OTD: ALEX NEIL RESIGNS
- BY THOMAS THORNTON
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
On this day in 2022, Alex Neil resigned as manager of Sunderland to take up a position as manager of Stoke City. His controversial exit made him a pantomime villain on Wearside, despite doing a great job saving us from League One hell.
In January 2015, Norwich City were the club to take a risk on the 33-year-old Alex Neil who had impressed whilst managing in Scotland. He won in his first game against league leaders Bournemouth and then went on a run that saw Norwich win 17 from 25 games, securing third place and a space in the play-offs. In the semi final, they beat Ipswich Town in the fearsome East Anglia derby, winning 4–2 on aggregate over two legs. Neil’s first taste of Wembley victory followed in the next game against Middlesbrough. Norwich won 2–0 in the 2015 play-off final, with goals from Cameron Jerome and Nathan Redmond ensuring Premier League football for the Canaries.
Alas, Norwich followed that well worn path they were renowned for; promoted one year, down the next. Neil’s side finished rock bottom of the Premier League and were down in the Championship the following season. Alex Neil’s contract was terminated with Norwich eighth in the second tier after a poor run of results. He cited bad summer recruitment as a potential reason for his sacking. In a weird twist of fate, Simon Grayson departed Preston North End to take control of us and Alex Neil filled the managerial seat vacated by the manager who would go on to be so abysmal for SAFC. Neil stabilised Preston and Grayson didn't last too long here as we slid down into League One.
After Jack Ross, Phil Parkinson and Lee Johnson had failed to end our third tier misery, Neil was appointed in February 2022, revealed at Durham train station in SAFC training gear courtesy of a grainy image from a fan. He came in and soon implemented the changes necessary to make us sturdier defensively, took some players out of the team and managed to go on a 16 game unbeaten run. His press conferences were a breath of fresh air, succinct, knowledgeable and down to earth. Neil provided us with the greatest moment we'd had in years in that comprehensive and professional 2-0 play-off win against Wycombe Wanderers. Games against Oxford United, Gillingham, Fleetwood Town and Sheffield Wednesday proved the tenacity of Alex Neil’s transformed Sunderland side and, in Neil, we had the first League One manager you could place total faith in to earn us promotion. The fans loved him but, despite many people thinking the club had got under his skin, he left for Stoke City in August 2022.
In 48 hours, Neil had gone from being one of the most loved men on Wearside to a figure of greed and disloyalty. He was even sitting in Ewood Park watching Stoke, despite still being employed as Sunderland head coach. The Lads had a big game against Norwich earlier that day and the fans chanted "F*ck Alex Neil". The Stoke hierarchy were hoping that the appointment of Alex Neil would turn their season around but things didn't go to plan. Stoke were extremely inconsistent and finished 16th. Meanwhile, Sunderland replaced Neil with the veteran Tony Mowbray and secured the play-offs. One journalist even asked Neil if he regretted his decision, in which he responded with "that's a ridiculous thing to say." However, Stoke did beat the Lads, 5-1 at the Stadium of Light in March 2023 and then again, this time at the Bet365 Stadium by a scoreline of 2-1 in October of the same year. Those games were about as good as it got for him whilst there though, overseeing just 22 wins in his 66 games in charge of the Potters. He was sacked in December 2023.
Just over a year later he was given another job in the Championship, this time heading to London to take charge of Millwall, one of those where at the time it was announced I think everyone thought it would be a perfect match. He got off to a decent start with five wins in his first nine games, including a win over eventual league champions Leeds United in the FA Cup. We did get one over on our former boss though, beating Millwall 1-0 at home in March 2025. In 2025/26 Neil had a full season at Millwall and overachieved, leading the Lions to a third place Championship finish. They were only a point off automatic promotion which went down to the final day. They were held to a 0-0 draw against Hull City in the first leg but lost 2-0 in the second, condemning them to yet another year in the Championship.
