Former Stoke City defender Danny Higginbotham has revealed that he wants to see the Potters improve next season after their underwhelming current campaign.

The Staffordshire outfit endured a terrible start under former boss Nathan Jones and they were firmly in the bottom three when the ex-Luton chief was sacked and replaced by Michael O'Neill in November.

Things have improved significantly under the Northern Irishman and if the season started when he was appointed, the Potters would actually be in the mix for a top six finish.

However, the reality is that they are just three points above the relegation zone and they still have a battle on their hands to stay in the second tier.

Despite that, the form under O'Neill has left a lot of fans optimistic about what the future holds and one asked Higginbotham, who is a Sky Sports pundit, how he thinks the team will do next season on Twitter and he wants to see an improvement.

"Hopefully better than this one!!"

The versatile defender was part of the successful Tony Pulis squad that won promotion to the Premier League and established themselves in the top-flight.

The verdict

I think every Stoke fan will agree with Higginbotham and they will be thinking it can't get much worse than this season has been anyway!

The first few months under Jones were disastrous for the Potters and the change in management was needed, with O'Neill transforming the club since he took over.

Clearly, Higginbotham, who still loves the club, isn't going to get carried away and isn't setting major targets but cautious optimism is right when you look at how Stoke have played under the new boss.

Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.