Troubleshooter Warnock back to work one last miracle as Boro abandon Woodgate experiment
The well-travelled manager, 71, has taken up his sixth Yorkshire job at Championship strugglers Middlesbrough. Stuart Rayner reports.
HE HAS done it thousands of times, yet Neil Warnock still felt a shiver down his spine taking training yesterday as Middlesbrough’s new manager.
The Teessiders turned to the 71-year-old veteran of 14 previous clubs over 40 years after losing their first game back after the coronavirus lockdown. He will take charge of the season’s final eight games and is not looking beyond them.
It was less the 3-0 defeat at home to Swansea City, more the manner of it which led to Boro relieving Jonathan Woodgate of head coach duties, though they hope to keep him on the staff.
For Warnock, sacked by Cardiff City in November, working for “one of the best owners” in the country – and he joked, managing without opposition fans – was irresistible.
“I thought, what an opportunity – eight games without anybody booing me!“he said. “If it wasn’t Steve Gibson ringing me up I’d probably think twice about it, especially with the six-and-a-half-hour journey (from his Cornwall home) at my age. But I like him as one of the best owners. It’s nice to give something back to someone who needs a bit of help.”
Saturday’s defeat left Middlesbrough above the Championship relegation zone by only two goals’ difference from Hull City, the second of eight remaining opponents.
“When you get to my age you don’t really worry about what’s going to happen in a few months, especially at a time like this,” he said.
“When I spoke to the players before training I still got shivers down my spine. It’s stressful at times but I enjoy it and I want my players to enjoy it.
“I’ve really enjoyed doing the garden, cutting the trees down, having a fish and simple things like that. The bluebells were out and they were absolutely immaculate. I said to (my wife) Sharon, ‘Wow, look at the colouring, I’ve not seen that before,’ and she said, ‘No, you’ve never been in here before!’ You’re that tied up in football.”
Woodgate replaced Tony Pulis in June 2019 but twice oversaw 10 consecutive Championship matches without a win.
“I didn’t look at the game at the weekend but without seeing the squad I’d be confident, it never fazes me,” said Warnock. “When I went to Rotherham (United, in 2016) I think you all know the story (escaping Championship relegation in his 16-game stint), that was probably the best thing I’ve done in my career away from the promotions.
“I’m not a miracle worker but I wouldn’t have come if I didn’t think I could do it. I always get trouble-shooting jobs but I do enjoy that rather than being midtable with nothing to play for.
“They’re in this position for a reason. It’s okay saying we’ve got loads of ability, but ability never wins you games.
“You’ve got to have a bit more in your locker.”
There is some confusion about how close Warnock is to 1,500 games as manager, but he says it did not shape his thinking.
“I’m told I need 11 games but they don’t count the play-offs,” he said. “I knew I couldn’t get them this season but it wasn’t the reason I wanted to help out.”
Warnock will be joined by erstwhile coaches Kevin Blackwell and Ronnie Jepson, with Woodgate’s assistant Robbie Keane leaving.
JONATHAN WOODGATE’S appointment as Middlesbrough manager was all about idealism, but in the end realism brought his sacking.
“Jonathan has my full support. Jonathan is not the problem. He is dedicated to this football club and has a vision for a style and approach that we all endorse,” said Boro chairman Steve Gibson 114 days ago.
One draw, one win and one loss later, Gibson sacked him as head coach and appointed Neil Warnock.
When Woodgate was unveiled a year and nine days ago, Gibson said: “When we talk about the style of play, we’re totally aligned.”
Many Riverside regulars had tired of Tony Pulis’ pragmatic approach, and appointing the then-39-year-old was all about that. In turning to Warnock, Boro have zig-zagged back.
That is not to say Warnock is a bad choice, far from it. No managerial appointment comes with guarantees but when the over-riding goal is keeping Boro out of a division they have not been in since 1987, Warnock is a safer bet than most.
Some love him and his methods, some hate them but few English fans are indifferent. In the Football League, they usually work, which is why he is in the League Manager’s Association’s hall of fame.
One panic-inducing defeat at home to Swansea City was all it took to change course. Fan pressure could not be blamed with the terraces empty, this was a chairman with a well-earned reputation as one of the best thanks in no small part to the patience he historically shows his managers spooked by a dreadful performance.
Of all the English teams returning from the coronavirus pause, only Burnley, at Manchester City, suffered a heavier defeat first up. Boro’s could have been on the same 5-0 scale had two early Swansea efforts gone in rather than hitting the post.
As alarms go, it was a pretty frightening one, and Gibson clearly heeded it.
“One thing we’re going to have to be is patient,” he warned on Woodgate’s first day, but it ran out yesterday morning.
Saturday’s 3-0 loss dropped Middlesbrough to within two goals’ difference of the Championship relegation zone with eight matches to play. Perhaps Woodgate’s response was most worrying. After three months to plan a game originally scheduled for March 14, he reflected: “We need to go back to the drawing board.”
But Gibson had also had plenty of thinking time – and 40 games, nine won and 16 lost – to assess his “hunch” in appointing Woodgate, and sticking with him in lockdown suggested he was clear in his mind. Woodgate had survived two 10-match winless streaks in the Championship. His side looked utterly bereft in November’s 4-0 defeat at Elland Road, prompting rumours Warnock would be installed then, but responded with one defeat in the following nine matches before the next slump. His constant changes of tactics could be seen as a man flailing about for a solution, or flexibility. By giving his “full support”, Gibson appeared to have come down on the latter side.
Gibson has always been patient, unafraid of loyalty and bold appointments, giving Bryan Robson, Aitor Karanka and future England managers Steve McClaren and Gareth Southgate first managerial jobs. Even now his support remains to a degree, keeping Woodgate at the club whilst relieving him of running the first team.
It was not hard to feel sorry for Woodgate, who took over as Boro were cutting their cloth after losing their Premier League relegation parachute – some would say because of it. Boro sold goalkeeper Darren Randolph in January and Patrick Roberts, the No 10 Woodgate loaned from Manchester City to provide much-needed creativity, soon picked up a hamstring injury.
Losing his best defender, Daniel Ayala, was difficult too, but at least Woodgate stuck to his principles by telling the centreback to stay away for the final weeks of his contract when his attitude became a problem.
He did, however, compound the issue of his inexperience by appointing an equally green assistant in Robbie Keane.
Warnock football will not be for the purists. It will be hardnosed and rely heavily on the senior members of his squad if history is anything to go by. A 71-year-old with a long and successful cv would be daft to reinvent the wheel now, and he is certainly not that.
At least swapping managers before Woodgate properly put his imprint on the squad means Warnock will inherit plenty of players Pulis signed for their suitability for the jobs he will require too. And he faced tougher than this pulling Rotherham United out of the mire in 2016.
The boyhood Blade’s big finale has been beautifully set up at Hillsborough. Sheffield Wednesday have twice relegated
Boro but with a verdict on their misconduct charge expected before then, the tables could even be turned. All he will be sorry about is there will be no Owls fans to boo him into retirement, if this is the final hurrah for a man addicted to management.
But when the season is over, Gibson will need a long, hard
think about what direction he wants his club to go in.
Whatever he decides may not be as set in stone as it appeared last summer. Principles are all well and good in football, but pragmatism has a nasty habit of getting in the way.
It makes the stability success is usually built on very hard to achieve.
As alarms go it was a pretty frightening one and Gibson heeded it. Stuart Rayner on Boro’s 3-0 defeat by Swansea City – Jonathan Woodgate’s last in charge.