Nottingham Forest could be forgiven for wishing they had convinced the 68-year-old to take over.
“I felt that I have to do the job the way I see it being done,” Neil Warnock said after turning down Nottingham Forest in March 2014, as reported by the BBC.
“And I just couldn’t totally see being able to do that, so it was difficult.”
The BBC claim that the veteran manager had been in advanced negotiations to take over at the City Ground following the sacking of Billy Davies.
Three years and three more P45s later, Forest are on the lookout for yet another new manager after hiring and firing Philippe Montanier within seven months. Throughout the controversial reign of chairman Fawaz Al-Hasawi, very little has changed despite the constant upheaval, the revolving door player and manager policy.
Forest are going nowhere fast.
Meanwhile, Warnock pulled off a great escape with Rotherham last season and, after being parachuted in at Cardiff City, has dragged the bluebirds from the verge of the relegation zone up to 12th, nine points and six places ahead of Forest.
The 68-year-old has essentially become a freelance firefighter.
However, as Warnock stated on Goals on Sunday, broadcast on Sky Sports 1 at 11.30AM (19/02), he was once again on the verge of striking a deal with Forest only to turn the club down for almost the exact same reasons as before – essentially, due to the uncertainty at board level and a number of inexperienced appointments behind the scenes.
“Originally they had a Greek director of football, they thought they had sold the club, and he appointed the manager [Montanier] who didn’t really know much about the Championship, which makes me laugh really because it’s a difficult league,” Warnock said.
As reported by the BBC, Warnock gave exactly the same explanation in 2014 although, on that occasion, he described the reviled Al-Hasawi as ‘a lovely man’ who ‘loves the club’. Tellingly, he made no such claim this time.
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