BBC NEWS - Carlton Palmer issues Alex Neil warning amid concerning Stoke City form

The Potters find themselves in 20th position in the Championship with Neil’s side booed by their own fans against Hull City

After four straight seasons of mid-table Championship mediocrity, Stoke City supporters were hoping that this would finally be the year that their club would embark on a play-off push in the second tier of English football.

And whilst the 2023-24 season is still young, the signs are not looking promising whatsoever.

Arriving last August to replace Michael O’Neill in the dugout at the Bet365 Stadium, Neil hadn’t really been given the funds to mould his own squad in last season’s January transfer window, meaning that he would ultimately be judged on what he achieves with his summer additions.

The Scotsman definitely made plenty of those, with no fewer than 18 new signings added to Neil’s squad – albeit one of those in Chiquinho has already departed.

Stoke City – 2023/24 Signings
Player Name	Signed From	Loan/Permanent
Wouter Burger	FC Basel	Permanent
Ryan Mmaee	Ferencvaros	Permanent
Joon-ho Bae	Daejeon Hana	Permanent
Ben Pearson	AFC Bournemouth	Permanent
Nikola Jojic	Mladost	Permanent
Andre Vidigal	Maritimo	Permanent
Daniel Johnson	Preston North End	Permanent
Enda Stevens	Sheffield United	Permanent
Michael Rose	Coventry City	Permanent
Wesley Moraes	Aston Villa	Permanent
Mehdi Leris	Sampdoria	Permanent
Lynden Gooch	Sunderland	Permanent
Junior Tchamadeu	Colchester United	Permanent
Sead Haksabanovic	Celtic	Loan
Ki-Jana Hoever	Wolves	Loan
Luke McNally	Burnley	Loan
Mark Travers	AFC Bournemouth	Loan
Chiquinho	Wolves	Loan

Eight matches into 2023-24 though and Stoke sit in 20th position in the Championship table, having won just the twice and they have been defeated five times already – the latest coming in a 3-1 home loss to Hull City on Sunday.

Boos rained down on Neil and his squad for a lot of the match, with the pressure seemingly ramping up on the 42-year-old to get immediate results.

Should Alex Neil be worried about losing his Stoke City job?

Former England international midfielder Carlton Palmer believes that Neil will be under mounting pressure at the Bet365 Stadium, with the mass changes at the club over the summer so far not having the desired effect.

“Alex Neil must be under pressure at Stoke,” Palmer said when speaking to Football League World.

“He’s not exactly hit the ground running since joining the club from Sunderland – I like Alex Neil as a manager and he’s proven to be one of the better managers in the league, he knows the tactical side of the game very well.

“But since joining from Sunderland, Stoke have played 53 games with 18 wins, 11 draws and 24 losses – his lowest win ratio by some way in his career to date.

“Four defeats in their last five games, languishing in the bottom half of the table, he seriously needs to put some points on the board.

“The next two games Stoke have are not easy games, both away, Bournemouth in the cup and Bristol City in the league.

“It cannot be said that Alex has not been backed in the transfer window, he’s signed good players – we have to give them time understandably but I picked Stoke at the start at the season, given the transfer window that they had, that they may be dark horses.

“It’s still early in the season, but they definitely need to pick up some points quickly.”

What is Alex Neil’s contract situation at Stoke City?

When arriving at Stoke back in August 2022, Neil signed a guaranteed three-year contract with the club, who had prized him away from Sunderland in the process.

That means he has just under two years to go on the deal he signed, giving him until the summer of 2025.

However, if the results and performances continue to spiral then the City owners may have no other choice but to relieve Neil of his duties.

Considering he has brought in staff such as Paul Gallagher over the summer and technical director Ricky Martin, who he worked with at Norwich City earlier in his career, it seems like Neil has been given everything he wanted, but for now it isn’t working out.

And it would likely be an expensive contract termination for Stoke, who since dropping into the second tier in 2018 have parted company with three different permanent managers already.