Stoke City top brass in need of thick skin as Narcis Pelach knows mitigation only stretches so far

Stoke City’s top brass need thick skin whatever happens next.

Narcis Pelach was appointed with conviction that he was the right man for a club that had become stuck fast in the bottom half of the Championship. The driving force was to stop being a team that won one, lost one. They believed the best way to do that was to install higher standards and raise expectations on the training ground and have a clear vision about how the team should play.

There has always been an acknowledgment that wins and encouraging performances are needed along the way to ensure enough support to carry out a long-term project. The noise and atmosphere during Saturday’s home draw with Cardiff made it clear that three wins in 16 league games – plus a rotten display against Cardiff – is not enough.

Pelach and his captain Ben Gibson both admitted that they deserved the reception they received. Pelach’s post-match interviews seemed to show he understood the urgency of the situation.

It was a miserable afternoon and it was obvious from the looks on the faces of chairman John Coates and sporting director Jon Walters in the directors’ box that they weren’t happy either.

But the hierarchy has to try to take emotion out of their analysis and continually weigh up whether they are on the right road, how much mitigation they can accept and how much belief they have in the decisions that they have made over the last few months. As long as it’s not working, they will get it in the neck whether they keep the faith or lose it