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Nathan Jones has promised long-suffering Stoke City fans that they won’t find their club so low down again in the Championship... not on his watch.

He says there must be an improvement on this season’s 16th place - and he remains hugely confident of piloting that improvement in 2019/20.

His words come as Stoke continue to close in on the signing of Millwall’s out-of-contract leading scorer Lee Gregory to increase their sorry goal tally.

Work is also continuing in earnest behind the scenes on moving players out to create space in the dressing room and on the pay roll.

The future of Saido Berahino, fresh from his drink-drive conviction, remains firmly up in the air and continues to be a top priority for the club’s hierarchy.

Scanning this season’s league table and looking ahead to next season, Jones stated confidently: “We won’t be in that position.

“I am very confident we can have a successful time and that’s why I’ve been brought here.

“I haven’t got any kind of crystal ball or anything, but we will be doing tireless work.”

And he remains positive about the green shoots of recovery he detected towards the end of his first four months in charge at Stoke.

He has always acknowledged the statistics - three wins in his 21 league and cup fixtures at the helm since mid January - but he insists foundations have been laid in terms of performance.

“I don’t think we’ve been too far off certain things lately,” he observed.

“Maybe a little bit of a killer instinct, but if we can add that we’d be further up the table now.

“We have evaluated everything and we know what we need to move forward. We’ve spoken a lot about it, now it’s time to put it into practice.”

(Image: Clive Mason/Getty Images)

But while predicting a better season for his club, he is under no illusion about the task ahead for any club with eyes on promotion.

He anticipates a stronger Championship in 2019/20 thanks to the quality heading up from League One to replace Rotherham, Bolton and Ipswich.

His old club Luton and Barnsley impressed in the top-two positions, while the play-off final between Charlton and Sunderland promises to add another strong outfit to the Championship next season.

“There is nothing to fear in the league, but everything to be wary about because it’s a tough league,” said Jones.

“Two good teams have already gone up from the league, another will go up.

“There’s good teams coming up, Barnsley and Luton, which will add to the league.

“So it may even be stronger because I imagine the three that come up - whether it’s Sunderland or Charlton that come up - will probably be, without being disrespectful, stronger than the three that have gone down.”

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