After 1,474 matches... Warnock calls it quits

THE STRIKER’S DEATH SHOWED WARNOCK’S SOFTER SIDE... HE’S A SERIAL WINNER WHO

NEIL WARNOCK is set to retire for good after leaving his job as Cardiff boss last night.

Warnock, 71 next month, and one of football’s great characters, said: “I’m leaving my beloved Bluebirds after over three years.

“They have been some of the best days in my long football

NEIL WARNOCK is one of life’s great characters and football will be poorer without him.

He turns 71 next month and has had a wonderful, colourful career, setting records as a promotion specialist amid the rows and dressing-room rants. The boss every rival fan loves to hate.

And he endured perhaps more highs and lows in his last job with Cardiff City than with any of his other 14 clubs in a remarkable 39-year managerial career.

His greatest achievement of all was arguably to lead Cardiff into the Premier League in 2018, because it epitomised what Warnock is all about.

A no-nonsense old school motivator who gets the very best out of players, gets them to run through brick walls for him – and they did just that because here was a Championship squad suddenly in the multi-million-pound top flight.

They gave it an incredible fight to stay up amid the most heartbreaking and tragic circumstances that the club has ever known.

The death of Emiliano Sala in January was something that rocked Warnock to the very core and, by his own admission, he came very close to walking away last season because he was so gripped by grief.

Sala was due to be Cardiff’s record signing, and was flying in from Nantes in France when his plane crashed in the Channel, with the loss of the Argentinian striker and the pilot, David Ibbotson. Cardiff was united in grief. Warnock has been a fighter throughout his career and yet, one cold Monday last January, he struggled to hold back the tears when talking about Sala.

Gone was the effervescent football fanatic, full of jokes and a cheeky smile, the man who was fantastic company and always entertaining. It is a great tribute to Warnock that he was able to carry on through the tragedy, attending a memorial service for the player in Argentina (above).

And yesterday, in a highly emotional parting statement, one of the first things he mentioned was that sad, difficult episode.

It perhaps put life back in perspective for Warnock.

He had previously retired, but it was his wife Sharon who persuaded him to take another job because she could see he was itching to get back as she recovered from breast cancer treatment.

Again, that is typical Warnock. He absolutely hates being out of football and, despite having said in August this would be his last year in management, few would bet that it is even now.

And there is a reason why chairmen and chief executives have kept turning back to the Yorkshireman, despite his reputation for being blunt, for digging out referees, for losing the plot on the touchline and for various televised rants at players.

He has an incredible record of winning eight promotions, building teams and a dressing-room spirit to get players over the line.

His career has, of course, had disappointments with the sense of unfinished business as he struggled to keep his promoted clubs in the top flight.

From Notts County to his beloved Sheffield United, later QPR and Crystal Palace and now Cardiff, his career has been full of achievements which deserve to be celebrated. But despite the relegations and setbacks, no one should underestimate the feat of getting them there in the first place.

Warnock is a great character and football will miss him.

Despite the frustrations of this season, Cardiff fans were the first to pay tribute to one of English football’s most entertaining and best loved managers.