What's next for the Potters?

With the playing season over, Stoke City now need to concentrate on sorting out the club’s finances, ownership and the vacant manager’s post.

Johan Boskamp made it clear on Sunday that he regards his job as finished. He is under contract until the end of June, but with the Board giving him leave to consider other offers and no new contract on the table it’s obvious that we’ll need to replace him. This should be done at the earliest opportunity, but the other problem is that the Icelanders have not yet announced if they are going to accept Peter Coates’s revised offer(s) for their two-thirds majority holding. Until this is sorted (one way or another) then planning for next season cannot commence.

I believe that it is inevitable now that the Icelanders will be moving on and that Peter Coates will regain control of Stoke City. What ever the fans’ feelings about Coates are, they must be put behind us. In the post ITV Digital football world, anyone who is prepared to invest sizable amounts of their own cash in a middle ranking Championship club is certainly not in it for the money. If he is prepared to commit himself to the club, then the fans should show their support as well.

So let’s get planning for next season. My top three actions would be:
1. Coates to complete the purchase of Icelanders’ shareholding
2. Bring back John Rudge from gardening leave and give him back his old job.
3. Appoint a new manager (no, not Tony Pulis or Lou Macari!) It must be a manager that can move us forward.
And do these by the end of May, so the new team has time to plan before training starts on July 1st.

This is just my opinion. Do you agree or disagree?
Let's hear your views.....!

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