It’s coming up to a year since Alex Neil and Preston North End parted company.
Last March, it was probably in the best interests of both to move onto new things. Whilst Preston are onto their second manager since Neil, the Scotsman has yet to step into his next managerial role.
He’s been linked with a few jobs and had a consultancy role at Crewe Alexandra but he has also most probably been happy with a bit of time away from the day to day challenges the role of a football manager brings.
Neil is still respected by Preston fans and many would be glad to see him back in the game. He’s also well respected by others and it wouldn’t be a surprise to find him back in the Championship before too long.
The latest link for him however has come with a club in League One, albeit one who should at least be in the Championship.
Sunderland sacked Lee Johnson after a terrible 6-0 defeat to Bolton Wanderers. The caretakers of Mike Dodds and Phil Jevons didn’t fare much better on Saturday as they oversaw a 2-1 defeat at home to strugglers Doncaster Rovers.
A new permanent manager is expected soon and along with Roy Keane and Grant McCann, Alex Neil is a name that has featured heavily.
The former Norwich City manager has been a regular pundit on Sky Sports which usually shows a desire to get back into the game by getting your face out there. As someone with two promotions already on his CV, Sunderland could do a lot worse than look to him for a return to the second tier.
Asked by Sky Sports about the ongoing situation and whether he was in the running Neil said; “I am not quite sure. They are going through their process. Your name gets bandied about with a lot of jobs from time to time. Things should become clearer over the next few days.”
Whilst he wasn’t giving too much away he gave an inkling that there may be something in the rumours. He certainly wasn’t shooting them down that’s for sure. It’s a job he would love of course, why wouldn’t he?
An attendance of 38,395 watched them at the Stadium of Light on Saturday. This was helped by the return of hero Jermaine Defoe, but the potential of the club is still very enticing.
Simon Grayson was swayed into moving there and Sunderland could do far worse than appointing Neil in attempt to realise their ambition of promotion back to the Championship at the fourth attempt.