My greatest achievement
THAT’S eight of these promotions now for Neil Warnock.
But with the odds stacked against him and the boost he has given the whole Cardiff community, there were no doubts in his mind that this was the best.
“It’s the biggest achievement in my 38-year career by an absolute mile,” said the Cardiff manager as the beer flowed in the dressing room after their passage to the Premier League was sealed.
“I was so glad to hear at halftime that Fulham were losing – I kissed the lad who told me.
“It’s such a fabulous achievement because nobody gave us a chance. I’ve had some great promotions and great squads, but [this was the best] because of the circumstances when I came here – second from bottom – and we’ve built it all the way up. I am proud I have built a team capable of ruffling a few feathers and I have never seen a crowd like that today.
“It’s an amazing feeling for a manager to know that you brought that together.
“But I’ve never known a week longer than this. I’ve not slept for longer than about three hours. At my age, you’re not going to get many more chances. I owe my wife Sharon a lot.
“I know we are going to get a few things thrown at us next season but it’s better than playing in the Championship. And we get three weeks’ extra holiday.
“I am cream-crackered at the minute. But we are going to enjoy it. Everybody will say we are going to get relegated – but at my age if it goes badly, I can just leave it!”
Fortunately, from the day owner Vincent Tan, right, brought Warnock to take charge at Cardiff, things have tended to go right.
He inherited a club 23rd in the Championship in October 2016 and 81 games later they are in the Premier League.
Their fellow top-flight teams are unlikely to welcome them back too enthusiastically, though. Not since Stoke first brought “rugby” to the Premier League in 2007 have a more direct team reached such heady heights and Reading were given a final taste of it yesterday.
With skipper Sean Morrison launching his long throws into the impossibly blue Cardiff skies, Warnock’s side fought valiantly for every ball.
But there were seams of skill as well running through the granite face of the team and Junior Hoilett, unlucky to curl a shot inches wide after 19 minutes, might have had a penalty shortly afterwards when he bamboozled Tiago Ilori, got the wrong side of him and tumbled under a challenge that by the narrowest of margins got ball ahead of man.
On the other flank, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing was having one of his more inspired games of a mixed season and proving rather too much for Reading to handle. The visitors, knowing that holding onto a point meant their own target of survival would be achieved, set out to stifle the game from the start.
Consequently, the biggest cheers in the first half were reserved for the two Birmingham goals against Fulham – although it was a case of “fake news” when the second arrived in Cardiff about two minutes before it actually happened.
Perhaps it was an omen the gods of football were prepared to be benign for once towards a
man at times portrayed to be the devil himself. Not that they weren’t going to make him sweat for it, mind.
The 69-year-old got more and more animated the longer Cardiff failed to take their destiny into their own hands.
The Cardiff fans were more confident of Fulham’s demise and the ‘oles’ started shortly after half-time, continuing to provide the backing-track to the inexorable passage of time. Even news of Fulham’s late goal barely dented the belief of the fans before news arrived from St Andrew’s of the third Birmingham goal and the party really started. Even Warnock allowed himself a flicker of a smile.
He punched the air in jubilation and rushed for the sanctuary of the tunnel when the final whistle blew to signal Cardiff’s return to the Premier League after a four-year absence. Within seconds, every blade of grass was covered by fans.
You sensed it was going to be a long bank holiday weekend in the Welsh capital. And the soundtrack? “There’s only one Neil Warnock”. He would
probably say himself, that’s about as many as the Premier League could take.
CARDIFF (4-3-3): Etheridge; Peltier, Morrison, Bamba, Bennett; Bryson, Ralls, Paterson; Mendez-Laing, Zohore (Madine 86), Hoilett (Ward 78). Booked: Hoilett.
READING (4-5-1): Mannone; Gunter, Elphick, Moore, Ilori (Kelly 34); Van den Berg, Edwards, Bacuna, Aluko (McShane 83), Barrow; Bodvarsson (Kermorgant 70). Booked: Elphick, Kermorgant.
Referee: R Madley (West Yorkshire).