text: Door still open for Stoke City exits as ex-boss wishes club well - Stoke-on-Trent Live
  Stoke City transfer news | Michael O'Neill admits it is 'not ideal' to have to send senior players to train in a different group but squad is too big
  Michael O'Neill has cut his senior Stoke City squad by three and more trimming is expected before the window shuts in two-and-a-half weeks.
  O'Neill has sent Cameron Carter-Vickers back to Tottenham while Peter Etebo and Badou Ndiaye have gone out on loan with view to permanent moves.
  He has been clear that it will be best for all parties for other fringe men to continue their careers away from Clayton Wood and leave him with a streamlined group.
  "It was very difficult at the start because it's very difficult to work with that level of players," he said.
  "You're sending players away to work in a different training group, so it's never ideal, they are senior players. And you're making assessments on players with very little information, so that can be difficult.
  "You're not going to get all those decisions right, you hope you get the majority of them right.
  "Every player has different circumstances in relation to the situation with their contract - all the players have been brought here by a different manager, for some I'm their fourth manager, for others I'm their third.
  "So all of those are things players consider when they look at the situation at the club at the moment, but I think what we have done is focused on a group of players I think want to help the club."
  Nathan Jones's Stoke City inquest
  A thorough examination of Nathan Jones's 10 months in charge from the man himself.
  He says there won't ever have been a bigger Stoke fan than he was in that time - and he continues to hope the club will succeed after his departure.
  "I want Stoke to do well because I'm not bitter," he said in a two-part special EFL podcast.
  "Stoke gave me an opportunity. John and Peter Coates and the board gave me an opportunity – I didn't take it for whatever reason.
  "The fans were brilliant with me, the people around the club, the staff were brilliant. I love the club, it's in my heart. I've got no bitterness for them, I hope they do well and eventually get back to the Premier League for the fans and for the owners. That's what I hope."
  Reports suggest that Glasgow Rangers have offered the 20-year-old striker a long-term deal for when his contract at Stoke ends this summer.
  Kick It Out jump to Stoke City winger's side
  The leading anti-discrimination group Kick It Out has issued a statement backing James McClean amid the on-going abuse directed towards the Irish international.
  "We have informed The FA so they can investigate but we reiterate - the abuse he continues to receive is absolutely unacceptable and shames our game," it said.