Next Birmingham City manager: What former Stoke City boss Alex Neil has said about his next job

Alex Neil, a prospective manager for Birmingham City, expressed his desire to continue doing what he did at Preston North End.

Neil and Blues are reportedly in discussions about Neil taking charge at St Andrew’s. They emphasize that the appointment process is still ongoing and that these are only “first talks.”

Since losing his job as Stoke City manager, the 42-year-old has been unemployed. He chose to leave Sunderland after receiving a promotion, and Tony Mowbray took over as manager of Potters for 16 months.

After some time for introspection, Neil is eager to return to work, hopefully this summer or early next year. He talked about the various situations a manager encounters while taking over a team and how he would go about his next assignment.

“Since leaving Stoke, I’ve obviously had a few holidays and had time to reflect—as you do,” Neil told the Lancashire Evening Post, a sister publication.

“Every club you work at is completely unique; they aren’t even comparable.” Really, everything—even the organizational framework and methods of reporting to others. And as soon as you enter any club, people want to convey to you their perception of the circumstances around the establishment.

However, every club you enter makes you say, “Oo, right, OK, it’s a little bit different from what I anticipated,” when you open up the hood and peek underneath. After then, you must strive to win as many games as you can by making the most of what you have. However, I’ll simply search for the next challenge and see what presents itself throughout the course of the summer or the coming year.

For the past nine years, Neil has been involved in the English football management scene. After earning a promotion with Hamilton Academical, he joined Norwich City in 2015 and had an instant impact at Carrow Road, leading them to play-off victory in his first season.

The former defensive midfielder managed Preston North End for about four years after holding down a position in the Premier League with the Canaries. Although he was unable to elevate them, their 2018 seventh-place performance was their closest chance to make the playoffs.

Neil succeeded in moving Sunderland up through the play-offs, however, after the Black Cats had spent four years in League One. He chose not to stay and, at the end of August, moved to Stoke City, where he spent 16 months at the bet365 Stadium.

Neil wants to do the same thing at his next club as he did at Preston. He was permitted to put together his own team while collaborating with the players who were already there when he came in the summer of 2021.

“To be honest, I’d like to try and recreate what I had at Preston for those years – in terms of having a group I really love, having players that are hungry, want to make their way and want to accomplish,” he remarked when asked what he would like to get in his next position.

It’s not something that happens very often, but I was lucky to enter the appropriate changing room at the appropriate moment. I want to give it another go.