Dirty old eagle – Neil Warnock

The younger ones of us remember the old fox when he was at the helm of the modest Sheffield United squad in the Premier League, season 2006/07. No one expected them to almost survive in the elite, the team whose best striker was John Stead and best players Phil Jagielka and experienced back Keath Gillespie. Still, they were tough at home, they rarely conceded away and several precious wins at Bramall Lane put them on the right track. Still, destiny turned against them in the last round. The only option that saw Blades relegated happened – they lost at home to Wigan 1:2, while at the same time West Ham won Manchester United at Old Trafford thanks to Carlos Tevez. Only few days later Tevez joined the Red Devils ( what a coincidence…) and later on it turned out that he didn’t have the right to play for West Ham, which is why United gained a hefty compensation from the Hammers.

Anyway, Warnock was fed up and he left Bramall Lane, in spite of eight fantastic years at the helm of red-white squad. He didn’t give himself a chance to use the injustice as a motivation for an express return to the Premiership. Still, after taking over Crystal Palace, this manager showed that he can direct the young players towards the aim. Eagles’ recent defeat in Bristol by City (0:1) will be remembered by Palace’s regular goal being disallowed, after which referee Rob Shoebridge gave a public apology to Warnock and got a few-weeks ban.

What Warnock said to his lads in the locker-room after the match remains a secret but Palace’s response on the pitch three days later was fascinating. In the game against favoured hosts, Ipswich, Warnock’s kindergarten were flying across the pitch, giving a fantastic display, perhaps the best in the whole spring part of the season. Last season they were shocked by the elimination from the play-offs but they seem much better now, without a pound spent on the market this summer. There is no buyer in sight and with a very low budget the owner and president, eccentric Simon Jordan wasn’t much of a spender in the last few seasons.

However, it seems that old fox Warnock feels at home in that kind of a situation. He is an expert in getting the best out of the talented teenagers and experienced players that are worn out. Even though his team is one of the relegation contenders this season, he is doing great; always giving straightforward, sarcastic comments on referee decisions and never getting tired of thinking of excuses for the mistakes of his youngsters and same old “coulda, woulda, shoulda” stories. You know what we are talking about: when after a 0:5 defeat, the losing party says that “if our drive made it to the net while the score was 0:0, we could…”

It seems that this Yorkshire manager likes it best when he is underestimated. He had already planned to retire (he is over 60 years old) but he simply couldn’t. His philosophic and sarcastic comments didn’t spare his last season’s “favourite”, former Eagles striker, Shefki Kuqi or the decisions of his owner Jordan, who spends more time in his villa in Spanish Marbella than at Selhurst Park. Warnock has the right to act this way and he doesn’t care as his hard work alone will bring lots of money to the club when they sell Nathaniel Clyne, Victor Moses or Sean Scannell.

His kids have shown in the Carling Cup defeat by great Manchester City that they can give a hard time to defenders like Kolo Toure and Julian Lescott. It is clear that Palace will, this season, have the role of the team that everyone likes to see- the ones that make everyone work hard, as they will play offensive and attractive football, because they have nothing to lose. Still, it is hard to believe that they can get hold of the play-offs.

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