“Rumours are coming out that Norwich have given Stoke permission to speak to first team coach Narcis Pelach,” Palmer told Football League World. “It’s an interesting one and I don’t get it.

“You sack somebody like Schumacher after five games, and then you’re going to put in charge somebody who is relatively unknown, even though Pelach has a lot of admirers.”

“I don’t know enough about him to know whether this is a good move or bad move, but there must be something going on with Stoke where they know something about Pelach and why they’ve sacked Schumacher,” he added.

“Honestly, I believe that if they stuck with Schumacher they would have had enormous success. Always be careful what you wish for.

“We’ll have to wait and see, I can’t really comment on that, it’s a strange one, it’s a curveball to me, but who knows.

“I’m not saying assistants can’t go on to manage, we’ve seen an assistant (Enzo Maresca) go on to a magnificent job at Leicester and he ended up with the Chelsea job.

“A lot of assistants could be number ones, that is for sure.

“But we’ll have to wait and see how this goes, it’s clear that they’ve done their homework because they’ve moved very, very quickly in getting rid of Schumacher, so it’s obviously been talked about, and then they’ve contacted Norwich and they’ve granted permission.

“It’s way down the line for Pelach, and I suppose if personal terms are agreed, then he’ll be the new manager of Stoke.

“We’ll have to see how that works out.”