‘Don’t disrespect Stoke, honestly!’
Micah Richards has surprisingly suggested that Stoke City’s ground is the most hostile stadium that he played at during his career.
Stoke away was a fixture that very few teams looked forward to, especially if the game was played at night, and it was cold, wet and windy.
The phrase ‘can they do it on a cold rainy night in Stoke?’ became synonymous with the Potters during their 10-year stay in the Premier League from 2008-2018.
The bet365 Stadium, which features a narrow pitch with the crowd right on top of the players, became somewhat of a fortress and was certainly daunting for visiting players.
While it’s atmosphere has often been praised, very few – if any – current or former players have named it as the most hostile ground they have played at. Until now, anyway.
In a quickfire round of questions on CBS Sports’ ‘In the Mixer’ segment, host Kate Abdo asked punditry trio Richards, Jamie Carragher and Thierry Henry what is the most hostile ground that they’ve played in.
IT'S BACK! One of the best segments in TV history… 😂
This is 'In The Mixer' with Thierry Henry, @Carra23 and @MicahRichards, hosted by @kate_abdo 🤣 pic.twitter.com/oZGJCZZx9k
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) February 22, 2022
“Bastia – the Stade de Furiani,” replied Henry, while Carragher’s reply of ‘Galatasaray’ led to ‘ooos’ in the studio.
However, Richards’ response was met with a completely different reaction as Carragher and Henry couldn’t quite believe their ears.
“Stoke on Trent,” said Richards, which caused cries of laughter and confusion from Carragher.
“Stoke!?” remarked the ex-Liverpool man, as the panel all erupted with laughter.
“They [the viewers] don’t even know where Stoke is!” he added.
“Don’t disrespect Stoke, honestly,” replied a laughing Richards as he defended his decision.
Despite his response causing hysteria in the studio, statistics show that he has good reason to name the bet365 Stadium as the most hostile stadium he played at.
As reported by the Daily Mail, and provided by Opta, the 33-year-old played five times away at Stoke, failing to win on any occasion.
Richards suffered defeat twice and drew the other three matches – finding the net in the two side’s 1-1 draw in November 2010.
Related links:
- Micah Richards responds to Carragher’s American accent with ‘C grade’ Italian
- Micah Richards and Jamie Carragher mock Gary Neville over his protection of Solskjaer
- Micah Richards and Graeme Souness disagree over Man City second goal in heated argument
