Ranking loveable Neil Warnock interim era manager jobs during ‘retirement’

Neil Warnock is back in management for *another* interim stint at a club in need and if his recent jobs are anything to go by, Aberdeen are in for a treat…

Despite logging over 1,950 games in management, the 76-year-old is showing no sign of losing his appetite for the job and he’s penned a deal with Aberdeen until the summer to work in Scotland for the first time.

In recent years, Warnock – with his supreme man-management skills – has been utilised as a cheat code for immediate success by under-performing clubs as his extraordinary résumé has been bolstered even further.

Warnock has squeezed two great escapes, a promotion to the Premier League and a ‘retirement’ into the interim phase of his managerial career which began at Rotherham United in February 2016.

With his first game in charge of Aberdeen being a defeat to Rangers, it is too soon to reach a verdict on his current role. But below I’ve ranked Warnock’s previous four jobs from worst to best…

4) Middlesbrough

As you will later discover, Warnock being drafted in for a relegation firefight has been a common theme over the past eight years and Boro gave him a call during the extended (Covid-affected) 2019/20 campaign.

After two failed stints at promotion, Middlesbrough slumped under Jonathan Woodgate in 19/20 and were at serious risk of relegation when Warnock arrived with eight games to go.

Despite not being quite as dramatic as his other two salvage jobs, Warnock still kept Boro up with relative ease and subsequently stayed on for the 2020/21 behind-closed-doors season.

Already holding the record for the most promotions as a manager with eight, Warnock was getting greedy with Boro in search of his ninth but they fell short of the play-offs in his only full season in charge and ended up 10th. Then following a disappointing start to the 2021/22 season, he was sacked and replaced by Chris Wilder.

So all in all, Warnock’s Boro stint was decent but not remarkable and did not come close to matching what he achieved elsewhere…

3) Huddersfield Town

Several months after departing Middlesbrough, Warnock officially announced his retirement in April 2022 and his time out of work lasted all of ten months before he took on the task of saving Huddersfield from relegation last season.

Seemingly wanting her agitated husband out of her hair, Mrs Warnock permitted him to return to the Terriers to succeed the pretty hopeless Mark Fotheringham, who left the Yorkshire club deep in the Championship relegation zone.

Under Warnock, Huddersfield went five games without a victory after picking up three points in his first game in charge against Birmingham City.

But just when Warnock’s naysayers were beginning to question whether the veteran’s wizardry had *finally* evaded him, Huddersfield finished the season in extraordinary form.

Winning six of their last nine games, the Terriers (with the help of Reading’s six-point deduction) sprinted towards safety and ended up nine points clear of the drop zone. After having his contract extended to oversee Huddersfield’s post-takeover transition phase, Warnock left the club in September 2023.

Without him, his replacement – Darren Moore – has been sacked with the club still fighting relegation. It’s almost as if they should have kept Warnock on for longer…

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2) Cardiff City

After getting the bug for football back in 2016, Warnock joined Cardiff City with his sole aim being to secure a record-setting eighth promotion as a manager.

After a stabilising mid-table finish in his first season in charge, Warnock got his wish as the Bluebirds hugely surpassed expectations to earn promotion to the Premier League in 2017/18.

Despite having a limited budget, Warnock’s side finished above Fulham, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough to secure automatic promotion and challenged Nuno Espirito Santo’s Wolves – one of the best teams ever seen in the Championship – for the title.

Even bigger underdogs in the Premier League, Warnock ensured his team gave it a bloody good go as they battled to stay afloat and did not go down with a whimper like Fulham and Huddersfield Town.

Ending up just two points adrift of 17th-placed Brighton, Cardiff did fall short and Warnock departed the club a couple of months into the following season. An extraordinary ride for as long as it lasted.

1) Rotherham United

After his short-lived retirement in 2022, Warnock revealed: “I thought my biggest achievement was not even a promotion – it was keeping Rotherham in the Championship.”

And I’d be remiss not to listen to the great man – especially as F365’s resident Millers supporter – when putting this list together.

Rotherham United’s ongoing misery in the Championship is self-inflicted, but the low-budget minnows are fighting a losing battle whenever they desperately claw to stay afloat in the second tier.

This was the case when Warnock arrived at Rotherham United, who were in the bottom three and facing a gruelling run-in with several matches against promotion contenders on the horizon.

But Warnock has always thrived as an underdog and he gave his limited squad the confidence they required to become world-beaters en route to completing a remarkable great escape.

A stunning end-of-season 11-game unbeaten run included wins against five teams who finished in the top ten as Rotherham avoided final-day drama to end up nine points clear of relegation.

From a selfish point of view, this was a joyous three months of supporting Rotherham so everyone associated with the club was desperate for him to stay. But Warnock deserved better and especially given what he went on to achieve with Cardiff, he made a wise decision to leave the Millers when he did.