Stoke City boss Alex Neil gives a rather brutal response when asked about if he had any ‘regret’ about leaving Sunderland for the Potters.
Alex Neil said he has ‘absolutely no regrets’ about coming his current club amid a difficult start having fallen to a 10th defeat of the season at West Brom on Saturday afternoon, losing 2-0.
In 15 games managed by Alex Neil, Stoke have picked up six wins, and now that that World Cup break has begun, it could be just what they need to change things up, and turn their form around as they sit two points clear from the relegation zone in 17th place in the Championship.
Alex Neil asked if he has any regrets…
🎥: @dsj_itv #SAFC pic.twitter.com/M3iFpWLy4Q
— James Copley (@JamesCopley_) November 13, 2022
He departed Sunderland after guiding them to Championship promotion last season, so a question was put to him, questioned about whether he had any regrets about his switch to Stoke and provided a strong response. “That’s an absolutely ridiculous thing to say, really,” he said.
“I’ve got absolutely no regrets about coming here. I came here because there’s massive scope, owners that really want the club to do well and will do everything in their power to help you as a manager. They let me make key decisions as to what the next stage of the club is going to look like, and a lot of the time you don’t get that type of scope.
“I’ve been here 15 games, and a lot of those things that you can shape take time. It’s not just going to happen overnight. I came here not for a short period, I came here to build something over a long period of time. It’s naturally going to take a bit longer than it would in some other circumstances.
“There are some squads where you come into a job where for example, you know you’ve got until the end of the season to get them out of a league, because that’s where the squad is, how much money has been put in and that’s how everyone deems it [the ambition]. I don’t think anyone looks at us like that, I think they look at us as having underachieved for a number of years, we need to steady the ship, steadily improve and then build something that lasts a period of time. We’re only at the start of that process.”
He left the Black Cats at the end of August, despite signing a new contract just two weeks before.
At the time, he briefed the press that he ‘did not feel backed,’ hinting that he wasn’t happy with the club’s transfer model of buying younger players to develop rather than experienced ones who could make an instant impact, and his relative lack of influence on recruitment.
He has now double-downed on that, now saying that he chose Stoke because they allowed him to make ‘key decisions about the next stage of the club.’
This is what fans said as Stoke boss Alex Neil gives a brutal response when asked about any ‘regret’ over leaving Sunderland…
@mickroper81: Did he also say ‘they were willing to pay me much more money as well’
@RobCGrimwood: Stoke will NEVER be as big a club as Sunderland. I really liked him when he was here but he went for the money and the control and that’s all.
@Chris_W1987: Our model will not be for every manager, and he clearly wasn’t sticking round for it Nevertheless, his handling of it was apalling and showed no respect to the club. Not sorry to see him struggling (got nothing against Stoke themselves)
@SuzieKJ: Thank you Alex Neil for taking our team to Wembley, winning at Wembley and for our dream start to the Championship season. But he left us. Probably for 💰and to have free reign. Don’t care now. He’s consigned to the history books. That question is irrelevant 🤷🏻♀️👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻
@ThisIsJakeJ: H£ do£sn’t sound rattl£d at all
@GeorgeLW96: ‘We’re at the start of the process’, after describing exactly the same process MON oversaw for 3 years. We’re absolutely fucked with these owners in charge.
@Brammered: What I don’t really get is this “steady the ship” phrasing. We had that, that’s what O’Neill did. I thought Alex Neil had been brought in to move us on.
@1Easterbrook: There’s a reason why clubs don’t give managers ‘scope’ to ‘make key decisions as to what the next stage’ of a club would look like. Because that’s what has got clubs into the brown stuff in the – very recent – past. Managers are no longer empire builders.
@PaddySAFC73: sunderland’s ceiling is and always will be far higher than stoke’s, he’s chatting absolute drivel about the reasoning to going there
@Owensara5: Arrogance and self entitlement.
@BradleyDSharp11: Can’t stand the bloke.
@Tom_With_A_Tee: I came here because…..ah shit, I can’t say money, think quick, think quick…what was it now? Ah yeah, scope. Definitely the scope.
@AdamSAFC29: He’s justifying the move more to himself at this point.
@JohnDefoe1990: Take a shot every time Alex Neil says the word “listen” on an interview
@DeclanWelch: More or less saying exactly what he says at every club 😴
@eb92safc: Absolute drivel. Good riddance to him.
@MattySunlun: He’s not exactly going to say he regrets coming to the club that he’s currently employed by. We’ll see if those comments change when he’s out of a job, only then will we get the real truth.
@_toosb: Desperately trying to divert attention away from the results (18 points in 15 games) and suggesting he needs time. He does of course but I think it would be reasonable to expect an improvement by now.
@Chris_W1987: Our model will not be for every manager, and he clearly wasn’t sticking round for it Nevertheless, his handling of it was apalling and showed no respect to the club. Not sorry to see him struggling (got nothing against Stoke themselves)
@gavincallaghan_: He just sounds more and more like a fraud. He’s had 6 good months at Norwich in 2015 and 6 good months at Sunderland in 2022. Apart from that? Bang average.
@MiserableMackem: Clear as day why he left Sunderland. All he goes on about is owners owners owners. He didn’t trust the clubs owners.
@Parkersafc: Don’t think he will have any regrets. Still think he’ll get the patience and backing of the Stoke board. He obviously wants the financial backing to go and spend decent money on each position to put a team together to get promoted. That’s just not our model #safc
@liamcox8: Loved him at Sunderland but he can’t think them sideboards look good when he looks in the mirror surely
@EthanOsafc: Be surprised if he’s still in the job come the game at the SOL
@EddyGray19: Pleased we parted company with him. Driven by greed. Fuckin snake
@CoreyMTaylor: Little passive aggressive there. Looks like he worked and achieved more when people made the decisions for him
I have absolutely no regrets pic.twitter.com/3QybvLSS5d
— Taylor Robson🔴⚪️ (@tazzlor___) November 13, 2022
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