Stoke City approach Norwich City for Narcis Pelach to replace Steven Schumacher | OneFootball

The Potters' search for a new boss is underway

Norwich City first-team coach Narcis Pelach has emerged as the front-runner to replace Steven Schumacher as Stoke City head-coach after he was relieved of his duties this morning.

The Telegraph's John Percy has reported that Pelach is being tracked by the Potters in the wake of Schumacher's dismissal, and the club has been given permission to speak with him over the vacant position, with goalkeeper coach Paul Clements also set to move if talks are successful.

HITC's Graeme Bailey has also revealed that Blackburn Rovers boss John Eustace and Stockport County manager Dave Challinor are also under consideration by Stoke, but Pelach is the front-runner and a favourite of sporting director Jon Walters, according to TEAMtalk's Fraser Gillan.

Spaniard Pelach joined the Canaries last May, and has previously held roles as an assistant at Girona and Huddersfield Town, while he also had a spell as interim boss with the Terriers in February 2023.

Narcis Pelach is front-runner for Stoke job

Stoke sporting director Walters is now beginning the process of finding a replacement for Schumacher, and it seems as if he has found his man with Pelach now in the frame to take over at the bet365 Stadium.

According to TEAMtalk reporter Gillan, the 36-year-old is Stoke's first choice, and the job is his if financial details can be agreed soon, so their hunt for a new boss certainly looks to be moving fast.

Pelach is a shock name to potentially take charge of the Potters, due to his lack of managerial experience, but his appointment would certainly seem to make sense given Stoke's current set-up, which sees the head-coach given less control over backroom proceedings as they report to director Walters, but more control over the team and the tactics they wish to implement.

The Girona-born coach is a former player, after he turned out for numerous lower-league Spanish sides before his retirement from football in May 2016, when he was just 25-years-old.

After joining fourth-tier outfit Figueres as a player in 2014, he soon started working as a coach of their Juvenil B, and then A team, before he was presented as manager of the first team after his 2016 retirement.

He later became boss of Girona's feeder club, Peralada, in 2018, and held his position there for a year before becoming assistant to Jose Luis Marti at Girona in 2019.

It is clear due to his rapid rise that he is highly rated as a coach, and his first experience in England came as he was appointed as Carlos Corberán's assistant at Huddersfield in July 2020, and he went on to take charge of the Terriers twice on an interim basis after the sackings of Danny Schofield in 2022 and Mark Fotheringham in 2023, before joining Norwich last May.

Stoke need to get this appointment right after so many failures

The Potters have moved quickly to get rid of Schumacher this season after a less than ideal start, but the timing has come as a shock so soon into the campaign, and whoever they appoint next must be the right man to take them forward.

Stoke have an exciting, young squad at the moment, and they cannot afford to regress even further this season after so many years in the Championship wilderness.

Not one boss since Stoke's relegation in 2018 can say they have succeeded in the job, whether it is down to themselves or the players, and it has certainly become somewhat of a poisoned chalice in recent years.

Walters and co are now tasked with convincing a potential new head-coach, which looks to be Pelach, that the club is in a good place to move forward on and off the pitch.

It is vital, though, that, not only does the new man believe that he can achieve big things with the Potters, but that the board are wholly convinced by his appointment and believe in his ability to push the team up the second-tier table this season.