Mark Robins pays tribute to Ashley Phillips ahead of final game for Stoke City
Ashley Phillips plays his final game for Stoke City today with acknowledgement from Mark Robins that he has been one of the best loan players he’s ever managed.
Phillips, aged 20, will make his 83rd appearance for Stoke when he takes to the pitch against Bristol City at the end of his second long-term loan spell from Tottenham Hotspur.
It had looked unlikely, after his eye-catching performances in the second half of last term, that he would return in the summer and there is a sense that this time really will be it – although it remains to be seen what happens next, and where.
Perhaps paths will cross again at some point down the line, but this is a chance for the Stoke boss to reflect on what the centre-half has brought to the club since he first joined in the summer of 2024.
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“He’s been, I think, one of the best loan players I’ve ever had,” said Robins. “I inherited him last year and then brought him back in the summer.
“Ash, in terms of his availability and in terms of his robustness, desire and commitment to Stoke City, it has been second to none. He is a top, top individual.
“He is so low maintenance and that’s exactly what you want. He’s available all the time. His level of performance has always been high and he’s a young player learning. It’s been a really successful couple of seasons for him.”
Phillips will almost certainly not be the only player making his final Stoke appearance this afternoon.
It will come out in the wash who else might leave, but Robins has a clear idea of the kind of new signing profile he hopes to welcome over the next two or three months.
“I think that you can wait and see,” he said. “There is definitely some good work going on. What we have to do, what I would like us to do, is get a really good, robust team together that will run and can run and is prepared to run, prepared to fight.
“When you go away to Charlton next year you have to be able to cope with that, not just hoping to play really good football to beat someone without having too much physical contact. That’s not what we have been about. I’m looking for aggression, whether that be physical, mental or having that real desire and that comes into the leadership category.”
Stoke will be backed by an 11th sell-out away end of the season, and Robins knows it would be nice to give everyone a pick-me-up to head into the summer.
“Wouldn’t it just,” he said.
“That’s the aim. There will be a team out there which I think will be capable of going to Bristol or anywhere and be able of competing. I look forward to that.
“The last few weeks have been very, very difficult. We’ve tried to compete with what we’ve had available and it’s just been disjointed. Hopefully it looks a little more cohesive.”
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