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Alex Neil


Sweeneys Penalties

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Some very good arguments have been put forward in favour of Paul Cook tonight. I'd like to play Devils Advocate and suggest Alex Neil. He's a proven winner at Tier 2 level, has worked with tight budgets (including Norwich.....a club not too much unlike our own.... and I think thats important) and is currently at Preston...who cant be paying him too much if finances at Preston are to be believed, so compensation wouldnt be too lumpy. Once again an Alex Neil team is doing better than ours......thoughts.....?

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2 minutes ago, Sweeneys Penalties said:

Some very good arguments have been put forward in favour of Paul Cook tonight. I'd like to play Devils Advocate and suggest Alex Neil. He's a proven winner at Tier 2 level, has worked with tight budgets (including Norwich.....a club not too much unlike our own.... and I think thats important) and is currently at Preston...who cant be paying him too much if finances at Preston are to be believed, so compensation wouldnt be too lumpy. Once again an Alex Neil team is doing better than ours......thoughts.....?

What is footballing philosophy? Not a clue.

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1 minute ago, Sweeneys Penalties said:

Some very good arguments have been put forward in favour of Paul Cook tonight. I'd like to play Devils Advocate and suggest Alex Neil. He's a proven winner at Tier 2 level, has worked with tight budgets (including Norwich.....a club not too much unlike our own.... and I think thats important) and is currently at Preston...who cant be paying him too much if finances at Preston are to be believed, so compensation wouldnt be too lumpy. Once again an Alex Neil team is doing better than ours......thoughts.....?

We are like ( do you mean similar) to City?

I disagree. Norwich have been promoted from Championship to Premier, six times since 1971.

Have I missed some promotion seasons?

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Really dislike Preston & their horrible style of play but he’s been successful at every club he’s managed.

Did well in Scotland, got Norwich to The Prem (at the 1st attempt?) & Preston punch above their weight considering their poor crowds.

Wouldn’t be my choice but could see the logic.

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Just now, cidered abroad said:

We are like ( do you mean similar) to City?

I disagree. Norwich have been promoted from Championship to Premier, six times since 1971.

Have I missed some promotion seasons?

no I meant a club with a quality academy stuck out in the sticks (which is pretty much where Bristol is). They are the top club in East Anglia, we are the top club in the South West. Norwich are well run.... and so are we. Please dont tell me Norwich were in the Premier League before it was created btw....I may be splitting hairs, but we should aspire to be like 'em....Alex Neil would be a good fit IMHO

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1 minute ago, Sweeneys Penalties said:

no I meant a club with a quality academy stuck out in the sticks (which is pretty much where Bristol is). They are the top club in East Anglia, we are the top club in the South West. Norwich are well run.... and so are we. Please dont tell me Norwich were in the Premier League before it was created btw....I may be splitting hairs, but we should aspire to be like 'em....Alex Neil would be a good fit IMHO

They have been a club that have for many years, produced plenty of their own talent. Where did we get Paul Cheesley from?

They play their youngsters in their first team. Not sending them all out on loan like we've done over the last few seasons!

This season's list makes good reading.

O'Leary, Vyner, Moore, Pring, Morrell, Walsh, Jonny Smith, Opi Edwards to name a few. At Norwich at least three would have been first choice regulars.

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21 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Really dislike Preston & their horrible style of play but he’s been successful at every club he’s managed.

Did well in Scotland, got Norwich to The Prem (at the 1st attempt?) & Preston punch above their weight considering their poor crowds.

Wouldn’t be my choice but could see the logic.

I dont necessarily like his teams’ style, but we have been waaaay too nice for too long, not savvy enough to compete properly for years. 
i’d take some grit, guile and victory savvy Management for a few years now please!

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1 hour ago, Sweeneys Penalties said:

Some very good arguments have been put forward in favour of Paul Cook tonight. I'd like to play Devils Advocate and suggest Alex Neil. He's a proven winner at Tier 2 level, has worked with tight budgets (including Norwich.....a club not too much unlike our own.... and I think thats important) and is currently at Preston...who cant be paying him too much if finances at Preston are to be believed, so compensation wouldnt be too lumpy. Once again an Alex Neil team is doing better than ours......thoughts.....?

Devil's Advocate is now  7/1 to be next City manager.

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Neil has already turned down West Brom and Stoke whilst he's been here. I doubt he will do it again because he sounds rather fed up at the lack of backing with striker signings.

20-25 goals a season were taken out of the team when Hugill and Robinson were sold for £9.5m and £7m respectively, but Neil was given hardly anything to play with in terms of replacing them and sadly it has shown.

As for what he's on here as mentioned in the original post, he's reportedly on very good money in PNE terms.

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3 minutes ago, pnefcok said:

Neil has already turned down West Brom and Stoke whilst he's been here. I doubt he will do it again because he sounds rather fed up at the lack of backing with striker signings.

20-25 goals a season were taken out of the team when Hugill and Robinson were sold for £9.5m and £7m respectively, but Neil was given hardly anything to play with in terms of replacing them and sadly it has shown.

As for what he's on here as mentioned in the original post, he's reportedly on very good money in PNE terms.

Isn't that often the way though, the selling club being the way for the majority at this level?

Seems to have done pretty well on your budget.

Style of play under him...is it as bad as perceived, quite a lot of our fans haven't particularly liked it up vs us but I get the impression it's more varied and we've often seen it in a certain mode vs us.

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27 minutes ago, pnefcok said:

Neil has already turned down West Brom and Stoke whilst he's been here. I doubt he will do it again because he sounds rather fed up at the lack of backing with striker signings.

20-25 goals a season were taken out of the team when Hugill and Robinson were sold for £9.5m and £7m respectively, but Neil was given hardly anything to play with in terms of replacing them and sadly it has shown.

As for what he's on here as mentioned in the original post, he's reportedly on very good money in PNE terms.

How has the style of play changed over the time? My general understanding is has grown a bit more pragmatic/cynical with time but that’s perhaps because he can’t recruit how he’d want? 

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Cardiff winning yesterday has meant Preston’s season is over.

He’s got success on his CV, has shown a willingness to operate both with what he’s given and, albeit begrudgingly, accept losing his best players, and is young, something you feel the club place value in. He’s also, as the link at the bottom of the post references, a leader who commands respect.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.lep.co.uk/sport/football/preston-north-end/preston-north-end-boss-alex-neil-says-missing-out-play-offs-painful-applauds-efforts-his-players-2917700%3famp

Appreciate you can read into things differently but few interesting quotes here;

“There will be a lot of teams looking back this year and thinking they could have done better in this game or in that game.“

“We have sold players the last two seasons and that makes it doubly hard. The guys who we have sold have guaranteed us double figures in my time here. You take double figures out of your team and it is difficult to replace those goals.”

“What we have to bear in mind is that we are one of the smallest budgets in this league, we have sold some key players and recruited younger players from a low level to give them an opportunity.”

“If you look at where we are, the expectation on this team and this group has significantly shifted in my time here. When I first came here we were happy to compete in the Championship and just be in Championship.”

Sounds of discontent, could be interpreted as a message to the board. Interesting that he talks about, more than once, ‘my time here’, also pointing out what he has achieved with the club.

This could be one to watch. Contracted until summer ‘22 which presents a stumbling block, a lot could depend on how fed up he is with transfer policy. But he certainly ticks a lot, if not all, of the boxes. Think I’m right in saying he worked with youth teams at Hamilton, happy to be corrected if wrong.

The interview Davefevs posted above, slap a red tie on him and get our badge in the background. Save everyone the trouble, parts of that could be directly lifted..

Enjoyed this write up of his first year at Norwich - https://thesetpieces.com/latest-posts/norwich-a-year-of-alex-neil/

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2 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Isn't that often the way though, the selling club being the way for the majority at this level?

Seems to have done pretty well on your budget.

Style of play under him...is it as bad as perceived, quite a lot of our fans haven't particularly liked it up vs us but I get the impression it's more varied and we've often seen it in a certain mode vs us.

I agree that clubs the size of Preston playing in this league have to sell. However minimal reinvestment afterwards doesn't really give the manager much of a chance. Brentford have regularly sold but reinvested a reasonable portion, and it's played a big part in building the quality squad they have now.

2 hours ago, Lrrr said:

How has the style of play changed over the time? My general understanding is has grown a bit more pragmatic/cynical with time but that’s perhaps because he can’t recruit how he’d want? 

Losing Hugill just over 2 years ago was a bit of a blow to the way we played. He was a mobile target man, it enabled us to play on the counter whilst also having a target to hit if we penned in the opposition. Neil wanted Kieffer Moore from Barnsley but we ended up with Stockley a year later who is very slow. The club have never really signed a proper lone striker that Neil wants and it's made us look a bit disjointed at times.

That said earlier on this season, we played some good football and scored a lot of goals at home. When Neil first signed, we were relentless pressers and it was great to watch.

But he isn't afraid to be pragmatic and cynical especially away from home when neccessary. He very much a horses for courses type manager, studying the opposition relentless and then setting up best to counter/damage them.

I think he will want to have been playing more attractive football than we have done for the last 6 months but it very difficult when you don't have a single Championship standard striker in the squad to glue it all together.

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4 hours ago, Sweeneys Penalties said:

just looked at oddschecker..... he aint 7/1 anywhere. 

I got him at 25/1 when LJ went, funny about style of play, I quite enjoy watching Preston play find them competitive and attacking using a front three well.

As said he's turned down several name clubs like WBA, probably hoping to make things works at PNE but may now realise they could be slightly on the slide in the current football climate with City a very stable job in a sea of uncertainty.

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3 hours ago, S_C said:

 

Appreciate you can read into things differently but few interesting quotes here;

“There will be a lot of teams looking back this year and thinking they could have done better in this game or in that game.“

“We have sold players the last two seasons and that makes it doubly hard. The guys who we have sold have guaranteed us double figures in my time here. You take double figures out of your team and it is difficult to replace those goals.”

“What we have to bear in mind is that we are one of the smallest budgets in this league, we have sold some key players and recruited younger players from a low level to give them an opportunity.”

“If you look at where we are, the expectation on this team and this group has significantly shifted in my time here. When I first came here we were happy to compete in the Championship and just be in Championship.”

 

Sounds like something LJ would say word for word. 

2 hours ago, pnefcok said:

 

That said earlier on this season, we played some good football and scored a lot of goals at home. When Neil first signed, we were relentless pressers and it was great to watch.

But he isn't afraid to be pragmatic and cynical especially away from home when neccessary. He very much a horses for courses type manager, studying the opposition relentless and then setting up best to counter/damage them.

 

And this is very much our journey under Johnson. From pressing to pragmatic and too much focus on the opposition.

 

Johnson Mark II

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10 hours ago, Sweeneys Penalties said:

Some very good arguments have been put forward in favour of Paul Cook tonight. I'd like to play Devils Advocate and suggest Alex Neil. He's a proven winner at Tier 2 level, has worked with tight budgets (including Norwich.....a club not too much unlike our own.... and I think thats important) and is currently at Preston...who cant be paying him too much if finances at Preston are to be believed, so compensation wouldnt be too lumpy. Once again an Alex Neil team is doing better than ours......thoughts.....?

Two cracking candidates you've mentioned although some won't be happy that they aren't high profile enough 

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Have PNE improved their league positions since he went there? My impression is they are treading water. If that's because he's had to sell his best players then that was LJ's excuse too. 

Can't see how he is any better than Johnson so wouldn't be excited in any way if it's him. 

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2 minutes ago, robin_unreliant said:

Have PNE improved their league positions since he went there? My impression is they are treading water. If that's because he's had to sell his best players then that was LJ's excuse too. 

Can't see how he is any better than Johnson so wouldn't be excited in any way if it's him. 

He’s got a promotion under his belt and has been working under a far lower budget, a far better manager than Johnson .

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