‘I still don’t understand’ – Steven Schumacher spoke earlier this month on there being no explanation to being sacked by Stoke City.
The 40 year old spoke on the latest edition of the BBC’s EFL podcast, 72+, saying he still does not know why he was sacked by Stoke City, a month on from his exit.
He left Plymouth Argyle last December to replace Alex Neil at the bet365 Stadium, only to be after axed 32 games in charge, at the time, Stoke sat 13th in the Championship. They now sit 17th.
Steven Schumacher speaks out on being sacked and takes swipe at Stoke in defiant statement
When asked what’s it been like? He replied: “It’s been obviously a strange couple of weeks. The news that we got, say, 2 weeks ago when got told we lost our job was, came as a huge shock. So I think over the last couple of weeks, I’ve kinda gone through every emotion that you could you could think of.
“Obviously, at first, a little bit angry, at what’s happened, then I start looking at what we could do and have reflected, and could we have done anything differently?
“And then the the last emotion is just obviously keen to get back in and still the time and believe in how we work. And I feel it all that if we still believe in the confidence that we that we work at, and and we’re still trying to get our team going the way we want to in the future, then everything will be fine.
“So, yeah, I’ve gone through loads of different emotions. Something that’s new to me the first time I’ve actually I’ve lost my job.
“But then well, yeah, I just take them some time out to reflect and get ready to go again.”
He was about the culture at Stoke before he came in at the club and did he feel that there was a similar vision, or was it a case of he wanted to bring his own vision and did it alter along the way.
He said: “I think, obviously, when I was leaving Plymouth Argyle, I knew I was going into a different type of environment. I understood the risks.
“They’re a team who over the last seven or eight years have gone through a lot of change but I felt if we believed in what we did we could be the ones to turns things around. I’d be the one who could make a difference.
“So I knew it was gonna take time. And last season, you know, the the 6 months that we were there, we have some mixed results. We had a a difficult start, and then we finished the season really strongly. Now we went almost promotion form in the final 12 games.
“So I felt as though we were just starting to see in the corner.
“And then in this summer’s recruitment, see when I got the job and I went to the interview, I spoke to John Coates about trying to change the profile of the players that still could brought in over the last few years because I felt that by doing that would give it a chance to change the outcome.
“So I went for it to younger players, I tried to play a team who who could play with energy and give a 100% in every single game, whether it be win, lose, or draw.
“The fans could see that they’ll have to give an everything. So that was the direction that we wanted to go in. Everybody agreed on that.
And then about the start of this season, we started pretty well. I know we would have liked to have done a couple more games, but before the Oxford game, we’d won 4 out of 6, and we just thought that we were just getting there. And transfer window ended. We got another 9 in Tom Cannon, could obviously play the way I want them to play.
And then, obviously, we lost our jobs. So I was off for the challenge and off for the fight, and I knew it was gonna be rocky at times.
“But it was one that I never shied away from, and I seem just disappointed by the team.”
It was put to him ‘in terms of the timing of that from the outside, it just seems as though the goalpost was shifted slightly in terms of maybe what that remit was when you went in and then possibly, you know, with a a director of football coming in. So I just don’t know how much that sort of plays into your mind maybe with the actual timing of it.’
He said: “Yeah. I think, look, I can’t speak for the motives. I don’t understand. I still haven’t, had a full explanation, obviously, of why I lost my job. So I don’t know what the motives were. As I say, I was just focusing on our job and what we were trying to do.
When stopped to explain why he hadn’t got an explanation to being sacked, he said: “I’m not sure. Obviously, on the day, I spoke to John Coates and to Jon Walters, and Jon Walters obviously give me the news that I think we’re gonna go on a different direction.
“And Jon Walters said he would sit and explain stuff to me, in a couple of weeks when things have died down, which I’ve been quite a giver on the day.
“I wish they just told me on the day, and I could’ve dealt with it. But as of yet, as of now, I am John has text me, and I said, yeah, that I would like to meet up with.
“As of this moment, we still haven’t had that that chat. So I’m sure at some point, it might come. It might not. I don’t know.
“But then I would like to know because, obviously, from my career, I’d like to figure out where it all went wrong in their eyes, and then whether I agree with it or not is is a different matter.
“But at least I’d like to know.”
When asked how disappointing is that from his point of view? He said: “It’s one of them. I can look back on it, and I can feel angry. I could feel disappointed, but I think it’s done now. It’s in the past.
“So all I can do is just sort of look, okay. Where can I get better now? I knew, it was a big relocation from the family coming from Plymouth. I was leaving a job that was really secured and a job I was really enjoying.
“And I wanted to go on this journey with Stoke City and sign, get it going where it should be, where the club should be.
“I think fans deserve more, what it’s had over the last 7, 8 years.
“And I said we have a really good relationship. John used to come in every weekend. We’d sit, go and go through the game plans for the weekend.
“I would explain to him why we’ve been going through certain processes and certain decisions. So no problem with John whatsoever, and that’s why I said in the statement how shocked it was because I just didn’t see this coming.
“Like, I was never once told that I was under pressure or I felt as though John, the owner, or the people who make the decisions, weren’t happy with how things are going.
“So what I will say about him, I know that John Coates deeply cares about the club because of he wouldn’t invest the amount of money that he does if he didn’t care about it.
“Now I think what it needs is just some stability and somebody that as the fans could get behind, and that’s what I hope that was gonna be me.
“I wanted that to be I want to be the person that could get it going away. It should be going, but, unfortunately, that was the case.”
He was asked how he found that going from something that he were so settled? Did he enjoy that challenge and and how he went about, trying to create change in a new environment? How did he find that?
He replied: “Yeah. Really challenging. I knew it was gonna take time.
“The objective last season for me was to keep the team in the Championship, which we did, and we finished really strongly.
“Now I knew going into this season that this was gonna be our chance. There’s gonna be this summertime’s feeling all our opportunity to get the players in that we want, the players out of the building that we don’t want, which would help change the culture, and then move forward from there.
“Now I can’t speak for what their motives really don’t know. But for me, I don’t think it can be based on results because the results were what was set out, the objectives were good.
“Somebody told me about a stat that I have the highest win percentage ratio I have been in Stoke manager for the last 20 years.
“And I didn’t know that at the time, but, obviously, I wanted to win more games. You know what I’m like? Don’t like losing games and just accept mediocrity. I didn’t want that.
“But I felt that we were all moving in the right direction together. I’m sure at some point, I might get an explanation more. And if it’s an it is what it is. I don’t. I’ve I still learned a lot.
“In 9 months, I’ve had to deal with lot of stuff I’ve gone on back up that I wouldn’t have had to deal with in another 4 years of Argyle.
“I just wouldn’t have had them some issues solved for my own personal career. I’ll be better placed for the next job.”
On looking ahead, what next: “I know when some managers get sacked, they they need that time out to have a breather and feel as though they need to decompress and and have a little bit of a holiday with the family or whatever, but I never felt that pressure because I never felt it from within the club through through John Coates or whoever, and I never felt it from the fans.
“So as I say, I was shocked when it happened. So, come out of it thinking I need a break. I feel as though if anything, it’s giving me a little bit more fuel, a bit more fire in my belly.
“Like, I wanna be a manager in the Premier League. My team job is the Everton job, so this is gonna give me, more fuel to say right up. Got some people someone to prove wrong now.
“And, actually, it’s my, my first sort of bump in the road in all my coaching career. I’ve been a coach for for 6 years, and I’ve had big promotions and and I won the league, and everything’s been going on on a up trajectory.
“Now this is a little bit of a bump in the road, and I suppose I’d say a lot about my character about how I bounce back, but I’m ready whenever the right opportunity comes up.”
