Keith Downie has shared why Alex Neil decided to leave Sunderland for Stoke following the sacking of Michael O’Neill.
What’s the story?
Well, the Black Cats are currently fifth in the Championship after a strong start to the season, although the 41-year-old has decided to leave the Stadium of Light to join the Potters, who are languishing in 21st place.
According to Downie, Neil was “very emotional” when saying goodbye to the Sunderland squad earlier today, but decided to leave as “he felt” he wasn’t backed financially in the transfer market.
In our view, that is quite a strange reason.
Sunderland have made a few fine additions, such as the £2m capture of Dan Ballard from Arsenal – who they beat Burnley to – while the permanent signing of Jack Clarke from Tottenham was a good move too.
The Black Cats are also in talks with Paris Saint-Germain over the signing of Celtic target Edouard Michut, so it seemed as if things were going smoothly for Sunderland ahead of the September 1st deadline.
However, Neil doesn’t see it that way, and has decided to leave Wearside just months after dragging Sunderland into the Championship via the League One play-offs.
Alex Neil warned Sunderland about Stoke move
Looking back at comments made by Neil last month, he may have warned Sunderland about his displeasure.
The Scot admitted that he wanted to “get my business done as quickly as possible” and was keen for the Black Cats not to be rummaging around desperately in the latter stages of August.
In fairness to Sunderland, that is when the market tends to open up a bit, so we can understand why they have waited until now to open talks for Michut and other targets.
However, Neil was clearly dissatisfied with how Sunderland were being run at boardroom level, and their loss is now Stoke’s gain with an official announcement imminent.
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