Stoke City announce double departure with Alex Neil expecting new faces

The pair joined the club in 2019 and 2020 respectively, having initially been appointed to work alongside former manager Michael O’Neill. However, following Alex Neil’s appointment last year, the pair will now move onto pastures new.

“I would like to place on record my thanks to Andy and Tommy for their efforts on behalf of Stoke City,” said Stoke’s technical director Ricky Martin. “They have opportunities to seek elsewhere, and we wish them all the best in their future endeavours.

“This now provides Alex and I with an opportunity to appoint and work closely with new individuals in this area.

"The recent January window provided an initial insight into the type of players we want to bring into the club – and this is an exciting opportunity to put a new recruitment team in place that will help us continue to do that this summer and beyond.

“We have appointed a high-calibre, specialist agency to assist us in the appointment process and will share any updates with our supporters in due course.”

Neil departed Sunderland last August having guided the club to promotion from League One via the play-offs following wins against Sheffield Wednesday in the semis and Wycombe Wanderers in the final at Wembley.

The Scot signed a three-year contract at the Bet365 Stadium and was replaced by Tony Mowbray at the Stadium of Light.