Paul Ukighir
Jordan Thompson is trying to help a team he has fallen in love with pull firmly in the right direction by trying to earn a new contract at Stoke City.
After recovering from a hernia operation, the 28-year-old Northern Ireland international, Stoke’s longest-serving first team player, is ready to rejoin Mark Robins’ squad. His first priority will be to ensure that they score enough points in the next 11 games to qualify for the Championship.
There is no question that he wants to stay if he wants to play well for Robins and let that situation work itself out. He is one of eight players whose contracts expire in the summer.
“This club definitely means a lot to me,” he said. “I’ve been a good number of years now and my wee son is a Stoke fan. The most frustrating thing, because you’ve been here so long you want to see the club progress and go upwards rather than looking over our shoulder. First and foremost we want to finish this season strong.
“My contract situation is what it is but I would like to stay at the club. I love being here to be honest with you. But that’s got nothing to do with the priority at the moment. I just want to kick on with the football and those things then take care of themselves.”
When Thompson was transferred from Blackpool to Stoke by Michael O’Neill in January 2020, he was thrown into a battle to remain in this division. After a few seasons in which they hoped to maintain a push for the playoffs, they lost steam and were dragged back into a losing battle under Steven Schumacher and Alex Neil.
“I just think at the minute it’s not about the performance, we need to find a way to win matches,” he said. “It’s not the situation we want to be in, definitely not – we want to be looking up at the play-offs and things like that – but it is where we are at the minute and in previous years we’ve found a way to win games.
“We have to take responsibility as players. That’s our job. The results and performances haven’t been good enough this season but there have been glimpses that have been positive things, just not a consistent basis and we’ve been losing too many games. We need to be finishing the season strong.”
The midfielder is getting close to making his 100th league start and has already made 170 appearances for Stoke. After missing a significant portion of the winter due to injury, he is attempting to make up lost time.
He said: “That was a frustrating period. I knew there was something there and I just didn’t know what it was at the time and was playing through it a wee bit. But once I got the surgery I felt brand new again and it’s good to be back.
“It’s frustrating (to be injured when a new manager is appointed) because you want to be out getting to know what he wants from you and the team.But once I got back, the manager had a brief conversation with me, said it’s a clean slate for everyone and I was happy to be back out with the boys again.”
In a 3-1 victory over Swansea, he made his debut at left-back. However, he enjoyed playing in the middle against Watford with Ben Pearson, who is also back from injury.
“I enjoyed it at the weekend,” he said. “We had a good bit of chemistry, two feisty players and I think we set the tone really for the match. You could feel it with the crowd getting behind us and the rest of the team. He’s got a lot of experience under his belt and he’s not long back from injury and feels like he’s got a point to prove as well.”
