Former Preston North End boss Alex Neil is reportedly on the verge of losing his job at Stoke City after losing at home to Sheffield Wednesday.
We have seen a few Championship sackings in recent weeks with the crucial festive period on the horizon.
Matt Taylor was axed by Rotherham United, Michael Duff met his end at Swansea City whilst Tony Mowbray was surprisingly sacked by Sunderland.
It feels like that time of year; Ryan Lowe is under pressure from some PNE fans, for example, but doesn’t seem to be under immediate threat of the sack.
The same can’t be said of one of Lowe’s predecessors with Alex Neil now seemingly in trouble at Stoke City…
Alex Neil reportedly set for Stoke City axe
Neil left PNE back in 2021 and was replaced by his former assistant Frankie McAvoy, who only lasted a few months as Lowe came in.
The Scot ended up heading to Sunderland and guided them into the Championship through the League One playoffs.
Neil surprisingly quit Sunderland in August 2022 though, making a move to Stoke City – who had previously targeted Neil in his PNE days.
Stoke finished 16th last season but there was an acceptance that Neil needed to change the squad around and kick on into his first full season.
The Potters were busy over the summer, landing former PNE midfielders Ben Pearson and Daniel Johnson as well as foreign imports like Andre Vidigal, Wesley, Ryan Mmaee, Nikola Jojic, Mehdi Leris and Wouter Burger.
Nearly 20 signings came in over the summer but Neil has been unable to get things going.
Five defeats in eight to start the season – including a 2-0 home loss to Lowe’s PNE – left Neil under pressure but he then went on a run of two defeats in eight.
It has all gone wrong in recent weeks though as Neil has now lost four in a row and particularly concern has grown after Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat to struggling Sheffield Wednesday.
Stoke have managed just three goals in their last six games and Neil now seems to be heading for the exit.
The Sun’s Alan Nixon reports that Neil will be sacked and the decision should be announced in the next 24 hours.
It’s added that Stoke will want to make a ‘quick appointment’ to replace Neil and could turn to former Potters midfielder John Eustace.
The Telegraph’s John Percy backs up those claims, stating that Stoke have decided to axe Neil.
Neil has enough credit in the bank to land another Championship job having done a fine job at North End and then taken Sunderland up.
It’s never nice to see managers losing their jobs and we have a lot of time for Neil, who spent nearly four years at Deepdale and largely did very well.
This wasn’t how the Stoke move was supposed to go though and Neil will need to bounce back whenever he returns to management, if the Potters do pull the trigger.