The current Championship manager Stoke City are eyeing amid Mark Robins exit talk | OneFootball

Stoke City are eyeing a move for Portsmouth boss John Mousinho amid uncertainty around Mark Robins’ future

There is an increasing degree of uncertainty surrounding Stoke City at the moment, with the Potters eyeing up a Championship rival’s boss as a potential replacement for the under-pressure Mark Robins.

Under Mark Robins, Stoke City started the 2025/26 season extremely brightly, defeating Derby County on the opening day 3–1 at home, and followed that up with a 3-0 away win over Sheffield Wednesday, and then a 2-1 victory at Southampton, despite being down to ten men.

In fact, by November, Stoke took on Coventry at the bet365 Stadium in what was first versus second, which the Potters would eventually lose, succumbing to a late 1-0 defeat courtesy of Ephron Mason-Clark’s wonderful acrobatic effort.

From there, it was all downhill for the Potters, whose automatic hopes quickly faded, followed by their top-six ambitions, and even eventually surrendering what looked to be a certain top-half finish, which would have been their first in nine years, as only Sheffield Wednesday picked up fewer points than them over the final 30 games.

Stoke’s 17th-place finish means the club has now spent the last 10 seasons finishing in the bottom half, with the pressure on Robins increasing, as Football League World exclusively revealed the club is preparing for the potential exit of Robins, and has sounded out a Championship rival's boss as his replacement.

When Mark Robins was appointed in January 2025, he became Stoke’s seventh different permanent boss since relegation in 2017.

Each of Gary Rowett, Nathan Jones, Michael O’Neill, Alex Neil, Steven Schumacher, and Narcis Pelach has tried and failed before the former Coventry boss, despite the club spending well over £100 million on new arrivals across that period.

It has been one disaster to another as the Potters chew up and spit out managers who have had previous success elsewhere, and have gone on to have success elsewhere since, as Robins could very well be the next in line.

Now, according to Portsmouth News’ Neil Allen, Stoke have identified Pompey’s John Mousinho as a potential option to replace Robins should the 56-year-old depart.

Mousinho has done a wonderful job since taking charge at Portsmouth in January 2023, guiding the South Coast outfit to the Championship in his first full year in charge, and has since cemented their status in the second tier despite a tight budget.

Indeed, Portsmouth defeated a struggling Stoke in the penultimate game of the campaign, with Adrien Segecic’s hat-trick sealing a 3–1 victory at the bet365 Stadium, where the home side were jeered off by their own supporters.

Now, it appears as though Stoke sporting director Jon Walters and chairman John Coates have identified the 40-year-old as a target to replace Robins in the Potteries if he were to depart.

Mousinho has also been linked with the vacant role at Bristol City over recent weeks, along with Lincoln City’s Michael Skubala, though it now looks as if former Aston Villa defender Tommy Elphick will be heading to Ashton Gate instead.

It’s unclear what Stoke’s stance on Robins is at this stage, but given they only handed the former Coventry boss a fresh deal until the summer of 2029 in November, it would take a sizeable payout and a big swallow of pride to part ways with him now.

Robins continued to insist he is the right man for the job in North Staffordshire, despite the dire run of form, though with the Potters' hierarchy sounding out Mousinho as an option, it seems as though they don’t share that confidence, as this could be a saga that continues to evolve over the coming weeks.

Stoke City would be taking a huge risk with the dismissal of Mark Robins amid John Mousinho links

Though Stoke's in the second half of the season was comfortably that of a side facing relegation, there hasn’t been too much pressure placed upon Robins, certainly not in the media, at least.

The work he did with Coventry, guiding them from League Two to within a penalty shootout away from the Premier League, has rightfully earned him plaudits and admirers across the sport, which has quite obviously given him some leeway in this situation when others wouldn’t have been afforded the same luxury.

The Potters have lacked a clear identity and culture for over a decade at this point, and their demise and stagnation are incredibly indicative of just that.

Jumping from one manager to another with the hopes that the next one will get things right is a recipe for disaster and merely lurching from one failure to another.

Dismissing Robins and appointing Mousinho could well be the correct move, but with problems stemming from the top down, whether the 40-year-old is capable of breaking this cycle, or whether he just joins the long list of failures in the Potteries, remains to be seen.

For now, Robins retains his place at Stoke, as does Mousinho with Pompey, with no formal move having been reported as yet.