Neil Warnock has officially brought the curtain down on more than 40 years of management.
It has certainly been an eventful and successful time in the dugout for the 73-year-old. He holds the record for the most number of games managed in English football, surpassing 1,600 matches. He also has a whopping eight promotions under his belt - another record.
Speaking of his decision, he said: "I just thought it was the right time, really, coming towards the end of the season, there's not really a job you're going to get before then. I've had a good run really. I'm enjoying things I've not done for years, I'm having a lot of time with the family, my dogs and I've taken up cycling too."
Here, we look at some of Warnock's outspoken moments from down the years.
Bowling hustler
Warnock achieved promotion to the Premier League with his beloved Sheffield United back in 2006.
Part of his success was his undoubted man-management. During one particular pre-season with his Blades' squad he took to hustling his own players during what they thought was a routine game of bowling. Speaking to talkSPORT , Warnock said: "We used to go to Scarborough for pre-season and went bowling one day so I said to the lads ‘£20 each, whoever wins takes it’.
What I didn’t tell them was I’d worked in a bowling alley for two years. We got to the alley and I'd brought my own bowling ball and my own cloth. I shot 248 I think it was, and I took the money - it was a bit of shrewdness!"
El-Hadji Diouf
Warnock was enraged back in January 2011 when, as QPR boss, he claimed that Blackburn's Diouf abused Jamie Mackie as he lay on the pitch with a broken leg during an FA Cup clash between the two sides. He said at the time: "The lads were furious with Diouf; he (Mackie) had broken his leg and he is calling him all sorts on the pitch.
“There was no need to put the finger up and call him a disgrace and even the Blackburn people were embarrassed. For many years I have thought he was the gutter type,” Warnock said of the former Blackburn forward. "I was going to call him a sewer rat, but that might be insulting to sewer rats. He’s the lowest of the low. I hope he goes abroad because I won't miss watching him. He is a nasty little person."
Amazingly, Warnock would go on to sign Diouf while he was boss of Leeds United in 2012 and changed his opinion fully by describing the forward as "a matador."
How he'd like to be remembered
Following a game at Bristol City, Warnock was asked a question about how he would like to be remembered or honoured by football fans.
He gave a typically tongue-in-cheek response, saying: “I joke with their fans that, when I do pass away, I hope they all have a minute’s applause for me at Ashton Gate and remember the good times I’ve given them.
“I don’t want silence. I want them all to be chanting ‘Warnock’s a w*nker’ over and over again. For a whole minute. That would be my ideal.”
Thompson clash
Warnock's Sheffield United were involved in a fiery League Cup semi-final against Liverpool back in 2003.
The Blades had won the first leg at Bramall Lane, but were narrowly beaten in extra time at Anfield, after which Warnock became embroiled in an angry exchange with Liverpool players and staff on the pitch.
Writing in his autobiography the veteran boss recalls shouting at Phil Thompson, the former Kop player who was assistant manager at the time, saying: “You can f*** off Pinocchio, get back in your f****** cupboard.”
Naked debrief
Paddy Kenny played under Warnock for a long period at Sheffield United and can testify to some strange dressing room inquests.
Speaking on the Tubes and Ange Golf Life YouTube channel, the former goalkeeper once opened up about Warnock’s brutal dressing-room onslaughts - in the nude. Kenny said: “What he used to do is, say we’d lost or whatever, he’d come in the dressing room, and he’d rant and rave.
“He calmed down as he got older, but in the early days at Sheffield United he’d be ranting and raving, he’d be stripping off as he’s doing it and throwing his clothes around. And before you know it he’d be b****** all, he’d be stood there, everything hanging out, shouting at us still and you’re like, where do you look. He’d come out and he’d be drying himself still going f****** mad!"
Stoke 'pigsty'
Warnock was far from impressed with Stoke City's hospitality when he took his Middlesbrough side there in December 2020.
The match was during a time when Covid restrictions meant visiting sides to the Bet365 Stadium had to get changed in temporary facilities to ensure social distancing. Safe to say Warnock was not a fan.
"Those changing rooms were a pigsty," he proclaimed. "In fact, pigs would have seen it and run away. They stuck us in a little portacabin. Now you can’t tell me with social distancing we wouldn’t have been better off in the dressing room. We give them everything at Middlesbrough - heat, lovely room, and we’re in a pigsty around the corner here.
“The toilets don’t work, they’re blocked. We had fumes coming in before the game and we had to get the maintenance guy in. Why didn't they look at that before we arrived? The showers were leaking, water everywhere on the floor. It’s an absolute disgrace."
