Neil Warnock hints at who he thinks will win promotion from the Championship

Neil Warnock hints at who he thinks will win promotion from the Championship with the first games of the season set to be played out.

The Middlesbrough boss spoke with the media this week, and there is one team unsurprisingly that he can see doing very well and expects them to be up there.

It’s one of the most entertaining leagues in the world, and whilst he hopes his team will also be aiming to finish the new term with promotion, he reckons his former club Sheffield United could also do the same.

New Blades boss Slavisa Jokanovic has been told by the veteran manager that he has joined a “wonderful” football club, as the Serb prepares to take charge of his first competitive match since taking charge in May 2021.

Warnock is one of Jokanovic’s most successful predecessors, and insisted that the former Watford, Fulham and Partizan Belgrade chief is bound to “love” working in the city before wishing him well ahead of the new season.

And while he admitted the respect he has for Jokanovic, he insisted that doesn’t mean next month’s meeting between the two sides is set to be a friendly affair rather than fiercely competitive encounter.

Speaking at The Star’s Football Awards ceremony, where he was recognised for his achievements in management, Warnock said vya YorkshireLive: “Slav has gone to a wonderful club. He’ll love it there and he’ll love his time in the city too, I’m sure of it.

“He’s someone I’ve got a lot of time for and enjoyed coming up against in the past. Obviously we’re going to be doing that again pretty soon as well.

“I genuinely wish him and Sheffield United all the best and I’m sure he’ll do really well because, like I say, he’s damn good at his job.

“It goes without saying that I hope he doesn’t enjoy either of his games against us (next term). I don’t want him to have a good time or enjoy any success in them. But after those, and before and in between them as well, I hope it goes really well for him.

“He’ll enjoy being at United and he’ll enjoy being in the city too, because it’s a great city and a footballing city.”

Meanwhile, Neil Warnock remains hopeful that he will be able to strengthen his squad by next week, saying: “We’re working on a few things at the moment – little things going off behind the scenes.

“But I don’t think there will be anything until next week at the earliest.

“Neil [Bausor, Boro’s chief executive] is back from abroad and he will be working hard on a couple of targets that we’ve spoken about.”

The club have had a failed bid for Cardiff City defender Ciaron Brown and Bluebirds manager Mick McCarthy has recently told the press that he won’t be leaving South Wales as a result.

“I turned the offer down,” McCarthy said on Thursday afternoon.

“The upshot of that is that Ciaron will stay here.

“I certainly don’t want him to go anywhere. I’ve offered him a deal, I’d like him to stay.

“Always, when someone else comes in [to sign them], it’s always quite exciting as a player, the chance of a move.

“But there has got to be a right value to it as well and it wasn’t.”

The club failed in a bid for Cardiff City defender Ciaron Brown and Bluebirds manager Mick McCarthy told the press that he won’t be leaving South Wales as a result.

“I turned the offer down,” McCarthy said.

“The upshot of that is that Ciaron will stay here.

“I certainly don’t want him to go anywhere. I’ve offered him a deal, I’d like him to stay.

“Always, when someone else comes in [to sign them], it’s always quite exciting as a player, the chance of a move.

“But there has got to be a right value to it as well and it wasn’t.”

Meanwhile Jamie Patterson, who was on trial with the club after his release from Bristol City and featured in a number of pre-season friendlies, but has now signed for Swansea City on a one-year deal after the club rejected the chance to sign him.

Warnock added: “I had a chat with him. He was unlucky really. He had a bad injury last year and missed two or three months at the end of the season and he’s not really got right since.

“I think he was a little bit frustrated that he couldn’t do more.”

Neil spoke on how concerned he was for squad safety with the vaccine take-up said to be low.

“We’ve just got to be so careful.

“We’ve had a few sniffs of the virus, which we’ve got to overcome and we’re still getting tested every day.

“It’s one of those things I’m afraid, for some reason the majority of the players don’t have the vaccinations, which I think is wrong.”

Warnock, who had to coach games from home last season while battling the virus, is concerned that the impact of non-vaccinated athletes could be a problem within that scenario.

“We are mixing with fans now, it’s so easy [to get Covid],” Warnock added. “We have had a few cases.

“The fans should get on the websites and demand that the players have them.”