page_title: Neil Warnock
section_title: Sheffield United
hierarchical_section_title: Neil Warnock / Managerial career / Sheffield United
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo of Neil Warnock taken at Meadow Lane in 2003. Taken with permission from http://www.ltlf.co.uk
context_page_description: Neil Warnock is an English football manager and former player who is currently manager of Championship club Middlesbrough. He is also an established television and radio pundit working for several media outlets and a retired professional footballer. He holds the record for the most promotions in English football, with eight.
  Warnock played as a winger for Chesterfield, Rotherham United, Hartlepool United, Scunthorpe United, Aldershot, Barnsley, York City and Crewe Alexandra, scoring 36 goals in 327 career league appearances. He retired in 1979 at age 30 to move into coaching.
  Warnock's first managerial job was with non-League Gainsborough Trinity, he would subsequently manage Burton Albion and Scarborough, winning promotion to the Football League with the latter in 1987. He then managed Notts County, leading them from the Third Division to the First Division in successive seasons, though he was sacked after the club were relegated the season before the First Division became the Premier League. After a brief spell at Torquay United, he moved to Huddersfield Town, with whom he won promotion to the new First Division.
context_section_description: Warnock was appointed as manager of his boyhood club Sheffield United on 2 December 1999. In 2002–03, Warnock led Sheffield United to the semi-finals of the League Cup and FA Cup, only to lose to Liverpool and Arsenal respectively, as well as the First Division play-off final, with the Blades beaten 3–0 by Wolverhampton Wanderers. This was the first time in his management career that he had lost a play-off contest, as he had achieved four promotions via the playoffs in the 1990s.
  In 2005, Jones resumed the partnership by taking up the assistant's post at Bramall Lane, and at the end of the 2005–06 season, the club were promoted to the Premier League as runners-up in The Championship.
  The Blades performed well in their expected relegation battle, and for a long time looked to be heading for survival. However, a turning point in the season occurred with victories for both West Ham United against Manchester United and Wigan Athletic on the final day of the season, condemning Warnock's side to relegation. Warnock wrote in his autobiography that minutes after the final game of the season, actor and Blades fan Sean Bean burst into his office, blaming Warnock for the team's relegation in a "foul-mouthed tirade" while Warnock's wife and daughter were present. Bean denied this, calling Warnock "bitter" and "hypocritical", and arguing that he would never use such language in front of another man's wife and children. Warnock resigned from the club following relegation to take some time out of football.
  A major factor that caused Sheffield United's relegation was that West Ham beat Manchester United on the final day of the season 1–0, with the goal scored by Carlos Tevez, whose contract was in question over third party ownership and who then signed for the champions the very next season. While all of this was happening, the Blades played Wigan at Bramall Lane and needed only one point to stay up; however, with the score at 1–1, a penalty was awarded to Wigan in injury time at the end of the first half – David Unsworth converted. The scoreline remained the same till the final whistle, sending the Blades back to the Championship after only one season.
caption: Warnock with the Blades
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