O’Neill would get a warm Stoke welcome

Martin O’Neill would receive a warm welcome from Stoke City fans if he was appointed at the bet365 Stadium, according to the editor of the club’s longest-running fanzine, despite latest reports that he may be only a back-up option to former Watford coach Quique Sanchez Flores.

Ireland manager O’Neill has been heavily linked with a move to the Premier League club and had been named favourite by many bookmakers to succeed Mark Hughes and take Roy Keane with him as assistant.

Those odds changed rapidly last night, however, as Stoke sent a delegation to Spain to offer Espanyol coach Flores first option on the role, and fans in the Potteries have been split over which man would be the better option.