Ryan Shawcross: 'Stoke City players stand by Mark Hughes'

By Giuseppe Labellarte, Reporter | 14 December 2017

Stoke City captain Ryan Shawcross insists that the club's players still believe in manager Mark Hughes despite the club's poor start to the season.

Stoke City captain Ryan Shawcross has stressed that the club's players still believe in manager Mark Hughes.

The Welshman is under pressure with the Potters having made their worst start to a Premier League season, taking only 16 points from 17 games.

Hughes, at Stoke since May 2013, oversaw three successive ninth-place finishes in his first three seasons, but finished 13th in 2016-17 following a poor start to the campaign.

Shawcross, however, has publicly stated that the players have not given up on Hughes despite Stoke fans expressing unhappiness with their manager in Tuesday's 1-0 defeat at Burnley.

"That's the game we're in and the manager knows it. He knows we need results. If we stick together as we have done over the years then it helps a lot," Shawcross told Sky Sports News.

"We know he's a quality manager, we believe in him. Unfortunately we are going through a bad period at the moment but, as we've shown over the five years he's been here, I think he's been one of the most successful managers we've ever had as a club."

Up next for Stoke is Saturday's Premier League home game with West Ham United.