Patrick Swayze and pints of milk: why I don’t want Alex Neil back at Sunderland
I have a similar experience with Alex Neil and his Sunderland departure; you see, I don’t think I’ll ever forget that Friday – the missed press conference, the initial breezy disbelief, the dawning sense of an uncomfortable reality creeping in, the glum numbness of the settling dust. On August 26th, 2022, the stern-faced Scot made the decision to walk away from the club that he had just guided to a long-awaited promotion so that he could assume responsibilities at Stoke City. The Scot vanished into the ether and made a real mess during an exciting season for the club.
foolish dalliance with pottery, a la Patrick Swayze in Ghost. Like Patrick Swayze in Road House, he also dealt a big ol’ roundhouse kick to my fragile sense of trust in the process.
Sunderland would, of course, move on fairly quickly, and last season under Tony Mowbray, Neil’s replacement, became more pleasurable and buoyantly optimistic than many Mackems could have possibly hoped for. In fact, Alex Neil was not mentioned on Wearside for a considerable amount of time. But he’s back now. If stories are to be believed, he would certainly like to be.
Alan Nixon claims that the 42-year-old, who is unemployed at the moment due to his failed gamble at Stoke, would be “open” to the idea of going back to the Stadium of Light, with Sunderland still after Michael Beale’s recent departure, searching for their next long-term manager. The details are still a little unclear after that bold claim, but the fact that Neil was abruptly and carelessly thrown into the equation at all has created quite a stir in the Northeast.
Just when many in red and white had finally forgotten he existed, here he comes, waltzing back into frame like a previously written-off soap opera villain, pulling the scabs from emotional wounds. I have trust difficulties because of Alex Neil, and now I’m being told that I might need to find a way to set all of that aside in order to support him once more? There’s a lot to process.
To be completely honest, I don’t want him returning to Sunderland. There are primarily two causes for this. First of all, I would be dishonest if I claimed that pride had no part in this. Neil left us when everyone was enjoying themselves immensely, turning down a team and a fan base he fully supported for an offer he believed better fit his own goals at that point in his career. Naturally, that was his right—after all, he wasn’t shackled to a radiator in The Montgomery Suite; he was under contract. However, when you’ve dropped the vase and broken it into a thousand worthless pieces, don’t come crying back to us.
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