After Saturday’s win over Doncaster Rovers, Neil Warnock has been sounding upbeat and seems to have plenty of ideas of how he can take the club forward.
Warnock certainly had a hectic couple of days at the end of last week, as he was interviewed by Wolves and Huddersfield, but he after flying down to Monaco for an interview with Ken Bates, he decided to throw in his lot with Leeds United. After that then perhaps we couldn’t have blamed the 63 year old for putting his feet up over the weekend, with Neil Redfearn officially still in charge of the team, but he knew that with our play-off chances slipping away we couldn’t afford to drop any points against Donny.
He told the Yorkshire Post “Rather than delaying things, we decided to get it done. We were going to leave things for a couple of days but I felt it was important, if I was coming, to be there for Doncaster and have an input against Doncaster. I’m glad I was there”. After watching from the stands for the first half he went down to the dressing room at half-time to make a few changes, which made all the difference as we came from behind to beat Doncaster.
He explained “It was really frustrating being in the stands. The little things were what I was desperate to change, maybe the ones the punters don’t notice. When we did change things, I thought it worked a lot better”. His tactical amendments included leaving Townsend upfield when Donny had a corner so they had to keep players back, and to move Snodgrass inside where Rovers couldn’t double mark him.
And Warnock is looking forward to putting his ideas to his players in more detail over the next few weeks. “I expect us to be better at Portsmouth and a lot better the week after against Southampton. We are going to be working hard over the next couple of weeks. There won’t be anyone putting a Leeds shirt on giving less than 100 per cent for 90 minutes under me, I can promise everyone that.” And although he is working hard to get the best out of the players he inherited, he will also be looking to improve his squad through the good old emergency loan market.
He told the official site "The chairman was supportive when I spoke to him. He knows I feel we need two or three players if we can get the right ones to supplement what we've already got. Gwyn Williams will be trying as well to let one or two players go out, as will my staff. I do feel there are areas we have to improve if we're not to write this season off. I don't want to write this season off, not just yet .”
All of this sounds very good, but what do we make of him, given that he was unpopular with Leeds fans up until now. Most Leeds fans I’ve spoken to are thankful he’s been appointed, given his track record of getting clubs out of this division. And those of us old enough to remember Howard Wilkinson’s appointment in 1988 will appreciate the similarities, a manager who previously had a Sheffield background but who we took to as a fellow Yorkshireman.
It’s might be a tall order to make the play-offs this season, even though we’re only three points off sixth place, as most of the teams we need to catch have a game or two in hand, but I wouldn’t bet against Warnock matching Wilkinson’s feat of getting promotion in his first full season at the club.