Why Delilah‪?‬

What national lessons can be learned from the trials and tribulations of Potteries’ football? This book looks at the state of professional football in England, its financing, its governance, its coverage in the media, through the prism of two football clubs, Stoke City and Port Vale. They share the same city, Stoke-on-Trent; the smallest in England with more than one professional club. They share contrasting fortunes in the Premier League era. Stoke City established itself in the Premier League despite being widely derided in the national media for the style of play under its former manager, Tony Pulis.  It defied the odds thanks to the backing of multi-millionaire owners from local bookmakers Bet365. Port Vale, a club theoretically under fan ownership, almost went out of business, needing to be bailed out by a local authority axing jobs and cutting services. 


What lessons can be learned by the wider national game from the travails of Stoke and Vale? “Why Delilah?” is for all football fans; those concerned about the future of the people’s game, the beautiful game. At times controversial, it aims to provoke an important debate on the true state of association football in England; one too often held in the past from a Metropolitan perspective. Why Delilah? Breaking down the Premier League door offers a different perspective; one from the Potteries a proud working class district of England, steeped in football history.