Stoke City have confirmed that Michael O'Neill has taken over as the club's new permanent manager, succeeding Nathan Jones at the Bet365 Stadium.

A dismal start to the season has seen the Potters win just two of their opening 15 Championship matches, leaving them bottom of the table and six points adrift of Luton Town, who occupy the final place above the division's bottom three.

Stoke were unable to build any consistency in terms of team selection, performances or results under Jones since the start of the campaign, and following successive defeats against Millwall and Sheffield Wednesday the Potters finally made the decision to part company with the former Luton manager.

That change, though, was not enough to help Stoke record a much-needed result against league leaders West Bromwich Albion on Monday night, with the Potters led by caretaker manager Rory Delap falling to a 2-0 defeat in a performance which highlighted the issues facing the side at both ends of the pitch.

However, O'Neill could well prove to be the perfect candidate to come in and help transform Stoke's fortunes on the field, with the 50-year-old arriving full of belief in his own ability following a very successful eight-year spell in charge of the Northern Ireland international team.

O'Neill has managed to coach Northern Ireland into a very well organised and resolute side who are far more than the sum of their parts, getting the very best out of each and every one of their players in terms of commitment and quality - and that has seen him guide the nation to the last 16 of Euro 2016 and also put them in contention to earn a place at Euro 2020 heading into the final qualifiers.

That is something that Stoke have been lacking completely during the last few seasons, with the Potters disorganised all over the pitch and without a real clear identity to the way in which they play in the vast majority of their games.

That has culminated in a side which has conceded the joint second most amount of goals so far this term with 27, and also scored the joint second fewest number of goals with just 13.

The 50-year-old will arrive at the Bet365 Stadium looking to replicate the same sort of structure he has implemented with Northern Ireland, and will be aiming to swiftly get his new side organised into a shape which will be much more difficult for opposing teams to break down - and if he can do that Stoke will have a platform to start picking up results.

During his time in charge of Northern Ireland, O'Neill has been able to get his side to make the most out of their attacking chances, with his side particularly dangerous from set pieces, and that is something that the Potters must improve with Stoke's forwards being guilty of missing far too many chances throughout this season.

O'Neill is rather inexperienced in terms of club management and he has never managed in English football before, but with Stoke he will arguably have a bit more talent to work with than he did with Northern Ireland - and if he can show the same ability to maximise the talent he has available then the Potters could well have found the right man to lead their revival.