Neil isn’t fazed by being the only Scottish boss in England’s upper levels
Alex Neil is an endangered species south of the border. But he is not letting that bother him.
As the English Championship season kicked off, the Preston North End manager is currently the only Scottish boss in the top two divisions.
It’s quite a change for the nation that has seen Bill Shankly, Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Kenny Dalglish rule the roost over the years.
Numbers were depleted in the summer as Paul Lambert and David Moyes, who was here in the stands watching his old club, were relieved of their duties at Stoke and West Ham.
It’s a far cry from the heady days of 2011 when seven managers from in and around Glasgow were in charge of Premier League clubs, with four more in the division below.
Sadly, those numbers have fallen to their current parlous state, leaving Neil to fly the flag.
But the 37-year-old ex-hamilton Accies manager insists it is cyclical rather than anything negative towards Scotland.
“When David left his job at West Ham, someone told me I was the only Scottish manager, but it doesn’t bother me,” he said after yesterday’s 1-0 win over QPR.
“I’m here to do a job and I want to win for Preston. In terms of what people think of me or my side, it’s much of a muchness.
“I really believe that things
victory, secured thanks to a 50thminute headed winner from Irishman Alan Browne.
Preston haven’t played in the top flight of English football since 1961, the year after their greatestever player, Sir Tom Finney retired.
So if Neil thought taking Accies up to the Scottish Premiership was against the odds, this would be something else entirely.
No club in the Championship has come closer than North End without reaching football’s land of milk and honey.
Three other Scottish managers have suffered the heartache of missing out in the play-offs as Preston have been the nearly men at this level.
Moyes and Billy Davies were both within 90 minutes of a place in the Premier League, only to lose the play-off final at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium in 2001 and 2005, while Davies and Alan Irvine both lost in the semi-finals.
Neil arrived at Deepdale last summer and guided the club into seventh place – one place and two points outside of a play-off spot.
Despite that very respectable finish, you would be hard pushed to find anyone outside of this part of Lancashire expecting them to go higher.
But Preston are used to flying under the radar. The Lilywhites operate within their means and are not big spenders, but continue to punch above their weight.
Neil doesn’t care what people think outside the club. He is optimistic about his side’s chances and knows that anything is possible in the Championship.
“It’s not the most money that counts in this league,” he said.
“If you look at the Premier League over the last 10 years, the majority of the time, the teams with the most money finish in the position where they would be in terms of cash.
“The Championship is not like that. The best team wins the league.
“It could be the team with the most money, but, equally, it might not be.
“Look at Cardiff last season. They weren’t the richest and they managed to go up.
“If you have a group who are together and work hard, and have good quality in certain areas, you can do really well in this league.”