Ex-Sunderland boss 'looked at' as Championship rivals plot 'swift' managerial appointment - report

Former Sunderland manager Alex Neil is one of the potential candidates being “looked at” by Hull City, according to reports.

The Tigers parted company with Tim Walter last week, and currently find themselves languishing in the relegation zone, two points adrift of safety. It is understood that given their ongoing plight, chairman Acun Ilicali would like to make a “swift appointment”, and would ideally like his new leading man to be in the dugout before Saturday’s clash with Blackburn Rovers.

To that end, the Hull Daily Mail suggest that some 30 applications have been whittled down to around six contenders for the vacancy, with Neil, Slavisa Jokanovic, John Eustace, Chris Hughton, Ruben Selles, and Steven Schumacher all “looked at” at various stages. Of that list, Neil and Schumacher have worked with Hull’s current head of recruitment, Jared Dublin, before. Additionally, it is understood that former Coventry City boss Mark Robbins is unlikely to be in the running.

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An announcement is said to be “edging closer”, with City willing to make an “early move” if they are convinced that they have found the right man for the job. And Sky Sports host David Prutton is of the opinion that Neil could be an ideal fit at the MKM Stadium. Speaking on the 1904 Club podcast, he said: "I've never played for Alex, I've never played against any of his teams but I've spent a lot of time with him, listening to him talk about football matches.

"He's got an incredibly quick and incisive way of summing up what he's seen. Just because I think he's a good pundit, therefore, he's a good manager for Hull City. He's very to the point, cuts to the quick, doesn't really suffer fools. He's very committed in his decision-making and understands how he wants to play football and handles everything around it very well.

"I think he would be an extremely serviceable option for Hull City to get someone like him in because the first port of call now is some form of consolidation and some form of balance to what they're doing."