‘I went into Stoke City knowing that anything but top two would be seen as a failure’
Latest Stoke City news from Stoke Sentinel brings you the latest the installment of Gary Rowett’s column in which he looks at Steven Schumacher’s exit
I was surprised with Steven Schumacher’s departure this week, but then nothing truly surprises you in football anymore. Ryan Lowe left Preston after one game. There was also another change after a couple of matches in League One when Neil Critchley left Blackpool.
It seems that there have been people leaving jobs a lot earlier than you’d expect. The second international break is when you expect clubs to maybe start looking at their early season form and seeing where they are.
So Steven leaving Stoke did surprise me somewhat and the reason it surprised me is because they ended last season fairly well. They won the last three games and they’ve come into this season and won two out of five in the Championship and had a brilliant result against Middlesbrough away in the League Cup.
You look at those results and they’re not the worst in the world. I accept they’re not earth-shattering. Stoke are not near the top of the league, but I don’t believe that, over the last three or four seasons, Stoke would necessarily expect to be up there in the top six right away. Obviously, I don’t know what’s happened but there’s been a clear change of structure at Stoke with with Jon Walters coming in towards the end of last season.
