Stoke City were condemned to relegation last weekend after a 2-1 loss against Crystal Palace confirmed their faith.
It comes after a host of bad signings failed to strengthen the squad. Saido Berahino has started just 11 games since his £12m transfer last year from West Brom and hasn't scored once. Record signing Giannelli Imbula, who cost £18.3m, is still on loan at Toulouse. Former Spurs man Kevin Wimmer cost £18m and is now training with the reserves. Ibrahim Afellay and Bojan Krkic have both been left out of the first-team squad.
In a damning interview, England shot-stopper Jack Butland said in his post-match comments these are "players you cannot rely on" and called the entire process 'farcical.'
I think the whole recruitment process needs looking at, to be honest. We’ve gone into a game – and over the last few months – with half the squad dotted around the world not even involved.
There’s been transfers who aren’t even part of the squad for all kinds of reasons, whether it be discipline, whether it be lack of performance. So you’ve got to look at that – what decisions are being made and the type of characters.
Too many of the recent investments have been completely unused and that’s unacceptable. For any changes to happen that’s got to be looked at, because it’s been farcical.
Stoke's decline was written on the wall for quite some time now. They had a disastrous ending to last season which continued into this one under Mark Hughes. They then partook in a prolonged and public replacement process before handing Paul Lambert the reigns.
