I took a 93% pay cut to swap the City for soccer.. I know about taking risks
NOTTINGHAM FOREST MANAGER MARK WARBURTON
MARK WARBURTON once clinched a billiondollar deal in the City – and now he’s about to find out the colour of Nottingham Forest’s money.
His wife Liz told him he was mad when he quit his job as a currency trader to chase his dreams in football management.
And after taking over at the City Ground, where casino banking sometimes looks a safer bet, Mrs W may have asked questions of his sanity again.
But as the former Rangers boss prepares for a baptism of fire against Forest’s archrivals Derby, he is relishing the pressure of his latest gamble.
After the brinkmanship of money markets and Old Firm sectarianism, the ‘El Cloughico’ should be as docile as a village fete, right?
Pull the other one – Warburton, 54, knows he is heading into another battleground and with Forest only two points above the drop zone, the Championship table offers little margin for error over the last nine games.
“Yes, I’ve done a billion- dollar deal with a Japanese bank. Yes, I’ve managed in Old Firm derbies (below, with Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers) and, yes, Nottingham Forest comes with its own pressures – but it’s a risk worth taking,” he said.
“The City is a real buzz when you are running a money market with only a little window of time to buy or sell at the right price and the passion of Rangers-Celtic games at Ibrox and Hampden was just incredible.
“But I’ve just been sat in front of two European Cup trophies, one over each shoulder, which is a reminder that this place has its own special history.
“You need self-belief and confidence to take on an opportunity like this one.”
Warburton walked away from the trading floor in the Square Mile when he realised he was more excited about coaching his weekend under-10s team than turning over two billion dollars a day.
He has already won two promotions, lifting Brentford into the Championship and Rangers back into Scotland’s top flight – but the hardest negotiations of all were at home.
“My wife said I was mad – which was quite polite – to take a 93 per cent pay cut, with two kids in private school, and she was probably right. It was a big call,” he admitted.
“To leave a well-paid, secure job where I was in a senior position with a fair amount of responsibility was a huge risk and it didn’t go down well at home.
“But you only live once and after the initial shock – plus lots of bouquets of flowers and bottles of wine to make it up to her – it’s turned out OK.
“Glasgow was tough – for all my good intentions, it was a demanding job and I was only getting home once every four or five weeks, which is not ideal.
“Showing your face and having dinner with the family always helps.
“Nottingham is a different environment, but like Rangers there is an air of expectation.
“Fans here have been brought up on glory and there will be people in the stands this weekend who saw Forest win the European Cup two years running under Brian Clough. It’s a magnificent history. Some people say you shouldn’t talk about it because it places too much of a burden on the current squad, but it’s there, it’s in the supporters’ blood, you can smell the history.”
One of Warburton’s predecessors, Gary Megson, had pictures of Forest’s European Cup winners removed from the walls because he felt the gallery intimidated his players.
It did nothing to inspire them and Warburton has no intention of airbrushing the glory days from the City Ground, saying: “I’m never going to criticise another manager because everyone has their own ideas.
“But for me, you can’t talk about history or tradition then take down the pictures which define this club.
“As a young football fan, I remember Trevor Francis’s diving header in Munich and John Robertson’s winner in Madrid – I remember the goals, the jinks and the celebrations because they are all part of football folklore.
“And I remember my dad’s trellis fence in the back garden, which I destroyed on many occasions trying to replicate famous goals.”