Neil Warnock has confirmed this season will be his last in football, telling talkSPORT he wanted to complete one final campaign as a thank you to Cardiff City’s ‘amazing’ fans.

The Bluebirds were relegated after an incredibly tough season on and off the field, which was turned upside down by the tragic death of their record signing Emiliano Sala in February.

The team were shaken by the events surrounding the striker’s aircraft accident, yet Cardiff kept their pursuit for top flight safety going until the final few matches but were eventually relegated by three points – despite beating Manchester United 2-0 on the final day of the season.

getty 2 Nathaniel Mendez-Laing gave Cardiff fans something to celebrate with both goals in their 2-0 win at Old Trafford

Warnock told talkSPORT he had considered ending his near 40-year career in management there and then, and explains he would have done had the club stayed in the Premier League.

However, the 70-year-old ultimately decided to see out one final season to repay fans for their support during his three years in charge of the Welsh club.

Asked if he expects this to be his last season in football, Warnock told the Sports Breakfast on Friday: “Absolutely.

“We’ve always said we can’t just keep going on.

“If we stayed up it would have been ideal to call it a day, and then I would have enjoyed it even more, but it wasn’t to be.

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“I think if I can steady the ship this year and just repay the faith the fans have had in me from day one, it would be nice to leave the club on a high and in a good place for another three years to come.

“You don’t want to leave on a sad note. The fans have been great, I’ve never had anything like this ever in my life.

“The fans have almost taken it on themselves to regroup the club, the whole club is together and every game is like a day out.

“I just felt I couldn’t leave them like that with somebody new straight away. Usually relegated teams have difficult starts to the campaign, so if I can steady the ship up to Christmas and see where we are and obviously at the same time the club will be looking for their next manager.”

getty 2 Neil Warnock guided Cardiff to second place in the Championship and promotion back to the Premier League in his second season in charge in Wales

If anyone can do it, Warnock can.

The veteran coach holds the record for the most promotions achieved in professional football in England with eight – and for seven different clubs.

So can he end his storied career with promotion number nine?

“They [Cardiff chiefs] would like us to get straight back up, but I do reiterate to them it’s easier said than done.

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“Look at last year – the three teams that came down where nowhere near.

“And you look at the teams around us and some have spent large quite amounts of money and we’ve lost quite a lot of players, but we’ve signed six players to replace them.

“We needed freshening up I think and the lads who have come in have done that and we’re all looking forward to it.

“The Championship is not the end of the world, it’s a great league. I love it. That blood and thunder, and you don’t know one result from the next; I like that type of management.”

Listen back to Neil Warnock on the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast IN FULL above