Cardiff manager Neil Warnock looks back on his colourful career

In 1980, Neil Warnock was ready for a new challenge.

After a 12-year playing career, including more than 300 appearances spread across eight clubs, Warnock was desperate for one thing - a place in the dugout. What followed was a remarkable journey from Sunday League to Premier League which has yet to reach its conclusion.

Warnock, who celebrates his 70th birthday on Saturday, has experienced many highs and lows in his 38-year managerial career at 16 clubs and in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports, he looks back on some of his highlights...

An unlikely managerial start

Warnock's breakthrough in management was an unlikely one as his first job was at Gainsborough, but he could have easily ended up at a different team. He explains his willingness to start "at the very bottom".

"I was finishing at football in my early thirties and I knew I wasn't going to make it much more. I managed Sunday League in a place just off the motorway, near Sheffield. I always enjoyed organising the team so I thought the next step would be to try and go part-time. I was doing chiropody as well. I thought: 'How am I going to get on the bandwagon?'

"I always enjoyed managing. Then I found out a lad, who I played with at Barnsley, he was at Gainsborough. They needed a manager. They were playing Goole on the Saturday and Goole needed a manager. I thought 'right, I've got two chances here in one game'. I went to the game, Gainsborough vs Goole, which was managerless.

"I saw the chairman of Gainsborough coming out of the ground after the game. I pulled him [aside], said who I was and asked if they were interested in a player-manager.

"I let him have my number, then I spoke to Goole. I got a phone call the following week from Gainsborough and they invited me over and I got the job. I wangled the job a little bit. It was a good start for me, a learning curve and I enjoyed it.

"I knew I couldn't get a top club to start with. I knew I had to do it from right at the very bottom. It's not done me any harm."

His first promotion

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After moving into professional football, Warnock has earned promotions with Scarborough, Notts County (twice), Huddersfield, Plymouth, Sheffield United, QPR and most recently Cardiff to the Premier League. He holds the record for eight promotions in English football. He admits the very first of those - with Scarborough - was particularly memorable.

"It was a special time. We were 50-1 outsiders. I remember taking about 40 players from around where I lived over to Scarborough. The ground I thought was like the Manchester United of non-league. It was a fabulous ground. I showed them all and said it could be the start of something great. I managed to sign 14 of them.

"Although we started very poorly, within a couple of months we'd sorted everything out and went on a great run. I signed my coach Kevin Blackwell and he'd tell you he got us up.

"They were a special group of players, as they have been in all my promotions. They still have reunions. I've been to two or three reunions. It's nice to get together and I still enjoy talking about stories."

His eighth promotion

Warnock admitted that his proudest achievement was leading Cardiff to the Premier League last season via automatic promotion. When he took charge in October 2016, Cardiff were bottom of the Championship with just two wins from 11 games.

"Last season [was my best achievement] by a mile, only because of the circumstances. When I came we were in the relegation part. We actually turned that around quite quickly.

"I felt in the summer we had a chance. I remember telling the players in pre-season: 'Listen lads, you have got seven promotions and I've got a feeling about you lot this year. I think we can do it. We'll be up against it. If we get in the play-offs we can win the play-offs because we have that strong mentality.' I just said 'you never know.'

"We kept going and all credit to them. The fans have played a massive part here. If the fans hadn't been with us, we couldn't have done any of that.

"To see the team come to the promised land, it's been like almost a miracle. They've really got behind us.

"Everyone we've played against home away this year have commented on our fans. The noise they make, they never stop, they don't go early.

"It's been that type of loyalty the players and I have appreciated. Everyone singing from the same hymn sheet doesn't half make a difference."

Turning down Chelsea

Warnock has experienced a long and successful career and insists he does really have any regrets - but he says he possibly made a mistake when he turned down an offer from former Chelsea chairman Ken Bates to take over at Stamford Bridge...

"I turned down Chelsea when I was at Notts County [in 1991]. That's a lesson for all managers when the public have a go at you for walking out. I can understand managers now because I stayed loyal to Notts County because the group of players, chairman, pleaded with me.

"It didn't feel right at Chelsea when I met Ken Bates at the time. It was all M25 and things taken for granted and it weren't me, really. So I stayed put and six months later I got the sack.

"As a manager, you've got to look after yourself at times. You have to move on otherwise you probably won't get the opportunity.

"If I had gone to Chelsea, things might have been totally different, you just don't know. My life might not have panned out as it has so I can't complain. I've had a great life. I can't really look back with regrets because I've had so many good times. And football is not easy for a manager.

"All of a sudden it's crept up and I'm 70. It seems to be just amazing when I think I've been a manager since 1980. Mum and dad would have been quite proud, given the upbringing I've had."

The key to management

The landscape of football has changed immeasurably in the past 40 years but Warnock insists the principles of management remain unchanged.

"There's nothing different about management, it's still 90 per cent man-management. All the way through my life, the different levels.

"I see these young managers writing things down on the bench. Are they doing a shopping list? I haven't got a clue. I think management is about getting the best out of what you've got."

Is the end nigh?

As Warnock prepares to enter his 39th year in football management, he remains unsure whether Cardiff will be his final job.

"I honestly don't know [when I'll retire]. When you do get the sack or leave for whatever reason, all of a sudden the phone never rings.

"I can go and pick up the eggs from the chickens and take the kids to the school bus. I could back then, not now. They've grown up.

"I could have done all these things but there's something missing. It's that humour that drives you, the day-to-day things, and pressure I suppose."

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