Neil Warnock admitted he is addicted to football management and that wife Sharon was responsible for his return to take charge of Huddersfield.
The 74-year-old has stepped out of retirement to take on his 15th job as a permanent manager in the English Football League – at his 14th different club – after being appointed as Mark Fotheringham’s replacement on Monday.
Forty-two years after starting out as boss at Gainsborough Trinity and 10 months after announcing his retirement in April last year, Warnock was introduced to the media at Huddersfield’s Canalside training ground.
When asked if he was addicted to being a manager, Warnock, who left his last job at Middlesbrough in November 2021, said: “I think so.
“When you get to my age, every occasion I go to is probably a funeral and it’s sad really, so you’ve just got to enjoy every day, and I’d say that to all of you as well, because it passes too quick.
“It doesn’t seem two minutes ago I was at Notts County (1989-93) and turning down Chelsea and then getting sacked six months later.”
Warnock holds the record of eight promotions as a manager in the EFL and has returned to Huddersfield almost 30 years after leading them to promotion to the second tier in his first spell in charge of the club in 1995.
He quit management after leaving Boro 10 months ago in order to spend more time with his family, but revealed wife Sharon had encouraged him to answer Huddersfield’s SOS.
The West Yorkshire club are second from bottom in the Sky Bet Championship, four points from safety, after Wednesday night’s 3-0 defeat at Stoke.
“I’ve had a couple of offers that didn’t really interest me,” Warnock said. “I was never offered one of my old clubs, which I probably would have gone back to.
“But as soon as this came up Sharon said ‘why don’t you go and help them? It’s only until May?’ I thought ‘Bloody hell, that’s not like you!’
“There’s no pictures of me here at the training ground. There’s pictures up of everyone else. If I keep them up there’ll be a statue of me won’t there!”
Warnock is the Terriers’ third boss this season after Fotheringham, sacked after four months, and Danny Schofield, who replaced Carlos Corberan in July.
Warnock said he had apologised to the players for not watching their defeat at Stoke and joked he had had a better time as he had been in Dizzy’s jazz club in New York with Sharon.
He arrived back from his break at Heathrow at 11am on Thursday morning after three hours’ sleep and was driven up to Huddersfield by Ronnie Jepson, who will assist him again at the John Smith’s Stadium until the end of the season.
Huddersfield have turned to a fourth manager in nine months after winning only seven of their 31 league games this season.
Warnock rescued Rotherham from relegation to League One in similar circumstances in 2016, but refused to make any promises to Huddersfield’s fanbase.
He added: “You look at the fixtures and you’d have to be a bloody idiot to come here, but that’s what I am thankfully.
“Playing the likes of Middlesbrough, Sheffield United, they’re great games.
“I want the players to give 100 per cent in training and go home knowing they couldn’t have given more, and I want the fans to know they’re doing that. I think the fans will get behind me.”
