Tony Mowbray has warned his Sunderland players not to get wrapped up in the drama surrounding Alex Neil's return to Wearside as the Black Cats prepare to take on Stoke City this afternoon. Neil left Sunderland at the end of August to take over at Stoke, with both his decision and the manner of his departure infuriating fans who had given him the hero treatment after he led the club out of League One and back into the Championship in his six-month spell in charge.
Neil is set for a hot reception when he brings his Potters team to the Stadium of Light, but Mowbray wants his team to concentrate on the game rather than the occasion. "I'm emotionally detached from it, to be honest," said Mowbray.
"I can understand it - I've been a manager who has left clubs, although it was probably different the way that Alex left. He had had huge success here and the team had been doing great and I'm sure all the players thought really highly of the coach, and then one day he upped and left and it will be difficult for the supporters to understand.
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"I don't know him really well but I have managed against his teams many times, and I'm sure he will be right up on the touchline rather than sat in the back row of his bench, he'll be pushing his chest out and demanding his team competes in the right way in this game. I'm looking forward to it and, to throw in a cliche, may the best team win.
"I know Alex's teams, I know how intense they are, how combative they are, and we have to be ready for that. We can't just think 'we're a really good team, we'll pass around them and we'll be alright', because that doesn't happen.
"I'm sure that Alex will have his team really wound up to make sure that Amad doesn't strut about and Patrick Roberts doesn't have too much time on the ball, and Jack Clarke doesn't get one-on-one too often. We have to make sure we are ready for the game in front of us."
Sunderland go into the game sitting in the top ten, five points outside the play-off places, while Stoke are 17th and nine points behind the Black Cats. Sunderland have picked up one point from their last three games, and have suffered back-to-back defeats at Rotherham United and Coventry City, while Stoke have won and lost two of their last three league games.
