Steven Schumacher has retained his lifelong friendship with Neil Dewsnip even after leaving Plymouth Argyle for Stoke City in December.
The pair will be in opposition for the first time when Schumacher’s Stoke take on the Pilgrims, who are under the temporary charge of Dewsnip and first team coach Kevin Nancekivell, in a clash between two sides battling to stay in the Championship at the bet365 Stadium on Saturday.
Schumacher was aged eight when Dewsnip was a teacher of his at Cardinal Heenan High School in Liverpool. Later he played for the current Argyle director of football in the Everton academy and also for England at youth international level.
While it will undoubtedly be a strange feeling for both of them to be in the opposite technical areas on Saturday, they share so much history together, including for around four years at Argyle.
Schumacher said: “I think if you have known someone since you were eight years old it shouldn’t change because you move clubs.
“He understood my reasons for leaving and moving on and I know everyone around Argyle knew how much of a big decision that was for me. It wasn’t easy because I was at a really good club where everything was going really well. The club is still progressing, still moving forwards, but we chose to come to Stoke and start a new journey. That’s how it was.
“Just because I chose to do that, my relationship with any of them – not just Neil but Nance, Andrew Parkinson (chief executive) and Simon Hallett (owner) and even the fans – that won’t change.
“I have still got loads of mates down in Plymouth who are big Argyle fans and I have been back there a couple of times since I have been Stoke manager and life goes on as normal. They know I’m just a normal lad who has tried to do the best for his family.”
This time last year Argyle were closing in on winning the League One title under Schumacher, which they eventually did with an incredible haul of 101 points.
Schumacher said: “That will never be taken away from us and it wasn’t just last year, the year before was a progression when we got 80 points and just missed out on a place in the play-offs. The year before that we consolidated in League One and the year before that we won promotion from League Two.
“It was a journey that was set out to us from the very start, similar to what is happening here now at Stoke. We knew when we went down there what the goal was, the end goal was to get into the Championship, and that’s what we achieved.
“It wasn’t just me nor Ryan (Lowe), the previous manager before me, nor Neil but all the players contributed, all the staff behind the scenes contributed in that success and Argyle are in the Championship where they deserve to be, desperate to stay there.
“But my journey has changed, I’m now at Stoke and the mission is to get back to the Premier League, one step at a time.”
Leave a Reply