Moorlands Radio’s Dave Lee looks back over the new reign of King Alex:
Saturday marks the last Championship game for Stoke before the Qatar World Cup extravaganza/debacle*. (*Depending on your point of view.)
Poignantly, this match is against arch-rivals West Brom, who have a song written about them. It’s called “We Always Beat West Brom”. [You must have heard it; it goes to the tune of Blue Moon.]
But the game will mean that Alex Neil will have clocked-up/survived* (*Depending on your point of view) a whopping 15 games in charge, overtaking Liz Truss in job longevity, and drawing equal with the 15 game-reign of the unfortunate Paul Lambert (Stoke’s 2018 manager who failed to keep them in the Premier when relegation looked much the harder option to achieve).
So, how is Neil doing?
Well, his record so far (after 14 games) is rather, er, “average”. 5 wins, 3 draws, 6 defeats.
But is that any good, I hear you ask (particularly compared to previous Stoke managers)?
Well, ironically the answer to that lies very much in the balance, and it all rests on his 15th game, the infamous Baggies-derby game. If he wins, it’s a good start. If he draws, it’s so-so.
But if he loses on Saturday, then it’s a poor start, and with the long break for the World Cup, he won’t want that hanging over his head like an extended hangover after England go out on penalties to Germany. Again. [Where did that analogy come from?!? – Ed]
Four out of the last five Stoke managers have also lost 6 of their first 15 games! That includes Paul Lambert & Michael O’Neill. The exception is Nathan Jones who only lost 5 in his first 15. Yes, hard to believe, particularly after seeing his Luton side’s appalling defence in Stoke’s easy-peasy 2-0 win on Tuesday.
| Manager | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points |
| Alex Neil | 5* | 3* | 6* | 18* |
| Michael O’Neill | 7 | 2 | 6 | 23 |
| Nathan Jones | 3 | 7 | 5 | 16 |
| Gary Rowett | 5 (5) | 4 (5) | 6 (5) | (20) |
| Paul Lambert | 2 | 7 | 6 | 13 |
| Mark Hughes | 5 (4) | 4 (5) | 6 (6) | (17) |
| Tony Pulis | 4 | 6 | 5 | 18 |
| Johan Boskamp | 6 | 1 | 8 | 19 |
| *= Alex Neil has only played 14 matches prior to the WBA game.
(5)= Numbers in brackets are LEAGUE GAMES ONLY (& exclude cup games). In the cases of Boskamp, Pulis and Jones the figures were the same whether you counted the League games only or included the cup games too!! |
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However, only 5 wins for Alex Neil (currently) is no better than Gary Rowett and way behind O’Neill who had 7 wins in 15 despite Michael having arguably a weaker squad (or so he continuously told us, of the depleted squad he inherited from Nathan. Dearie me).
But a draw against WBA won’t improve things much as it will only put him on a par with Gary Rowett and still way behind O’Neill. In fact if this comparison just includes League games, Rowett’s 5 wins, 5 draws & 5 defeats will not show Alex Neil in a good light; particularly as Rowett was quickly shown the door soon after this “dodgy” start.
No, Neil needs a win, which at least will give him 2nd place in the table for Best First 15 Games At Stoke This Millennium. (Previous winners are Gudjon Thordarson and Brian Little, but that was last Millennium and in the old Third Division, so let’s not talk about that!)
Of course, this is small potatoes compared to Alex Neil’s record running other clubs. He’s managed 4 previous clubs, and his first 15 games have been much more spectacular than this!
Taking over at Hamilton Academical he won 11 of his first 15 games on his way to promotion to the Scottish Premier League! (albeit via the playoffs).
Next at Norwich he won 10 out of 15 on his way to promotion to the English Premier League! (albeit via the playoffs).
Then at Preston he managed 5 wins, 6 draws and 4 defeats (better than Stoke, but hardly remarkable).
But he returned to form at Sunderland where he won 8 and drew 6 from his first 15 games on his way to promotion to the Championship! (albeit via the playoffs). [Mind you, this was in the third tier, but then again, this was Sunderland afterall!]
| Alex Neil’s club | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points |
| Hamilton | 11 | 2 | 2 | 35 |
| Norwich | 10 | 3 | 2 | 33 |
| Preston | 5 | 6 | 4 | 21 |
| Sunderland | 8 | 6 | 1 | 30 |
Whichever way you look at Alex Neil’s start at Stoke, whether you look at previous Stoke managers or Neil’s previous managerial record, it has to be described as pretty underwhelming. Performances have been good, but not as impressive as previous Stoke manager Michael O’Neill’s first 15 games or Neil’s starts at other clubs.
When I asked Alex about how he would sum up the first 15 games here at Stoke, he thought for a second and then said, “Mixed”, which certainly covers it.
However, if I was his school teacher and he came up with these scores I’d be telling him to pull his socks up, pull his finger out, and pull himself together. Failure cannot be an option for him. Not at Stoke anyway. He’s only 41. He doesn’t want to end up doing punditry for Radio Norwich! I mean, NOBODY wants to end up doing punditry for Radio Norwich!! (Well, not till they reach their 60s.) 😉
