Mark Robins is keeping his cards close to his chest as Stoke City head towards the end of an important but difficult transfer window.
Robins has brought in two players, brought back two players and is hoping for key players to soon emerge from the treatment room to help Stoke pull away from the wrong end of the Championship. New signing Ali Al-Hamadi is on standby for his debut at Hull tomorrow (3pm).
He still wants one or two more if Stoke can find a way to get deals over the line at a time when the club is hamstrung by profit and sustainability rules. It spoke volumes that Robins hinted that fringe striker Niall Ennis has been let go to Blackpool on loan due to financial reasons.
Robins, when asked if there would be any further incomings, said at his pre-Hull press conference today: “I don’t know. I’m hopeful, always hopeful, but let’s wait and see.”
He added: “Niall never made any overtures to leave. That is a consequence of where we are at the moment. While I need bodies, need people to be available to play, we’ve got players hopefully who aren’t too far from coming back and to try to make sense financially you have to do certain things that mean players leave if we’re bringing players in. That was the reason behind it.”
Stoke, who have filled the maximum five loan slots allowed for a match day in the Championship, are still trying to find extra pace in the final third that will help Robins’ squad in the next three months.
There could still be outgoings too, although the manager doesn’t particularly want to see anyone else leave at the moment.
He said: “Let’s wait and see. I’m hoping not, to be honest. We need to try to keep people here if we can do because we do need the bodies but then it’s not just bodies, they’ve got to be able to contribute. It’s a fine balance and any decisions that are made on anyone else are going to have to be around the last day.”
Stoke have had to scale back this season after an £18 million transfer splurge and hike in wages in 2023/24 overseen by then boss Alex Neil and then-technical director Ricky Martin. Most of the money for purchases came from the £15m sale of Harry Souttar to Leicester but that was in the previous financial year.
Robins was adamant that Stoke wouldn’t break the rules.
He said: “You can’t do it – or you can and you get points deductions on the back of it and all sorts of financial penalties and things like that. I don’t think there’s any way that this club would do that and rightly so. You’re playing within the rules. It’s why the rules are there, everybody should be the same and I think, in general, they are, but they’re there to protect the football club for its longevity.
“There’s only one constant and that’s the supporters. We’re all custodians of positions or institutions and you can see it on the badge, ‘Stoke City 1863’. It’s been here a long time and it’ll be here a long time after we’ve gone. While you’re here you have to make sure you do right by the club and by the people who support it.
“I go back to the togetherness, if you’re together you can sustainably build something which is going to have longevity and success. That will be something that hopefully we can do, achieve together and bring back some really good memories for supporters of Stoke City and everyone who is working here.”
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