Stoke City have had yet another poor season in the Championship as they have been fighting it out near the bottom of the table once again rather than going for the play-offs.
The Potters started the season with Alex Neil in charge, but he was sacked in December and swiftly replaced by Steven Schumacher, who was headhunted from divisional rivals Plymouth Argyle.
Stoke spent big in the summer once again, spending an estimated £15.5 million (€18.10 million, according to Transfermarkt) as they brought in 19 new faces. However, this investment so far has returned very little.
One of Stoke’s more significant signings was that of striker Ryan Mmaee, who has had a mixed first season overall in England, but a bold decision by Schumacher that he has made recently has ended up working in Mmaee’s favour.
Steven Schumacher’s decision to omit Ryan Mmaee may well have paid off
Mmaee was a regular starter under Schumacher following his appointment – he made an appearance in each of the boss’ first eight games in charge, but suddenly he was dropped from the squad entirely at the start of February.
It was revealed that month that Mmaee’s sudden absence was down to a disciplinary issue.
Schumacher told the BBC: “We had an internal disciplinary issue with Ryan. A few issues that have happened. I won’t go into the details, but there were a few things that weren’t the behaviour we expect from one of our players.
“We spoke to him after the Sunderland game and told him that this was the situation and that, for the time being he wouldn’t be considered for selection.”
He then returned on March 16 in the defeat to Norwich City and has impressed in the games since, particularly in the 2-2 draw with West Bromwich Albion on Saturday afternoon, with his link-up play helping create his team-mates plenty of chances.
Unfortunately, Mmaee was forced off during the second half with a hamstring injury, which will be assessed, but it does look as though his forced absence from first-team affairs has done the Moroccan the world of good.
Schumacher’s job at Stoke has come under scrutiny at points during his tenure.
Just two months after his appointment, there were already rumours of the club looking at potential replacements, such as former Queens Park Rangers manager Gareth Ainsworth.
But what this shows is that Schumacher has the skills to deal with the pressures of being Stoke’s manager.
One of the main problems that previous Stoke managers have had to endure – and failed to deal with – was the attitudes of players.
Throughout their time in the second tier, Stoke have always had players on high wages compared to the rest of the division, and who may think they are bigger than the club in some cases.
Mmaee is one of the latest of those, having arrived from Hungarian champions Ferencvaros in the summer for a reported initial fee of £1.75 million.
He had gone from playing in the Champions League and Europa League in the last few seasons to playing in the Championship.
But Schumacher managed his situation perfectly – he took him out of the team for a while, made him train with the under-21’s, giving him the tough love he clearly needed, and it has made an impact.
Hopefully, this can be the start of something special at the Bet365 Stadium, not only for Mmaee, but Schumacher too, but all focus right now will be on making sure they are playing Championship football this season.
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