City's forgotten man Rory Delap admits he can't wait for Sunday's pre-season curtain raiser against Newcastle Town.

The 31-year old midfielder suffered a cruel double break to his leg in his home debut last October ruling him out for the remainder of the season.

However he is now back to full fitness and says he is itching to show the fans what he can do.

He says: "It'll be nice to be involved in the game on Sunday, I don't know what the manager's plans are but I feel ready so we'll just have to see what happens.

"It's been a hard few months for me but I feel good now I am training again.

"I haven't felt any reaction to the injury, it's a bit stiff but that is to be expected but apart from that everything is going very well.

"There's six or seven games in pre-season and I'm not going to play in every game but when I do get the games I'll need to build myself up and get match fit."

Pre season friendlies are normally considered to be meaningless but the former Sunderland star has a totally different outlook on them.

"They are important if you win but they don't mean anything if you lose," smiles Rory.

"On a serious note it's a game of football at the end of the day and I'm sure no one wants to be on the losing side.

"They're called friendlies but I've always liked to play in a competitive way, and this year will be no different.

Manager Tony Pulis has been busy looking for potential new signings and Rory is sure when the players do arrive the Potters can build on an impressive 2006/07 season.

"There's no doubt that the (loan) lads helped us achieve what we did last year, nearly upsetting the odds to get into the play-offs.

"The manager knows he needs to get more players in and he seems really busy trying to do that.

"There's a good few team throwing a bit of money around but that doesn't always buy you success.

"I think that with the lads we've got already and if we add to that then there's enough quality there to do more than we did last year," he adds.