Championship pundit Don Goodman believes that Stoke City’s faith in Steven Schumacher will be rewarded with a top half or potentially even a play-off push next season.
Schumacher has been plunged into a challenge of keeping Stoke up this term after being recruited in December to replace Alex Neil. A run of three wins and a draw in the last six games has put them in a good position to finish the job but there is still work to do over the final month to make sure of their status.
Beyond that, Sky Sports co-commentator Goodman is confident that a pre-season and a whole load more summer transfer business can go a long way towards ending six years of bottom half finishes.
“I do think Stoke have made the right call by sticking with Steven Schumacher. They’ve got a young and talented coach at their disposal, who walked into a very difficult situation. Since being relegated, Stoke are expected to be near the top of the Championship but they have been involved in relegation fights most seasons,” Goodman said in an interview for Crypto Casinos Ltd.
“I do think that they have got the right man this time, though, with a full pre-season and tinkering of the recruitment department. He’s going to need to move a lot of players out and bring some in, which is what causes a headache for managers. Around 19 or 20 players were signed last summer but you’d only say that about two or three of them have produced results.
“That means there’s a lot of dead wood at Stoke City, which means Steven Schumacher will have to do a lot of wheeling and dealing. But I do think he’s capable of that and producing a season which gets them in the top-half and pushing the play-offs.”
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