The long throw is in fashion and Stoke City's great master of the art has got thoughts about it
05:00, 13 Nov 2025
Rory Delap prepares to take a long throw in.
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Rory Delap doesn't mind being remembered for his incredible throw-in.(Image: Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Long throws are suddenly in vogue in the Premier League, 17 years after the grand master of the art Rory Delap was using them to make the best defenders in the world panic.
The Stoke City legend, who has coached in the Middle East and Europe over the last couple of years, gives his verdict on how they’re getting it wrong in the top flight, how it feels to be asked about throw-ins again and again and why Arsenal are making him laugh.
A long throw is all about pace – not these loopy ones
Michael Kayode’s throw is probably the best in the Premier League right now. It’s very good. The bonus he’s got is that Brentford have got the size within that team to utilise his throw as well, and they’ve scored a lot of goals from them over the last couple of years. I think he’d nick top spot for me, at the minute.
Is it as good as mine? I don’t know… it’s all to do with the pace, and what you’ve got at the moment in the league is a lot of these high, looping balls, rather than the flat ones.
Weirdly, Gordon Strachan wanted me to do those high, loopy ones because we didn’t have a lot of size in that Southampton team at the time, and his theory was that a higher ball into the box was harder to get distance on, if you were a defender trying to clear it, which would lead to a bit of a scramble. It’s only Tony Pulis who decided he wanted me to change it up and go with those flat, low, fast ones.
I don’t think size of the thrower has anything to do with it; you look at some of the different players in the league right now who are all getting distance on the throw, and they’re all different sizes.
And then, of course, you’ve got Megan Campbell, who played for Ireland but has just retired. You know, you look at her compared to me, and she’s tiny, but the distance, the height, the loop and the speed she can get from her throws is incredible – she could do everything, as good as, if not better than, me.
I was asked to throw pottery as far as I could
It’s funny when I think back to some of the things I’ve been asked to do as a result of my throw-ins. I’ve had loads of work out of them over the years, I can remember being on Soccer AM and having to try and throw a Christmas pudding the length of a double-decker bus, or something like that.
Then, with Stoke obviously in the Potteries, I did a challenge at the training ground one day where I was having to throw different types of pottery as far as I could, or at targets, smashing them everywhere – there’s been so many things over the years, honestly.
The majority of interviews I do, I always end up talking about the long throw. People think I must be fed up of it, but I always say it’s best to be remembered for something than nothing! I’m pretty easy with it all, to be honest; it’s definitely opened up a few avenues over the years.
Does my dog get a good workout from me? He’s actually injured at the minute! He’s got tendonitis in his shoulder, so he’s having to see a physio. I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a dog physio, but he’s getting treated for that at the minute. I don’t bother with those ball launchers for him… that’s just cheating, isn’t it?!
Arsenal make me laugh – they were the worst for complaining about us
I’ve said it before, but football comes full circle. People talk about formations, tactics, and style of play, but things come back around again and again.
I can remember Wimbledon’s Crazy Gang, who were about in the late 80s/early 90s, and they were all about long balls, set plays and Vinnie Jones’ long throws. There’s just not loads you can do with football; it’s like fashion; flares come in, skinny jeans come in, flares come back in.
This thing around the set-piece coach has been around for a couple of years now, and people say it’s new to the game, but it’s not new at all – the only thing different about it is that it’s now one person’s dedicated job, whereas before it was something the manager or one of his coaches would take on.
You’ve got to move with it, though. You know, set-play analysts are such a huge part of the game because the ball is out of play a lot in 90 minutes, so if you don’t work on what you do from set-plays, then you’re going to get punished. And you’d be daft not to utilise what you’ve got, especially when seasons can be successful or unsuccessful because of set-plays. That’s just a fact.
Of course we got stick for the way we played at the time, under Tony Pulis. I used to get it a lot and 90 per cent of it was just banter and all in good humour.
Stoke City thrived on long and fierce throws from Rory Delap as they won a place and stayed in the Premier League.
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Stoke City thrived on long and fierce throws from Rory Delap as they won a place and stayed in the Premier League.(Image: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)
I can remember at Portsmouth, the gap between the touchline and the stands was so close, there was basically no run up for me, so I essentially had to lean against the advertising boards next to the fans, so I’d get little digs in the back, they’d pull at my shirt and things like that. But there was nothing untoward, really; it was all just part of it, and if you went along with it, they were fine with you. You know, if you had a little bite, they’d have realised they’d hit a nerve and you’d have lost it.
So many people used to complain about the way we played. It’s funny that Arsenal are now known for their set pieces, because they were probably the worst for complaining about how we played the game during that period.
You know, with them it went as far as them wanting to ban throw-ins and replace them with kick-ins! That would have probably made it worse for them, to be honest, because we’d have been putting it into the box from everywhere on the pitch! It was part and parcel of our team back then, and I always say that no one would have talked about my throw-ins if we weren’t as successful as we were when it came to getting on the end of them and scoring goals.
Rory Delap was speaking to Ladbrokes at the launch of Ladisfaction
What are your memories of Delap's throws? Click HERE to join the debate
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