FRIENDS REUNITED
But there’s only one outcome on Schumacher’s mind when he faces his old club Plymouth
STEVEN Schumacher’s nearlifelong relationship with his old teacher, coach and now rival Neil Dewsnip has survived his decision to leave Plymouth Argyle for the new challenge at Stoke City.
Schumacher will go up against Dewsnip, currently Plymouth’s caretaker boss, this weekend for the first time in his career.
They have previously worked together from school to the Everton academy and England junior sides before linking up on the south coast, where the former first joined as coach and the latter was initially brought in as director of football.
He knows he will get some stick from a sell-out away support at the bet365 Stadium tomorrow (3pm) but he was still able to refer to Dewsnip as a friend in his prematch press conference.
“Absolutely, yeah,” he said. “I think if you’ve known someone since you were eight years old it shouldn’t change because you move clubs.
“He understood my reasons for leaving and moving on and I know everyone around Argyle knew how much of a big decision that was for me. It wasn’t easy because I was at a really good club where everything was going really well. The club is still progressing, still moving forwards, but we chose to come to Stoke and start a new journey. That’s how it was.
“Just because I chose to do that, my relationship with any of them - not just Neil but Nance (coach Kevin Nancekivell), Andrew Parkinson (chief executive) and Simon Hallett (owner) and even the fans - that won’t change.
“I’ve still got loads of mates down in Plymouth who are big Argyle fans. I’ve been back there a couple of times since I’ve been Stoke manager and life goes on as normal. They know I’m just a normal lad who’s tried to do the best for his family.”
Schumacher referred to the ‘good times’ he had at Plymouth as he tries to plot their downfall now, with both sides knowing that a win will go a long way to confirming their status in the Championship.
But good times is an understatement for a chapter of his career which saw Schumacher gain a reputation as one of the brightest young coaches in the country - and now he hopes to mirror the journey at Stoke.
He said: “The title season will never be taken away from us and it wasn’t just last year, the year before a progression when we got 80 points and just missed out on a place in the play-offs. The year before that we consolidated in League One and the year before that we won promotion from League Two.
“It was a journey that was set out to us from the very start, similar to what is happening here now at Stoke.
“We knew when we went down there what the goal was, the end goal was to get into the Championship, and that’s what we achieved It wasn’t just me nor Ryan (Lowe), the previous manager before me, nor Neil but all the players contributed, all the staff behind the scenes contributed in that success and Argyle are in the Championship where they deserve to be, desperate to stay there.
“But my journey has changed, I’m at Stoke and the mission is to get back to the Premier League, one step at a time.”
That has been the message that Schumacher has repeatedly delivered since arriving in the Potteries in December - that a club can’t succeed unless everyone is pulling in the same direction.
He said: “You need clear ownership, which is what we’ve got, we’ve got a really clear direction from the directors and the people who are making the key decisions. Now the recruitment department have all got to be on the same
page, the coaching staff have got to know what the job is and most importantly the players have got to buy into it because if we haven’t got that team focus and that team first mentality then it just doesn’t work. That will be the aim.
“But that’s the future. We need to focus on the present and get the results we need to stay in the Championship.”