Pulis is grateful for Coates's support

Ahead of this weekend's clash at Blackburn, Tony Pulis is grateful that the club has got stability, compared to the situation at Ewood Park.

So TP says that he's grateful that the Potters are not run by a bunch of chicken farmers. Ok, I know that he didn't say that in so many words, but it must have been at the back of his mind when he spoke to the press this week about the recent sackings at Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United: 'We've had stability for the last five years now which is lovely and I think it shows.

'We're very fortunate that the Coates family run this football club in a proper manner and I think everybody's bought into it.'

Stoke travel to Blackburn on Boxing Day where the new Indian owners, Venkys, seem to think that a top four place can be found by sacking a manager who restored the club to mid-table security, appointing his untested deputy as his replacement and giving him a meagre transfer budget of just around £5m which, incidentally, was the same figure that the club's previous owners had budgeted for Allardyce to spend.

Whilst most Rovers' fans (and indeed most others) think the chicken farmers will shortly be in need of a serious reality check, not to say some more money, it's a stark contrast to the situation these days at the Britannia Stadium.

We seem to be progressing nice and steadily under the ownership of the Coates family, backed by the Internet goldmine that is called Bet365 and the main reason has to be that we've had an extremely settled management structure from the owners downwards for the past few years. If there is one thing that has been proved time and time again, it is that change in the club (and especially managerial change) can be catastrophic to the club's fortunes on the pitch and ultimately to the financial fortunes of the club off the pitch.

I, for one, am not hoping that an European place is within our grasp this season, but would rather see steady investment on and off the pitch along with a long-term, achievable plan that will ensure both our survival in the greatest football league in the world and will then bring us Cup and European success in the future.

We can start off by beating Rovers on Sunday and showing those chicken farmers how a proper football club is run.

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