Manager Alex Neil admitted he takes full responsibility for the season which followed his team’s promotion back into the Premier League, having watched his team win 4-2 but relegated at the hands of Sunderland, who beat Everton 3-0.
Neil made four changes to the side who lost 1-0 against Manchester United at the weekend, which ultimately sealed their fate before the Watford kicked off, with Ryan Bennett, Graham Dorrans, Steven Naismith and Dieumerci Mbokani replacing Sebastien Bassong, Jonny Howson, Cameron Jerome and Robbie Brady.
And despite seeing a performance many had wished came sooner, the 34-year-old knew his team “fell short” because of the mistakes earlier on in the season.
Speaking to Norwich City TV, Neil said:
If we did our job, we’d still be in the league. We won the game tonight but there were games we needed to win before tonight and ultimately, we fell short.
Speaking to the Eastern Daily Press, Neil acknowledged his mistakes as a manager still learning his trade:
When you come up, you want to set your stall out and build on a good season. We have made too many errors at crucial times in games, we have missed too many crucial opportunities at times, my decision-making at times could have been better.
With hindsight, I could have made better and different decisions and I think at the start of the season we needed to strengthen more than we did to give the team the best chance to stay in the league.
When you combine those four things to survive at this level is going to be very tough.
Neil also elaborated on the feeling inside the changing rooms but also personally, having witnessed a promotion to and relegation from the Premier League within two consecutive seasons, since being appointed last season.
No one is feeling good about themselves at the moment. When you are in charge of a football club and they go up, people say how great they are. Everyone is happy to sit there and take the plaudits so now the team has gone down, I should take the brunt of the blame. It is really simple for me.
However, the victory against Watford also triggered a response from fans, who applauded and chanted the name of the Scotsman.
He added:
That’s the most humbling moment that I’ve ever had and it makes it all the more difficult for me going around [on the lap of honour].
It’s easy for me to show my appreciation for them as they have supported me right through this season but I feel like I’ve sold them short.
I feel like I haven’t done well enough for them and that really disappoints me.
When asked about next season, Alex Neil has insisted he’s not thinking about himself and the feeling of relegation is still “raw”.
I think at this moment in time, I’m not thinking about me to be honest. I’m thinking about the club – the club’s bigger than any one person, bigger than the manager or anybody else.
And I’m gutted that under my management , we went from the Premier League into the Championship and that’s hard to accept. In recent weeks you could say it’s been coming but it still feel raw.
