Pelach names new backroom staff at Stoke City

New Stoke City Head Coach Narcis Pelach has named his incoming backroom staff, with Dean Whitehead, Paul Clements and Harrison Glew joining him at the Championship club.

The 36-year-old Catalan has joined the Potters on a three-year contract after 16 months as a First-Team Coach at Norwich City. At the time of his appointment, Pelach was described as “one of the most respected and sought-after coaches around” by Stoke City Sporting Director Jon Walters.

His assistants at the Bet365 will be:

• Dean Whitehead (Assistant): Played for Stoke from 2009 to 2013. Knows Pelach from their time together at Huddersfield Town, where Whitehead coached the Under-17s win 2018/19. Joins from Barnsley, where he was First Team Coach.
• Paul Clements (Goalkeeper Coach): Also worked at Huddersfield, from 2015 to 2024, latterly as Head of Goalkeeping. Followed Pelach to Norwich City in July.
• Harrison Glew (Analyst): Also worked with Pelach at Huddersfield and Norwich. Was a Performance Analyst for the Terriers from 2020 to 2023 and at Norwich from October 2023.

Schumacher expressed his “shock” at being sacked as Stoke boss after just nine months in charge.

In a statement released through the LMA, he said: “It came as a huge shock to me and my family to be told I had lost my job at Stoke City. The coaching staff and I have worked tirelessly over the last nine months, and for our journey at the club to be cut short is hugely disappointing.

“Our objective last season was to keep the club in the Championship. We achieved what we set out to do, and the way that we ended the season gave me great confidence that we could achieve this season’s objectives.

“We won seven of our last 10 competitive games, and started this season by winning four of the opening seven fixtures. In my opinion, after an encouraging start, we were only going to get better and I believe the squad assembled for this season will go on to do really well.”

Four staff have left the club with Schumacher:

• Mark Hughes (Assistant): Was an Everton youth player with the Head Coach and worked on his coaching staff at Plymouth Argyle.
• Chris Cohen (First Team Coach): Former Nottingham Forest player was previously on the staff at Lincoln, Luton and Southampton before joining Stoke in June 2024.
• Peter Cavanagh (First Team Coach): Coached in Academies at Liverpool, Everton and Manchester City before joining Schumacher at Plymouth and then Stoke.
• Elliot Turner (Head of Performance): Joined Stoke from Plymouth along with Schumacher in January 2024.