'Stoke have one of the best ownership groups in English football' - Tony Pulis

Former Stoke City manager Tony Pulis believes the Coates family will do everything they can to back Steven Schumacher in the summer transfer window.

Speaking to OLBG, he said:

“Stoke have one of the best ownership groups in English football. Steven will get the chance to be successful, as all the managers before him had.

“None of them come out of the club criticising the owners. The problem has been behind the scenes regarding their recruitment.

“It's not always about signing the best players, it's about building a strong team and the best players aren't always included in the most successful teams."

The 66-year-old also revealed that he's been in touch with Sporting Director Jonathan Walters about the profile of player the club should target moving forward:

“I've spoken to Jonathan Walters and I've got a lot of respect for him.

“He's a good example of what Stoke needs to recruit as we had Jon or Mamady Sidibe behind Ricardo Fuller, whose strength was not running around!

“You need to sign players that suit the team as Jon and Mama were both unselfish and would never stop working.”