Stoke City chairman Peter Coates stands by the sacking of Mark Hughes.

Indeed, Coates believes he should've done it sooner.

He told the Daily Mail: "People would argue, and I wouldn't challenge it too strongly, that maybe we would have been better off doing it sooner.

"But we had a man there [Hughes] who served us well and we had a good relationship with him.

"It is a tough game and it is tough for managers as well. You want to support them. You keep thinking, 'Win the next game and it will all look different'. It's difficult. Hindsight is a wonderful thing."