Stoke have finished in the bottom half of the Championship every year since coming back to this level in 2018, and this week’s oppo fan Ben Rowley (@BenARowley) isn’t convinced this latest three-managers-and-counting train wreck won’t ultimately terminate in League One.

How’s the season been for Stoke?

Let’s be frank: it’s yet another disaster - the same as the last seven years (I am genuinely losing count). Many argue we’ve built a very young, weak and naive team, which, on top of our usual lack of cutting-edge, leaves us up a creek without a paddle. We’ve been watching most games either through our fingers or pulling our hair out. There have been some positive performances, which only adds to the frustration as we know we have some real quality at our disposal. To be fighting relegation season after season is becoming rather embarrassing. This time, the prospect of League One is becoming very real indeed - almost guaranteed for some. Even if Stoke manage to survive, the fallout of frustration from supporters will only intensify over the summer.

Stoke in the league so far…
Stoke 1-0 Coventry Baker 78
Watford 3-0 Stoke Kayembe 47, 73, Andrews 49
Stoke 1-2 West Brom Koumas 29 – Grant 18, Maja 31
Plymouth 0-1 Stoke Manhoef 83
Oxford 1-0 Stoke Mizouni 48
Stoke 1-3 Hull Wilmot 30 – Palmer 63, Slater 77, Wilmot og 79,
Boro 2-0 Stoke Doak 34, Hackney 73
Stoke 6-1 Portsmouth Cannon 13, 43, pen 48, 51, Gallagher 45, Moran 53 – O’Mahony 29
Swansea 0-0 Stoke
Stoke 1-1 Norwich Manhoef 45 – Crnac 45
Stoke 2-2 Bristol City Koumas 2, Moran 14 – Wells 50, 52
Sheff Utd 2-0 Stoke Moore 14, Campbell 50
Stoke 2-1 Derby Cannon pen 9, Gibson 82 – Johansson og 68
Blackburn 0-2 Stoke Manhoef 57, Cannon pen 85
Stoke 1-1 Millwall Gibson 60 – Coburn 42
QPR 1-1 Stoke Gibson og 62 – Cannon 24
Stoke 0-0 Preston
Stoke 0-2 Burnley Rodriguez 52, Brownhill pen 78
Sunderland 2-1 Stoke Watson 7, 86 – Koumas 6
Luton 2-1 Stoke Morris 24, Adebayo 90 – Cannon 6
Stoke 2-2 Cardiff Moran 17, Gibson 90 – El Ghazi 32, Gibson og 72
Sheff Wed 2-0 Stoke Windass 52, Paterson 76
Stoke 0-2 Leeds Piroe 42, 63
Stoke 1-0 Sunderland Cannon 90
Burnley 0-0 Stoke
Stoke 0-0 Plymouth
West Brom 1-1 Stoke Diangana 71 – Lowe 9
Portsmouth 3-1 Stoke Bishop pen 5, Lang 9, Ogilvie 49 – Wilmot 27
Stoke 0-0 Oxford
Hull 1-2 Stoke Matazo 6 – Al-Hamadi 43, Moran 74
Bristol City 2-0 Stoke Mehmeti 11, 73
Stoke 3-1 Swansea Burger 64, Jun-Ho 73, Baker 90 – Tymon 61
Norwich 4-2 Stoke Dobbin 32, Sargent 48, 71, Tchamadeu og 78 – Baker 45, pen 90
Stoke 1-3 Boro Jun-Ho 45 – Forss 20, Azaz 52, Conway 73
Stoke 0-0 Watford
Coventry 3-2 Stoke Torp 22, 31, Thomas 90 – Gallagher 65, 86
Stoke 1-0 Blackburn Al-Hamadi 19
Millwall 1-0 Stoke Ivanovic pen 90

Let’s go through the managers one by one - Schumacher, given a whole summer then sacked, seemed nuts. How is that decision viewed now?

Personally, the same as it was at the time: ludicrous. Schumacher won seven of his last ten games as Stoke boss and, although there was clearly work to do, progress was finally being made and games were enjoyable to attend again. The reasons for his sacking are unclear to this day, though it’s rumoured Jon Walters (sporting director) wasn’t impressed with the lack of time Schumacher spent at Clayton Wood coaching his players. In that case, the decision should have been made in the summer with time for the new boss to get his feet under the table, coach our current squad, and bring in his own men. Alas, we chose the nuclear option and it’s beginning to look more stupid as each game goes by. He didn’t deserve to be sacked and I hypothesise Stoke would be much further away from relegation danger if he was still in charge.

Pelach. What went on there?

For all his flaws, Pelach certainly couldn’t be criticised for how much time and effort he put into his time as head coach with us. He was last in and first out every day and he was a football nut: something Walters was clearly after. He was also a trendy young coach who sold us all a story that we were good enough to pass our way through winning Championship matches. Boy, he was wrong. I have never seen Stoke play such a low block (yes, I witnessed the Pulis days) and it was painful to see Stoke submit themselves to a battering from opposition attacks each week. He simply didn’t understand what Stoke City was about. There was no aggression, no speed, no individual brilliance. Instead, a team who robotically watched shots go in at Viktor Johansson (more on him later) and then desperately tried to run 80 yards up the pitch in hope of clinching a win. It’s nothing personal against Narcis, but his spell here will go down as the most forgettable, yet damaging, reign in the club’s history.

Robins hasn’t moved the needle much, what have you made of his appointment so far?

He brings a lot of experience, realism and honesty to supporters and I think that’s what is needed at a time like this. I wondered whether Robins would get off to a slow start, similar to those he infamously has with his Coventry side in recent seasons - he’s replicated that here and then some. He’s been dealt a terrible hand: a squad low on belief and knowhow, and one of the most seismic injury lists we’ve had in a long time. He’ll have to take some responsibility though, as he’s just not been able to find a way to win football games. We’re back to some relatively normal style of tactics, but we’re missing quality in moments at both ends of the pitch. In the last handful of matches, with some of our more influential players back fit, we have looked much improved and late losses to Coventry and Millwall left us all reeling: we deserved something from both games. Let’s hope Robins has used his first international break to lay down some foundations and figure out how to get the best out of what he has at his disposal.

If you’re rattling through managers and not getting better presumably the manager isn’t the problem - who or what is?

To have maxed out our budget to the brink of the Profit & Sustainability rules once again only to end up in a relegation scrap is nothing short of a needless embarrassment. Our hands may have been tied by some rather exorbitant spending in the summer of 2023, but we have played our hand very badly once more. Spending what little cash we had on two players who have less than ten starts between them (and only one of them has started a game at all), the rest being made up of free transfers and loans. We’re on our third manager this season and our third head of recruitment too. Ultimately, fingers have to be pointed at Jonathan Walters and some truly appalling decisions in hindsight. There’s no doubt that he’s trying his best, but these decisions could be terminal and that is simply unforgivable given the relatively stable footing we had at the start of the season. Having said all this, Walters has only been around for just over a year, and a growing number of supporters are pointing their finger at the very top after years of mismanagement, decline and waste.

What business was done in Jan? What was left undone?

Losing Tom Cannon was a colossal blow and was always going to be a huge void to fill. We signed Ali Al-Hamadi who looks like a proper “Stoke striker” (powerful yet has only scored two) and recalled Nathan Lowe from a loan in League Two, which looks to be a bad decision all-round with Lowe not scoring since his first five minutes upon his return and his loan club Walsall losing their once tight grip on the title. We also signed Josh Wilson-Esbrand, who may end up being our fourth-choice left back once he returns from injury. We recalled the loans of Lewis Baker (which was another ridiculous decision to send him packing in the first place) and Ryan Mmaee (who will be looking forward to starting his first game shortly after a year out with various injuries). That was it though: Stoke’s hands were tied with decisions made in times previous. It was always going to be a hold-your-nose-and-cross-your-fingers job. Let’s hope we’ve got enough in the tank.

Summer Ins >>> Bosun Lawal, 21, CB, Celtic, £2m >>> Sam Gallagher, 28, CF, Blackburn, £1.5m >>> Eric Junior Bocat, 24, LB, Sint Truiden (Belgium), £1m >>> Viktor Johansson, 25, GK, Rotherham, £900k >>> Ben Gibson, 31, CB, Norwich, Free >>> Wiktor Gromek, 19, CM, Lecce, Undisclosed >>> Tatsuki Seko, 26, CM, Kawasaki, Undisclosed >>> Tom Cannon, 21, CF, Leicester, Loan Andrew Moran, 20, AM, Brighton, Loan >>> Ashley Phillips, 19, CB, Spurs, Loan >>> Lewis Koumas, 18, LW, Liverpool, Loan

Winter Outs >>> Nikola Jojic, 21, RQ, HNK Gorica (Croatia), Loan >>> Niall Ennis, 25, CF, Blackpool, Loan

Stand out players?

We may be relegated already without Viktor Johansson in goal - hopefully (for us), you might see why on Saturday afternoon. He’s a sensational shot-stopper and an absolute maniac who seemingly enjoys pain. Right back Junior Tchamadeu has really impressed under Mark Robins and is an absolute bulldozer at both ends of the pitch. Wouter Burger looks back to his old majestic self after a very poor first half of the season. Ali Al-Hamadi is chaotic, a pest, and will likely get Stoke fans on their feet at some point in the game.

Weak links?

I’d argue our biggest weak link is between the players themselves. They have not found or been taught a way to get the best out of each other. Our lack of managerial continuity is obvious: patterns of play and partnerships are almost non-existent and that’s no good when we need a Stoke side that is more than the sum of its parts. We have flashes of severe naivety too and it’s enough to throw away any hard work done in matches, simply handing out points like sweets in a playground. Time will be a healer to fix these issues, but we may not have enough to get the job done.

How do you see the end of the season going?

As you can tell, I’m feeling rather negative about the whole thing. I think it’ll be totally unenjoyable and stressful. However, Stoke do have previous of achieving the bare minimum of winning enough random games here and there to earn ourselves yet another season of turmoil in the Championship. This game here may well be one of them, and I reckon Stoke need three wins (perhaps two if we can win a couple of relegation six-pointers) to be safe. Ask me again after this game: I think we’ll be setting the tone for the run-in here.

Links >>> Stoke City official website >>> Stoke Sentinel — Local press >>> The Oatcake — Message Board >>> The Wizards of Drivel — Podcast >>> Every Step Along The Way — Podcast >>> Stoke City official website >>> Stoke Sentinel — Local press >>> The Oatcake — Message Board >>> The Wizards of Drivel — Podcast >>> Every Step Along The Way — Podcast

Pictures - Reuters Connect

TacticalR added 14:40 - Mar 29 Thanks to Ben. Sounds like a disaster zone. The great mystery is why this has happened under of owners of a sports betting business, who you would have expected to have more nous.
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