What do you get when one Cardiff City legend meets another for a chat about everything Bluebirds? An utterly unmissable read for the fans.

WalesOnline columnist Nathan Blake sat down with Cardiff’s Premier League chasing boss Neil Warnock to discuss the man-management skills getting the best out of Kenneth Zohore, Sol Bamba and Bruno Manga, why he turned down other jobs to come to Wales, his special rapport with the fans... and whether the ‘P’word is actually being discussed inside the dressing room.

It’s the Cardiff City read of the year, a compelling dressing room insight into what is driving the Bluebirds’ fantastic promotion challenge.

Head of Sport Paul Abbandonato and football writer Dominic Booth were the lucky men tasked with sitting in on the 60-minute conversation and putting the words of two Bluebirds fans' idols into action....

Blakey: How are you Neil? I didn’t realise, until I looked it up, that you played 300-odd games yourself, scored 36 goals.

Warnock: Good research. I had nine clubs in the lower divisions and was given free transfers by most of them! Kevin Randall, who I used to play with at Chesterfield, once told me ‘You’re the only guy I know who made success out of failure!’

Despite the many frees, you see, I still managed more than 300 games and scored my fair share.

I didn’t even know about some of those transfers, mind. I got a phone call one lunchtime from a mate who said ‘Sorry to hear about the free, Neil.’ I replied ‘I know, it happens.’ But the truth is I didn’t know anyting about it. He’d read it in the Derby Telegraph before I’d even been told.

I put the phone down and cried my eyes out.

(Image: Rob Browne/ Walesonline)

Blakey: So does your own experience as a player affect how you deal with them as a manager?

Warnock: Yes, because I know how it feels if things are not done correctly. I hung up my boots early, always fancied going into coaching. I started off with a little Sunday League side. You know, we joined a national competition, had a coach to travel to games, pre-match meal, the full works. It was unprecedented at that level, but I just wanted to do things right.

What I learned back then is still put to good use today with Cardiff City. I say the same thing to players at every club I manage. ‘I don’t want any of you shirking a tackle or being afraid to head a ball. Work hard, listen to what I say, do what I say and we can achieve something together’.

Blakey: So why choose Cardiff City... is it because we’re a little backwards here, a bit like you!

Wanock: Ha ha, you can’t say that to a Yorkshireman. Actually, Cardiff folk are as close as you can get to Yorkshire people. They’re warm, friendly and incredibly passionate about their football team.

I love going up to the Valleys to meet the fans. Some managers regard that sort of thing as a chore. Not me. These are my type of people, I like mixing with them and talking about the team.

Okay I’m Cardiff's manager today, but I always used to love their passion when I with the opposition pulling up at Ninian Park. You must know what I mean Nathan, sometimes a club just feels right... and this was right for me.

(Image: Rob Browne/ Walesonline)

Look, I did talk to other clubs. Blackburn were one. They hummed and haahed and in the end the Venkys went with Owen Coyle. If they preferred Coyle to me, well that’s up to them.

I spoke to Nottingham Forest, but they wanted to help pick the team. I wasn’t having that. Derby were another. They chose Nigel Pearson instead, but that only lasted three months.

Derby had told me they’d be back in touch if it didn’t work out. I sensed they were about to do that when Mehmet Dalman rang me out of the blue.

I was up in Scotland at the time, but agreed to come down to London to meet him over breakfast. He said straight away ‘I don’t want to interview you Neil, I just want to give you the job’. It’s nice to be wanted and even though I thought Derby would be back, I knew straight away I wanted to be Cardiff manager.

We shook hands on it, hadn’t even talked money at that stage, although I knew what I was worth. Mehmet went out of the room to speak to Vincent Tan by telephone a couple of times and came back saying he wanted me to sign something.

‘Mehmet, I’ve shaken hands on the deal, that’s good enough for me’, I said.

Do you know, in the past I’ve lost £1million after shaking hands with two different chairmen who ended up not giving me the job, so perhaps I should have insisted upon things in writing myself!

But my word is my bond. Mehmet even tried to get me to sign a serviette that was on the breakfast table, but no need.

Blakey: I love my club, but feared Cardiff were going down when you came, that the players ruled, not the manager. How did you deal with that?

Warnock: I’d watched the previous game, a 2-0 defeat at Burton. To be honest it couldn’t really get any worse. There was a lot that needed doing, on and off the field. The club needed bringing together. I realised they needed help as a Board, as much as anyone else.

The fans were at loggerheads, I understood why. But I also knew Vincent Tan wanted the best for the club too. He had put in a lot of money, perhaps without knowing too much about it at the time. He still has opinions, tells me from afar that we don’t have enough shots. But because it’s me I think he does listen. No disrespect intended, but I can imagine how difficult it might have been at times for Russell (Slade) or Paul (Trollope).

Fortunately, I’ve had plenty of experience of dealing with, shall we call them opinionated chairmen and owners in the past. Yet I’ve got on really well with many of them and we’ve won promotions together. It’s about working together for one common goal.

Sometimes it can be more difficult to manage upwards than downwards. I guess the advantage I had was I knew Cardiff City needed me more than I needed them. But the fit was good for each of us.

(Image: Rob Browne/ Walesonline) (Image: Rob Browne/ Walesonline) (Image: Rob Browne/ Walesonline)

I told Mehmet, Vincent and Ken Choo ‘I will keep us up this season, but I want to be competitive. I want that eighth promotion’ There had to be ambition and drive from them too, and there was.

The other thing I remember early on was my wife Sharon ringing me. ‘Darling, you’re not going to believe what I’ve been reading.’ I thought something really bad had happened. ‘What is it?’, I replied in a bit of a panic.

‘I’ve been looking on the fan websites and every one of them seems to like you. That makes a change,’ she said.

As a manager, that puts you in such a great position. If the fans started having a go, I wouldn’t be at a club because I don’t need it at my age.

I just love that backing I get from our supporters.

Blakey: But you inherited a mess of a squad, some players brought in by Mackay, others by Solskjaer, more by Slade and Trollope. They each expected different playing styles, so how did you go about galvanasing the dressing room?

Warnock: Well the very first conversation with them went something like this. ‘I’ve had seven promotions, I’m going for my eighth. It doesn’t matter which previous manager brought you in, the only thing I ask is you give absolutely everything, and then a bit more on top. I’m not working at my age if I don’t see that same total commitment from the staff and players, too. Those of you who stay with me will enjoy it. Work hard, do what I say and you’ll actually get more time off than any other team’.

Some experts reckon you need to train much harder after a loss. I say maybe you need a couple of days away from it because I don’t believe in red zones and these stats.

Blakey: That’s experience, real proper man-management.

Warnock: I’m not a great believer in clipboards and some of that other stuff. I want to know who will put a head in, who will throw their body on the line to block a shot in the 92nd minute to win a game for Cardiff City. Those are the basics that matter to me.

I inherited a dressing room of experienced players, men like Sean Morrison and Aron Gunnarsson. Real leaders, although for some strange reason Gunnar wasn’t even in the team when I came here.

But I wanted my own players too. I’d previously rung Junior Hoilett and Sol Bamba. We were going to Blackburn, then Forest, then Derby. Didn’t happen. ‘I’m going to get a club, trust me’ I kept telling them. They went months without wages, but finally I was able to bring them in.

I first met Junior when I went to QPR and discovered he had been shunted off by the previous regime to train with the under-18s. People told me plenty of stories, but I knew he was a talent.

Having made sure I could pick anyone I wanted, I called him over. Told him I’d once previously tried to buy him for £3m and that he was playing Saturday.

He looked startled. ‘Junior, I mean you’re in the starting team, not just on the bench’. He looked even more shocked.

(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency)

But what happened Saturday? He was man of the match, brilliant for us. Just as he’s been brilliant for Cardiff. Junior responded to being given his head and someone having belief in him.

You’ve got to put people in their right positions. Go back to that Burton game. Joe Ralls had played wide left that afternoon.

The next week, after I took over, I called him to one side. ‘I didn’t know you were a winger?’ I said. ‘Nor did I gaffer,’ he responded.

I put him in the middle, stuck by him and he’s got better and better. So unfortunate to have got injured recently.

Clipboards? Trust me, 90 per cent of this job is man-management of individuals, knowing how to get the best out of them.

(Image: Rob Browne/ Walesonline) (Image: Rob Browne/ Walesonline) (Image: Rob Browne/ Walesonline)

Blakey: Speaking of getting the best out of players, what a leader Bamba has been since coming here. I adore Sol, is he your most important signing?

Warnock: The thing with Sol is I remember him playing for Leicester against my Leeds side six years ago. We beat them and he made an error for one of our goals, but didn’t let his head drop. I walked onto the pitch, shook his hand and said ‘I wish you could play for me, I will make you a player.’

Anyway we spoke again last summer and he said he’d wait until I got a job, which he did.

There were things we needed to work on. When he got here I told him ‘You’ve got every attribute to be a Premier League defender, but the higher up you go, the more you get punished’.

We have a laugh about heading it and kicking it, but there are times when you’ve just got to put it in the stands. The opposition can’t score from a throw-in, you know!

When I watch Premier League matches and see mistakes, I come in on a Monday say to the defenders ‘Did you see what happened with that game yesterday’? And they say ‘Yes gaffer, thought about you at the time.’

Even Joe Bennett and Marko Grujic, who are lovely on the ball, realise it’s not a crime to hook it down the line every so often.

Sol has never played better. When I said he was as good as Virgil Van Dijk at one of the press conferences, I meant it. I wouldn’t swap him, not in a million years.

I wouldn’t swap him and Sean Morrison for any other pairing, in fact. If we were in the Premier League tomorrow, they would be fine. Just look at the way Burnley and Brighton have gone about it.

People laugh when I say I wouldn’t swap Sol and Mozza for the Liverpool or Arsenal centre-backs, but why would I? These two are real leaders, make my job easier. If there are any problems inside the dressing room, they deal with it before it gets to me. I’m not entirely sure Arsenal have had that since Tony Adams.

I know I can totally trust my two.

Blakey: What about Manga then, the third one? He’s such a good defender, yet I sense he doesn’t always concentrate.

Warnock: He was an accident waiting to happen at times. When I first spoke to Bruno I said ‘Do you understand properly about defending - heading it, tackling, kicking it into the stand if necessary?’ I said if he played like I wanted him to, he would be as good as anyone in our division. Even the Premier League. He has that much talent. But he needed certain things reinforced.

Bruno has been fabulous, too. It’s great to have those guys at the back.

Blakey: Speaking of players who’ve got better, what on earth did you say/do with Kenneth Zohore?

Warnock: Funny story here. The first time I saw him he was playing in the reserves, but stuck out on the left wing. It was a sunny day, but he was wearing gloves which I thought a bit strange.

Anyway, one of the staff was telling me ‘That’s Immers, that’s Zohore, that’s someone else.’ I was getting to know them when suddenly Zohore knocked the ball past the full-back and raced clear.

Hello, where’s that come from, I thought? This guy’s got something.

One or two were sceptical, but I tried him up front in a few practice games, picked him on the bench for the first team.

We were 1-0 down against Wolves, had no pace or legs up top and couldn’t see how we were going to get back into it. Their defenders had cigars out.

There’s a green wheelie bin by the shower area in the dressing room and at half-time Kenneth and I were standing either side of it. He was leaning on the bin with one arm, I was leaning on the other bit. I can still picture it today.

‘Ken’, I said, ‘I’m going to put you on. They are telling me you’re going back to Belgium. If you’re rubbish this half you WILL be going back to Belgium, I can assure you of that. But I want you to go out there and work your socks off, win the headers, put yourself about, be prepared to make runs even if the ball doesn’t come. Can you do that? Can you show me you have a future here? But the thing is Ken YOU have to do it, not me.’

He was an absolute revelation and we came back to win 2-1. Ken hasn’t looked back since, although sometimes I speak to him and tell him to be a bit like you Blakey. You were a right handful to play against, we could never get the ball off you.

Ken’s had a little blip but the best thing we did was sign Gary Madine, who’s come in and provided competition, which is great. I do want to try those two together more at some point, mind. What a handful they will be for defenders.’

Blakey: Backed up by Callum Paterson, of course.

Warnock: Here’s another funny story. I saw him play right-back in Scotland, didn’t think he could defend as well as I perhaps wanted, but had real talent.

Trouble was Callum was out injured at the time. I had to somehow persuade Vincent to let me sign him for £325,000 - even thought he wouldn’t be fit for months!

I was saying to Mehmet, ‘We can’t miss out on this one. Tell Vincent he will be a good player, because he will be when fit.’

Paterson has proved a big plus. We’ve played him at full-back, in midfield, but I told Kevin Blackwell (No2) ‘I’m going to stick him behind Zohore’.

One or too perhaps had their doubts, but we couldn’t lose really. We knew we would still get the usual big defensive shift from Callum, so wouldn’t miss out on that side of his game, but pushed further forward I fancied he would get goals, too.

Which he has done. He’s the type of player who can just smell a goal, goes into the box at exactly the right time and the ball inevitably arrives. You can’t really coach that, some players just have it and Callum is one of them.

What he also does is take the pressure off Zohore by winning his share of headers. If the ball goes to our wide men, they know Zohore and Paterson are in the box waiting for the cross.

Blakey: So, can I mention the big ‘P’ word?

Warnock: You can, but we genuinely don’t discuss it inside the dressing room. The only thing I can think of was the other night when we beat Brentford and Sol and myself said to one another ‘If we’re not careful you know...’

(Image: Rob Browne/ Walesonline) (Image: Rob Browne/ Walesonline)

Blakey: So many wrote you off, still are doing? Is that incentive?

Warnock: They are, but I ask the players who has had seven promotions - the outsiders dismissing our chances, or me? I’m proud of each and every one of those. At Scarborough we were 50-1 rank outsiders, but we did it.

A lot was said about Cardiff before a ball was kicked this season, but look at where we are.

We do look at results of other teams. Bound to, plus who they’ve got coming up. There are sides up around us, Villa, Wolves, Fulham, who have spent far more money. We shouldn’t even be in there by rights. But we are and we will be right to the end.

Wolves and Villa were expected to go up, so there is plenty of pressure on them. People say Fulham have the easiest run-in on paper, but there is no such thing. They too are under pressure in every single game. Heck, I’m told they’re paying Tom Cairney £50k a week.

We just carry on game by game. Yes we have some hard fixtures coming up, but no harder than the others have got.

And in many ways our toughest game is the next one, Burton at home on Friday. They’re scrapping to avoid relegation, many will expect us to win. Those kind of matches are real challenges.

Blakey: You’ve seen a capacity stadium for the Manchester City game, wouldn’t it be better for the crowds to be bigger?

Warnock: I suppose we’d rather have more, but the only thing we can really ask is that the ones who do come make a lot of noise and get behind us. That has certainly been the case, the players love playing in front of them and hopefully there are even better times ahead.

I’m sure I must be under pressure, but if so I genuinely don’t feel it. I really don’t. I said to Vincent ‘We’re aiming for the top two, but we’ll be in the play-offs at the very least and that’s a pretty good effort. If so we might win them, we might lose. But even if we lose, we would have another right old crack next season.’

I can’t just be putting up with mid-table. I want that eighth promotion.

We’re loving what’s happening, we really are. I don’t feel pressure, I just smile and encourage the players to as well. I do enjoy watching my team, I really do.

Blakey: So do I Neil, so do Cardiff fans everywhere. Fingers crossed, we’re fully behind you.

(Image: Rob Browne/ Walesonline)

Cardiff City season tickets are on sale for 2018-19. To buy yours head to the club website , ticket office or call 0845 345 1400. They are priced from £249 to £549 for adults, which would be among the cheapest in the Premier League were the Bluebirds to go up, and from just £49 for under16s.