At this point I think they just give him a call every year and say “fancy it?”
Someone who is always in the frame but one reason or another never bites. Must be on a permanent wish list for the Eavii hence it’s always “he’s possible, but not reliable” gets banded with him.
With how much has came out so early from this year I can’t imagine it’ll be long before we start to hear about the Neil Plan B, given the assumed nature of negotiations you’d think they would have had a Plan B in mind and didn’t just start scrambling ideas on a board when he eventually pulled the plug.