Under-fire Nathan Jones admits he is embarrassed by Stoke’s league position - but remains determined to be the man to hoist them back up the Championship table.
Stoke entered the two-week international break rooted to the foot of the table with one point from six games thanks to Saturday’s 2-1 win at Birmingham.
Jones says there is no question of turning his back on the club because he still retains a huge belief in the project he began when arriving from Luton back in January.
“A lot of people think changing the manager is the easy option,” he said.
“Here, there’s been a culture of not winning football matches, whoever’s been in charge, so something has to change.
“You can change the manager and go down that route, but these are good people and they don’t like changing managers.
“That’s why I came here. They will do it as a last resort.
“People on the outside might think they are massively under-achieving at Stoke, they’re bottom of the league.
“We shouldn’t be bottom of the league and I’m embarrassed that we are, but we won’t be there for long. We will not be there for long.”
Lou has had his say in his weekly column. You can read the column in full here, but here's a snippet....
"I really thought that win in the League Cup at Leeds would give Stoke such a lift that they’d get some sort of positive result at Birmingham.
Throw in a 1-0 lead on the hour mark and you start thinking a draw is the least they will get.
So when you find out they’ve ended up losing the game, after being ahead so relatively late in the match, concern inevitably grows and I can understand the frustration of fans.
Everyone was making their predictions before the start of the season and there must have been millions doing the rounds.
I feel like I’ve read or heard most of them, but however many it was, I can promise you not one suggested Stoke would be bottom of the Championship after six games... with one point.
Not many would have had another of my old clubs, Huddersfield, alongside them either after their relegation in May.
Can I suggest to any Stoke fans reading this that they lock away any evidence of the league table for the next fortnight because it won’t do your health any good starting at it, and it certainly won’t change the club’s position?
There must be a change in fortunes for that to happen and the sooner the better because we can’t hide away from the fact that Stoke are in a spot of bother.
Our Stoke City correspondent analyses Stoke and asks 'what the Hell has gone wrong?'
Can anyone put their finger on the problem - never mind the solution - at Stoke City?
Relegated with little more than a whimper after a good 12 months of decay under Mark Hughes, a prospective promotion campaign ending with 16th place, and two managers, and now bottom of the Championship with one point from the first six games.
Not even the most hopeless pessimist, maybe not even their worst enemy, could have conceived such a miserable start.
But how has it come to this? If we try and reduce it to one word, that word would be PLAYERS.
Because by starting with the players we can branch out and explore all four corners of the football club.
It starts at the very top and FINANCE.
Have the owners provided enough money to obtain and keep the best possible players at Stoke City?
They would argue they have and point to the number of expensive signings made by Gary Rowett 12 months ago, the most in the Championship, and the dozen signings made on the watch of his successor Nathan Jones.
Many of the 10 summer signings were free agents, but they would point to the considerable wages deployed to lure them here.
Given the comings and the not-so-many goings at Stoke, plus the salaries still being partially paid to those out on loan, the club’s wage bill must be the highest in the Championship and possibly by some margin.
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