O'Connor makes peace at Stoke - December 1, 2000
After weeks of speculation, it seems that James O'Connor is to remain a Stoke City player. The Irish u21 midfielder has made up with manager Gudjon Thordarson.
O'Connor and Thordarson have been at each others throats for the last couple of weeks but it seems after the intervention of the Stoke board they have now kissed and made up.
James threatened to leave the club because of the manager's attitude and in retaliation Thordarson dropped him from the first team. This made things worse and when West Brom came in with a £750,000 offer for the Irishman it looked certain that he would leave the Britannia Stadium.
The Stoke board knocked back the West Brom offer saying it was an insult for such a promising player - and the news that he is no longer at loggerheads with the manager should end West Brom's interest.
Thordarson said: "We have resolved our problems with James and he is part of things here again."