The Enigma that is Alex Neil

[KIO]

Norwich fan in peace

After a dreadful season back in the EPL and going down with a whimper, opinion is divided as to whether NCFC should retain former Accies boss Alex Neil's services. Most feel that he is the man to take us back to the promised land, however there are others myself included who feel that he is tactically naive, lacks a 'plan B' when things are going wrong and appeared totally out of his depth at Premier League level.
In his post match press conferences Alex Neil has been great at telling us where mistakes were made, only for his team to keep on making the same ones again and again. With the exceptions of Robbie Brady and Tim Klose, his player recruitment has been abysmal, Mulumbu, Dorrans, Jarvis, Bamford, with the worst signing being Naismaith from Everton who, despite an encouraging start against Liverpool when he scored on his debut, has basically done nothing since. Again opinion was split when he was signed, spending £8.5M on a 30 year old who couldn't get into the Everton starting eleven was folly in my opinon, money down the drain and unfortunately I have been proven right.

It appears that AN will be our manager at the start of next season and I truly hope he can turn things around and get us promoted once again, however I'm not that confident especially as the Championship now includes many 'sleeping giants'.
When Alex Neil arrived at Carrow Road last year he inhertied a group of players that were under performing considerably, next term he has to overhaul an aging squad for a promotion push and I'm not convinced he has the ability to recruit what's necessary or the tactical nous to do so.



We took a punt on a rookie manager and this time last year he was being hailed as our new messiah after our play-final victory at Wembley. Now, a few short months later, although most Canary fans appear to remain behind him many of the natives are getting restless.

Thank you for your time.

KIO

[Euan]

Like any young inexperienced manager, he'll make mistakes as he progresses.
We're experiencing much the same up here as Martin Canning has struggled to get a consistent performance, signed a few duds and led us to suffer some heavy defeats, but ultimately kept us up (and is hopefully learning from mistakes as he'll be here next season).
I felt Alex would have benefitted from being at Accies a while longer to develop in the SPFL, but when Norwich came knocking it was too good an opportunity to ignore or turn down.
He is a great motivator, so turned around your underperformers, but the concern was that he'd no experience of the Premiership and no previous with the type of big money signings required to survive there. Promotion was a double edged sword in that you want to succeed but he and Norwich would have benefitted from another season in the Championship.
I'd stick with him as he'll have learned from the past season and will hopefully get you back up and will have a better knowledge of what's required to stay up next time...if not we'd take him back at NDP anytime.
Good Luck next season.

[Tumbleweed]

I used to like Norwich, but the unadulterated and uninformed crap with which many of their fans greeted ANs appointment on their message boards made me reconsider. Patronising and frankly offensive comments on the man himself, on Accies and Scottish football in general showed them in a very unflattering light and I wanted Alex to do well only for himself and not for their fans.
I was delighted for him when he got them promoted and the criticism and cynicism abated, when he was the best thing since sliced bread. Now they have been relegated, the old I-told-you-so's are back in fashion.
He has made mistakes, has been learning on the job and will undoubtedly improve, whether it's at NCFC or elsewhere. Frankly, I'd love him to leave there and be a success elsewhere in England while Norwich get a manager they deserve.

[KIO]

I used to like Norwich, but the unadulterated and uninformed crap with which many of their fans greeted ANs appointment on their message boards made me reconsider. Patronising and frankly offensive comments on the man himself, on Accies and Scottish football in general showed them in a very unflattering light and I wanted Alex to do well only for himself and not for their fans.
I was delighted for him when he got them promoted and the criticism and cynicism abated, when he was the best thing since sliced bread. Now they have been relegated, the old I-told-you-so's are back in fashion.He has made mistakes, has been learning on the job and will undoubtedly improve, whether it's at NCFC or elsewhere. Frankly, I'd love him to leave there and be a success elsewhere in England while Norwich get a manager they deserve.

Hi Tumbleweed and thanks for the response.

Firstly I don't understand what you mean by 'unaldulterated crap' as never once do I recall seeing any animosity towards Alex Neil when he was first appointed. With respect hardly anyone outside of Scotland had heard of him so many of us, myself included, were taken aback because at the time we felt we needed a more experienced head to take us back up. Please show me a link where you found offensive comments towards him upon his appointment because I never saw any. There was also NEVER any criticism whatsoever until this season and with good reason when things started to go horribly wrong as I mentioned in my OP.
Lastly, as for us 'getting the manager we deserve', you may not know this but prior to our last home game of the season AN told his wife and children not to attend for fear of a fans backlash towards him upon our impending relegation.
As it turned out, after the game when relegation was confirmed, there were chants of 'theres only one Alex Neil' from the terraces because so many believe in him and want him to stay. He couldn't believe it, the attending media couldn't either, now tell me where else a manager whose side had just gone down a division would have been given a seal of approval like that?
Terrible fans aren't we?
However I personally do now have my doubts about his abilities as I have stated in my OP having witnessed some dreadful football and questionable tactical decisions this season. But that's just my opinion at the moment and who knows, come Christmas hopefully we'll be challenging at the top of the Championship and I will have changed my mind. It's not all his fault as you 'can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear' but that's where his player recruitment comes into question. The manager idenifies the players he would like and it is then down to the CEO to go and get them. Tellingly our CEO resigned two games before the end of the season so I suppose you can read into that what you will.

All the best for next season.

OTBC

[really?]

Sorry KIO - please excuse the comments above - way too much weird bitterness on this forum nowadays (a reflection of modern Scotland perhaps).

I hope Alex gets you back up next season - he's a very talented and knowledgeable individual and how we got his services as player then manager for 10-odd-years I'll never know because he should have played at a far high-level than Accies. Injuries perhaps.

Anyway, good luck at Norwich - I'll be checking your scores at halftime.

[Stevie Clarke]

The Pink 'un forum did have a few comments along those lines outlined by tumbleweed but they were outnumbered by the more respectful ones and many were very excited by his appointment. Out of his depth is a bit harsh. If it comes to that, the former England manager was also out of his depth at Newcastle .

[Tumbleweed]

Don't apologize for my comments "really" - that's very patronising of you. I'm a big boy and stand by everything that I said.

I didn't save links from 18 months ago just so I could post them now (how silly of me), but I think the OP is being a bit disingenuous by not recalling the negativity surrounding ANs appointment. Some fans were positive, some were extremely negative, but what I read was generally "Who is Alex Neil and what is a Hamilton Accie?" I see the word respect used, I felt there was a significant lack of respect at his appointment, hence my initial response.

Norwich have been up and down for years with far more experienced managers than AN, so I'm not sure that's the best criteria for them to base their criticism on. I'm glad he got the support at the final home game, I am sure he will turn it around next year if he gets the chance. But if he leaves, either on his own terms or someone else's, I won't feel sorry for Norwich as I'm sure they have a well-known manager waiting to take them straight to the Champions League. Or not.

[Willie Wastle]

Like any young inexperienced manager, he'll make mistakes as he progresses.
We're experiencing much the same up here as Martin Canning has struggled to get a consistent performance, signed a few duds and led us to suffer some heavy defeats, but ultimately kept us up (and is hopefully learning from mistakes as he'll be here next season).
I felt Alex would have benefitted from being at Accies a while longer to develop in the SPFL, but when Norwich came knocking it was too good an opportunity to ignore or turn down.
He is a great motivator, so turned around your underperformers, but the concern was that he'd no experience of the Premiership and no previous with the type of big money signings required to survive there. Promotion was a double edged sword in that you want to succeed but he and Norwich would have benefitted from another season in the Championship.
I'd stick with him as he'll have learned from the past season and will hopefully get you back up and will have a better knowledge of what's required to stay up next time...if not we'd take him back at NDP anytime.
Good Luck next season.

I agree with most of this.

Alex Neil was very inexperienced to be offered the Norwich job, but got them up following the same approach that brought him initial success at Accies. However, he has no experience of buying players or of managing big egos, or of consistently competing for a full season with the best teams in the country. No surprise Norwich ended up relegated, only that Neil kept them in contention to stay up almost to the end. Given time and backing, he can get them up again, and maybe he'll do better in another go at the Premiership. Maybe. It's still a risk.

What's the difference between Alex Neil at Norwich and Martin Canning at Accies?

Canning kept us up.

[AlanHutcheson]

Neil has virtually every aptitude required,- diligence, hunger, courage, intelligence, game knowledge, and an ability to both frighten his players, and inspire them to play without fear.

The only question is over his ability to compete strategically at the very highest level, and at the age of 34 he deserves time to answer it.

[Gaspode]

Neil has virtually every aptitude required,- diligence, hunger, courage, intelligence, game knowledge, and an ability to both frighten his players, and inspire them to play without fear.

The only question is over his ability to compete strategically at the very highest level, and at the age of 34 he deserves time to answer it.

This ^^^. You can bet Sir Alex will be raring to right this wrong. Never seen someone so driven and focused, Norwich would be mad to let him go.

[KIO]

Well he's now on borrowed time, a one trick pony who insists on making like for like substitutions with no Plan 'B. Has spent £Millions in the transfer market yet most of his sigings don't even make the bench or are sent out on loan. He's lost the fans and WILL be sacked, why our board are putting off the inevitable beggars belief. We have now lost SEVEN from nine league games, TWENTY-TWO this year ! Automatic promotion back to the Premier League has gone indeed at this rate we won't even make the play-offs. We are a side in freefall who unless AN is removed from his job sooner rather than later will probably end up in a relegation battle.

He must go now - AN OUT !!!!!!!!

[southoftheborder]

Replace MC for AN - sound familiar?

[silverfox]

Don't know if Kio was bored when he posted or what response he expected here , given Alex has been away since Jan 2015.

Personally once players or managers move on from Accies, my interest in them wanes. However, In his short stint as manager for Accies, Alex was successful and who knows what he may have achieved had he stayed on.

When he moved on and secured promotion, Alex was lauded at Norwich, but if Kio is right he will be out the door for his apparent broad ranging failures.

But it's been the nature of the game since inception, that managers are judged by success or failure ...........no biggy.

As Tommy Docherty once said ( I believe) "There are two types of managers ; one that's been sacked and one that's about to be sacked"

[ManfromWaikato]

Speaking of "The Doc" quotes I particularly enjoyed: "one door closes, another one slams in your face"

[judgeflash]

Well he's now on borrowed time, a one trick pony who insists on making like for like substitutions with no Plan 'B. Has spent £Millions in the transfer market yet most of his sigings don't even make the bench or are sent out on loan. He's lost the fans and WILL be sacked, why our board are putting off the inevitable beggars belief. We have now lost SEVEN from nine league games, TWENTY-TWO this year ! Automatic promotion back to the Premier League has gone indeed at this rate we won't even make the play-offs. We are a side in freefall who unless AN is removed from his job sooner rather than later will probably end up in a relegation battle.

He must go now - AN OUT !!!!!!!!

Big fan of Alex then? Maybe he should start Morris up front...

[redandwhite1874]

Might we see him back now that he has taken Norwich to the bottom half of the table

[Stevie Clarke]

Would have thought there must be a fair chance Gary Rowett will replace him this week. Eight defeats out of ten, what a collapse!

What happens next for Neil, who knows? I can't see him ever coming back to Accies. I could see him being out of the game for a while until a decent English job comes up at Championship or League One level.

[Yummy Fur]

Safest job in football, Norwich could get beat 10 nil tomorrow and Alex still won't be sacked, board that doesn't care what league they are in, directors that care more about dancing and cooking than football............................ repeat constantly until fact.