Alex Neil ready to start planning for the future after today’s Wembley play-off final
Alex Neil #AlexNeil
Alex Neil says Sunderland’s summer plans will start to take shape as soon as today’s League One play-off final is concluded. The Black Cats are aiming to secure promotion to the Championship this afternoon when they take on Wycombe Wanderers at Wembley in the winner-takes-all showpiece game.
While Neil has publicly remained resolutely focused on the immediate goal of achieving promotion in recent weeks, talks have already taken place with sporting director Kristjaan Speakman concerning contracts and transfer planning. But the blanks cannot be filled in until Sunderland know in which division they will be competing next term.
“We have had discussions with regard to all those things, naturally, but because of what is going to be determined by this game it all depends so it is hard to be too specific,” said Neil. “Obviously, pre-season and things like that don’t change but in terms of where we end up, what we are looking to do, what the next step looks like, that certainly becomes different.”
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Neil took charge on Wearside in February and over the last three months he has earned the respect of Sunderland fans for his the way he has gone about his task, and his no-nonsense approach. He is regarded as a good fit, and says he feels a growing affinity with the club and its supporters despite his relatively recent arrival.
“I do feel that affinity, yes,” he said. “I think when anybody entrusts you to take care of their club and take care of the direction it is going in and believes that you’re not doing it for a self-serving purpose, but that you’re thee for the best of the club, the best of the team, the best of the players, the good of the supporters, I think that’s when people look at it and say ‘yeah, we can trust this guy’.
“I hope I display those traits, because that’s how I feel. You have to be selfless as a manager.
“I make the best decisions for the team and for the club, and in that process I am last in line.”
Neil is the fourth manager or head coach to lead Sunderland since the club slipped into the third tier in 2018, following Jack Ross, Phil Parkinson, and Lee Johnson in the role. The Scot concedes that the club is not easy to manage, but so far there have been few complaints from fans at the way he has gone about the task.
And while achieving promotion would be no magic bullet that solves all the club’s well-documented issues, it would be a step in the right direction that affords the breathing space to make the necessary changes. He said: “I wouldn’t say my perception of the club has changed since I arrived here really, because the perception is that it is a big club that wants to get to the next level.
“It’s been at this level for a number of years now and there have been quite a few people had a crack at getting it out. It’s certainly not an easy club to manage because there are so many different factors involved, but what I find is that if you eliminate the factors that don’t really concern me and don’t really have an impact on the immediate and what’s important.
“At any football club, no matter where you go, you can talk about processes and all those jargon words but what matters is what happens on the pitch. It’s as simple as that.
“If you’re successful on the pitch, the rest of it you can fix in the background. If you’re not successful on the pitch, you can have the best processes in the world behind the scenes but it won’t make any difference.”
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