The Local Lowdown: Stoke City

Stoke enjoyed 10 successive seasons in the Premier League before relegation in 2018. How has the club found the transition to the Championship?

It would be a lie to say anything other than nightmarish. Stoke are one of a few clubs that have found that if you don’t win promotion almost immediately, it gets a lot harder with each passing year.

The financial gulf between the two divisions – perhaps particularly because, like Southampton, Stoke had shifted so completely to the Premier League – added to the financial constraints in the EFL led to major restructuring of squad and budgets. It’s not been fun for anyone.

There have been a couple of seasons which had early promise but petered out, one season which started with doom but thankfully picked up and a couple which have just not really gone anywhere. It’s all led to a reset this year, on and off the pitch, the likes and scale of which none of us have seen before. There is an urgency to break the cycle.

Manager Alex Neil was appointed in August last year. What has he brought to the job?

Neil has helped oversee those major changes. He’s brought in 17 new signings and helped significantly rebuild pretty much every department on the football side of the club.

It is a drastically different club to the one he arrived at in late August last year and the hope is that, as everything settles down, that it will be geared up to head in the right direction. The proof, as he says himself, will be in the pudding but he’s very confident with the decisions he’s made.

André Vidigal has five goals in six games since his summer arrival from Portugal

What was the expectation coming into the current campaign, and how has the team performed so far?

The expectation was that Stoke had to show real signs that they were progressing. If they can stick around the top half, then anything is possible in this division where everything is so tight.

There have been some promising performances but a lot of disruption thanks to such a frenetic summer window and a series of injuries to probable starters.

The mood will always be dictated by results, though, and everyone was relieved that Stoke came from two down to win 3-2 at Bristol City on Saturday. September had been a hard month and October’s fixtures are tricky.

Which players have stood out?

Summer signing André Vidigal immediately looked a real goal threat so it’s been a kick in the teeth that he’s spent the last month injured. Mark Travers has been a welcome addition in goal.

Will Smallbone in action during his season-long loan at Stoke last season

Will Smallbone enjoyed a fruitful loan spell with Stoke last season. What sort of impression did he leave on the club?

A hard-working, hard-running midfielder who covered a lot of ground and helped lead the press. He was a key man in a couple of eye-catching wins away from home, with three assists in one game against Sunderland. 

He had a knack for arriving late into dangerous positions in the penalty area and it seemed that if he could get that final piece of the jigsaw with his finishing, he’d be a very useful player.

What do you expect from tonight’s game, and what sort of atmosphere should the travelling Saints fans expect?

This should be an entertaining game under the lights and I don’t think anyone will be predicting a 0-0.

Stoke fans will be well up for it on the back of a dramatic win at the weekend but everyone is also aware about the importance, normally, of the first goal in the Championship. It should be confidence-boosting to know they can fight back too.