Black Cats had offered deal to keep Neil with the club
SUNDERLAND’S sporting director Kristjaan Speakman has revealed the club tried to renew Alex Neil’s contract on Friday amid the Scotsman’s departure from the Stadium of Light for Stoke City.
Neil looks set to take the Potters job following a whirlwind turn of events whicht have left Sunderland searching for a new manager after just six games back in the Championship.
The Black Cats were forced into appointing Martin Canning as interim boss for their clash against Norwich City yesterday.
While Neil did return Sunderland to the Championship after years in the wilderness of League One, his departure to join Stoke leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of fans.
Sunderland have enjoyed a strong start to life in the second tier and spirits on Wearside were high.
However, things could now take a sour turn if the club do not appoint the right manager in the coming days.
Speaking before the Norwich clash, Speakman revealed the Blacks Cats had made a bid to keep Neil prior to his impending exit for Stoke, while also giving fans and update on what will happen next once his departure is finalised.
He said: “We had a really wellstructured contract for when he moved into the Championship.
“It had the appropriate uplifts, etc. We had a discussion in the summer because we wanted to reward him and almost provide a well done.
“That contract was redrawn up and was only signed four weeks ago.
“Then on yesterday’s news, naturally for us wanting to retain that coach within our football club, we made a further move to offer another set of terms but unfortunately that does not look like it is going to be enough for him to stay.
“We have always been running a process of identifying and tracking coaches, like you would players.
“I think that is reasonable for a club of our stature. Once this matter concludes with Alex, then we will embark on that interview process and we will try to do that in the quickest possible time.
“We have spent a lot of time in the last vacancy period on doing some due diligence so I don’t feel we’ll need quite as much time to turn that around.”