Stoke sack Martin and bring in Walters as Interim Technical Director

RICKY MARTIN has been sacked as Stoke City Technical Director after 15 months after the club vowed to take a “new direction”.

Martin was appointed in November 2022 after almost four years as Academy Manager at West Ham. The move to Stoke reunited him with manager Alex Neil, with whom he had worked at Norwich City from 2015 to 2017 (when Neil was manager and Martin was Academy Manager then Technical Director).

However, Neil was sacked in December last year and Stoke have been in an almost constant state of flux since their relegation from the Premier League in 2017/18. They currently sit 19th in the Championship.

Chairman John Coates said: “Ricky has worked tirelessly in his attempts to bring success to Stoke City, and I am appreciative of his hard work and dedication.

“With results on the field having fallen significantly short of our ambitions during the current season to date, we believe it is essential to take-on a new direction. We will run a full and robust recruitment process with immediate effect.”

Jonathan Walters, who made 271 appearances for the Potters between 2010 and 2017, has taken over the position on an interim basis until further notice.

“Jonathan is ideally suited to the interim role and I’m thankful to him for stepping in to support Stoke City, a club I know is close to his heart, at this time,” Coates added.

Walters was Sporting Director of Fleetwood Town and sister club Waterford in the League of Ireland for six months to the end of 2022/23.