Stoke City are already lining up potential candidates to replace Steven Schumacher as manager.
Football Insider reports that the Potters have identified 39-year-old Gareth Ainsworth, the former manager of QPR, as a possible replacement.
Despite having only been appointed by the Championship club in mid-December, Schumacher is already facing pressure to remain in his role.
In his 11 games in charge across all competitions, Stoke has only won three games, and the team is in danger of dropping out of the second division.
By defeating QPR on Wednesday night, the team might extend his tenure there and snap their four-game losing streak in the league.
He demonstrated his coaching abilities during his previous tenure at Plymouth, as he guided the team to the Championship for the first time in almost ten years, gaining 100 points on route to winning League One.
Here, we seek the opinion of our FLW writers over whether Ainsworth would be a better choice to lead the team going forward than Schumacher.
Reflects worse on Stoke than Schumacher
Considering Schumacher has only been in the position for two months, Stoke would be taking a pretty bold stance with this move.
Ainsworth might be a suitable short-term answer if the club decides to hire someone to come in and save the club from perhaps being relegated.
However, his tenure at QPR shown that, despite having access to more resources than he did at Wycombe Wanderers, his style of play has a limited shelf life at this level.
There are no assurances that he is the right player to lead the team in the long run, even though he might keep them competitive this year.
Schumacher hasn’t put together this Stoke team; instead, he’s had to make due with what he’s been handed, which will inevitably cause some early teething problems.
Giving up on him now would be premature and would reflect poorly on them more than it would on Schumacher, who established his reputation during a very successful time at Plymouth before to joining the team in late 2023
Given the team’s victory over QPR midweek and their relative comfort near the bottom of the table, they need to remain with Schumacher.
Ned Holmes
Removing Steven Schumacher and installing Gareth Ainsworth in his stead was a snap decision that was more likely to send Stoke City down the league than to keep them there.
Although their recent performances have been a touch alarming, the Potters fans were recently praising Schumacher following a successful start to his term, so the club executives need to exercise patience and perspective.
Changing managers once more is just not the solution; Schumacher needs time to establish a positive culture and turn things around at Stoke.
Ainsworth may not be the best appointment right now, in my opinion. His time with QPR shown that, despite his direct style of play and track record as a motivator, he is not a player you can bring in midway through a season with the expectation of turning things around.
Assuming that the former Wycombe Wanderers manager is the perfect choice for a team fighting for relegation is overly simplistic, and if it were to happen, it might prove to be an expensive appointment.
To say that I would be taken aback if this appointment materialised would be an understatement. Right now, it’s not the best course of action for either Ainsworth or Stoke.
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