Mark Hughes warns Stoke that sacking him may not change club’s fortunes

• Stoke manager under pressure before West Brom visit on Saturday
• Defeat and poor performance would likely end Hughes’s tenure

Mark Hughes has warned that sacking him and appointing a new manager will not necessarily improve Stoke City’s fortunes, as the club’s hierarchy continue to assess his future, with a home defeat and another underwhelming performance against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday likely to lead to Hughes being unemployed at Christmas.

Stoke, 16th in the Premier League and just one point above the relegation zone, have taken just one win from their last eight matches. David Moyes, who replaced Slaven Bilic at West Ham United last month, led his team to a 3-0 win over Stoke last Saturday but Hughes has dismissed the boost a new manager would have on his struggling side, suggesting that the grass is not always greener. “Initially you get a manager bounce, but usually when you look at the stats it doesn’t make a great difference,” Hughes said at his pre-match press conference.

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