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The fashion over the last few years for chunky, blue, big headed, low slung, short legged dogs that bear no resemblance to what the breed originally looked like will bring a host of health issues at eye watering prices
There's a Staffie we've got to know really well that lives near my parent's house in Suffolk. It such a lovely dog, super gentle and fun. It takes part in dogs shows and has been shown at Crufts. It does not look like any of the staffies I see in our local parls. Its taller, has a smaller head, no underbite. As you say, the difference between the breed standard and what you see out and about is huge!
Stonehedge
Markyboy
I have a re-homed Staffie - a few pictures in this thread - so can try to answer some of your questions:
Reggie is crate trained and will happily spend the entire day in it if absolutely necessary, which is rare. I'm fortunate to have teenage kids and a niece who lives locally, who will feed and let him out, but he's fine to be left all day if I have to. Typically (i.e. not lock down) I will be at home a couple of days a week, so he has three when he is mainly on his own, but will have a visitor.
I spend about £60 a month on food, £25 on insurance (would be cheaper, but I had a claim) and nothing on training or care. Staffies are generally pretty easy to train because they are desperate to please you and mine is treat motivated. It is important to train them to at least have very good recall as they will otherwise be off introducing them to other people. I adopted mine at about 16 weeks, so still young enough for me to train - he did come house trained.
Only you know whether a Staffie is the right dog for you. I've had two (both males) and would characterise them as incredibly people friendly, craving attention insofar as they want to be around you whenever they can, will take as much exercise as you can throw at them (mine gets an hour's walk twice a day, plus lots of chasing, fetching, tugging, etc.), don't shed much fur, few health problems and rarely neurotic. The main difference between my two is that the first was sometimes dog-aggressive, whereas the current one - at two - seems not to be in the slightest, but that might change. Socialising with other dogs early is essential but, I don't care what anyone says, given their fighting/baiting/ratting heritage, they do have a strong prey drive and potential propensity for aggression to other dogs. And it's not a growl and a nip, they can bite, hold and shake with strength. They also have a very high pain threshold.
I'm not sure whether Battersea are re-homing at the moment and they're known to be stringent in their requirements of potential adopters - being at home and having a garden is a huge plus. Look at the Blue Cross too and these people - https://www.staffierescue.co.uk/
Happy to try to answer any other questions you might have, and you're welcome to meet mine and take him out for a test drive once lock down allows. I'm in Brixton.
One final thing I would say is that rescuing a Staffie these days is likely to get you a better and healthier dog than what you'd get from most breeders. The fashion over the last few years for chunky, blue, big headed, low slung, short legged dogs that bear no resemblance to what the breed originally looked like will bring a host of health issues at eye watering prices - £1-1.5K for a pup. Blue is a recessive gene in Staffies and reliably breeding them involves a lot of in-breeding.
Good luck, whatever you decide.