Four released at Stoke

Four players have been released by Stoke City, including club captain Dominic Matteo.

The others are defender Marlon Broomes, keeper Russell Hoult and midfielder Rob Garrett.

Matteo and Hoult joined the Potters midway through the 2006-07 season and then signed one year contracts last summer and it did not seem likely that either would stay. Matteo suffered an injury that kept him out of the final half of the season, whilst Hoult was sent out on loan to Notts County in the wake of Carlo Nash’s arrival at the Brit and Steve Simonsen’s subsequent demotion to the bench.

Broomes has had a chequered history at the Brit after arriving from Preston in 2005. Despite playing nearly a full first season for the Potters, fans had mixed views about the value of the defender, but he then spent two full seasons out the team through injury.

Garrett had never started a first team match for Stoke but had spent time on loan at Wrexham over the past two seasons, but they were unfortunately relegated from the Football League after finishing bottom of League 2 at the end of this season.