Exclusive: Stoke City line up Spanish coach after sacking Steven Schumacher

Norwich City first-team coach Narcis Pelach is right at the front of the queue to become the next manager at Stoke City with the Potters eager to finalise his appointment in the next 48 hours , TEAMtalk understands.

Stoke are searching for a new head coach following the sacking of Steven Schumacher in the wake of Saturday’s Championship defeat by Oxford United.

The Potters have lost three of their opening five games and the defeat to Championship new boys Oxford United was the final straw for the club’s hierarchy.

It brings Schumacher’s tenure as Stoke boss to an end after just nine months, having left Plymouth Argyle to move to the Bet365 Stadium last December.

Schumacher had been contracted until 2027, but his tenure at Stoke City was terminated after just 32 matches in charge.

The Stoke City job was Schumacher’s second appointment as a manager after two years at Plymouth Argyle and previous stints as an assistant at the Greens and Bury. His inexperience at Championship level appeared to be showing and the club’s upper management decided to pull the trigger on his sacking despite the length of his contract.

Schumacher had done very well at Plymouth, guiding them into the Championship and making a stable start before the manager made the shock decision to leave for Stoke last December

Stoke’s sporting director Jon Walters is now beginning the process of finding a replacement for Schumacher and we can confirm that Spaniard Pelach is the man at the top of their wanted list.

Pelach is seen as a superb coach who can bring the club into the modern day. Now considered the standout by a long way by the Potters’ hierarchy, we can reveal they want it done and his appointment sealed in the next 48 hours.

What has gone wrong for Steven Schumacher

Walters has claimed the decision was made to “serve the long-term interests” of the club and it seems that the club were not satisfied with the manager’s long-term vision for the team.

“We have a young, dynamic squad that is eager to develop and a clear vision of how to achieve success, and we hope to announce a new appointment shortly,” Walters said in announcing the decision.

The players in the Stoke City squad are said to have expressed their concerns about the pace of development under Schumacher.

His record of 13 victories and 13 defeats in 32 games came at a period of transition for the Potters: 12 players arrived after former technical director Ricky Martin was fired in February, and 19 players departed the team permanently in the summer.

Who is Narcis Pelach?

Pelach is highly-regarded in coaching circles having worked as Carlos Corberan’s assistant at Huddersfield Town before moving to Norwich in May 2023.

The 36-year-old was part of Coberan’s backroom team helping Huddersfield reach the Championship play-off final in the 2021/22 season as well as working with Neil Warnock at the Terriers as they pulled off the great escape in the following season.

Pelach has previous coaching experience in the lower leagues of Spanish football as well as assistant coach at Girona before moving to England.

He spoke about how he likes a team to play in an interview with the Norwich Pink Un, stressing his desire to have opponents worry about his team rather than the other way around.

“We want to be the main team and go for the game,” he said. “We want to play with an arrogance and we don’t want to be fearing or scared opponents.

“At the same time, football-wise, we want to be complete because in one game, there are a thousand games. We want to be good in defence. We want to be good in attack. We want to be good in counter attack. We want to be good in counter pressing moments. We want to be good with set plays.

“To put one quick example, Manchester City are the best at doing one thing – it’s very clear. We want to be a versatile team that is able to compete in every moment of a game.

“If you are winning then in the last 20 minutes then you need to show you are able to defend. If we are losing and we need to go for it, we need to know how to attack a deep block. We want to be very versatile and very complete.”