Bolton Wanderers coach Steven Schumacher believes he wouldn’t be where he is today without his time at Stoke City.

The Championship returns this weekend after the three-week international break and both Bolton and Stoke will be looking to build on the momentum of their past few games before the action was put on hold. The Trotters are on a two-match winning run while Mark Robins’ team are now unbeaten in five.

Schumacher also has a stake in the game as he prepares to play his old club for the first time since his termination in September 2024.

Steven Schumacher to Stoke City

Games;”

32

Victories

13

Ties

6

Losses

13

Winning %

40.6%

He arrived at Stoke midway through the 2023/24 campaign, having done a wonderful job at Plymouth Argyle, although his stay there was short-lived. They finished 17th under him that year but he was sacked after just five games the next year with only two wins to his name.

Steven Schumacher has no regrets over his time at Stoke City.

Many neutrals felt the termination of Schumacher at the bet365 Stadium was harsh, since it was early days in the season and Stoke’s poor start was not a disaster.

In the end, the Bolton boss, like many past Potters head coaches who have floundered at that club, has cut it elsewhere. Schumacher was relegated to League One in January 2025, but guided the Trotters back to the Championship in his first full season in command.

Now Schumacher, as a manager, confronts Stoke for the first time since. He had no regrets regarding his time with them. It may not have been a success.“I think it’s all experience,” Schumacher stated, according to the Bolton News. It was a decision I took when I left Plymouth Argyle. I went to Stoke, it didn’t happen. It was one of those things, part and parcel of football.

Stoke are taking a 4,600 sold-out allocation to The Toughsheet Stadium on Saturday and Schumacher lauded the commitment of the fanbase despite tough seasons over the previous decade.

What I will say – and you touched on it there with the supporters – but they were amazing with me,” he continued. “Probably the best thing about the club, something I can relate to.They’ve sold out the away end and they travel so well, like our fans up and down the country supporting their side. From my point of view, I have no issues with the supporters or anything like that.It didn’t work out, but I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and I’m sat in this chair wearing this badge because of what occurred at Stoke and I wouldn’t be here if it didn’t. So, yeah, I don’t regret anything looking back on it, that was part and parcel of my journey.”

Steven Schumacher expects a tough Test against Mark Robins-inspired Stoke City team who are starting to find some form

Stoke have finished between 13th and 19th in each of the last 10 seasons. The last 8 have been in the Championship. Ultimately the big question for the club is why the mediocrity has lasted.

Last season petered out into a 17th-place finish despite a promising start which saw them as high as second for huge parts and fourth for much of December.

But Stoke, as noted, are in good form, winning four and drawing one of their past five, and come into the encounter at the Toughsheet Stadium inside the play-offs, sitting seventh.

“There are loads of reasons why it hasn’t happened, and people have talked about it for years, as I know, giving their opinions of why that’s happened, what’s happened, but that’s the situation that they’re in,” Schumacher said on the bottom-half results in the past.“Our focus and my focus right now is on this team and they have got a good chance of trying to do something about that because of the players that they’ve signed this season, they’re playing well, they’re in I think they are seventh in the league.I think they had a strong start last year too, they were right there in the top three and four for a long time, but they just weren’t able to stay there. But I think they will have a solid shot this time around.”

Bolton Wanderers and Stoke City will be looking to build on the form they showed ahead of the international break on Saturday

It is still early days in the Championship campaign and while Stoke go into this one eight places ahead of Bolton, there is only a three point gap between the two. And, yes, a five-goal winning margin for the Trotters, albeit implausible, would see Steven Schumacher’s present side eclipse his former one.

So, both teams will be eager to keep their good run going and continue collecting points at a time when they are as valuable as ever.

Stoke will be afraid of a similar drop-off to last year under Mark Robins so collecting enough points to be in and around the play-off debate is the least they can do. In an ideal world that might be kept for an unlikely promotion push.

And from a Bolton perspective the current League One play-off winners know that every win is vital to stay in the division for another year and prevent quick relegation, which is the major aim this season.

It’s expected to be a spectacle in front of a crowd of over 25,000 this Saturday, most of whom will be looking for a third straight home win.