Another former Sunderland boss is being eyed up for a return to the dugout, after Michael Beale’s recent return to football.
Former Sunderland manager Michael Beale has recently made his return to the dugout, nine months after being sacked at the Stadium of Light where he lasted just 12 games in charge.
Beale has been named no.2 at Al-Ettifaq, reuniting with Steven Gerrard who he worked under at Rangers and Aston Villa previously.
Meanwhile, another former Black Cats boss in Tony Mowbray has made a public appearance following his battle with bowel cancer.
Mowbray shared his verdict on Sunderland’s promotion chances under Regis Le Bris this season and even spoke about the club’s model and transfer strategy under Kristjaan Speakman.
And now, there’s an update on another former Sunderland manager in Alex Neil, who’s been out of work since being sacked by Stoke City in December 2023.
Former Sunderland manager Alex Neil under consideration for MLS job
Neil, 43, guided Sunderland to promotion from League One in 2022. He oversaw just 24 games as Sunderland manager before leaving the club to take charge of Stoke City in August 2022.
The Scot would oversee 66 games as Potters manager, winning 22 before being sacked midway through the 2023/24 campaign.
Now though, an emerging report from Daily Record has revealed that Neil is under consideration for the Philadelphia Union job in the MLS.
The same report adds that Neil, since leaving the bet365 Stadium, has had ‘several options to return but didn’t want to jump back in’.
Neil has spent time in the USA this year, ‘visiting clubs and networking’ and is now ‘open’ to working in the MLS.
How close was Alex Neil to returning to Sunderland in the summer?
During the summer, as the Black Cats went about what was a four-month search for a new permanent boss following Beale’s exit in the February, Neil’s name was mentioned alongside the job.
Neil was loosely linked with a return to Sunderland but it seemed like a reunion was never really on the cards for either party.
Instead, Neil was strongly linked with Birmingham City before they went in a different direction, with this latest report from Daily Record revealing that Neil was barely in the country over the summer anyway.
A new and exciting opportunity could lie ahead for Neil, who certainly played his role in getting the Black Cats to where they are now, albeit leaving a bitter taste over the way he left the club.