final? He was an unused sub in Celtic's win over Raith Rovers in Round 3.

geysir

31/01/2016, 10:58 PM

I assume Stokes is cup tied for the League Cup final? He was an unused sub in Celtic's win over Raith Rovers in Round 3.

According to english cup law he wouldn't be cup tied. I don't know about Scottish, I doubt if it's much different. As with most situations, a sub has to be a used sub before he is regarded as having being involved in a game (remember Shane Long?). Stokes will make it to Hampden for a cup final before Ronny.