WARNOCK: I AM READY TO PACK IT IN
07 August 2007
Neil Warnock's days in football could be over. For the first time in more than 40 years as a player and manager, the ex-Notts County boss has had a summer off.
And he told the Post that if the right job doesn't come his way by Christmas he will "call it a day".
Warnock, who is busy promoting his hard-hitting autobiography 'Made In Sheffield' and preparing for some media work when the new season starts, wants to get back on the touchline for one last tilt - especially after the bitter blow of relegation that forced him to leave his beloved Sheffield United.
They were sent down on the final day of the season by a Carlos Tevez goal for West Ham at Old Trafford. In Warnock's eyes, Tevez should not have been playing, Sir Alex Ferguson should have fielded a full-strength team... and the league should have punished West Ham over the Tevez affair by docking them points.
None of those things happened and Warnock says it hurt, adding: "I felt like I was going mad with the injustice of it all."
He has spent the summer chilling out with his family, cycling, sailing, taking a trip to Wimbledon. But now he is itching to get back into action.
"The hurt is getting better. That's one of the reasons I want to continue in management. I don't want to finish on that.
"It does take some getting over. I still think we had a very good season last year and that's what hurts really."
But unless there is a lower Premiership or Championship club ready to take on the controversial Yorkshireman, he might not get another chance to lay that particular ghost.
"I know I won't get one of the top clubs - they all seem to want Continental coaches. There is no chance for an Englishman, at the moment.
"But a good club with a decent fan base that needs lifting up... I enjoy that sort of challenge, and if you look at my record, it's as good as nearly anybody's.
"But if a decent job doesn't come up by Christmas, I will call it a day."
While he has been waiting for a new management door to open, Warnock has been putting the finishes touches to his book, more than a year in the making.
"I am coming to the end of my career and I wanted to put everything into the book, there are so many stories," said the 58-year-old.
"I felt really good about it when it was finished. I was fed up of reading 24-year-olds' autobiographies and I thought it was the right time to tell it as it has really been - and I think most ordinary supporters will read it and identify with that."
It is a book which pulls no punches and lets the reader know who Warnock considers his friends... and those who are most definitely not on his Christmas card list.
He said: "The Notts County era is quite high in the book - just great memories, possibly never to be repeated again, from the club.
"It was fantastic. I think it just shows what a job we did, all the staff, to get the club to the equivalent of the Premier League.
"For the size of the club, it was quite a miracle really. It is hard to see it ever happening again.
"I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Notts. We had a players' reunion recently and it was great to see the old team.
"Nearly all the players came to it and we still get on as well as we did then."
He will be in Nottingham next week, signing copies at Waterstones. He hopes - and expects - Forest fans will also turn up.
"I like Nottingham. We managed to give our lot a season to remember, two promotions, two visits to Wembley. I think the Forest fans respected that - I know Brian did - and respected us for what we did.
"That's why I have always had a strong bond with the Forest fans, because we had a good rapport when I was down there; it wasn't nasty, just jokey, and in the right spirit."
Arguably, that changed when Warnock inspired Sheffield United to a 4-3 play-off victory at a seething Bramall Lane in 2003, in a match Forest were cruising at 3-1.
But he doesn't see it that way, saying: "The Forest fans, I always had a lot of respect for them. It was just a matter of trying to win a game in the play-offs.
"We have had some really tight games with Forest over the years but that was probably the most memorable game, almost of my whole career."
