Last night in the Waddington Suite the new Academy intake of about 200 lads were officially inducted by Academy Manager George Foster.

The aim of the evening was to set out the plans for the upcoming season and introducing new personnel following several changes over the summer.

George said, "I am striving for improvement and the only way for our lads to be competitive is for them to feel proud.

"Tony Pulis brought Adrian Pennock and myself in to bridge the gap between the Academy and the First Team, and it has to be said that Tony is very interested in the youth set up here. He has watched every game; and he with First Team Coach Mark O'Connor have taken and observed training sessions for us.

George added, "There are so many positives in the youth set up at the moment, it is a great time to be part of our Academy. The Chairman has invested a good deal of money having bought the stadium and being in the process of buying the training ground which is all great news for us.

"We will be based at the training ground as soon as the structures are in place, new work is to be undertaken on the Dome and of course the lads will be wearing the official Stoke kit for both matches and training. There are so many positives and from the inside I can't see any negatives."