Steven Schumacher said he remained unsure of the reasons behind his dismissal at Stoke City but that he is determined not to let the setback get in the way of his dreams
Everton academy product Steven Schumacher hopes to use his frustration at being sacked by Stoke City as fuel to realise his dream of one day leading the Blues. The 40-year-old was dismissed just weeks into the new season and only nine months after leaving Plymouth Argyle, who he led to promotion to the Championship, for the Midlands.
Opening up on his departure, he said he remains unsure why his stint was brought to an end but that he would attempt to use the disappointment to power his development.
Schumacher told 72+: The EFL Podcast: “I’ve still learned a lot in nine months. I’ve had to deal with a lot of stuff that has gone on with that club that I wouldn’t have had to deal with in another four years in Argyle. I just wouldn’t have had those issues, so in my own personal career I’ll be better placed for the next job.
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“I haven’t come out of it thinking I need a break. I feel as though if anything, it’s given me a little bit more fuel, a bit more fire in my belly. I want be a manager in the Premier League, my dream job is the Everton job.
“So this is going to give me more fuel to say: ‘Right, I’ve got some people to prove wrong now, and actually, it’s my first sort of bump in the road in all my coaching career. I suppose you could say a lot about my character about how I bounce back. But I’m ready whenever the right opportunity comes up.”
Schumacher grew through the ranks at Everton before enjoying a career in the Football League at the likes of Bradford City, Crewe Alexandra and Bury. He swiftly moved into coaching and led Plymouth to the League One title after stepping up from the assistant manager role following Ryan Lowe’s switch to Preston North End.
He relocated late last year and oversaw a finish to the campaign in which Stoke lost just one of their final eight games – a run that included a win at Southampton, who went on to secure promotion through the play-offs.
His sacking came after Stoke began the season with two wins and three defeats – after a summer in which he had led a transfer strategy that marked a change in approach he believed would take time to reap rewards.
He said: “I felt that if we believed in what we did and how we work, then we’d be the ones who could turn it around, I could be the one who could make a difference.
“I knew it was going to take time. Last season, the six months that we were there, we had some mixed results. We had a difficult start and then we finished the season really strongly and we went on almost promotion form in the final 12 games. I felt as though we were just starting to turn the corner.
“Then this summer’s recruitment, when I got the job and I went for the interview, I spoke to [Stoke owner] John Coates about trying to change the profile of the players that Stoke have brought in over the last few years because I felt that by doing that would give it a chance to change the outcome.
“So we went for younger players, tried to play a team who could play with energy and give 100% in every single game, whether it be win, lose or draw, the fans could see that the lads were given everything. That was the direction that we wanted to go in.
“Everybody agreed on that and then I felt at the start of this season we’d started pretty well. I know we would have liked to have won a couple more games, but before the Oxford game, we’d won four out of six and I just thought that we were just just getting there.”
That summer recruitment ended with the loan move for former Everton starlet Tom Cannon from Leicester City. Cannon scored four in midweek as Stoke smashed Portsmouth 6-1.
Schumacher said he remained hopeful he would receive a full explanation over the decision to dismiss him, adding the answers may help him develop further. He said: “I would like to know, because obviously for my career, I’d like to figure out where it all went wrong in their eyes. Whether I agree with it or not is a different matter, at least I’d like to know.
“It’s one of them, I can look back on it and I can feel angry, I can feel disappointed, but I think it’s done now, it’s in the past, so all I can do is just sort of look ‘OK. Where can I get better now?’”