“It benefits Stoke City” – Reaction given to West Ham, Narcis Pelach update

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk’ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Narcis Pelach has wasted no time in getting back into employment after his sacking from Stoke City last month, with the Catalan appointed as part of Graham Potter’s backroom staff after his appointment at West Ham United.

Pelach’s first taste of leading a side in the English game didn’t quite go to plan in the Potteries, with just three wins from his 19 matches in charge of City seeing his tenure being brought to an end just two days after Christmas.

Having garnered a reputation as one of the finest coaches in the game before his appointment at the bet365 Stadium, the former Norwich City man looks to be going back to what he does best at the Premier League side, as the Hammers look to move on from the Julen Lopetegui era.

The speed in which he has got back into the game may come as a surprise to some, so we asked Football League World’s Stoke fan pundit Sam Harrison on his thoughts as the 36-year-old gets straight back in the deep end at the London Stadium.

Narcis Pelach, West Ham United decision evaluated after Stoke City sacking

Pelach was appointed as City boss back in September, as the hierarchy decided to call time on Steven Schumacher’s leadership of the side, despite the former Plymouth Argyle boss starting the season in respectable fashion.

That call soon backfired on the Potters, with a winless run of nine league games soon seeing him follow his predecessor out the exit door, with Mark Robins the man now tasked with taking over first-team matters at the former Premier League side.

While his time leading a side didn’t quite go to plan, Pelach’s reputation as someone who leaves no stone unturned and focuses on each and every intricacy won’t have been hindered, leaving Harrison confident he will do a great job in his new role, even if his return to the game was quicker than expected.

When quizzed on Pelach’s appointment under Potter, the Stoke fan said: “Am I surprised? Yes and no, if I am being totally honest.

“The reason I say yes in terms of being surprised is obviously he made the step up to be head coach with Stoke, and it obviously didn’t click, didn’t go right, and he obviously got sacked.

“I think it was one where you could think about why has he not taken the time out to think about what he has done, and how he could develop as a head coach?

“But the reason I am not so surprised is the fact that you can see from what people say about him that he knows a lot about the game, he has done a lot of research and he is very detailed in his work.

“I think him being a first-team coach at West Ham is going to provide the detail to what Graham Potter wants, and he is clearly a well-respected person in terms of the people he knows, and I think Graham Potter has got someone that is going to give him a lot of detail in terms of how this West Ham team is performing.”

Narcis Pelach will have learned a lot from Stoke City failure

Pelach was praised for his drive and meticulous nature before being appointed in the Potteries last year, with his standards impeccably high in terms of what he demands from the players he works with.

While there will have been doubtless other variables that effected his time in charge of Stoke, those expectations won’t have dropped in any way, and he will likely have come out the other side of the situation with plenty of takeaways to build from.

At 36-years-old, he still has plenty of time to make a return to first-team management later in his career, but Harrison believes working alongside Potter in the top flight is the best move for him at this moment in time.

He continued: “So in terms of being surprised, I think I would be more surprised if he was going to go somewhere else and be their head coach, because then he is obviously going to try that again, and is he learning from his mistakes?

“So maybe taking a step back and not taking the whole authority of a team and being a first-team coach, especially at West Ham – who are not having the best of times but obviously have a lot of quality – he will find that inner detail and the detail he brings to football and tried to bring to Stoke that didn’t work for some reason.

“I think it is good to see that is the route he has decided to go down, and obviously Stoke don’t have to pay him anymore, so it benefits Stoke City.

“But in terms of being surprised, I wouldn’t say so, as I think going in somewhere as a first-team coach, where he has a lot of detail, and tactically he is very detailed in his work, so that is going to help him.

“If it was to be a head coach somewhere else, or even somewhere else in the Championship, you might think it is a bit quick, but that is the reality of football.”