Stoke City Chairman Peter Coates In Full Support Of Ibrahim Afellay’s Banishment From The Club

Stoke City chairman Peter Coates is fully behind manager Paul Lambert’s decision to expel Ibrahim Afellay from the first-team squad.

Ibrahim Afellay has not featured since the 5-0 defeat by Chelsea on December 30, with the 31-year-old absent from each of Lambert’s eight games.

The Scot is concerned with Affelay’s disruptive attitude at the training ground, and Coates told the Stoke Sentinel: “We have standards we have to keep and expect people to keep and we obviously support the manager on such issues.



“If he feels as strongly as he has on this issue, then of course we back him.”

Afellay’s present deal expires in June 2019, but this recent call by Lambert suggests a parting of the ways in the summer.