- Potters legend speaking at latest season card holder invitational event
- Long-standing season card holders gathered in Ricardo's on Thursday evening
- Former defender Noel Blake was also on hand for a Q&A with supporters
Potters legend Denis Smith admitted that, despite over two decades managing teams around the country, Stoke City always remained his solitary footballing love.
Addressing a gathering of season card holders in Ricardo’s at the bet365 Stadium, the former defender reflected positively on his own decision never to manage the red and whites, as it allowed him to remain a diehard fan.
“It was because of my wife, Kate, as well as myself,” said the 75-year-old. She told me to imagine the Boothen End chanting ‘Smith Out’.
“She was right about that. It meant that, at the end of my managerial career, I was able to come back to the Club and to support them as I do now.
“I travelled around as a manager for 25 years, but I was always a Stokie. It’s who I am. It’s home.”
As a player at the Victoria Ground from 1968 to 1982, it was a very different story. Smith, a 1972 League Cup winner who also won promotion with the Potters in 1979, was the man who refused to be tempted away; even by the persistence of Brian Clough.
“Ajax would have been interesting because they were the best team in the world at that time,” Smith recalled.
“Manchester United tried to sign me as well. Leeds made a world record bid. And then there was Brian Clough.
“I’d get home and Kate would say ‘that man’s been on the phone again’. He was forever trying to sign me, for Derby and for Nottingham Forest.
“Before he passed on, he used to tell me that I’d have won titles if I’d moved, but I wanted to win the league with Stoke. We never achieved it, but you’ve got to believe.”
Denis Smith was guest speaking alongside Noel Blake at the latest invitational event for Stoke City season card holders in Ricardo’s at the bet365 Stadium.