Alex Neil: Stoke City boss ready to 'take it on the chin' on return to Sunderland
- Published
Alex Neil celebrated Sunderland's win at Stoke on 20 August - but just eight days later he was the Potters' manager
Stoke boss Alex Neil is ready to take any home hostility "on the chin" as he returns to Sunderland for the first time since swapping Championship clubs to join the Potters in August.
Four months on from leading Sunderland to promotion back to the second tier, Neil opted to move to Stoke instead.
Neil was the winner when Sunderland met Stoke at the Bet365 Stadium in August - and is ready for Saturday's return.
"I'm a big boy. I'll take what's coming my way on the chin," said Neil.
"But I don't think it will be an issue. I've got nothing but fond memories of Sunderland. And I was pleased with what I did when I was there.
"I feel really privileged and fortunate to have had the opportunity. I was out of work. Sunderland was as good for me as I was for them, if that makes any sense.
"I know there will be a lot of people that were frustrated and angry with me that I chose to go elsewhere, but the club got good compensation for me leaving.
"But people will make up their own minds, have their own narratives and make their own assumptions.
"Football is strange, isn't it? Any football fans can want you to leave because you're not doing well enough. You leave on their terms, which they're quite happy with.
"But then it's an absolute travesty if you leave of your own volition."
This season has, with irony, so far proved happier for his Sunderland successor Tony Mowbray than for Neil himself.
Mowbray has had his side up in the top six, while Stoke have been unable to string any runs of results together, despite showing occasional flashes of top form.
But, although Stoke have lost 1-0 in three of their past four games, Sunderland have also dipped a bit - and the Wearsiders go into Saturday's contest on a run of just one point from a possible nine.
Now in ninth, five points off a play-off place, they are just nine points better off than 17th-placed Stoke, who are nine points clear of trouble.
And Neil insists it was always likely his mission to turn the Potters around might take a bit longer than the fans would have hoped for.
"Whenever you take over any club, there are different dynamics," he said. "When I went to Norwich, the team had just come down and were expected to go back up which we managed to do.
"But I was taking over a Stoke team who had finished in the bottom half five seasons running [relegation from the Premier League in 2018 followed by Championship finishes of 16th, 15th, 14th and 14th].
"We had no divine right to finish top, or even in the top half, of any division.
"We knew we had a lot of hard work on our hands. What we have done is fix certain elements of the team that have improved it, but there are still elements that we need to fix - and this was always going to be a longer timeframe."
Alex Neil was talking to BBC Radio Stoke's Phil Bowers