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Alex Neil article

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https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/sep/22/preston-north-end-alex-neil-deepdale-manager-norwich

A deserved write-up on Preston''s impressive start to the season.

Some Norwich nuggets in there:

"between Norwich sacking him in March and Preston hiring him, he did have time to reflect on what went wrong in Norfolk. “A learning curve for me was getting to the Premier League with Norwich where I felt at times we had to adjust our approach,” he explains. “Looking back, I would never do that again – I would carry on with the style that I’ve adopted. Now, I’ve got the courage of my convictions in terms of how I want my teams to play. I’ve got complete clarity in my mind.”

"Money remains tight and a strict wage cap remains in place. But signing and polishing young diamonds from the lower leagues and Ireland seems to be working. “I think age is a big thing,” Neil continues. “A lot of the Norwich players had made their money, and there’s a big difference from younger players trying to find their way.” Only Barnsley and Brentford have fielded a younger starting XI than Preston this season in the division."

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He would have signed or approved contract extensions for most of those players who had ''made their money''! Lafferty, Naismith, Bassong, Mulumbu, Jarvis...

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"Looking back, I would never do that again – I would carry on with the style that I’ve adopted." Half the fans on this board were telling him he was wrong to change, shame he didn''t read/take note any of them.

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The lightning strikes twice car-crash results at Newcastle showed that changes in style were needed, however, a good manager and team can change styles from moment to moment in games or from game to game across a season.

Alex Neil changed from Plan A to Plan B, refused to move away from Plan B even though Plan A had some successes in it, and his departure was then inevitable.

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So basically we were the school for Neil to learn the right way to be a manager! Hmm, seems to be a regular occurrence doesn''t it?

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[quote user="KeiranShikari"][quote user="Baldyboy"]So basically we were the school for Neil to learn the right way to be a manager! Hmm, seems to be a regular occurrence doesn''t it?[/quote]Not really.[/quote]Off the top of my head i am struggling to think of a manager who has left us to go on to bigger and better things and make a success of it.

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[quote user="TIL 1010"][quote user="KeiranShikari"][quote user="Baldyboy"]So basically we were the school for Neil to learn the right way to be a manager! Hmm, seems to be a regular occurrence doesn''t it?[/quote]Not really.[/quote]Off the top of my head i am struggling to think of a manager who has left us to go on to bigger and better things and make a success of it.[/quote]

Martin O''Neill ? John Bond ? Ron Saunders?

But certainly none recently.

These reported quotes from AN still make me say "Grrr!"

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He himself demanded experience and PL nous from the signings we made. He constantly kept going on about how many other teams had 15 mil+ players and we didn''t.

Instead of doing what a good coach would do at a club in our position which is work on the training pitch with what he''s got and ask for young, hungry players to work with he wanted ''proven quality'' and within our budget got what he deserved, ie the likes of Jarvis/Mulumbu/Dorrans/Naismith/Brady etc

It was a stupid idea. If we threw every penny we had into it we could afford maybe one or two proven PL players. That plan was never going to work. I think with AN''s playing/management style if we''d have done what Huddersfield have done this year and bought young players suited to their style instead of ''names'' for millions we''d have all done better.

If only someone like Webber was brought in after our first relegation instead of an uncommitted, totally unsuitable Royle. AN doesn''t know how to assemble a team but he''s a pretty decent manager, under a DoF type I feel he''d do extremely well

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[quote user="Trevor Hockeys Beard"][quote user="TIL 1010"][quote user="KeiranShikari"][quote user="Baldyboy"]So basically we were the school for Neil to learn the right way to be a manager! Hmm, seems to be a regular occurrence doesn''t it?[/quote]Not really.[/quote]Off the top of my head i am struggling to think of a manager who has left us to go on to bigger and better things and make a success of it.[/quote]

Martin O''Neill ? John Bond ? Ron Saunders?

But certainly none recently.

These reported quotes from AN still make me say "Grrr!"[/quote]I should have clarified that THB by stating not in the last 20 years or so.

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It was a bit dismaying to see how Neil crumbled under the pressure to change the way we play after that Newcastle match. All it did was make us worse - trying to defend better and still getting beaten.   But there was always an exceptional manager in there and I was always looking to see him return to the way we played when he first came to the club, but that horse had bolted and he couldn''t get it back.

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His time here never marked him out as a potential exceptional manager as far as I''m concerned and a few decent results at Preston haven''t lifted him to that status either.

If you''re right and he''s just waiting to come good then no doubt he''ll prove me and quite a number of others wrong. Give him time to build his own team and a couple of transfer windows and see where they are then.

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Shame he didn''t seem to realise these lessons here. He actively doubled down on playing his experienced pros at the expense of the younger players when things were going to shit.

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Obnoxious as usual, Barking 47/48 [:)]. Best defence in the league, pressing football, using young players and a clear strategy that works.  "Been waiting years to see us play football like this" is one of many good comments on their forum.  Very similar to how he started with us until he lost his way by pandering to the older players and the pressure.  If he keeps to his beliefs as he says he will, there is no reason why he can''t be that top manager.  He got bogged down with us but if he has learned his lesson and sticks to his beliefs this time, he could well be that strong no nonsense manager that we saw when he first started with us and if he does, Preston are going to be one of the best sides in the league this season.

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Looking at what he inherited here compared with the mess he left us with I''d say he was a disaster. He squandered one of the best opportunities this club has had for years along with many more millions than any previous manager.

Preston is a different team and I''m not surprised his up and at ''em style has brought an improvement. We''ll see how he does when time passes and he has to buy and sell to improve what he has.

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[quote user="Horse Renoir"]If only someone like Webber was brought in after our first relegation instead of an uncommitted, totally unsuitable Royle. AN doesn''t know how to assemble a team but he''s a pretty decent manager, under a DoF type I feel he''d do extremely well[/quote]We appointed Steve Stone as Managing Director, who by his own admission, doesn''t know anything about the football business. But whilst David McNally clearly had a eye for the qualities of a successful manager (not necessary a successful manager, just the qualities they needed to possess), I don''t see a huge difference between him and Steve Stone.It surprises me the number of threads about selling out to a foreign owner, or lack of investment, yet no criticism of McNally''s final three years operating with the dismal recruitment of Ewan Chester, Barrie Simmonds and finally Lee Darnborough. Starting with RVW, we didn''t stop the rot until Webber came in.

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I''m heartened by the fact that this mornings popular posts are people moaning about the past and a player currently out of the team. You could say the miserablists have given me reason to be cheerful ☺☺☺

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Good luck to the guy I say, he was very young when he joined us (still is) and clearly had too much to learn to be able to make it work with NCFC, but I wouldn''t be surprised to see him go on to do bigger things.

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[quote user="Platonic"]Good luck to the guy I say, he was very young when he joined us (still is) and clearly had too much to learn to be able to make it work with NCFC, but I wouldn''t be surprised to see him go on to do bigger things.[/quote]Neil didn''t even have his coaching badges when he joined us.Think about that...

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