Significant Stoke City managerial update shared as two leading contenders emerge | OneFootball

Tony Mowbray and John Eustace have emerged as the frontrunners to take over at Stoke City following Alex Neil’s sacking over the weekend.

Stoke City step up managerial search

It was a summer of huge change for the Potters, with 19 new signings coming through the door as Neil reshaped the squad.

However, whilst patience was always going to be required, the board were not seeing the progress they expected, as a defeat to Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday made it four losses on the bounce, convincing the hierarchy that change was required.

So, the call to sack Neil was made on Sunday, and a host of names have been linked with the vacancy since.

And, in a fresh update, Sky Sports reporter Rob Dorsett has revealed that Mowbray and Eustace are under serious consideration.

“Former Birmingham City manager John Eustace and ex-Sunderland and West Brom boss Tony Mowbray are among the leading candidates to take over at Stoke City, I’m told.

“.”

Tony Mowbray and John Eustace are sensible options

Stoke know more than most that having Championship experience doesn’t guarantee success, but it still makes sense that they are looking at two managers who have a good CV at this level.

It must be said that Mowbray’s is a lot better, as he has won promotion from this level in the past with West Brom, and the work he did with Blackburn in guiding them back to the Championship was very impressive.

Most recently, his time with Sunderland was very good, as he built a stylish, attacking team, so you would back him to be able to rebuild a struggling Stoke outfit.

Meanwhile, Eustace is a younger coach, and his only job so far with Birmingham City shows why he is so highly-rated.

He kept them in the Championship amid a lot of off-field trouble, and then, with a bit of backing in the summer, he had the team in sixth place before he was harshly sacked for Wayne Rooney to come in.

You only have to look at Blues’ struggles since to recognise the good work the former Stoke player was doing at St. Andrew’s.

Stoke must get this appointment right

The Potters have underachieved for the past five years, as they’ve incredibly failed to record a top-half finish since they were relegated from the Premier League.

In that time, they’ve had several managers, with many of those proven elsewhere. So, there comes a point when you stop blaming the head coach, and instead look at the environment they are working in.

For many fans, we’re at that stage, and whilst there is an appreciation of all the owner has done, he needs to employ the right people to make the right decisions, so there’s a lot of pressure to get this one right.

There were some positive signs in the 1-1 draw with Swansea last night, as they were the better team, but conceding the late equaliser was a tough one to take.

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