City key figures in place as axe hovers at Championship rivals

Vacancies across the division could give Stoke a head start

- Peter Smith

STOKE City are a rare beast in the Championship this season to be working quietly through the close season.

The transfer department is in at Clayton Wood and players such as Eric Bocat and Junior Tchamadeu have been in as part of their rehabilitation.

It will be a busy summer but the key figures were all in place at the end of 2024/25 ready to plan for a much better 2025/26, led by sporting director Jon Walters, manager Mark Robins, and head of recruitment Ian Torrance.

Not so at plenty of their rivals. It has been axe-swinging time up and down the division. Watford and Southampton have appointed new bosses but there are still vacancies at Norwich, West Brom and Hull and there could still be six more.

Norwich are set to poach Bristol City's Liam Manning, for instance, while QPR are looking for a replacement for Marti Cifuentes, who was put on gardening leave in the last few days of term.

Middlesbrough have been conducting an internal review about Michael Carrick's performance, Leicester are keeping Ruud van Nistelrooy on tenterhooks and Sheffield United's new board have been reportedly considering the future of Chris Wilder after defeat in the play-off final.