'The work ethic at the club was good and I could just concentrate on scoring...'

MIKE Sheron made his Stoke City debut 30 years ago today as a player with a point to prove.

- Peter Smith

DYNAMIC DUO: Mike Sheron forged a productive partnership with Simon Sturridge at Stoke City.

He had made a richlypromising start to his career with Manchester City - first-team debut at 19, capped 16 times by England under-21s - but there were troubles ahead following an £800,000 move to Norwich in August 1994.

Two goals in 30 games spread over two injury-dogged seasons meant a move to the Potteries in a player-exchange deal with Keith Scott valued at £450,000 raised few eyebrows outside the two clubs involved. Stoke gave Norwich £150,000 plus Scott.

He said at the time: “I see this as a chance to get my career going again. My priority is to get back to full fitness. After that, I hope Stoke fans will see the best of me.”

They certainly did. Under the careful guidance of manager Lou Macari and coach Mike Pejic he reemerged as one of the most respected strikers outside of the Premier League - and he almost took Stoke up there too.

His record of 39 goals in 70 appearances for Stoke told only part of the story.

His attacking partnership with an equally-revitalised Simon Sturridge in the second half of the 1995/96 season was the talk of the First Division and fired Stoke into the promotion playoffs.

His strike rate would have been even better but for a mystery drought during the second half of 1996/97 which many put down as a consequence of the unsettling effects of big money bids, as Stoke sought cash to pay for the building of the Britannia Stadium.