Talks to the chairman who gave new Boro boss his big break
NEIL WARNOCK used to make his living tending to people’s feet.
Ironic then, that he is now seen as being one of the safest pairs of hands in English football.
Warnock was handed the Middlesbrough job last week.
And after their Championship clash with Stoke yesterday he has seven more games to ensure that Steve Gibson’s club don’t plunge into English football’s third tier.
If the unthinkable did happen, it would be the first time since 1986 that the Teessiders were outside the top two divisions.
Back then Warnock was embarking on a new job with Scarborough, having left an indelible mark as manager of Burton Albion.
And also on workers’ feet at the town’s local chemist.
“While he was with us, he trained as a chiropodist and had a contract at Boots,” says Burton Albion chairman Ben Robinson, who gave Warnock the manager’s job at the club in 1981. “He used to cut the staff’s toenails. During one of our cup runs, some TV crews filmed us before a third round game against Leicester City.
“The game before we had beaten Aldershot and in the dressing room we were all crowded round the transistor radio waiting for the draw, which was live at five o’clock.
Gorilla
“The penultimate name out of the hat was us, followed by Leicester, who had Gary Lineker playing for them at the time.
“Before the tie the cameras took footage of Neil tending to one of our players, who we had fitted with a pair of gorilla feet before our manager set to work on him. It was hilarious.”
Burton Albion would lose to the Foxes over two ties after the initial tie was replayed following an injury to Burton keeper Paul Evans, who was knocked down by a missile thrown from the crowd at Derby’s Baseball Ground.
The Brewers lost the game 6-1 but still earned another crack at their First Division opponents.
The incentive for Burton and Leicester was a barrel of best bitter containing 288 pints, donated by Ind Coope, the brewers that sponsored both teams. And although Warnock’s side missed out on the beer – losing 1-0 in that rearranged game – Burton’s FA Cup run handed their manager his first opportunity to rub shoulders with those at the very top of the game as a manager. And it’s something he has become accustomed too ever since.
“Neil had joined us as a player and in his very first game he broke his wrist away to Marine,” says Robinson.
“When he came back he couldn’t get a game, so he hardly ever played for us.
“Neil was always very focused, and very ambitious. He went to Gainsborough as their manager and they paid us £500 for the privilege.
“He then came back to us a year later as manager. And after Nigel Clough he is still the second longestserving manager at the club. He did a fantastic job.
“Neil was and is a great man manager. He knew exactly how to treat each player as an individual. It was also so easy to get sponsors involved because of him.
“Because of his character and personality he would engage with them.
“He always had a story to tell and he made them feel part of the club.
“He was a great asset both on and off the field. He was focused and so determined – whatever it took he would do it.
“If he had to drive at midnight to get a player to sign for us, whether that player was in Lands’ End or John o’ Groats, he would do it.
Urgency
“He always had that sense of urgency and that work ethic – that’s why he has been so successful everywhere he has been.”
Back in 2002, Warnock declared that he had two more years as a manager left in him.
Some 16 years after that deadline he is still going strong.
Middlesbrough will hope he has at least one more great escape up his sleeve.
Or perhaps stored in his socks.
Neil was and is a great man manager. He knew exactly how to treat each player as an individual