7UP
..and Cardiff could be the great number eight as Warnock aims to prove he’s the grandaddy of getting teams promoted
FAMILY guy Neil Warnock is closing in on a record eighth promotion – thanks to his grandson Charlie’s midas touch.
Warnock’s Cardiff, four points clear in the race for automatic promotion, are the Championship’s surprise package this season.
“Charlie, my grandson, has been our mascot twice and we’ve won both games,” said manager of the month Warnock. “I might have to bring him down for a game or two on the run-in. We’ve
SALT and pepper pots for goalposts, Neil Warnock only asked Sir Bobby Robson if he had time for quick coffee – but he was soon fishing for condiments.
By the time Sir Bobby had finished turning their chance meeting into a tactical masterclass, Warnock felt invincible.
And if the Cardiff City manager achieves a record eighth promotion, 31 years after his first one with Scarborough, he will be out on his own. The rest will be playing ketchup.
He will be the only manager to win promotion to the top flight with four different clubs – after climbing through the loft hatch with Notts County in 1991, Sheffield United in 2006 and QPR seven years ago.
Warnock has not always been everyone’s cup of tea, but eight promotions? At 69, that would make him the Earl Grey of his profession. He recalls that meeting with former Ipswich and England manager Robson as fondly as he treats the red 1962 Massey Ferguson tractor on his Cornwall farm as his guilty pleasure. “I was down there apologising to her the other day,” said Warnock. “She’s been sitting in a shed for weeks. I’ll take her out in June and I’m sure she’ll start first time. She’s a reliable old girl.” But even with his astonishing record, Warnock – who signed a new contract last month, keeping him with the Bluebirds until 2020 – accepts there is only one king of the Tractor Boys. “I bumped into Bobby somewhere by accident and I asked him if he had time for a quick cup of coffee because I was
‘ It wouldn’t bother me if Wolves got Neymar. Let them sign who they want’
still a young manager and I wanted to pick his brains,” he said. “Two hours later, I came out and I hadn’t said a word – Bobby talked about all sorts and we had salt pots going round the table to illustrate one tactic or another.
“This was Bobby Robson, a manager who had won just about everything, giving his time to a young guy and the enthusiasm of the man was unbelievable. I’ll never forget it.”
Manager of the month Warnock says restoring Cardiff to the Premier League would be his “best promotion of the lot, by a mile” – although this wasn’t the golden sunset he had envisaged.
“I had a plan at Sheffield United to get them up, keep them up, call it a day and go ‘upstairs’. But the way I left the club left a bitter taste and I didn’t want to finish on that note. I just love trying to prove the chairmen who sacked me or got rid of me wrong.”
But you won’t hear dear old ‘Colin’ – his nickname among rival fans who form an unflattering anagram with his name – joining the chorus of whingeing about Championship leaders Wolves and their owners’ links with superagent Jorge Mendes. Warnock said: “My first game in the Football League as a manager was with Scarborough against Wolves and I remember a guy falling through the roof of the stand.
“Wolves have had to put up with so much – never mind all this talk of advantages, let them sign who they want. It wouldn’t bother me if they went out and signed Neymar. I wish we all had contacts like they have now.
“When I first went down there, I remember being in my chiropodist surgery cutting toe-nails at half-past three and having to leave at four to get down to Molineux in time for kick-off. And we drew 1-1, which wasn’t bad for a team with part-timers.
“Good luck to them because they have been in the doldrums for so long. Why moan about it? Let’s not start bitching about them. Let them enjoy it, life’s too short.
“I started watching their game at Leeds the other night and it was never in doubt. I turned off after 10 minutes – there was only going to be one winner.
“I don’t see anything illegal in an agent helping a club. You do get jealousies, but I’m sure most of the people bitching about it wish they were in the same situation.
“It’s all right having money, but you’ve still got to spend it right. We’ve had to shop at the other end of the market, but who’s to say Aldi is not as good as Waitrose?”
Flattered by the accolade – his ninth in the Championship alone – Warnock is less impressed with his SkyBet manager of the month trophy. “I’ll probably donate it to the fans at the end of the season because you wouldn’t have it on your sideboard,” he scowled.
“At home I’ve got lovely Wedgwood plates and big bottles of champagne with the date on them – we don’t even get the date on these awards now, so I haven’t got a clue which one’s which.”