Norwich boss Alex Neil admits he won’t be fooled again if he manages to guide his side to Premier League promotion
Neil believes his side are stronger and more prepared for top flight survival with Norwich second in the Championship
WHEN it comes to Premier League preparation, Alex Neil won’t get fooled again.
Norwich were caught cold last season in the top flight after promotion via the play-offs the year before.
They struggled to bring players in during the summer and paid the ultimate price with relegation.
That failure in the transfer market is something that still irks Canaries boss Neil to this day.
And as he plots their swift return to England’s top tier this term, he insists the club will not repeat the same mistakes should they go back up.
Neil, 35, told SunSport: “We didn’t really invest enough in the team, to be honest, to give ourselves the best opportunity to stay in the Premier League.
“There was less time (due to the play-off final). There were a lot of deals that were set up which fell down. You want to try to get your transfer dealings done early.
“We signed Robbie Brady a week or two before the season started and then brought loan signings like (Dieumerci) Mbokani, which was done right at the end of the window.
“That’s not enough. When you’re going into the Premier League, you need to strengthen in three or four positions at least.
“You have to add as many quality players to your squad as you can. We didn’t do that.”
Asked if those transfer cock-ups would not be repeated should promotion be achieved this season, the Scot replied: “I’d certainly like to think so. If that does repeat itself, then there are serious flaws in what we’re doing.
“However, I would certainly not anticipate that to be the case.
“Certainly this time we are in a better position. The strength of the squad is better than the last time we went up.
“If we do go up we will be better equipped and I’ll certainly be better equipped to do better and keep us there the next time.”
Norwich look a safe bet to achieve promotion having impressed on their return to the Championship.
They have kept most of their squad and added to it shrewdly, with summer signings Alex Pritchard and Nelson Oliveira still to be unleashed.
And in Neil, they have a manager who has a phenomenal record in this division.
The former Hamilton chief has won two-thirds of his 36 games bossing at this level - losing only five.
September was particularly strong with five wins in all competitions - which would have been six were it not for that heartbreaking, stoppage-time 4-3 defeat at Newcastle - and it led to Neil scooping manager of month.
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His progress has been hugely impressive given he has only been managing for four seasons - one and a half of which was spent north of the border.
So how does he feel he has changed during his eventful time in the dugout?
Neil replied: “This is only my fourth season of management and I’ve managed at four different levels.
“I’ve been promoted twice and relegated once in four years. If you look at that, most managers would achieve that over the course of 15 years - I’ve managed to squeeze it into three and a half!
“It’s bizarrely been a quick transformation for me. But like anything, you learn quickly and I certainly think I’ve done that. I’m certainly more experienced.
“I’m really, really comfortable with how I do things, and how I expect my team to play and how we manage situations in general.”
Neil faces another boss who has come down from Scotland in Alan Stubbs when Norwich host bottom-of-the-table Rotherham on Saturday.
Stubbs has found life tough since joining from Hibs in the summer - and needs to start turning things round if he is to avoid the chop.
The Canaries will be hot favourites at home and Neil sees no reasons to change his preparations despite his opposite number being up against it.
The former Barnsley star added: “Regardless of where they are in the table and what they need, I don’t think it’s going to have any bearing on things because we need the points for our own reasons equally as much as they do.
“People write the smaller teams off which they shouldn’t do.
“They can be harder games than some of the big ones because a lot of the big ones take care of themselves.
“It’s the smaller ones where you have to make sure that you’re really on it. I’ve looked at Rotherham’s stuff - they’re going to be a real tough game.”
On Stubbs, he added: “Having seen Alan at Hibs, I think he was an offensive coach. His teams attacked and won games. He’s gone into Rotherham where it’s maybe not as it was up there.
“To try to attempt an attacking philosophy to attack teams like Norwich and Newcastle is not easy to do.”
Neil may have struggled in the transfer market last summer but this year his squad looks rock solid.
It has also been enhanced by the progression of 21-year-old academy twins Josh and Jacob Murphy who have played key roles this season - particularly the latter, who has hit six goals already.
And Neil is tipping them both for big futures.
He said: “The two of them have real quality, real pace and huge potential going forward.
“The fact that the two of them are local lads who have come through the youth academy is quite a rarity for us because there’s not a lot come through.
“We’re in Norfolk which I wouldn’t describe as a hotbed of football in terms of young talent.
“So it’s great for the club and I think they’ll go on and become really, really top players.”