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Stoke City are poised to head into the next transfer window with manager Paul Lambert and director of recruitment Mark Cartwright still in place, The Sentinel can reveal.

The club’s board will meet to review all major aspects of the club once relegation is mathematically confirmed.

But chairman Peter Coates says of Lambert, who signed a two-and-a-half year contract in January: “Paul is under contract and there are no plans to change.

“We haven’t been winning games because we haven’t been scoring goals. It’s not his fault that we haven’t got a goalscorer.

“You must remember we had Jese at great cost and Saido Berahino at great cost, but they haven’t performed for us.”

The club has been widely criticised for failing to sign a striker in the January window, permanently or on loan, but the chairman insists every reasonable effort was made.

“We did try to strengthen again in January, it wasn’t something we were unaware of, but football is more complicated than that.

(Image: Adam Davy/PA Wire)

“We tried to spend money, but for whatever reason we weren’t successful. Good strikers who will make a difference are not easy to find, as anyone in football will tell you.

“We tried to sign Daniel Sturridge from Liverpool for example, but he preferred West Bromwich Albion because he wanted to move to that area. We tried for Danny Ings, but once they let Sturridge go they wouldn’t let him go.”

He acknowledged there had been poor signings in recent years, but insisted that was down to judgement, not the club’s recruitment process under Cartwright.

“There is nothing wrong with the process,” he argued, “it’s about the judgement of the players brought in.

“We are satisfied with the systems we’ve got. Processes don’t stop you making mistakes, that’s a matter of judgement.

“Ultimately, the manager decides. He’s fed lots of information and we don’t skimp on information.

“But every manager makes mistakes, and always will, including Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson, but obviously you have to try and minimise those mistakes.

(Image: Ian Walton/Getty Images)

“We will review everything, but at the moment there are no plans to change the process.

“If we do get relegated, and it is still an if at the moment, we will only have one focus and that is getting straight back. It is a big challenge, but we are up for it.”

The Stoke City chairman said he empathised with the upset of supporters at the prospect of relegation - largely because he is feeling just the same.

“Yes, I am as upset as anybody. The last thing you want is to get relegated and I know our fans are upset and frustrated.

“There are enormous financial consequences, which we will have to deal with, but as a supporter I can assure you it is painful for me too.

“We’ve had 10 years in the Premier League, which is impressive by any standards, and I’ve said many a time that any team outside the big ones can have a bad season.

“At the moment, West Brom, Southampton and ourselves are all candidates to do down and who would have forecast that at the start of the season?

“But we won’t make excuses. If you end up in the bottom three, that is where you deserve to be.”