Neil Warnock Is Relishing The Challenge At Cardiff

Neil Warnock is one of the great survivors of world football.

Love him or loathe him, and there are plenty of the latter, but Warnock has endured over half a century in the beautiful game. From starting off as a 20-year old winger at Chesterfield in 1968, to the current manager of Cardiff City, he always seems to bounce along.

Warnock’s managerial career has taken plenty of knocks over time. In just 26 years he has been in charge of 15 different clubs. Now he has become known as both a promotion expert and the man clubs turn to save them from the drop. Overall he has achieved eight promotions with his teams. From Scarborough in 1987, to Sheffield United and Queens Park Rangers into the Premier League in 2006 and 2011, he has the knack.

But the combative and often controversial head coach has had his fair share of relegations too. Scarborough went down with him in charge in 1993 and the Blades in 2007. Warnock was sacked by QPR in 2012 before they went down.

Amongst it all has been the blow-ups, outbursts and incidents. Warnock has had more disputes than North Korea. Opposing players, rival managers, referees, chairmen, directors, even actor Sean Bean have attracted his ire. Warnock loves a scrap, a fight.

That trait is evident in the Welsh capital, where he joined City in October last year replacing Paul Trollope. When he arrived the club was second from bottom and floundering, in their lowest league position. It was far from an easy assignment.

Warnock said upon joining: “Everywhere I go I get stick, but at Cardiff… I get on quite well with the Cardiff lads. I'm sure the same people are there by the bus with their autograph books. I've always had good banter with the Cardiff people. They are my kind of crowd, blood and guts and all that, which I like. If I can get it right for them I know they will get behind me and that's what keeps me going at the moment.”

Under Warnock the Bluebirds improved significantly, eventually finishing 12th on the Championship ladder. In the pre-season he has recruited wisely, his only major outlay was his former charge Danny Ward from Rotherham United for £1.6 million. Five players were brought in on free transfers while a massive cleanout on the squad took place. Eight City players were released while 14 in total departed.

It was a canny approach that so far is paying dividends. City have started the 2017-2018 campaign impressively and are on top of the table. Undefeated from the first two rounds, they edged Burton Albion 1-0 away and then comprehensively beat Aston Villa 3-0 at home. Throw in a 2-1 win over Portsmouth in the EFL Cup and confidence is growing in Cardiff.

Warnock’s teams are designed his own image – tough, direct, competitive, determined and unafraid to get stuck in. They are fighters and on Saturday City showed they fear no one by knocking off one of the promotion favourites. Another test comes on Tuesday with the first meeting with his old boyhood club Sheffield United for some time.

Warnock was the last successful manager the Blades had, getting them into the Premier League a decade ago and into FA Cup and League semi-finals. He’s no longer a much-loved figure by many at Bramall Lane, but that will matter little to the Yorkshireman. He doesn’t look back much, or reminisce. He’s the ultimate survivor, though he is planning to do much more than that in Wales.