Derby boss Paul Warne says sorry to fans for doing ’embarrassing big-time’ move at airport

Derby County boss Paul Warne says sorry to fans for doing an ’embarrassing big-time’ move while at an airport earlier this summer.

Judging by what he had to say here, it is probably best to leave Paul Warne alone if you spot him at an airport while there are long queues late at night.

He talks of a time recently where he started to feel paranoid when people were looking at him, and he weren’t in the mood for any attention, no doubt something many in the public eye feel.

When he was being called over by someone he didn’t recognised, it only further had him on edge, only to then realise it was a friend of his at the front of the queue, letting Paul jump ahead in the queue, which left Warne feeling awkward but knew he had to just do it especially with the opportunity given to him.

“I’m sorry. There’s nothing worse.” 🤣

Derby County boss Paul Warne has apologised to fans following his ‘big-time’ behaviour in an airport ✈️

✍️ @Neil_Moxleyhttps://t.co/cIwyQ3Osrf pic.twitter.com/j84jyC74zV

— Mirror Football (@MirrorFootball) August 8, 2024

Paul Warne said, as per Mirror: “I had a selfie taken with a Derby fan near the Trevi Fountain in Rome, I was recognised in Denmark and then – and this did surprise me because I wear a baseball cap low over my face – someone came over and talked to me when I was out with a group of mates in Benidorm.

“These pals of mine are like Kevin Costner in ‘Bodyguard,’ they were over like a shot asking if everything was all right. I give them the ‘thumbs up,’ or ‘thumbs down.’ It was ‘thumbs up’ but I can see what’s coming now – and when people have six pints of confidence in them sometimes it’s not pretty – so I scooted to the Old Town to an Irish bar to watch one of the England games in relative peace.

“However, I want to apologise to anyone who saw me returning from east Midlands airport this summer. I don’t know the date, but if they clocked me: I’m saying ‘sorry’ right now. I’d been out in Scandinavia. I flew back in there – it’s probably not the best airport for me to fly back into – but there’s usually a Derby fan on passport control who says, ‘Let him through…’ and, after last season, now wants to high-five me.

“But airport queues late at night drive me mad. And this one was colossal. Huge. It was snaking up and down, down and up. Then, paranoia took over. I’m looking at these people thinking they’re all Derby fans and they’ll be looking at me, on my own, and they’ll be working out where I’ve been and which player I’ve been watching.

“I can see it in their eyes. They want to ask me, ‘Have you been to Sweden? Or Denmark? Why? Who are you watching? What have you been doing?’ Then, right at the front, there was this fella. He’s standing on his own. Away from everyone, near the passport desks. He’s shouting, ‘Warney, Warney!’

“I didn’t look up, I thought it was some random. So, I’m keeping my head down. I want nothing to do with this. Eventually, after him shouting my name six times right at the top of his voice, I glance up. Turns out that it’s my mate who works at a college in Rotherham who’s taken a football tour away somewhere.

“He’s at the front of the queue saying, ‘Sorry everyone, can you allow the kids to come through? We’re all one group. Thank you, yep, sorry…thank you.’ All these kids are like ants, coming through legs, pushing past people, and he’s shouting at me, ‘Warney, come through!’

“I’m thinking to myself, ‘I can’t.’ Any Derby fans will be looking at me thinking, ‘What a big-time t***.’ Any [Nottingham] Forest fans are going to be happy thinking the same. But I’m so so tired…I join in with these kids. I’m shepherding them and I just followed them. And, you know, er, pushed my way to the front.

“I’ve never done that massive-time thing. I’m sorry. There’s nothing worse. If it’s any consolation, I’m such a goody-two shoes, my hands were sweating all the way through. So, now, I just want to issue an apology because I know that if I saw Jurgen Klopp doing the same thing in Liverpool, I’d be thinking to myself: ‘Who does he think he is?’

“If I’d seen a security guy grab Jurgen and say: ‘No mate, you’re not with this party – go to the back,’ I’d have loved it. If I’d have been in that queue and seen that, I’d have been giving it: ‘Yeah, Jurgen, not so clever now are you?’ So, to all those people, ‘I’m sorry.’

Fast forward to this week and it seems he wasn’t even recognised despite putting himself out there to this person.

He goes on to say: “I was walking around a National Trust property with my wife Rachel – Clumber Park – and there was a lovely couple with their dog.

“He had a grey Rams’ top on, so I went: ‘All right mate? Up the Rams.’ He didn’t break stride, looked right through me and went: ‘Yeah.’ He didn’t have a clue who I was. He probably thought, ‘Bore off, mate.’ That’s the way it goes. It’s called ‘karma’ isn’t it?”

You can watch a video below of the head coach Paul Warne speaking with to RamsTV, looking ahead to to the first Championship game of the 2024/25 season at Ewood Park on Friday evening.

Exclusive interview with #dcfc manager Paul Warne, ahead of his 100th game in charge. Warne on Derby’s Championship return, expectations, fining players, club saviour David Clowes & the big rebuild https://t.co/y91bKCvl8M

— John Percy (@JPercyTelegraph) August 8, 2024