Sheffield United's Championship rivals sack manager after five games of new season

Stoke City have confirmed that Michael O’Neill has left the club after almost three years at the Bet365 Stadium.

The Potters have won just once this season – a 2-0 victory over Blackpool on the second weekend of the campaign – and were also knocked out of Carabao Cup to Morecambe.

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Joint Chairman John Coates said: “Michael joined us in November 2019 when the Club was in a difficult situation and the job he did in stabilising our position in the Championship should not be underestimated.

“Michael has worked tirelessly and with extreme professionalism, in particular in reshaping our squad and developing young players, but we feel the time is right to move in a different direction. I would like to thank him for his efforts and wish him every success for the future.”

O’Neill joined Stoke after a hugely impressive spell in charge of Northern Ireland with whom he guided to the European Championships in France in 2016.

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That made the former Newcastle United midfielder hot property and he left his international role in 2019 to move back into club management.

The new manager's introduction led to a period of restructure after Stoke’s relegation from the Premier League and O’Neill has never really managed to get the results from a limited squad like he did while with Northern Ireland.

The club say they are now actively looking for a replacement.

Sheffield United are not due to play Stoke until early October by which time a new boss shoud be firmly in place.

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