Key items on Stoke City agenda for close-season review Stoke City are heading into another busy summer transfer window in hopefully a better position to try to make a big leap forwards Comments Sport opinion Peter Smith Stoke City reporter 09:38, 14 Apr 2026 Updated 10:03, 14 Apr 2026 View 2 Images Stoke City chairman John Coates, manager Mark Robins and sporting director Jon Walters are tasked with making sure the club is going firmly in the right direction. Stoke City will have a few markers to make comparisons against as they settle down for a close-season review in three weeks’ time. Mark Robins is four games away from becoming the first Stoke manager to oversee a full season in four years. He will work with sporting director Jon Walters, head of recruitment Ian Torrance and new head of medical and performance Damian Roden – and report to chairman John Coates – about what Stoke have got right, where they need to hold their nerve and what they need to improve or change to climb the table in 2026/27. Comparing Stoke with Stoke First up they will review their own progress. These might not be, Robins would be the first to admit, not particularly a reason to book an open-topped bus – but he said this week: “I’ve only been here for 15 or 16 months and I can only say that from where it was to where it is now is chalk and cheese, night and day. We’ve got to go and keep building to make it even better to get the club towards where it needs to be. Everyone wants Premier League but it can’t just happen like that, it cannot. It doesn’t happen like that.” With four games to go, Stoke already haven’t won this many games (15) over a full season since under Michael O’Neill in 2021/22 (17). They have already got more points (55) than three of the previous seven seasons. In 2020 and 2024 they got 56, it was 60 in 2020/21 and 62 in 2021/22, so those are within reach as well. FOLLOW OUR FACEBOOK PAGE! Latest Stoke City news, analysis and more via the Sentinel They have only conceded 46 goals up to now, which is very good. The best defensive year since returning to the Championship currently stands at 53 in 2022/23. They have only scored 49 up to now, which isn’t so good. That is still four better than last season and level with the year before. The most they have scored since relegation, for those interested, is 62 in 2019/20. We should note, as well, that they had only scored 13 times in the first 15 games before O’Neill started with a 4-2 win at Barnsley that November. Anyway, that’s comparing Stoke with Stoke. What Robins and Walters will really want to look at is where they stand compared to what it will take to finish in the top two or play-offs, which is expanded down to eighth next season. Can Stoke make the leap to top eight? As it stands, Stoke are eight points behind eighth. It remains to be seen if that gap can be narrowed or will widen over the next four matches. Since the Championship was rebranded in 2004, the team in eighth wins an average of 19 matches, loses an average of 14 games, scores an average of 66 and concedes an average 57. For what it’s worth the team in sixth wins 21, loses 13, scores 72, lets in 55; the team in second wins 27, loses nine, scores 78, concedes 44. Stoke are currently on 15 wins, 17 losses, 49 scored and 46 conceded. So that’s the challenge for 2026/27: can Stoke get a squad together that can win three or four more matches, maintain its defensive record and score at least 25 per cent more goals? That doesn't sound too outlandish, does it? The focus on availability There are always going to be injuries but Stoke got caught in a “vicious cycle” over the winter, having had a high availability record up to December. Robins said: “We’ve had a situation where we were fine with injuries, didn’t have many, and then we had impact, impact, impact, soft tissue, soft tissue, soft tissue because of the fact we’ve had players who haven’t been able to sustain game time – and I’ve then had to bring players back probably earlier than I would have done had we (not had more injuries).” Roden could not come, or come back in his case, with higher recommendations for making sure that the club is leaving nothing to chance. Basically, if you’re still being called injury prone by this time next year then you can only look in the mirror. This might also be the chance to look at why Stoke are fifth in the Championship in terms of first half scorelines (W14 D19 L9 F23 A16) - and 16th (W14 D13 L15 F26 A30) when it comes to second halves. View 2 Images Stoke City's new head of medical and performance Damian Roden. (Image: Stoke City) Are the financial rules changing? There are a couple of things that might stand in Stoke’s favour, although the first is an unknown. Will and how will the Championship’s financial rules change for the summer window? There is still set to be a vote to decide if the division moves from profit and sustainability rules to a squad cost ratio system. The technicalities of the small print will dictate whether it will help or hinder Stoke and similar-sized clubs with similar ambitions. It has to be said, however, that Stoke’s transfer spending power in the market won’t be top of the agenda when clubs thrash out how to go forward. Clubs in this division know all too well that English football is in a mess. Sheffield Wednesday have been close the brink, West Brom have been charged with breaching rules, Hull have been under a transfer embargo, Leicester have been docked points and one club is believed to have gone within a few hours of not being able to pay wages. There are eye-popping losses all over the country. The parachute payment model distorts budgets beyond competition, the disparity between the second tier and the top flight is making the historic football pyramid virtually unsustainable and there are clubs in the Premier League who at least appear to the public like they can get away with whatever they want. It feels like a small hope in comparison that Coates will find a little more leeway to make affordable investment. Can Stoke trade this summer? Owner investment is, or should be, very helpful but successful clubs have the capacity to make their own money too. It is positive that Stoke have considerably more assets on their books than a couple of years ago. Back of a fag packet maths suggests that the squad is probably worth double than it was in 2024, largely thanks to players like Viktor Johansson, Bosun Lawal and Sorba Thomas. It’s a pretty young group too: Lawal, Junior Tchamadeu and Bae Junho are still 22, Lamine Cisse and Tomas Rigo are 23, Million Manhoef is 24. That’s either potential for Stoke to try to tap or to be able to trade if they need to wheel and deal - and they are expected to do some wheeling and dealing. It isn’t likely to be the busiest summer in Stoke’s history but there will be a lot of work. There are likely to be key signings needed at centre-half and full-back and in the front line. But it is the midfield department is the area that seems set for a pretty major revamp. Robins is clearly a manager who understands the importance of consistency but, for various reasons, his midfield selections have changed in almost every game. Mike Pejic said in his column last weekend: “We need a holding midfielder who can help blend your goalkeeper and two centre-backs. You need that balance right to make sure you’re solid and compact. “Then we will have to decide what we do going forward and whether we play an attacking midfielder or second striker. This player has to produce. I have always liked Bae Junho’s workrate and he has decent technique - but he has to be able to point at what he’s done to influence the game. You can come off the pitch shattered but what have you produced? “Our front players have been isolated so I would want a second striker who can pull off the front line while his partner breaks the back line - but it depends what they want in midfield. “If we’re going down the attacking midfielder route you want someone who can stay in an advanced position and score goals. He’s not just a runner or a support player, he’s someone who can get into dangerous positions, pick up pieces around the box and have a good one-touch finish. You want an instinctive player who seeks out spaces where the ball is going to drop, can be in the right places for knock downs and deflections and can set up his partner.” For now, Robins’ focus will be on Wrexham and a different way of seeing how this team shapes up against a side that has play-off pretentions. It would be a boost for everyone if they can go into a close-season review as close as possible to where they want to be this time next year. What do you think? Click HERE to join the debate Sky Sports, HBO Max, Netflix and Disney+ with Ultimate TV package This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. 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Curated by Taleb Kabbara · Source: www.stokesentinel.co.uk