Narcis Pelach: How can Stoke City rebuild under their new manager?

Stoke City have appointed Norwich City coach Narcís Pèlach as their head coach. EFL pundit Gab Sutton looks at whether the Spaniard can build something in the Potteries.

Since Mark Hughes was sacked by Stoke City in March 2018, prior to the club’s relegation from the Premier League after a 10-year stay, every single manager has left with their stock lower than it was when they took the job.

After Paul Lambert, Gary Rowett, Nathan Jones, Michael O’Neill and Alex Neil before him, Steven Schumacher was the latest death eater to suffer Potters curse, after the board said Avada Kedavra to the 40-year-old this week, following a start to the season of three defeats in five.

So, perhaps the biggest question around the appointment of Narcís Pèlach is not so much whether the Staffordshire club have a good coach on their hands – they clearly do – but what’s changed?

Well, Stoke now have a sporting director in Jonathan Walters who oversees a managerial appointment for the first time in his role, having returned in that capacity in the back-end of last season, when Schumacher was already in charge.

Whether or not disagreements between Walters and Schumacher was a factor behind the decision - which seems plausible given that it would be very early in the season to make a call based on results - it probably helps that the Irishman is bringing in his own person.

Plus, perhaps it might help that, for the first time in their modern history, Stoke are appointing somebody who is better known for their work as a coach than as a manager.

So, whereas every manager the club have had going back to Tony Pulis, and probably beyond, have had their own ideas on how they want to operate, Pèlach is likelier to be happy to focus simply on coaching the players, picking the team and managing the games.

Plus, giving more operational power to a sporting director and a recruitment team means Stoke can have greater continuity between managers, meaning that if Pèlach either gets poached by a bigger club, or is deemed not the right person, it doesn’t cause too much upheaval.

This is still a big rebuild for the club, though, and it remains to be seen whether they have the patience required to see it through.

It’s an ambitious board with great financial resources, which gives the Coates family a sense that they should be expecting to challenge for promotion in any given season, despite having finished between 14th and 17th in each of their six campaigns since coming down from the Premier League.

Conversely, it’s a fanbase that, since achieving a third straight 9th-place top flight finish in 2015/16, have suffered eight years of disappointment - there may be a large minority that don’t necessarily want to be asked to be patient, almost feeling as though they’re overdue a bit of success on the pitch.

So, it’s a club that’s caught between a rock and a hard place, a spot whereby the most realistic approach isn’t the most marketable.

Then again, there is cause for optimism: Junior Tchamadeu, Eric Bocat, Wouter Burger, Bosun Lawal, Tatsuki Seko, Bae Jun-Ho and Million Manhoef is an exciting group of permanent assets who can grow with the club, who are either in or approaching their peak.

Plus, there’s a steady flow of high-potential homegrown talent in Tommy Simkin, Jaden Dixon, Sol Sidibe, Emre Tezgel and Nathan Lowe bubbling away nicely.

So, in some respects this is a super attractive job: you have recruitment taken care of, you have a sporting director to work with, you have a squad oozing with potential, while the external perception would say that if you can merely take Stoke into the top half, you’ve done a great job.

In that regard, Pèlach has got the smooth end of the deal.

The Spaniard is extremely passionate about the game, having studied the work of Pep Guardiola and Marcelo Bielsa, before working with Carlos Corberán at Huddersfield, helping them get to the Championship Play-Off Final in 2021/22.

Pèlach has a reputation for being very popular with the players he works with, and for being incredibly detail-driven.

While it’s uncertain how well his skillset will translate to being a number one, the omens look promising.

Stoke have a great coach on their hands: now it’s just a case of sitting back and giving him the time and space to work his magic.