All change for Burnley and Stoke

We've won just once since, against Plymouth, and Stoke can match that with just the one win against Millwall although they have drawn a few more games than us. It's left us a lot further down the table with Stoke in fifteenth place, just a couple of places above us.

Tomorrow our manager Steve Cotterill can expect some abuse from the home fans, they haven't forgiven him for leaving so abruptly in 2002, still call him Steve Quitterall and still try to tell us he won't stay long and will walk out. I think it needs to be pointed out to them that he's just signed a new deal that takes him to the summer of 2010.

I do think they need to look a lot closer to home for the problems, it seems to be one thing after another at Stoke, and the recent troubles have all flared up again today. There were even suggestions that manager Johan Boskamp could be gone before we get there, have they found themselves a quitter we may well ask, but for the second time this season other members of staff have been told to keep away.

A statement released today by the board of directors reads, “The Board of Stoke City Football Club regrets the ongoing dispute between the club's Director of Football, John Rudge, assistant manager Jan De Koning, and the manager Johan Boskamp.

“In light of the lack of a resolution between the football management team the Board has asked John Rudge and Jan De Koning to stay away from the club pending discussions about their future roles and their continuing involvement at the club.”

It's an amazing situation, Boskamp won't even mention Rudge's name and their Chief Exec, the Imposter Tony Scholes has admitted that it is at best an uneasy truce.

The Stoke squad will include two players who weren't around at the last meeting. Finish midfielder Peter Kopteff had agreed to sign from Viking Stavanger but had to wait for the window to open to complete the deal and they also have Wigan's Australian midfield player Josip Skoko on loan, he scored his first goal last Monday against Crystal Palace.

But it will be a strange atmosphere as the home fans come to terms with the latest Windy City bust up whilst still not working out just why Steve Cotterill, Ade Akinbiyi, Gifton Noel-Williams and Wayne Thomas didn't really want to hang around much longer.

Click HERE to see all Stoke's results this season.

Johan Boskamp has worked it all out now and said today that Stoke will win games if they score goals and don't concede them – it must really work wonders having a foreign manager, this must be the continental ideas they wanted when the sacked Tony Pulis.

He expects to have our former loan player Luke Chadwick back in the squad. Chadwick missed the game against Palace on Monday with a slight hamstring strain and suffering from fatigue.

Chadwick might have been passed fit but there are doubts about three players. Carl Hoefkens was substituted on Monday with a thigh injury but he's had acupuncture this week to try and speed the recovery to enable him to play.

Two other players who played on Monday, Dave Brammer (tendonitis) and Darel Russell (virus) are also considered doubtful. If none of Hoefkens, Brammer and Russell make it then Stoke are likely to line up:

Steve Simonsen, Lewis Buxton, Clint Hull, Michael Duberry, Marlon Broomes, Luke Chadwick, Peter Kopteff, Josip Skoko, Paul Gallagher, Mamady Sidibe, Sammy Bangoura. Subs from: Ed de Goey, Hans Sigurdsson, Junior, Peter Sweeney, Adam Rooney, Martin Paterson.

Click HERE to see the full Stoke squad.

There are certain to be two new names in the Burnley squad for tomorrow's game following Steve Cotterill's loan swoops in the last two days. It is difficult to believe that either of them will not be in the starting line up and I expect Phil Bardsley to come in at right back with Andy Gray to partner Michael Ricketts up front.

With Bardsley at full back it gives Steve some selection problems in the centre of defence. John McGreal is favourite to start with either Frank Sinclair or Wayne Thomas alongside him. Frank didn't have the best of games last week at full back but in the centre of the defence he's a different proposition.

Maybe we will play all three and use Bardsley and Jon Harley as wing backs but the manager has said he prefers to stick with one system and the last time we played with three central defenders, at Norwich, we had to change things.

In midfield much will depend on the fitness of Micah Hyde and if he does miss out it will be the first league game he has missed since the defeat at Preston over a year ago. If he is out of the side then Chris McCann will be the most likely to play in the centre of midfield with James O'Connor.

It's anyone's guess but we could line up: Brian Jensen, Phil Bardsley, Frank Sinclair, John McGreal, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott, James O'Connor, Chris McCann, Garreth O'Connor, Andy Gray, Michael Ricketts. Subs from: Michael Duff, Wayne Thomas, Danny Karbassiyoon, John Spicer, Graham Branch, Gifton Noel-Williams, Kyle Lafferty.

It was probably the win Steve Cotterill enjoyed more than any all last season. It was scrappy and a game we won with a late goal from Gary Cahill. You can read more of this and other recent games at Stoke in Good days at the Windy City in our Look Back section.

The teams last season were,

Stoke: Steve Simonsen, Lewis Buxton, Michael Duberry, Wayne Thomas, Marcus Hall, Karl Henry, Darel Russell, John Eustace (Chris Greenacre 71), Clive Clarke (Lewis Neal 78), Gifton Noel-Williams, Ade Akinbiyi. Subs not used: Ed de Goey, Jermaine Palmer, Jay Denny.

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Frank Sinclair, Gary Cahill, John McGreal, Mo Camara, Michael Duff (Lee Roche 43), Micah Hyde, Tony Grant, James O'Connor (Richard Chaplow 85), Graham Branch, Ian Moore. Subs not used: Amadou Sanokho, Joel Pilkington, Matt O'Neill.

Previous 20 Seasons
Season	Div	Ven	Result	Att	Scorers
1990/91	FAC	h	2-0	12,949	Francis White
1992/93	2	h	0-2	16,667	.
.	.	a	1-1	21,840	Randall
1994/95	1	h	1-1	15,331	Davis
.	.	a	0-2	13,040	.
1997/98	LC	h	0-4	4,175	.
.	.	a	0-2	6,041	.
1998/99	2	h	0-2	10,575	.
.	.	a	4-1	10,965	Pickering Payton Little(2)
1999/2000	2	h	1-0	11,328	Payton
.	.	a	2-2	15,354	Payton(2 1pen)
2002/03	1	h	2-1	14,244	Gnohere Papadopoulos
.	.	a	1-0	12,874	West
2003/04	1	a	2-1	14,876	May Chadwick
.	.	h	0-1	12,812	.
2004/05	C	h	2-2	12,981	Moore Blake(pen)
.	.	a	1-0	15,689	Cahill
2005/06	C	h	1-0	17,912	Akinbiyi

Click HERE to see more results against Stoke since our first meeting in the inaugral league season of 1888/89.