Anthony Stokes (F free agent b.1988)

**Junior** · 25/01/2013, 12:46 PM

Originally Posted by liamoo11

hoprfully hooper goes stokes is a class act it would be great chance for him to show his undoubted talents

Stokes shouldnt be relying on Hooper leaving so that he can show his skills. I would say most of Stokes ' best performances for Celtic have come when he partnered Hooper up front.

He should be able to knuckle down and prove his worth, not rely on people stepping aside.

**liamoo11** · 25/01/2013, 1:04 PM

Originally Posted by Junior

Stokes shouldnt be relying on Hooper leaving so that he can show his skills. I would say most of Stokes ' best performances for Celtic have come when he partnered Hooper up front.

He should be able to knuckle down and prove his worth, not rely on people stepping aside.

To be fair he has been injured all season and is just back

**Junior** · 25/01/2013, 3:28 PM

Yeah, Im aware of that, not sure of the relevance though. He still needs to knuckle down, train hard and prove to the manager he is worth his place in the team now that he is back from injury.

If Hooper does go, I'd say its a safe bet Lennon would try and replace him.

**liamoo11** · 25/01/2013, 4:45 PM

Originally Posted by Junior

Yeah, Im aware of that, not sure of the relevance though. He still needs to knuckle down, train hard and prove to the manager he is worth his place in the team now that he is back from injury.

If Hooper does go, I'd say its a safe bet Lennon would try and replace him.

The relevence clearly is without Hooper stokes has a better chance to get game time regain match fitness score goals which he has done consistently in scotland and more importantly add creativity to celtic like he did last season when alot of celtic fans felt Hooper wasnt putting it in and did not contribute enough to the team.

**geysir** · 25/01/2013, 4:58 PM

Originally Posted by liamoo11

The relevence clearly is without Hooper stokes has a better chance to get game time regain match fitness score goals which he has done consistently in scotland and more importantly add creativity to celtic like he did last season when alot of celtic fans felt Hooper wasnt putting it in and did not contribute enough to the team.

In the Fans Player of the Month poll, Hooper picked up 1.755 points over the course of last season. Stokes who played a similar amount of games, picked up 433 points.
So whatever Hooper did contribute last season, the quality of it was appreciated by the fans much more than Anthony's efforts.

**Junior** · 30/01/2013, 8:24 PM

Just on a couple of minutes against Killie, Celtic were winning 2:1. Renewing his partnership with Hooper and after no more than 3 or 4 minutes on the field he's slotted one away after rounding the keeping and drilling it home from a wide angle making it 3:1

**liamoo11** · 16/02/2013, 6:20 PM

2 today 1 cracker won peno and nice work for another.was celtics best player last week as well in his first start since injury.

**geysir** · 18/02/2013, 4:45 PM

Stokes had an excellent game against Dundee U. He looked fit and raring to go.

**ArdeeBhoy** · 18/02/2013, 6:03 PM

Great to see him back on song, but unless he can do it for any sustained period I'd forget about him doing it for Ireland...

**squareball** · 18/02/2013, 11:07 PM

Stokes lack of pace is the reason he cannot make the breakthrough for Ireland. It's a pity but he won't do much for Ireland unless we start to get the ball down on the carpet and pass it around. I wish him all the best with Celtic it is nice to see him doing well and scoring goals again.

**Junior** · 19/02/2013, 11:20 AM

I really dont think lack of 'pace' has been the reason for him failing to make the breakthough at Ireland. Im not sure Walters, Doyle, Sammon are blessed with electric pace either. I think you need to look at self discpline attitude and application for the reason.

He's still young (we'll have to be able to stop saying that soon surely

) so he has time, a new management team will likely be in place after this campaign as he has more than likely burned his bridges with the current setup and an opportunity will arise Im sure.

Good to see him back from injury and getting in to the playing squad at Celtic and having an impact. Wonder does he have a chance for the game in Turin to be part of the Miracle of all Miracles?? Lennon hasnt trusted him in the past for such big games, suppose it also depends on Samaras and Hoopers availability.

**Sleepingpartner** · 19/02/2013, 11:31 AM

He's a good player but never fufilled his early potential and just can't ever see him being an EPL player or regular international.

**Royal rover** · 19/02/2013, 11:53 AM

stokes now finds himself in a bad situation in terms of his long term future at Celtic, i heard certain stories to why he wasn't back in the first team earlier than last week, granted that these rumors are generally unfounded , however i have always been a big fan of young Anthony and i hope for the remainder of the season he scores goals , when you look at what Norwich were willing to pay in order to get hooper, i do believe that stokes isn't that far behind, the recent bad press associated with the current republican movement will mean that if Celtic want rid of him at the end of the season , it's unlikely he'll get a move back to England so who knows , i would love to see him playing upfront with shane long at some stage in the future, i think he compliments alot of players around and this was certainly evident from the Dundee game , however he is unlikely to get a run in the second leg ahead of Tony Watt, who bar the Barcelona game has had very average season but he's still very young. i have said before he has more talent than anything else i have seen in years , and hopefully i will be proven right eventually but time is starting to run out so he needs to play well for the reminder of the season

**squareball** · 21/02/2013, 3:22 PM

Originally Posted by Junior

I really dont think lack of 'pace' has been the reason for him failing to make the breakthough at Ireland. Im not sure Walters, Doyle, Sammon are blessed with electric pace either. I think you need to look at self discpline attitude and application for the reason.

Walters Doyle and Sammon are all big and strong. Physically they don't need to be very quick to hold up the ball and bring others into play. Stokes needs to be able to use speed to get in behind defenders and to get past them because he is not strong enough to be a target man. His job would be to score goals. He will be prolific if he stays at Celtic and may become a useful squad player under the next management I doubt he will be given a chance by Trap.

**SkStu** · 02/03/2013, 2:14 PM

Got the winner for Celtic in today's semi against St. Mirren...

GOAL- ST MIRREN 1-2 CELTIC (STOKES)
Celtic retake the lead and again the hapless St Mirren defence is posted missing. James Forrest plays a short corner to Gary Hooper before collecting the return and sending in a cross for the unmarked Anthony Stokes to head home.

**Junior** · 15/04/2013, 8:32 AM

Originally Posted by SkStu

Got the winner for Celtic in today's semi against St. Mirren...

Well that wasnt actually the winner against St. Mirren (who went on to win the League Cup) but it must have been foresight as he came off the bench yesterday to score the winner for Celtic in ET beating Dundee United 4:3 to go in to the Scottish Cup final versus Hibs.

Jon Daly scored a brace for Dundee United too. If Conor Sammon can get the nod, then Jon Daly is more than worthy of a squad place for the Irish setup. He has bags of experience, captains his side and scores his fair share (I havent checked his stats but he's done well over the last number of years). He's 29 now, 3 years Sammons senior.

Okay Im playing devils advocate but I would have liked to see Daly getting a shout a few years ago when the likes of Cillian Sheridan were getting a run out........

Stokes on the other hand........not a great season due to injury....Its grounddog day.....but here goes... Lets hope he can kick on again in the remaining dead rubber league games and perhaps get a shot in the cup final and on to next season.

EDIT: Willo Flood had a decent enough game for DU as well - he has a good engine on him!

**liamoo11** · 15/04/2013, 6:18 PM

fair play to flood he got over his spell with celtic well. When he was the youngest of the quartet of elliott, mccarthy and whelan at city he was defo the most highly rated dont think you wood have got much odds on it been whelan who ended up with 60 caps which is a credit to glenn

**IsMiseSean** · 15/04/2013, 8:54 PM

I wonder will Stokes get a look in for the end of season games? Will he show up if he does....

**Stuttgart88** · 16/04/2013, 10:51 AM

I hope he does on both counts.

**Junior** · 19/04/2013, 4:27 PM

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22220470

Celtic are to offer Anthony Stokes a new contract, with the Irish striker nearing the end of his current terms.
Manager Neil Lennon revealed the news but did not go into any details on the length of the proposed deal.
Stokes, who joined the club from Scottish Premier League rivals Hibernian in August 2010, missed five months of the season through injury.
The 24-year-old headed in the winning goal in Sunday's Scottish Cup semi-final against Dundee United.
He came off the bench at Hampden to settle a 4-3 thriller in extra time.
It was a fifth goal of the season for the Republic of Ireland international, who found the net on 40 occasions during the previous two campaigns with Celtic.
Capped four times, Stokes has not been selected for his country since he withdrew from the 2011 Nations Cup, citing tiredness.