Craig Bellamy has delivered a brilliant verdict on who will decide the direction Stoke City will go in for their new manager.
Stoke sacked Mark Hughes after a dismal run of form compounded by the FA Cup humbling to League Two Coventry at the weekend.
The writing had been on the wall for Hughes for some time although Potters owner Peter Coates and his son John are believed to want to go in very different directions.
According to Sky Sports’ The Debate, owner Peter wants an older, more experienced boss to help keep the club in the Premier League having seen the likes of Roy Hodgson, David Moyes and Sam Allardyce turn Crystal Palace, West Ham and Everton around following their respective struggles.
His son John, the vice-chairman of the club and the more involved of the two in the day-to-day running of Stoke, wants to go for someone younger with new ideas.
It is a case of experiment or experience for Stoke.
“Next manager? I can only see a British manager,” Bellamy told The Debate.
“Because Stoke is that type of environment, Stoke fans they’re honest people, the way the go about supporting their football club, great support.
“Maybe a Martin O’Neill or Michael O’Neill, he’s gone quiet, or someone like that.
“But what I have learnt and that’s from me having a son, and me being a son, is that my father’s on top, my father’s the boss. So whatever he wants, yea I might want it a certain way but I’ll go with the way he wants.
“But I don’t know, and that’s the honest truth, I don’t know what’s the best way for Stoke at this present moment.”
Bristol City boss Lee Johnson was mentioned as a potential candidate if they went with John’s vision but to follow Peter’s path it may take some doing to lure either O’Neill from their Ireland jobs into the heat of a Premier League relegation battle.
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