Alex Neil has been discussing his exit from Sunderland
In his most direct analysis of his contentious departure from Sunderland to date, Alex Neil has stated that the club’s refusal to extend his contract after promotion to the Championship was the primary reason for his departure.
Not long after the Championship campaign started, Neil moved to join Stoke City, claiming to feel’really desired’ by The Potters. Later that summer, as frustrations continued to stew, Neil did eventually agree to a new deal at Sunderland on Wearside. However, neither party ever made an announcement about it.
Neil indicated he did not want to leave Sunderland, but he believed the club did not believe he would be their long-term leader during the summer contract negotiations, according to Gab Sutton’s #EFLdebate.
“I think there’s been a lot said about and the last thing I ever wanted to do was throw fuel on the fire,” he said.
“A lot of individuals have made false statements about me. At that point, the main thing was that we had just been promoted. Let me explain. Imagine you sign a striker, he signs a contract, you get promoted after he scores 20 goals, and then he knocks on your door and demands a contract. You try your hardest to meet his wants, are you not? After several years of effort, we had just been promoted, so anyone who doubts my commitment to Sunderland at that time is insane because I really wanted to play for Sunderland.
I saw my future in starting conversations to extend my stay, negotiate a better deal, and contribute to the club’s future development as soon as we were promoted. In their eyes, I had signed my contract, and that was the contract I was bound to. That didn’t seem to me to be saying, “We want you to be the guy who takes us forward in the next few years,” or that they had any faith in me or security. That served as the fundamental element guiding everything that followed.”
Neil also said suggested that there were some differences over recruitment during his time at the club, and said that he feels the current group is probably suffering for a lack of experience in some areas. He added that he was fully aware of the club’s strategy when arriving, and so there were no broken promises on that front.
“The one thing I’ll say about Sunderland is, there’s no promises about them signing this 30-year-old or this 32-year-old,” Neil said.
“There was never any misperception when I first started working there that they prioritize investing in young players; in fact, there were some discussions about the necessity of having excellent, veteran players around for younger players to thrive. That was a good topic of conversation that came up frequently. They are young and incredibly gifted, but in my opinion they don’t have much experience yet. The team I joined in Sunderland had the ideal mix, in my opinion, but I do think you need some background experience. Even though you had a large number of young players, Luke O’Nien, Alex Pritchard, and Corry Evans all had equal importance.”
Neil, who was fired by Stoke City earlier this year, is apparently open to the idea of joining the team again as they look for Michael Beale’s replacement.
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