Yorkshire Evening Post 21/2/12
Whites have finally landed Mr Right
By Leon Wobschall
It’s taken as read that pressure will always go with the territory at Elland Road, whether you be a manager, coach or player.
It has been the making of some, while proving the sorry downfall of others, which has been the case for the last half-century since Don Revie picked up a footballing giant firmly by the bootstrings and stirred it into life, making the footballing world take note.
To be manager of Leeds United, like the other great one-club city in England in Newcastle United, means you are pretty much under the microscope 24-7.
Every decision and quote is pored over and dissected by its army of supporters whose insatiable appetite for news on their club is ravenous. Switching off isn’t much of an option either.
Neil Warnock has the broadest of shoulders and has always been able to look after himself in a managerial sense and those qualities will stand him in good stead for arguably the biggest challenge of his long managerial career.
Loud, proud, opinionated and passionate, football’s very own Marmite Man provokes love and hate emotions in equal measure among football supporters. But one thing is crystal-clear, you never ignore him. And while he can give it, he can also take it.
Great copy for journalists and never short of a line he may be, but invariably there’s plenty of method in his musings and in terms of keeping the heat off his players, Warnock is a past master.
The Sheffielder hogged plenty of the limelight in a seven-and-a-half-year association with boyhood club Sheffield United from 1999 to 2007, famously feuding with the likes of Stan Ternent, Phil Thompson and Gareth Southgate along the way and grabbing plenty of back-page headlines in the process.
But he is remembered chiefly by Unitedites for putting the club firmly at the top of the Steel City pecking order, with former Blades and Leeds striker turned radio pundit Keith Edwards confident he will prove as big a success just up the M1 at Elland Road in his own inimitable way.
Edwards said: “Neil will give people a lot of headlines and that’s why everybody likes him.
“I always say it’s about players, but you’ll find that Neil will take a lot of pressure off the players by creating all of the attention on himself.
“There are no two ways about it, at Leeds United there will be players who maybe feel a bit of pressure. But Neil will take it off them, that’s what he tends to do, he takes the pressure on his shoulders really well.
“With the reputation of Leeds in the past, there’s always pressure to do well. We had it when I played there in the FA Cup semi-final and play-off final.
“Neil will be the man who wants to do really well and put Leeds on the map. The job will have a certain ring about it for Neil. With respect to the other clubs around Leeds, they haven’t got the same name as Leeds.
“It’s an intriguing appointment, but I think it’s the right one.
“I think it’s fair to say Leeds will be guaranteed to have some fun under Neil. I loved the comment when he left Queen’s Park Rangers when he said he takes full responsibility for where they are now – the Premiership!”
After leaving Loftus Road at the start of the year, Warnock, who turned 63 in December, announced his intentions to have one last managerial hurrah before riding off into the sunset. Or in his case, his beloved Cornwall.
The task of taking on United was always likely to prove an irresistible one for the Yorkshireman and while the odds on him orchestrating a successful promotion charge via the Championship play-offs in 2011-12 are fairly long, Edwards for one wouldn’t put it past Warnock.
Just 14 matches remain in United’s season, with Warnock’s new side currently in 10th place in the Championship. They are only three points behind sixth-placed Birmingham but have played more games than virtually all of their play-off rivals.
United also have a teak-tough run-in and have still to play all of the current top five, along with fellow play-off aspirants Hull City and Middlesbrough, but you sense it’s a situation Warnock will grasp and relish.
And in terms of short-term fixes, the veteran gaffer has previous, with one of the most unheralded yet truly remarkable achievements coming in the south west footballing backwater of Torquay United, who he saved from relegation out of the Football League in 1993 following a sterling Great Escape mission.
Edwards added: “I think it’s the right appointment for Leeds. Neil’s got all the experience in the world, hasn’t he.
“I’m sure Neil will be having a good go at it (promotion), with Leeds being on the fringes of it (the play-offs).
“Leeds, like Sheffield United, are crying out for success and if they get into a play-off spot, they will take their chances from there.
“Neil’s record in the play-offs isn’t brilliant, unfortunately, but there’s no reason why Leeds can’t do it because in this division in this particular year, the teams are all of a muchness.
“If anyone can organise a team and make them very difficult to beat, it’s Neil. His teams, without being disrespectful, invariably grind results out. That’s his strength, getting the best out of average players with all the respect in the world.
“Yes, Leeds have some quality players. But at Sheffield United, it was mainly about his organisational skills and we’ve got no axe to grind with him whatsoever as he got us into the Premiership.
“You will soon see a very hard-working side who are prepared to graft for each other.
“When we got promotion, I can’t recall a side working as hard for each other as we did.
“Promotion will be tough, but Neil will absolutely love a challenge like that.
“In the past, he thrived on saving teams, now he’s got the challenge to get Leeds into the play-offs. He’ll thrive on that pressure and the attention he will get at Leeds.
“He’ll enjoy the challenge, that’s the difference between him and a lot of other managers. He’ll love Leeds as a football club and the fact they could get crowds of 30-odd thousand. He’ll thrive on it and why not!”
Whites have finally landed Mr Right
By Leon Wobschall
It’s taken as read that pressure will always go with the territory at Elland Road, whether you be a manager, coach or player.
It has been the making of some, while proving the sorry downfall of others, which has been the case for the last half-century since Don Revie picked up a footballing giant firmly by the bootstrings and stirred it into life, making the footballing world take note.
To be manager of Leeds United, like the other great one-club city in England in Newcastle United, means you are pretty much under the microscope 24-7.
Every decision and quote is pored over and dissected by its army of supporters whose insatiable appetite for news on their club is ravenous. Switching off isn’t much of an option either.
Neil Warnock has the broadest of shoulders and has always been able to look after himself in a managerial sense and those qualities will stand him in good stead for arguably the biggest challenge of his long managerial career.
Loud, proud, opinionated and passionate, football’s very own Marmite Man provokes love and hate emotions in equal measure among football supporters. But one thing is crystal-clear, you never ignore him. And while he can give it, he can also take it.
Great copy for journalists and never short of a line he may be, but invariably there’s plenty of method in his musings and in terms of keeping the heat off his players, Warnock is a past master.
The Sheffielder hogged plenty of the limelight in a seven-and-a-half-year association with boyhood club Sheffield United from 1999 to 2007, famously feuding with the likes of Stan Ternent, Phil Thompson and Gareth Southgate along the way and grabbing plenty of back-page headlines in the process.
But he is remembered chiefly by Unitedites for putting the club firmly at the top of the Steel City pecking order, with former Blades and Leeds striker turned radio pundit Keith Edwards confident he will prove as big a success just up the M1 at Elland Road in his own inimitable way.
Edwards said: “Neil will give people a lot of headlines and that’s why everybody likes him.
“I always say it’s about players, but you’ll find that Neil will take a lot of pressure off the players by creating all of the attention on himself.
“There are no two ways about it, at Leeds United there will be players who maybe feel a bit of pressure. But Neil will take it off them, that’s what he tends to do, he takes the pressure on his shoulders really well.
“With the reputation of Leeds in the past, there’s always pressure to do well. We had it when I played there in the FA Cup semi-final and play-off final.
“Neil will be the man who wants to do really well and put Leeds on the map. The job will have a certain ring about it for Neil. With respect to the other clubs around Leeds, they haven’t got the same name as Leeds.
“It’s an intriguing appointment, but I think it’s the right one.
“I think it’s fair to say Leeds will be guaranteed to have some fun under Neil. I loved the comment when he left Queen’s Park Rangers when he said he takes full responsibility for where they are now – the Premiership!”
After leaving Loftus Road at the start of the year, Warnock, who turned 63 in December, announced his intentions to have one last managerial hurrah before riding off into the sunset. Or in his case, his beloved Cornwall.
The task of taking on United was always likely to prove an irresistible one for the Yorkshireman and while the odds on him orchestrating a successful promotion charge via the Championship play-offs in 2011-12 are fairly long, Edwards for one wouldn’t put it past Warnock.
Just 14 matches remain in United’s season, with Warnock’s new side currently in 10th place in the Championship. They are only three points behind sixth-placed Birmingham but have played more games than virtually all of their play-off rivals.
United also have a teak-tough run-in and have still to play all of the current top five, along with fellow play-off aspirants Hull City and Middlesbrough, but you sense it’s a situation Warnock will grasp and relish.
And in terms of short-term fixes, the veteran gaffer has previous, with one of the most unheralded yet truly remarkable achievements coming in the south west footballing backwater of Torquay United, who he saved from relegation out of the Football League in 1993 following a sterling Great Escape mission.
Edwards added: “I think it’s the right appointment for Leeds. Neil’s got all the experience in the world, hasn’t he.
“I’m sure Neil will be having a good go at it (promotion), with Leeds being on the fringes of it (the play-offs).
“Leeds, like Sheffield United, are crying out for success and if they get into a play-off spot, they will take their chances from there.
“Neil’s record in the play-offs isn’t brilliant, unfortunately, but there’s no reason why Leeds can’t do it because in this division in this particular year, the teams are all of a muchness.
“If anyone can organise a team and make them very difficult to beat, it’s Neil. His teams, without being disrespectful, invariably grind results out. That’s his strength, getting the best out of average players with all the respect in the world.
“Yes, Leeds have some quality players. But at Sheffield United, it was mainly about his organisational skills and we’ve got no axe to grind with him whatsoever as he got us into the Premiership.
“You will soon see a very hard-working side who are prepared to graft for each other.
“When we got promotion, I can’t recall a side working as hard for each other as we did.
“Promotion will be tough, but Neil will absolutely love a challenge like that.
“In the past, he thrived on saving teams, now he’s got the challenge to get Leeds into the play-offs. He’ll thrive on that pressure and the attention he will get at Leeds.
“He’ll enjoy the challenge, that’s the difference between him and a lot of other managers. He’ll love Leeds as a football club and the fact they could get crowds of 30-odd thousand. He’ll thrive on it and why not!”