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Leeds United: Whites ideal for Neil Warnock INTERVIEW
Chief football writer Phil Hay caught up with new Leeds United boss Neil Warnock who admits he is relishing the challenge at Elland Road.
By his own admission, Neil Warnock has never been so popular as he was last week.
Wanted by Huddersfield, Wolves and Leeds United. Wanted too by a man whose advances he rejected 20 years ago, at a time when Warnock was manager of Notts County and the offer of employment came from Chelsea.
He has long been a pantomime villain in Leeds but on Saturday afternoon you would not have known it. The air buzzed and supporters mobbed his car in search of autographs as it parked up at Elland Road.
“It’s the most important appointment we’ve made,” said United owner Ken Bates, and the electricity around the stadium was the equivalent of tacit public approval.
Leeds, in Bates’ seven years as chairman, have rarely needed a shot in the arm as badly as they did when confirmation of Warnock’s appointment finally arrived.
Now 63, Warnock professes to have one big job left in him and he has found it at Elland Road. His refusal to sit idly in the stands as his squad-to-be diced with defeat against Doncaster was proof of the tingle running up his spine.
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By the skin of their teeth, United’s players carved out a victory, as Warnock told them they must before kick-off. Such was his understanding of the likelihood of Leeds reaching the Championship play-offs that he made sure he was in post and inside Elland Road less than 48 hours after opening negotiations with Bates in Monaco. Those talks followed on from an interview at Wolves.
“I’ve never been so popular – which is unusual for me,” Warnock joked. “It’s nice to be wanted and I just felt Leeds were the right club at this moment, with what they were looking for and what I was looking for.
“I’ve not slept for about three days. I thought I was going one place one day and then I was in Monaco, talking to the chairman. He was very positive and I think he understood where I was coming from as well. Rather than delaying things, we decided to get it done.
“We were going to leave things for a couple of days but I felt it was important, if I was coming, to be there for Doncaster and have an input against Doncaster. I’m glad I was there.
“Usually when you come in as a manager, you say it’s going to take you two or three years to build the club. I haven’t got two or three years so I don’t want that. That’s what I said to the players on Saturday – the situation is we have to beat Doncaster Rovers, there’s nothing else about it.”
In fact, Warnock has around 18 months on his contract, giving him the rest of this season and all of next to earn Leeds the status they crave; to stop them staring upwards to the Premier League and make them a member of that division instead.
He has done so before with other prominent clubs, most recently Queens Park Rangers, who sacked him last month, and South Yorkshire club Sheffield United.
Back in 1991, similar success at Notts County tempted Bates to offer him the manager’s job at Chelsea. Warnock thought hard and eventually said no, and many assumed that Bates would not ask twice. Two decades later that assumption has been comprehensively confounded.
“It was a shame really,” Warnock said. “I was just starting out in my career and I thought London, or going down below Watford – well, I didn’t think anyone lived or survived down there.
“I went twice and got stopped on the motorway for four hours on both occasions. I wasn’t really into that. Also, the lads at Notts County put a lot of pressure on me to stay and help them out because we’d got two promotions in two years, and I felt morally obliged to do so.
“I think Ken appreciated that but he was surprised when I turned the offer down. Over the years a number of people told me how stupid I was but I always do stupid things. When I left Notts County I went to Torquay for 17 games and they were bottom of the league! I’m not a predictable person.
“I just love putting a smile on people’s faces and in the last few years I’ve done well with Crystal Palace and Queens Park Rangers. They were both clubs who needed a bit of a lift and I gave them that. Leeds are in a similar situation.”
Warnock was an overwhelming favourite for the job at Elland Road from the moment Leeds sacked Simon Grayson on February 1 but the inevitable debate was over how well the pieces of this jigsaw would fit: a manager as frank and self-determining as Warnock and a chairman as single-minded as Bates. A match made in heaven or hell?
“There’s a lot said about that,” Warnock admitted. “When I took over at Crystal Palace the headlines were: me and Simon Jordan, it’s just impossible. It’s the same thing with Ken Bates.
“But the thing about (Bates) is that you look at the good things and the bad things. I think he does a lot of good things and I’m not trying to creep round him by saying that. But there are times when you need to tell him what you think is right for the club and he’s got to listen.
“We have that relationship where I respect him and he respects me, and we’re both at an age where we want to do well. Make no mistake about that. I think we excite each other.
“At my age you haven’t got that long left. I enjoy managing and as long as I keep on enjoying it then I’ll manage. If I don’t enjoy it, I’ll call it a day. The difference is having the drive and I wanted a club that sends hairs up my back. I can’t remember jumping as high as I did for the third goal (against Doncaster).”
It is the flush of youthful enthusiasm in a manager with many years and hundreds of competitive games behind him. Leeds need him, of that there is no question – three points adrift of the play-offs with 14 games remaining this season. The situation looks surmountable on paper but the picture is less hopeful for those who have watched United regularly. Delighted as he was on Saturday evening, he did not deny the obvious room for improvement.
Warnock is replacing Neil Redfearn, Leeds’ academy coach who held the reins as caretaker through four games and a short period of intense pressure. Criticism of the delay in appointing a new manager was nothing personal against Redfearn but rather a reflection of how necessary a new direction and vision had become.
“It needed something like this at the club, looking from the outside,” Warnock said. “You have to have a leader. It’s such a massive club. Neil Redfearn did a really good job in holding the fort but I think Neil was quite relieved (to see Warnock appointed) at the same time.
“The pleasing thing for me was listening to TV stations and radio stations, and listening to what the fans thought about me. It was instrumental in me thinking it was the right move. It’s nice to be wanted and I don’t know many fans – there will be a few – who weren’t pleased to see me here. That’s great and I’ve got an opportunity to repay people like that.
“The club itself must be one of the top half-a-dozen in the country. There’s no local rivals, it’s just a one club city. They’ve got every ingredient they need.
“I really enjoyed myself at QPR and it broke my heart when I left but it was a similar situation. The fans said ‘we didn’t really want you, Warnock, but we’re glad you’ve come.’ The Yorkshire people are like that. They appreciate straight people and I feel I’ve got something to contribute to the club. The challenge is there.”
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Comments
There are 43 comments to this article
Page 1 of 3
spiderbob
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 08:34 AMGood luck Neil - I hope that you can return the faith to ER and I hope that you are given the time and support that you need to make a difference in this league and hopefully the one above. Derry would be welcome to return also. MOT!
nickjb
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 01:10 AMExcellent research, Bunmi. Those figures say more about what's been going on at Elland Road in recent years than many hundreds of rants and moans in the past month. You could add the million+, plus TV fees, and similar from other away cup Premiership encounters since Grayson arrived, to the net income, which would push it closer to £30 M, against a trifling £2 M on purchases - no doubt the others weren't disclosed because the BBC's graphics can't cope with decimal points and pence ! Talking of BBC, anyone notice that the voluble new boss has agreed to bite his tongue with respect to that broadcaster ? Such a concession; he really must think this is the job of a lifetime ! He deserves our wholehearted support for that sacrifice alone ! So, who exactly will give the post-match interviews; will it be Lucas the Mascot or perhaps that guy Fry from Leeds TV reading out a prepared statement from the football club ? How ridiculous must all this look to everyone else ? We like your outbursts, Neil; tell Bates you're your own man, and let's hear your passion in the heat of the moment. It's a bad start to allow yourself to be silenced by remote boardroom politics that's got nothing to do with you or the beautiful game. Having said that, I wish you all success in attaching a new rudder to this listless superleeds supertanker; also, in plugging the leaks and scooping out the bilge ! Premiership ahoy !
Jettatura
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 12:57 AMIs this a case of Ken giving the fans a bigger headline-lightning-rod than himself?... I hope not... Let's all hope that this is not some empty gesture tossed in the general direction of the morons!... It could be in his mind that really he doesn't need to do anything more this season... Results go badly, Colin will deal with that... If, despite all the odds Colin manages to engender enough in the team to get us this season, we'll all be ecstatic!... But just in case that doesn't happen we still need to hear what the plans are moving forward... Most importantly for me are... Will Ken allow Colin to get some quality loanees in?... Do we have targets?... What's going to be different now?... Will Gwyn 'Mandelson' Williams remain a Vader-like presence, with a Force-like veto on transfers?... Will Ken back Colin in the market in Summer?... That's really the big one!... I'm prepared to back Colin between now and the Summer but before Ken's get's my ST renewal he'll have to back him in the transfer window!
Dublinwhite
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 10:15 PMWell said Bulldog !!! Bramley and Koppite you pair should kiss and make up, I`d say more than 90% of the fans on this forum are tired of the pair of you fighting like a newly married couple. Grow up and get over it. Its the new chapter for the club that you both and all us fellow Leeds fans have craved for. so lets get united (LEEDS UNITED) and show our support together for our great club. I`d also like to say give SG a break he did his best for leeds united , yes he bought some duds and didn't always get it right but his best players were sold from under his nose and his hands were tied behind his back in many respects. Yes he lost the dressing room at the end but he also gave us some good times. So out with the old and in with the new, lets give NW 100% support and show him what its like to manage a big club Leeds4everandever!!!!
Bunmi
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 09:21 PMWarnock should bear these figures in mind as he goes forward. There is money at Elland Road and his job is to make sure it's directed to squad development rather than misdirected to stadium and pie-in-the-sky hotel development, which can wait until we hit the Premiership. Income from player sales: *£6,000,000 from Aston Villa for Fabian Delph £5,000,000 from Chelsea for Tom Taiwo and Michael Woods £2,000,000 from Norwich City for Jonathan Howson £1,000,000 from Tottenham Hotspur for Danny Rose £800,000 from Manchester City for Louis Hutton and George Swann £600,000 from Everton for Luke Garbutt £250,000 from Bolton Wanderers for Danny Ward £1,750,000 from St. Etienne for Max Gradel £1,500,000 from Leicester City for Kasper Schmeichel £30,000 from Doncaster Rovers for Tomi Ameobi £160,000 from Crewe Alexandria for Anthony Elding Disclosed Total Net Income: £20,900,000 Additionally, United are expected to receive £500,000 in compensation from Atletico Madrid for teenage prospect Elliott Kebbie. This would bring actual and expected income to United during Grayson’s term to £21,400,000. Some sales such as that of Neill Collins to Sheffield United have been for undisclosed sums. Not included in this figure, are contingency payments from Sheffield United for the sales of Matthew Kilgallon, Rob Hulse and Ian Bennett. Total disclosed and estimated expenditure by Shaun Harvey purchasing players for Simon Grayson during same period: Max Gradel for £100,000 from Leicester City Leigh Bromby for £250,000 from Sheffield United Neill Collins for £500,000 from Preston North End Ross McCormack for £300,000 from Cardiff City Alex Bruce for £300,000 from Ipswich Town Andy Lonergan for £300,000 from Preston North End Danny Pugh for £500,000 from Stoke City Disclosed Total Gross Spend: £2,250,000 The rest: Undisclosed.
LeedsBulldog
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 07:45 PMWARNOCK = Class act - just what us fans need - a man with passion and guts - go for it Warnock and make our season complete - you have 18months to reach the promised land and guess what - i think you will do it!
lsdn2e
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 06:31 PMSpot on Buckstonewhite a huge section of our fan base seem to suffer from ADD. On Saturday at 2-0 we had a chorus of "wtf is going on' 3 goals later there all back on the Ken Bates sunshine bus. Elland Road used to be a special place now it's full of fans singing about how we only get sh*t refs....boo hoo & then the man whose ripped the heart & soul out of your football waves a shiny new manager & everything is great again. It would be funny if I didnt support the same team.
themightywhites
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 06:15 PMCouldn't agree more Brighouse White, well said. I am delighted that we have got a manager of the calibre of Neil Warnock with his proven promotion record. The missing ingredient is to get right behind the team and the manager (we have had good reason to be disenchanted) and sing our hearts out for the 'lads we love the best', the one and only Leeds United. MOT.
Brighouse White
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 05:13 PMI've never been Ken Bates' greatest fan (and probably never will be) but grudging credit where its due - realistically he's brought in the best manager around for the situation we're in. As long as he backs Warnock in the transfer market (assuming he doesn't perform the miracle of getting us up this season) in the summer, then we need to put an end to the Bates-bashing during the games, and leave it for outside the stadium. To give Warnock the best chance of giving us what we all want - Prem football - then we need to get behind him and the team for 90mins every time they step on the pitch, and leave Bates out of it. By bringing in Warnock, Bates has done half of the only decent thing he's ever done for the club - the other half will remain to be seen in the summer, when contracts have to be renewed and players brought in. But until then let's back Warnock and the team and forget about Bates for the time being.
bramley whites
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 04:05 PMSlopout leave york city alone numpty wum wooooooo bell end
bramley whites
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 04:04 PMLol koppite squash rugby league badminton golf with tiger tea with queen coffee.s with bates but the one what tops the lot is you and pavilion on the bus to la la land ! you type out of you ar se old boy ! qnd if its in front of me i aint turning it down lol youth of today lol
bramley whites
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 03:51 PMNumptys who pay there admission fee into elland road koppite you didnt want warnock you lieing twxt you wanted grayson you have just stopped crying over him ! Hello hello we are the warnock boys we got rid of grayson so we could get the warnock in hello hello we are the warnock boys we got rid of grayson to get the warnock in hello hello we are the warnock boys
original koppite
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 03:50 PM27york city...What you say might have some truth but in what does it concern YORKCITY???
original koppite
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 03:47 PM22bramley whites.....No need to ask what drugs you're on, it'll be anything you can get your hands on in as large a quantity you can manage before you collapse as for me I play Badminton once a week and have one pint of beer afterwards to quench my thirst which is the full extent of my drug taking and I don't Support Mans hitty lovers either.
original koppite
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 03:46 PMPending Moderation
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