Stoke City Football Club News

• Nickname:Potters
• Founded:1863
• Manager:Tony Pulis

• Ground:Britannia Stadium
• Capacity:28,218

Griffin ready for Potters fight

24 Feb 2009 - 09:35:13

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Stoke City captain Andy Griffin is prepared to fight for a place back in the club's starting eleven, having been dropped to the bench in recent weeks.

The 29-year-old full-back has not started a game since the 2-1 defeat at West Ham on December 28, but Griffin is confident of handling the situation in a mature fashion.

He told The Sentinel: "At the moment I find myself down the pecking order for both right-back and left-back.

"Things like that happen in football. No player likes not playing because you train all week for the game at the weekend, then find you're not playing for whatever reason.

"But I'm a lot more mature and life-experienced now and so you learn how to handle such situations.

"Sometimes you think you should be playing, but I'm not paid to make those decisions. In the past I've handled it incorrectly, especially at Newcastle, but now I'm a lot more experienced.

"If I feel sorry for myself and there's a big dark cloud following me around everywhere, then I'm not going to be helping the other players.

"In days gone by I would have felt sorry for myself, but nowadays you know things can happen quickly in football with suspensions and injuries.

"You have to be in the right shape to take your chance."