Stoke midfielder Rory Delap still cannot quite believe he is still playing in the English Premier League.
The 35-year-old has been an integral player for the Potters since they gained promotion to the top-flight in 2008, and due to their hard work they have attracted big name players like Peter Crouch and Jonathon Woodgate to the club.
Delap credits manager Tony Pulis with establishing Stoke City in the Premier League and gaining European football for the club.
If I was being brutally honest, I wouldn t have thought five years ago that I d still be playing at this level, but I ve dug in, Delap said.
When I came to the club, the gaffer said this is where he wanted to be and asked who wanted to be with him, and he and the chairman have kept their promises.
We ve got quite a few of the lads still here that were part of that.
Pulis also commented on the development of the Midlands club whose growth he has overlooked since he took over in 2006.
They are people who have been here for a long time and they know the structure and DNA of the football club. They are important people to us, Pulis said.
I think the basis of the football club is really built on having good people around you.
As a manager the job is hard enough as it is and you can make it even more difficult if you don t get the right sort of people in.
I think over the past six or seven years what we have done very well is select decent people, who have come here and really rolled their sleeves up and worked hard.
Rory has epitomised that he would be in that top group of players that you would say this club has been built on. He has been a bedrock of the success of Stoke City.
