Former Norwich City boss Alex Neil has been sacked by Stoke City ahead of Ipswich Town's trip to the Bet365 Stadium on New Year's Day.

Neil, who guided Sunderland to promotion from League One in 2021/22, left the Stadium of Light at the start of last season, replacing Michael O'Neill at Stoke.

His first season in charge was fairly underwhelming, with the Potters finishing in 16th place, albeit nine points clear of the bottom three.

Neil, however, was allowed time to bring in his own players, and the club went big on their recruitment over the summer ahead of this season.

The likes of Andre Vidigal, Mehdi Leris and Wouter Burger were brought in from abroad, while Wesley, Luke McNally and Ciaran Clark were all signed from Premier League sides, giving many fans hope that they could finally challenge for promotion back to the top flight,

Despite that, they started the season in poor form. A 4-1 win against Rotherham United was quickly overshadowed by their 2-0 defeat to Ipswich at Portman Road, which kickstarted a run of games where they won just one in five.

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A series of victories against Bristol City, Sunderland, Leeds United and Middlesbrough kept Neil's position intact, but their latest slump proved to be the breaking point.

Four consecutive defeats, capped off by a 1-0 loss at home to Sheffield Wednesday, saw Stoke drop down to 20th place - just two points above the drop zone.

The change means that Town will face a new manager when they head up to Staffordshire on January 1st, 2024. It also takes the number of departures in the Championship up to 10 since the start of the season.

StokeOnTrentLive have reported that ex-Chelsea boss Graham Potter is at the top of the club's managerial wishlist, having made 45 appearances for them as a player across a three-year spell in the 1990s.

John Eustace and former Blue Tony Mowbray are also listed among the bookies' favourites.