The 'football nut' who wants to keep the game simple

Narcis Pelach is a "football nut" who works harder than anyone to try and get his vision across, according to someone who has seen him in action.

The Catalan spent nearly three years coaching at Huddersfield Town, where David Fox, ex-Premier League player and son of former Potters keeper Peter, was working as a scout and loan manager.

Fox - who attended his first City game at the Victoria Ground aged just two weeks old - told BBC Radio Stoke: "I worked with him at Huddersfield for a couple of years. Narcis always wanted to be a manager - you could tell he had this end game of being a manager somewhere.

"He’s the hardest worker I have come across, in terms of the detail and commitment that goes into sessions.

"He’ll be judged like everyone else - the style’s great, how we play is great but he needs to win football matches. So far I think he has doing really well. He’s added a blend of a style and philosophy, he’s trying to bring a togetherness to the club between the fans and the players. If he can get that momentum building he’ll be very good."

Fox said the 36-year-old "lived and breathed football" and was influenced by his time working at Girona, part of the City Football Group.

"He tries to make the game as simple as possible. There are no grey areas when players go onto the pitch. When you watch a game now it seems like a lot of little robots running around, it is so tactically based now, the game," Fox added.

"It’s not just because he is young and Spanish, the game has changed, you have to be more detailed now - the background staff is that big you can go into minute detail. Narcis tries to make it really simple what he wants from his players."

It's been more than 50 days since Pelach was appointed to replace Steve Schumacher at the helm at the Bet365, winning three, drawing four and losing four of his 11 matches in charge.

"He's got to get the fans involved. We all think he’s going to play out from the back, but it’s not playing 100 passes at the back, that’s not what Stoke do, it's not launching it, it’s finding a way to play forward quickly and getting in position to score goals.

"You have to go out and entertain and get the fans involved. Hopefully with a couple of wins it buys him some time to do that."