Cardiff City announce Neil Warnock as their new manager
67-year-old Neil Warnock has been appointed as the new Cardiff City manager, after the club parted company with Paul Trollope yesterday.
Trollope was sacked after his Cardiff side made a terrible start to their Championship campaign. They find themselves in the relegation places after only two victories in their opening 11 league games.
The new Cardiff City manager gave his thoughts on his latest comeback in football during his first interview since taking the job:
I’m a big believer in fate and when this cropped up, I had one phone call from Mehmet Dalman (Cardiff’s chairman) and it was straight away. I always want to feel wanted and he told me straight away I was his number one target, the club’s number one target, and that goes a long way I think.
Warnock is a manager who is renowned for his ability to save clubs from disastrous circumstances as we saw from his brilliant short-term spell at Torquay. He also lead his boyhood club, Sheffield United, to the Premier League for the first time in their history.
He has an illustrious résumé including seven promotions, in a career which includes 703 games in the second tier of English football at a win percentage of 39%.
The ex-QPR and Crystal Palace manager was last seen managing Rotherham United at the back end of last season. He was appointed to replace the previously dismissed Neil Redfearn on the 11th of February 2016, with his primary objective being to save the club from relegation.
They were in a horrible state at the time after recent defeats to relegation rivals Bolton and Charlton, but this all changed after Warnock entered the fray.
He masterminded an 11-game unbeaten run, which included famous victories over their local rivals Sheffield Wednesday, as well as Middlesbrough, Leeds United and a resounding 4-0 victory against relegation rivals MK Dons.
It is undoubtable that survival for the second successive Championship season for Rotherham would never have been possible without the profound man-management skills and experience displayed by the man dubbed by some as the ‘messiah’.
Neil Warnock is set to be joined at Cardiff by Kevin Blackwell and Ronnie Jebson, who were part of his highly successful coaching staff while at Championship rivals Rotherham United. James Rowberry, Martyn Margetson and Lee Southernwood are set to remain at Cardiff as part of the new manager’s back-room staff.
His underlying passion and love for the game is sure to rub off well with the Cardiff faithful who have not felt apart of the club for some time since the controversial Vincent Tan took over the club.
Warnock is the perfect man to reconnect with the clubs supporters. To be considered a success at the Cardiff City Stadium though, the manager will have to improve the results on the pitch.
If Warnock can transmit the same level of desire and fight from his previous sides into his new team, it will go a long way to improve the fortunes of a club who should be looking up the table towards promotion instead of looking over their shoulders in the midst of a relegation battle.