3 managers Stoke City must eye as Mark Robins pressure mounts ex-Blackburn Rovers boss | OneFootball

Stoke City should eye one of Jon Dahl Tomasson, Scott Parker, or Steve Cooper if Mark Robins is sacked

Stoke City's 4-1 defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday means the Potters have lost all three of their Championship games so far this season, and with the club rooted to the bottom of the league, pressure is increasing drastically on Mark Robins.

It's a new year, but the same old story for Stoke, who have begun the 2026/27 Championship campaign with three defeats on the spin.

To play devil's advocate, the Potters have had a tricky start to the season, with Swansea City narrowly getting the better of them at the bet365 Stadium on the opening day, followed by away trips to Southampton and Wolves. With all three clubs expected to be fighting in and around the top eight this year, those results were always a likely possibility.

However, when taking into context Robins' reign at the helm since his appointment in January 2025, the statistics begin to look grim.

Having started last campaign in scintillating form, Stoke crumbled from November onwards following their 1-0 home defeat to Coventry City, having won just seven of their 35 league games since, as only Sheffield Wednesday picked up fewer points in the second half of last season.

Football League World exclusively revealed that Stoke were considering parting ways with the 56-year-old in the summer, but he has since been backed with the £10 million addition of Ethan Galbraith, an initial £6 million of George Hirst, and £3.4 million spent on Djibril Soumare, as well as four other additions thus far.

Now, according to Alex Crook via X, the pressure is mounting on Robins to turn the tide sooner rather than later, as FLW takes a look at three candidates the Potters should consider in case of his departure.

Jon Dahl Tomasson

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Jon Dahl Tomasson is a name most Championship fans will be familiar with, and certainly those at Blackburn Rovers, with the Dane having spent over 18 months at Ewood Park between July 2022 and February 2024.

The former AC Milan and Newcastle United striker began his managerial journey in the Netherlands with Excelsior, before spells with Roda, Vitesse, working as an assistant in the Denmark national team, Malmo, Blackburn, and most recently as Sweden's head coach.

Tomasson took Blackburn to within goal difference of qualifying for the play-offs during the 2022/23 campaign, finishing on 69 points, the same as Sunderland, though the Black Cats' superior goal difference saw them pip Blackburn to 6th-place.

The wheels would come off the season after, with Tomasson criticising and citing the reason for his departure and Blackburn's subsequent struggles during the 2023/24 season as a lack of funding at Ewood Park, something numerous managers have encountered over the years.

Failure to guide Sweden to the World Cup in October 2025 would lead him to depart their national team, where he has since been out of work.

Having overperformed with Blackburn and won consecutive titles in Sweden with Malmö, the 50-year-old would be an interesting hire by the Potters, though whether he has what it takes to turn the ship around in North Staffordshire remains to be seen.

Scott Parker

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Scott Parker is a master when it comes to the Championship, as Stoke would undoubtedly be the former West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur midfielder's greatest challenge yet.

The 45-year-old has won promotion to the Premier League with Fulham via the play-offs in 2020, Bournemouth in second place in 2022, and Burnley in 2025, conceding just 16 league goals across the entire campaign with the Clarets on their way to achieving 100 points.

However, with the way Stoke chew up and spit out previously successful managers such as Nathan Jones, Alex Neil, Steven Schumacher, and possibly now Robins, it would likely be Parker's greatest achievement to provide some solidity over an extended period in the Potteries.

Parker has never been welded to one particular style or formation throughout his coaching career, but has more often than not deployed a 4-2-3-1 shape, and with Stoke playing that shape, the squad is already set up for him.

Having been dismissed from Burnley in the summer following the Clarets' relegation back to the Championship, whether he would be willing to take the step down to Stoke at this stage of his career remains to be seen, though the Potters would be remiss to not explore the possibility of his appointment in case of Robins' departure.

Steve Cooper

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Steve Cooper, like Parker, is an expert when it comes to the Championship.

The Englishman spent the bulk of his early coaching career with Liverpool's youth teams before moving into the England national team setup with the men's U16 and U17 sides, before taking the top job at Swansea City in June 2019.

He guided the Welsh outfit to back-to-back play-off finishes in his two seasons with the club, losing the second in the play-off final to Brentford, before being appointed as Nottingham Forest's head coach in September 2021 with the club bottom of the league.

The 46-year-old would turn the ship around and then some at the City Ground, taking the club into the play-offs before defeating Huddersfield Town 1-0 at Wembley to take the club to the Premier League.

Spells with Leicester City and Brondby have followed, the latter of which he was sacked from after failing to qualify for Europe, where he remains unemployed.

With three play-off finishes in three years in the division, with the last of those after taking charge of a club rock-bottom of the second tier, Cooper could be the perfect fit to replace Robins and replicate his excellent work with Forest at Stoke.