Speaking on the No Tippy Tappy Football Podcast, Neil Warnock has been discussing what it’s like to be an unemployed manager and almost joining Nottingham Forest.
Warnock has managed pretty much every single Championship promotion hopeful throughout the 2000s and 2010s, but, somehow, he never ended up in the dugout at the City Ground.
He reportedly rejected the job back in 2014, and according to the man himself, he held talks with the Reds in 2016 about the vacant role before Philippe Montanier took the job.
In the end, Warnock took the job at Cardiff City instead and eventually led the Bluebirds to promotion.
Warnock spoke to Forest
The legendary manager discussed the Forest job.
“I tell the story about going to Cardiff. I had Hoilett and Bamba waiting in the wings to sign for me and I had told them that we were going to get a club in July or August. I spoke to Blackburn and I spoke to Forest and people like that, it never materialised and I had them ringing me saying ‘gaffer I need to pay the biils.’ I met the Chairman and knew I could work with him, so I told him I would have the job,” Warnock said.
How would it have gone?
It would’ve been very interesting to see Warnock at Forest.
The 74-year-old is, of course, one of the great managers at that level, but would he have fit in at Forest?
As a Sheffield United legend, Forest fans, understandably, don’t love Warnock, and that same sort of relationship proved to be an issue during the gaffer’s time at Leeds.
However, at the same time, Warnock does respect Forest, he cites Brian Clough as his managerial idol, and he is a professional who will do a stand-up job wherever he goes.
One thing is for sure, he can’t have done much worse than Montanier.
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