Stoke City manager Mark Robins has made it clear that the team must challenge for a place in the expanded Championship play-offs this season. Robins is preparing Stoke to kick off their league campaign with a home game against Swansea on Saturday at 3pm, on the back of a busy summer of changes behind the scenes, additions to the squad and transfer business still to come. Stoke have not finished above 14th since returning to this level in 2018, but there are expectations and demands to break the cycle and make sure they are in the top eight mix. “That’s the directive from up above,” said the manager. “Everybody has heard that. You’ve got to strive for that. It’s going to be something that we’ve not been able to achieve since we got relegated from the Premier League and we’ve got to start to build that forward momentum. “This season is that. We’ve got to look forward to it and try to deliver on those demands.” Stoke are not among the favourites for promotion but Robins is not too fussed about any thoughts from outside the club about their chances or the mood. He said: “Everybody is good. You’re in a little bubble anyway and unless you’re listening to the rubbish being spoken outside the building then you’re protected in that bubble. “There is no point listening to anybody outside. We are the people who change that, affect people’s moods on a daily basis and concentrate on the jobs we’ve got to do, which is becoming better footballers and work towards that end. “With the games starting now, people seem to change their demeanour and for us it’s exciting and it’s what we’ve been building towards. Pre-season is always the means to a starting point and this is the starting point. Let’s look forward to it, let’s enjoy it.” The loyalty or hope of supporters that there is something to look forward to over the next nine months has been shown by an increase in season ticket sales, which are creeping up towards 18,000. Robins said: “You can never take it for granted. Supporters support and when they do there is no better feeling. To know that there’s more people bought season tickets, more people coming through the turnstiles to watch is brilliant to hear, they are really excited to play in front of them. They got a taste of it last week but it was nowhere near the size of crowd we’ll get on Saturday.” The Championship season starts on Friday night with relegated Wolves taking on Blackburn in front of the live TV cameras and Stoke must show they are ready to compete among what are expected to be higher standards across the division. Robins said: “I think there are obviously stronger teams than others, obviously stronger ones. Without naming names of the teams you can probably guess but the division is going to be stronger this year than last year. “I thought last year was a season to get out of it the right way and we fell woefully short at the end of it. That was a really disappointment to everybody but that’s in the past, we’ve got to look forward and this is a really competitive division. We have to be ready to compete every week in really good, competitive games. “I think it’s going to be a really good Championship season. It’s going to be a good Championship. I think the level has gone up.” League standing (final 2025 table -- new season not yet under way): 17th in Championship, 55 pts, 15W-10D-21L from 46 games, recent form LLLLD. Goals this season: 51 scored, 56 conceded (-5 goal difference). Title race: 40 points behind leaders Coventry. Last result: Bristol City 2-0 Stoke City (2026-05-02). Recent form (last 5): 0W-0D-5L (LLLLL, most recent first); lost the last 5. Next fixture: vs Cardiff (away, 2026-09-08).