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Neil Warnock ‘had players throwing up’ to his pre-match ritual

Neil Warnock ‘had players throwing up’ to his rather rank pre-match ritual, something which was mentioned on a recent Undr The Cosh podcast.

The 73 year old is infamous for his unusual coaching techniques, and one former player has revealed that the manager forced his Huddersfield Town players to do something that was wrenching.

He decided to drink sherry and raw eggs in preparation for games and also liked to undress to the bare flesh in front of the squad, a former player of his claimed when reflecting on his career. Fair to say Neil didn’t give two shits.

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The manager departed from Championship outfit Middlesbrough in November last year, and has worked with sides throughout the English footballing pyramid in a career that spanned over 40 years.

Tom Cowan played under the boss of English football at the Terriers in the early 1990s, when Warnock came in at the club after a brief spell at Torquay United, and having successfully led Notts County from the Third Division to the First Division in successive seasons.

Off the pitch, the manager is unusual way of doing things, and Cowan shared one peculiar belief to Undr The Cosh: “Neil Warnock brought in sherry and eggs,” he remembered, and was met by astounded expressions by the former footballers who host the podcast.

“He did it at Notts County, and they got promoted, and he did it at the first six games at the McAlpine stadium, the season we got promoted.

“Basically, he had 15 sherries with raw eggs in them, and he used to get you to down it in the hotel before the game.

“It worked at Notts County back then, they got promoted, and we had 15 games undefeated on sherry and eggs.”

Despite the supposed link with successful results, Tom added that not all of the players found the offbeat tactic easy to stomach.

“There was people vomiting after it and everything,” he said. “Chris Billy, he used to drink it down, go straight to the toilet and vomit it straight back up.

“It was horrendous, people running to the toilets and everything.

“It came to a point where we had a meeting, just the lads, where we were like, ‘we’re going to have to throw a game here’.

“Everybody hated it, hated it.”

Asked what the reasoning behind the bizarre ritual was, Tom simply remembered that it was simply because it had worked at Notts County before.

And, when Huddersfield finally lost a game, Tom revealed that the ritual was abandoned, having lost its lucky effect on the side.

Despite ditching the ritual, Warnock’s time at Huddersfield ended successfully, as he guided the team to win the Division 3 play-off final at Wembley.

Neil Warnock, who has been appearing on talkSPORT recently, recalls how he nearly signed Didier Drogba for Sheffield United.

Sheffield United once missed out on the chance to sign football superstar Diego Maradona.

The story has become infamous by now, with the Blades pulling the plug on a deal for the 17-year-old after the transfer become politicised.

Now, former boss Neil Warnock has revealed another star that got away from United.

Didier Drogba is a Premier League legend following two spells with Chelsea, during which he won four titles, four FA Cups and the Champions League.

But Warnock has spoken about he could have signed Drogba for the Blades, long before his love affair with Chelsea began.

Remarkably the Ivorian’s price tag of £100,000 proved too much of a gamble for United – who were plying their trade in the second division at the time.

Warnock was asked on talkSPORT whether he had been haunted by missing out on a player during his long career in the dugout.

“I think every manager has, really,” he said. “Just thinking about it now, usually it’s a striker.

“The main one early in my career, I had a French lad, Laurent D’Jaffo, he said to me ‘gaffer I’ve seen a player for you in second division in France, very good, £100,000’.

“I said ‘£100,000? That is a lot for a second division French player. What’s his name?’ He said ‘Drogba’. I said we cant pay £100,000 for a second division French player.

“And you all know what happened to him in the end, Drogba! That was my biggest (missed transfer opportunity).

“I don’t think I could have had a bigger loss than that one.”

Neil Warnock recently said that he is proud of his management record, in which he set a record that quite possibly won’t be surpassed, after his exit from Middlesbrough was announced.

Warnock’s exit was revealed minutes after the 1-1 draw with promotion-chasing West Brom, just as he had overseen an English record 1,602nd professional game as a manager.

He admitted it was a case of ‘never say never’ when asked about his future in the game but said he was frustrated by his exit. Boro said a decision had been reached by mutual consent with the club lying 14th in the Championship table at the time.

They said: ‘The decision was reached after talks between the two parties and Neil leaves the club with the best wishes of all.

‘He managed the club during the unprecedented and challenging season of 2020-21 when games were played behind closed doors. Neil broke the record in English football earlier this week — an amazing achievement unlikely to be beaten.’

Warnock said: ‘I’m disappointed how it’s ended up but nothing surprises me really. I found out this morning, with a call to say they were going in a different direction.

‘I felt I deserved a bit more but it’s not to be and I wish them all the best because it’s a great club with super players.

‘Whoever comes in will get a great set of lads and will get some support in the transfer window. I think the new man will be given what he wants to get three or four players in.

‘They need those players and, then, I think they still have a good chance of going up. I will look from afar and see how well they do.

‘I’m proud of my managerial record and I can’t see it being beaten in the modern day. I’ve had a really good time.

‘It was hard coming into the club during the pandemic but to take the club through that and come out the other side, I’m proud and the fans have been great. As to the future, I never say never but Sharon says please don’t commit to anything!’

YouTube viewers reacted when hearing that Neil Warnock ‘had players throwing up’ to his pre-match ritual…

MW: Neil warnock = top LAD proper clobber! Not many men like him left on the world let alone football. Pure character 👌👌

Ollie Earnshaw: How on earth could he stomach that?!

Neil Laird of Glencairn: According to local legend around Leeds when I was an apprentice 60 years ago. sherry and eggs was a fore runner to viagra,💥⚡️💪🐔

Will Fairley: Dafuq lol that just makes me feel queasy just thinking about it

Lee Bethell: Funnily enough my Grandad used to give his Greyhounds sherry and eggs before he ran them.

Ryan Dolan: I feel ill 

Duncan Knox: My grandma heard that the England team drank sherry and eggs in the early 50s so she sent my dad to school, before he was 10, after sherry and eggs for breakfast

Barry Ludlow: You just cant hate the guy, proper character, something rarely seen in football these days

Martin Yackley: Christ imagine having to go onto the pitch with that image in your head, id be throwing up at the side of the pitch

Blades Man: He’s one of our own ⚔️⚔️⚔️👍

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