Steven Schumacher has a huge chance to lay down a marker in his first pre-season as head coach at Stoke City

It was an eye-opening first day of pre-season at Stoke City in both of the last two years.

In 2022, the numbers had been squeezed back by Michael O’Neill in the end game of a draining battle to stay on the right side of Financial Fair Play rules – in the knowledge that it would give them scope to make real changes the following summer. So Stoke reported to Clayton Wood on June 20 with Harry Clarke, on loan, the first and only signing to that point and the squad looking very small and very young.

Then, in 2023, Alex Neil had made cuts on top of cuts, and with head of recruitment, Jared Dublin, only just starting work on June 26, the day players came back, there were no new signings. It wasn’t until July 5 that Enda Stevens joined a group that was extremely light, although from that point on there would be a new face and introductions on average every three days until the window shut.

Paul Gallagher only joined during pre-season too while fitness coach Paul Walsh was given his cards just before the players returned. It is no wonder, really, that both of those campaigns proved difficult.

This time, however, Stoke have most of their squad in place and all their staff. There are transfers still to come – and some should be significant, considering that there is still a forward or two to arrive – but it is a completely different landscape than 12 months or 24 months ago.