Yorkshire lure very hard for him to resist

DESPITE MOVING to Cornwall in the mid-1990s, Neil Warnock has always found Yorkshire hard to resist.

Warnock made his Football League managerial debut with Scarborough in 1987. He took over joint relegation favourites 12 months earlier but after a poor start signed goalkeeper Kevin Blackwell from Barnet and beat them to the Conference title. Scarborough were a point off the top of Division Four when, on New Year’s Eve 1988, he tired of chairman Geoffrey Richmond’s interference and resigned.

Warnock returned to the Broad Acres in 1993 for Huddersfield Town’s final Leeds Road season. It began with one win in eight and losing 5-0 at home to Arsenal in the League Cup but ended with a Wembley final, lost on penalties. They were back the following season to win the Division Two play-offs. Within days, he left for Plymouth Argyle after falling out with the chairman.

In December 1999, Derek Dooley told Warnock, “Happy birthday, your dream’s come true.” He was going to manage second-tier Sheffield United.

They escaped relegation but his first two full seasons were mediocre. In 2002-03 they reached League Cup and FA Cup semi-finals, and the playoff final. Promoted in 2006, a distraught Warnock resigned when they controversially went straight back down.

The second of seven Leeds United managers in two years, he was sacked on April Fool’s Day 2013 after 14 months.

Saving Rotherham United from Championship relegation in 2016 is his proudest achievement. They were six points adrift when he was parachuted in for 16 matches.

Something similar at Middlesbrough could be the perfect end to a 1,500-game career, but the 71-year-old will always find management – and Yorkshire – hard to turn down.