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Stoke fans wanted Rowett out after three games; they're showing a bit more patience now

That suggests that Rowett left with a pay-off of around £5m - that will soften the blow a bit. Stoke have splashed a bit on managers in the past year: paying off Hughes, compensation for Rowett and Jones, paying off Rowett - that's probably the best part of £10m right there.

They're eight points off - with Villa, Swansea and Hull all boosted by parachute payments between them and glory (as well as heavily backed Forest). Yes, they could make the play-offs but would probably need 2 points a game to do it - I'm not sure they have the squad to do that.

I'd forgotten McClean was there: they really have pissed some money away. I know that they have parachute payments but are they going to give Jones what he wants, given the amount they've spunked already? We all know that's a tough division to escape from and that squad looks a long way short of...

I disagree on this. He's got lots of credit in the bank at Luton and if he goes on a bad run, he'll easily survive. On the other hand, if he goes on a bad run at Stoke, he's toast: the board have already shown that they're a bit trigger-happy so he's got little leeway. Stoke fans are moaning...

Wouldn't be a good move for him: there's a lot of dead weight at the club and a trigger-happy board with low levels of patience. He's got a good chance of getting two promotions and that will give him plenty of better opportunities - Stoke is a bit of a poisoned chalice

So, he was the manager who took them down. I was thinking about a manager who was appointed in the pre-season and took them straight back up.

Now, there's a good question: when was the last time that a club got relegated from the PL, sacked their manager and went straight back up? Was it Newcastle under Hughton? I bet it's not happened often