EXCLUSIVE: BLADES BOSS SHOCK
By Michael Morgan
NEIL WARNOCK has named the day he'll end his colourful, controversial career as a manager - when he reaches 60.
Warnock, who turns 58 in December, sees his current Sheffield United contract run out at the end of this season.
And all he wants after that is another two years with his beloved Blades before bowing out after two explosive decades in management.
The Bramall Lane boss, who guided United's promotion last May to end their agonising 12-year exile from the top flight, told Sunday Mirror Sport: "I am not looking to be a manager beyond 60 - no chance.
"Ideally, I would like to finish my managerial career here. I would like to have two years in the Premiership with this club, then call it a day.
"Of course, nobody can tell you what is around the corner. If we miss two penalties every time we get them - like we did against Blackburn - and then consistently make the kinds of mistakes that led to Reading's two goals against us last week, we are not going to climb away from the foot of the table.
"That will be when it's all about results. And it will be down to the chairman to decide whether a new manager would change the prospects of the club. That's what happens with every club.
"But I think you've only got to look at how United's board have been with me over the seven years I've had in charge here.
"On two or three occasions it would have been easy for them to change the manager.
"But they have always stuck by me because I always think that, if you are considering changing your manager, you have got to ask yourself, 'Will I get anybody better?'"
United's PLC chief Kevin McCabe and football board chairman Terry Robinson clearly agree that Warnock remains the man to take their club forward.
Warnock added: "Being in the Premiership has whetted my appetite to extend my managerial career.
"But I never thought, in my wildest dreams, that it would be as good as this. It has totally surprised me because everything about this league is incredible.
"Everybody here is enjoying it, even though our pride is hurting a little bit because we're down at the bottom of the table at the moment.
"But it's fabulous for me, as a United fan anyway, to see full houses at Bramall Lane and everybody enjoying the success we are having.
"Of course I'm disappointed about where we are in the table just now, but I honestly don't feel that I could have done much more from a managerial point of view in the games we've had so far."
Warnock added: "It's hard work at this level to manage a team that is not in the top 10.
"That is why I have got so much admiration for the likes of Sam Allardyce at Bolton, Alan Curbishley when he was at Charlton, and Fulham's Chris Coleman for doing what they've done year in year out with clubs their size."
