Neil Warnock came up against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur with his then-Cardiff City side last season.
Neil Warnock has offered differing yet brutally honest views on Wolves and Tottenham’s coaching staff and what they were like when he came up against them last season.
The 71-year-old, who was relegated with Cardiff last term, labelled Wolves’ staff ‘the worst’, but on the other hand, he thinks that then-Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino was ‘very, very good’ when he came up against his coaching team.
Warnock is a very controversial character and it is fair to say that he does have the ability to wind the opposition up on the touchline.
Speaking to The Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast Show on TalkSport (08/01/20 at 9:40 am), Warnock commented on coming up against Wolves and Spurs. He also touched upon his relationship with Nuno Espirito Santo.
“The foreign managers aren’t used to that sort of thing [invinting managers in after a game for a drink],” Warnock told TalkSport. “Nuno at Wolves, I went into his office and there were about 40 staff in his office, wives, kids and relatives. I just said ‘can you tell him I have been in’.
“I do like him, though. I know we had a bust-up but we talked after and I really admire him. He’s done brilliantly. The agent has come in and they have got all the players. I know they’re Portuguese etc.. But you still have to blend them into a team. They have done remarkably. They were probably the worst staff on the touchline during a game, Nuno’s lot. A decision where about eight of them moaning at the fourth official.
“But the best staff were Tottenham’s. Pochettino staff were very, very good. And the best welcome I had was with Pep at Manchester City. But that was funny because his two kids wanted a picture with me rather than the Dad and I thought that was quite good. We asked him to take a picture of me and his kids.”
During the 2017/18 Championship season, when both Wolves and Cardiff earned automatic promotion, they faced off in one of the most dramatic games of the season in Wales in April.
At the time, those in the play-off places were chasing the top-two spots, especially Cardiff’s, who looked the most vulnerable. And going into this game, they found themselves a goal down following Ruben Neves’ brilliant free-kick.
In one of the most dramatic finishes, Cardiff were awarded a penalty in stoppage time, but Junior Hoilett saw his effort hit the woodwork. Warnock’s side were awarded yet another penalty in stoppage-time, only for John Ruddy to save his side this time.
Wolves celebrated with utter joy when the final whistle blew with Nuno forgetting to shake Warnock’s hand after full-time – the Cardiff boss clearly didn’t like it and reacted in an angry manager. The rest is history as they both earned promotion.
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