Stoke City supporters may be keen to gloat after Sunderland call but they've got problems of their own: View | OneFootball

Tony Mowbray came in to replace Alex Neil at Sunderland as he left to join Stoke City and the Scotsman has outlasted his successor.

Mowbray was dismissed by Sunderland after a run of poor form which saw his side only win two league games out of their last nine games, but it appears that the bigger issue was a disagreement over the transfer strategy.

At the time of Mowbray's appointment, there was a lot of debate between Sunderland and Stoke fans as Neil had effectively jumped ship even after winning promotion with the Black Cats.

However, even though Neil is still in his job, Stoke supporters cannot argue that they have had the better of it between the two sets of fans as they have big issues of their own.

Why can't Stoke fans gloat about the sacking of Mowbray?

There was a sense of optimism from Stoke in the summer as it was Neil's first summer transfer window at the club, and they had completely changed their transfer strategy as they scouted young players with potential from overseas.

Due to the amount of players who came through the door, it was always going to take time for Neil to get them all to gel which appeared to be the case as they did show inconsistencies in the opening stages of the season.

They had some good wins over Watford in the league and West Brom in the Carabao Cup, but they also had disappointing losses against Ipswich Town and Millwall.

After the early games of the campaign, Neil went on a five-game winless run before looking like he had turned the corner with a five-game unbeaten streak with the standout win over title-chasing Leeds United.

Now, though after three awful losses on the bounce, Neil has yet again gone five games without a win and, after 18 months in charge of the club, there does not appear to be any signs of improvement.

The 42-year-old has proved throughout his relatively short managerial career that he is capable of getting teams promoted, as he did it with Sunderland from League One to the Championship as well as getting Hamilton to the top tier of Scotland, whilst he also took Norwich City to the Premier League back in 2015.

Even though his track record looks good, he did spend four years at Preston and never got the club in the play-off places once.

So there is a concern that if Stoke stick with him for that amount of time they realistically will gain nothing from it, as it has happened to another side under his leadership before.

Looking at the immediate future for Neil isn't so positive either, as with the busy festive period always being a key period of the campaign for every club, Neil is now seemingly the manager under the most pressure in the division going into it.

Stoke sit just five points off the relegation places in 20th place, and they now have a couple of must-win games as they play fellow strugglers Sheffield Wednesday and Swansea City.

If Neil can't achieve an improvement in not only results but performances as well, then it would be best for the club to follow Sunderland and dismiss their manager, before they find themselves fully embroiled in a relegation battle.