Steven Schumacher hopes two big changes to the bet365 Stadium will prove a welcome extra little advantage as he sets his sights on the club’s home record.

Schumacher ended last season strongly at headquarters, with a 3-0 win over Plymouth Argyle followed by a 4-0 thrashing of Bristol City. They won five and lost two of their last on their own turf to pull towards mid-table in the Championship and it was a sign that supporters recognised that shift when more than 28,000 turned up for the final day.

But the head coach is aware of what happened before that time too and that coming to home games has not been enjoyable for fans for too long. They had only won two out of 13 home games over nearly six months leading to mid-February, won six and lost 12 at home in 2022/23 and had lost eight of their last 17 in the season before that.

Performances and results will set the mood but Stoke have taken strides to improve the match day experience besides that, from improving the concourse and lighting last summer – setting up light shows for the winter – to the major projects taking place this time.

Work is in progress to set up a new 1,550-capacity fan zone behind the Boothen End for pre-match entertainment and refreshments while licensed standing is being introduced across the upper section of the south stand, known as the Caldwell Construction Stand.

The away end is being shifted into the south east corner – and segregation measures can be moved to increase or decrease the ticket allocation – so that Stoke supporters are behind the goal at that end for the first time since the stadium opened in 1997.

There will be home fans either side of the tunnel too, a long-awaited measure that Schumacher is pleased to see put in place.

He said: “Hopefully it helps us. Any little advantage you can get at home you should take it so getting the standing section behind the goal, having that corner as well when we walk in from the warm up and out for the game is going to improve (the experience).

“I thought our home record towards the end of the season improved. We got better, a lot of performances were good at home and there were only a couple of occasions when we didn’t really play well when I was in charge.

“We’ve got to take that into next season and build on the momentum from how we finished.”