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Opinion

St James Park welcomes the original Marmite Man

7 years ago
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Neil Warnock, the original marmite man. You either love him or you hate him. Well actually you probably don’t like him either!

One thing for sure is he is a wily owld dog. Been around the block, aye no doubt.

Had more gigs than the Rolling Stones and fell out with more people than Donald Trump – most definitely.

Don’t doubt that he gets his teams organised, spirited and squeezes the very best out of them.

Not everyone’s cup of tea, but does he give a toss about that? Whey not likely.

I’ve got a Sheff Wed supporting mate who swears he’s the devil that walks the earth and would make the sign of the cross at the mere mention of his name and for years carried bulbs of garlic and a giant crucifix in the fear their paths might cross!

These days seen as a journeyman nearing slippers and pipe time, yet this so called footballing dinosaur still gets the auld urge, talons twitching and any sniff of a job and he’s straight in there.

Say this very quietly, he was even linked with a move here recently during Mike Ashley’s jager bomb days in The Orange Tree!

The fickle finger of fate and all that. Wowza. Would have been better than McClaren! Steady on now!

He’s wandered and roamed of recent years, intermingled with the good life back on his farm in Plymouth. But like the stubborn old goat he is, the lure of football and the craic of a dressing room brings him back.

The owl faced one has managed some decent teams over the years and had some cracking players. Took Notts County to the top flight from Division 3 in successive seasons.

He built a decent Sheffield United team that was always there or thereabouts and a bogey in the Cups. He had some cracking young players there, got them promoted and then got relegated and right royally shafted! 

All to do with some serious dodge-pottery going on at West Ham, one Carlos Tevez and some International Bond Villain third party owner bending the rules like Uri Geller’s spoon drawer. So much so T’ Blades sued the Hammers and got a bung out of court to pipe down. Unreal really.

Anyway, I digress a little.  What I’m trying to get at, is even though he’s not the poster boy (or even gadgie) of English football – the bloke sure knows his onions.

Those with short memories hark back to these hallowed parts as recently as August 2014… Landed on Strawberry Place with an unfancied Palace and upset the applecart with a three all draw that we could have both won and lost! Our very own Dwight biting his future feeding hands! Bad lad!

There’s a bit of spice between him and Rafa too, which is great – don’t think there’s a celebrity death match in the offing mind. Rafa is probably a couple of weight divisions superior in every department!

But seriously, who hasn’t Warnock fell out with in his time? He loves it. He’ll love coming here again looking to be the bogey man. Full on panto Villain patrolling the touchline.

You just cannot write blokes like this off. You cannot write his teams off either.  He worked a miracle at Rotherham last year – look at them now! Cardiff had been cannon fodder before NW’s suitcases landed on their doorstep but he’s had them right at it ever since.

Lucky for us we have someone in the dugout who isn’t going to take anything for granted!

Isn’t it funny how people jibed that Mr Benitez had no Championship experience?

It’s like Nigel Mansell applying for a cabby job at Noda and people wondering if he’d cope with the keys to the Mondeo!

Nee flies on wor Rafael, home players bang in form. Good honest game on the cards.

Don’t see any Warnock team being a walk in the St James Park…but I don’t see anything but three points for us either. We will soon find out my good people.

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