Neil Warnock
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- This article is about the football manager. Neil Warnock is also the name of the music agent for bands including Motörhead, Status Quo and Deep Purple.
Neil Warnock (born December 1, 1948) is the current football manager of Sheffield United. He was appointed to become manager of this club in December 1999. He is the sixth longest serving manager in league football. Warnock was born in Sheffield and is a lifelong fan of the Blades.
Warnock played for Chesterfield, Rotherham United, Hartlepool United, Scunthorpe United, Aldershot, Barnsley, York City, and Crewe Alexandra, making a total of 326 appearances in an eleven year playing career. As a player he was a bustling though none too quick wide midfielder who served lower league clubs well but was never in demand by larger teams.
His first mangerial job was with Northern Premier League side Burton Albion in 1981. Since then, he has managed Scarborough, Notts County, Huddersfield Town, Plymouth Argyle, Oldham Athletic and Bury before reaching his current position. During December 2005, Warnock was offered a position at Portsmouth, but he refused in favour of staying on at United.
In 2003, Warnock led Sheffield United to the semi-finals of the FA Cup and League Cup as well as the final of the First Division play-off. This was the first time in his management career that he had lost a play-off contest, having previously been successful at Notts County (twice), Huddersfield Town and Plymouth Argyle. He finally led his Blades team to the Premier in 2006.
Rival fans sometimes call him Colin, as, when the name is combined with a British sexual slang word, it is an anagram of Neil Warnock.
Management Career
Scarborough
While still working as a chiropodist, Neil Warnock was manager of the Scarborough side which won the Conference title in 1987 and gained promotion to the Football League Fourth Division. He remained in charge at Scarborough until November 1988, when he announced his resignation with the intention of taking the vacant manager's job at Notts County in the Third Division.
Notts County
Within days of leaving Scarborough, Neil Warnock was named as the new manager of Notts County. He quickly transformed the fortunes of the Third Division strugglers and in his first full season as manager, 1989-90, they won the playoffs and gained promotion to the Second Division. The following season they won the Second Division playoffs and with it gained promotion to the First Division. Their stay in the First Division lasted just one season and they were relegated, missing out of the chance to become founder members of the new FA Premier League. Warnock resigned the following year after failing to get County anywhere near a Division One playoff place.
Torquay United
After leaving Notts County, Warnock was offered a consultancy position at Third Division strugglers Torquay. Only days after Warnock took the job however, manager Paul Compton resigned, accusing the club's board of trying to ease him out. Warnock took over as manager for the rest of the season and kept the side in the League, after which he stood down.
Huddersfield Town
Neil Warnock's next job was as manager of Huddersfield Town. He made their first season at the new Alfred McAlpine Stadium, 1994-95, a success - they reached the Division Two playoff final and beat Bristol Rovers to gain promotion to Division One. This success was his fourth promotion in nine seasons, and his third through the playoffs. But he stunned the club days later by announcing his resignation.
Plymouth Argyle
Within days of leaving Huddersfield, Neil Warnock returned to management by accepting the manager's job at Plymouth Argyle who had just been relegated to Division Three. The following season he led the club to promotion via the Division Three Play-Offs. Following this success came troubled times. Plymouth Argyle had a good start to the season heading the Division Two table at one point but the club experienced a downturn in form. Warnock blamed the then chairman, Dan McCauley, for not allowing any money for transfers going as far as to say that the club was in crisis and in danger of playing at Vauxhall Conference level if things didn't change. McCauley's counter argument was that he believed the players that Plymouth Argyle currently had were good enough to push the club forward to the next level and saw no need to invest more money. When McCauley was asked in an interview for Sky Sports whether he believed Plymouth Argyle was in crisis as Neil Warnock had stated he replied, "He did, yes but I don't understand, perhaps he's in crisis but certainly the club's not in crisis at all". Warnock was sacked towards the end of the 1996/97.
Oldham Athletic
Not long after being sacked by Plymouth, Warnock was offered the manager's job at Oldham, who were stranded at the bottom of the First Division. Under his management, Oldham managed some turnaround in form but it was too late to prevent relegation. The club started the following season brightly, but their promotion charge fizzled out later in the season and they managed no more than a mid-table finish. Warnock quit at the end of the season to take charge of First Division Bury.
Bury
In Warnock's first season, Bury were relegated on the final day after struggling throughout the whole season. Under normal circumstances Bury would have stayed up; however the League had briefly taken up use of "Goals Scored" rather than "Goal Difference" as the method of separating sides equal on points. Bury had a better goal difference than Port Vale, who finished above them, but Bury scored the least goals out of any league team that season, which doomed them to relegation. Frustratingly for Bury, the League dropped the "Goals Scored" system after that season. The following season saw Bury struggle in Division Two, and the fans called for his head. Ultimately Warnock quit when he was offered the manager's job at Sheffield United.
Sheffield United
United had made an awful start to the 1999-2000 season, and were in danger of relegation. Warnock managed to bring the side up to a mid-table position and survived relegation comfortably. The next few seasons were spent in and around the play-offs, the nearest the team came to promotion being in 2003 when they got to the play-off final, only to be beaten badly by Wolves in the final.
On 15 April 2006, Warnock secured Sheffield United's promotion to the Premiership, with the team having been in the top two positions since early in the season. Only a slight blip after a game with QPR were the Blades out of the top two positions.
However, Warnock will be banned from the first two games of the Premiership season, with a further four games suspended, after being sent off against Leeds United and his fall-out with Nigel Worthington.
Disputes
Warnock, who is qualified as a chiropodist and a referee is renowned for making controversial outbursts. He has had high profile disputes with many inside the game.Players
- Stéphane Henchoz - Over an alleged spitting incident in the League Cup semi-final between Sheffield United and Liverpool.
- Peter Swan - A player for Warnock at Argyle and Bury, he called Warnock "a prick".
- Geoff Horsfield - Warnock told him he was unwanted after a permanent deal had been agreed to bring him to Sheffield United from West Bromwich Albion in a £1.2m deal, Warnock reportedly told him he didn't want him anywhere near Sheffield United and to go and train with West Brom
Managers
- Micky Adams
- Gérard Houllier - See Stéphane Henchoz above. Also involved an argument about United's allegedly physical approach against Liverpool in the League Cup Semi Final 1st leg, a match in which Liverpool had 5 men cautioned to United's one.
- Phil Thompson - See Stéphane Henchoz above.
- Gary Megson - Following allegations that Warnock tried to void a game by reducing his team to six players. See Battle of Bramall Lane.
- Stan Ternent - A longstanding feud. Most recently (2001) involved claims that Warnock sent an "emissary" to listen to tactical discussions.
- Joe Kinnear - Kinnear remarked that Warnock was a 'prat' after a 1-1 draw between Sheffield United and Kinnear's Nottingham Forest in 2004-05.
- Kevin Blackwell - Warnock told press that he wished he'd had the money to spend on players Blackwell did in the season 2004-2005, this was the last season at Elland Road after "Living The Dream" had caused severe financial difficulties and no money was available. Kevin had previously been Warnock's assistant at Sheffield United for several years. Another dispute occurred on 18 April 2006 in a match between Leeds United and Sheffield United at Bramall Lane when Warnock was sent from the touch-line after making a comment to Blackwell about a tackle by Gary Kelly on a Sheffield United player that Warnock deemed a bookable offence, and would have resulted in the Leeds player being sent off
- Nigel Worthington - on 18 March 2006 Worthington apparently refused to shake hands with Warnock resulting in Warnock sticking two fingers up at him, an incident over which the F.A. has charged Warnock with improper conduct.
Referees
- David Elleray - Warnock called him a "bald-headed bloke", whilst criticising his decision making ability.
- Graham Poll - Following a mistake by Poll which led to Arsenal scoring in the FA Cup semi-final in 2003.
Fans
- Sheffield Wednesday - Fans of Sheffield United's arch rivals are regularly angered by Warnock's remarks. After one United victory over Wednesday at the Owls' Hillsborough home, Warnock is said to have run over to a stand filled with Wednesday fans and performed a war dance.
- Nottingham Forest - Under Warnock's management, Notts County briefly rivalled the Reds (Nottingham Forest) in the early 1990s. As well as this, many Forest fans have accused him of underhand tactics during games between their team and Sheffield United, particularly the playoff semi final second leg in 2003. Forest supporters' dislike of him has only increased the already huge popularity he enjoys amongst Notts County supporters.
External links
- [Interview with BBC Sport]
- [Neil Warnock managerial statistics] at soccerbase.com
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