Laughing all the way into the record book
3PM WARNOCK’S TIP FOR LONGEVITY
NEIL WARNOCK will set a managerial landmark next week – and believes his longevity will never be beaten.
Middlesbrough’s match against Birmingham today will be his 1,601st game as manager.
He will equal the record of Dario Gradi for the most matches as a boss in English football history, according to figures from the English National Football Archive.
Now at his 14th club, he will beat it against Luton on Tuesday night, having started in the Scarborough dugout on August 15, 1987.
And Warnock has given his recipe for sticking around at the top – more humour and laughs and bouncing back from the “bleak times” quickly. “I never set out to do anything like that,” he said. “I can’t see this being beaten. In another 16-17 games it will be the most Football League games too. Hopefully I can keep my job a bit longer.
“What keeps me going? People like Steve Gibson ringing me at 8am! And chairmen like Simon Jordan saying come on back in. Rotherham whetted my appetite again and sparked the Cardiff thing.
“I must have been decent at my job to do 1,601. It is a proud thing. Managing football is difficult, especially for the younger lads. I have really enjoyed it and set out to give the clubs I am at something to cheer about and a bit of humour in the game.
“There’s not enough humour in the game. I like to make people laugh and smile and enjoy life. Younger managers get a bit brainwashed with clipboards and qualifications and forget the little things in life like the humour. You can’t give them a course in humour.
“I’ve always enjoyed that part, and meeting the away fans, the banter and getting some stick. I couldn’t have done as many games without humour.”
Boro are reasonably placed to keep Warnock on the trail of more records. And at 72 he could beat his own record of being the oldest boss to win promotion after taking Cardiff into the Premier League when he was 69. And having taken Notts County up twice, plus promotions with Scarborough Huddersfield, Plymouth, Sheffield United, QPR and Cardiff, he is bidding for a record ninth with the Teessiders.
Warnock joked: “Sharon [his wife] does my hair in the morning, too. That helps. You can see when she is not living with me.
“You have to be happy in your job. I wake up at 4am and it’s horrible. Last week at Cardiff, in the morning I just felt violently sick. And that never changes. That is how managers are. Then the whistle goes and you are OK.
“It is not a good job at times. You have to front up.”