If Sheffield Wednesday wish to embark on a project and employ a manager with the goal of laying the groundwork for a five-year plan, Neil Warnock is not the guy for the job.
If they want to keep playing out from the back and playing quick, intricate football this season – while stereotypical descriptions of Warnock the football dinosaur are obviously exaggerated – he definitely isn’t the man.
But if they want to firefight and achieve Championship status in 2024, laying the groundwork for a future attack on the top half of the divisions with someone a little younger, well…
This isn’t to argue that there aren’t other, possibly better, management prospects out there for Wednesday to consider. Countless other in- and out-of-work managers would offer something different to Warnock – after all, there are many ways to skin a survival bid.
But it’d be a lot of fun, wouldn’t it?
The Star stated on Thursday that no contact has been made with the 74-year-old, who still wants the post after being approached by Milan Mandaric a few years ago. We have no reason to believe that any contact has occurred since then.
With all the usual disclaimers about how fast the football world moves and how quickly things can change, it doesn’t look to be a goer as things stand.
From where I am, that appears to be an oversight.
Wednesday is a club in a funk, with its mood being the only thing lower than its points tally after 10 league games. It’s a club in desperate need of a ray of sunshine, a wily and tremendously positive figure capable of lifting moods with a smile, a wink, and a clever change of phrase.
Neil Warnock would do it from his first news conference, regardless of his previous allegiances. He’s done it before, and if the promise of ‘one final assignment’ holds true, he’ll do it again.
There are a couple of elephants in the room in that paragraph. Of course, a local journalist would be eager to collaborate with Warnock. He’s a gift from the football gods, who see every news conference as an opportunity to entertain and deliver direct, honest messages. It would be a lot of fun.
The elephant is also painted red and white. But, let’s be honest, he wouldn’t be the first footballer to transcend the Sheffield divide and achieve success. His Unitediteism may not be as strong as Warnock’s, but does Lee Gregory close down defenders with any less desperation because he grew up in a Blades family? Obviously not.
A remark circulating on social media is so obviously sarcastic that just reading it may give you an ulcer, and the prevailing sensation is that, in general, the mood on Wednesday terraces towards Warnock has mellowed somewhat in recent years.
The notion that if the outcomes are unsatisfactory, the terraces may split? That would be the case if the manager grew up supporting Sheffield United or DC United. Warnock’s family is also made up of Wednesdayites.
But this is just a side note. It’s all about the football.
It’s early in the season, so whoever steps in will have plenty of time to turn things around. It won’t be simple, Warnock or not.
But there can’t be another CV of repeat firefighting like his. Jobs in Huddersfield and Rotherham in recent years demonstrate his ability to turn around what appear to be lost causes. He has proved that he can transform the most hopeless of situations into a furious ‘have-a-go’ attitude.
He takes players who are out of favor and out of shape and transforms them into battlers.
He has extensive expertise managing up and pleasing demanding club owners.
He almost never fails.
It would most likely be a temporary position till the end of the current season. That may not be what Sheffield Wednesday desire.
But surely Neil Warnock is worth at least a phone call?
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