Neil Warnock: I haven't got a clue what we can achieve, but let's have some fun
Why it's fantastic to be manager of Leeds, one of the biggest clubs in the country
Monday 20 February 2012
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It is exciting to be back and it is even more so to be at a genuine, big club like Leeds United.
I've spoken to three or four clubs in the last 10 days and I've been really pleased with being wanted. Leeds was the one that I listened to a lot and I saw the fans' forums. They seemed to be united that they wanted me. I do feel that when you've got potentially 30,000 people it's a bloody fantastic place to be. I reckon Leeds are the fourth- or fifth-biggest club in the country.
I love it at my age. I have nothing to fear. If things go wrong, I will call it a day. As long as I enjoy it, I will see how it goes between now and the end of the season. My contract is until the end of next season, but I've spoken to Ken Bates, the Leeds chairman, and if we know it's not working – I'm not into contracts now, I was when I'm younger – we'll go our own way. I've always got on all right with the chairman. I know how he runs his clubs, he gets them organised. I know they've had lot of protests, but I'm saying to fans: "We've got 14 games to go, put everything to bed and let's have some fun."
I honestly haven't got a clue what we can achieve. If you'd seen the first half against Doncaster on Saturday, you'd have said, "Let's avoid relegation." If you saw the second, you'd say, "Let's go for it." We've got some good players, and the crowd is an extra player.
I regretted not putting myself on the bench after 10 minutes of the game. I said that to Mick Jones. I went down at half-time and changed three or four things and that really helped us. They're a very keen set of lads, they all want to do their best. That's great for me.
Yesterday was a warm-down and a chat so we could get on with it the next day. I had a word with the lads I didn't see. It's a clean slate. With me leaving QPR there were one or two comments about players who had been left out. It reminded me so I said to the players here, "No rude comments in the press about the past manager ... or me!"
I first spoke to Leeds 10 days ago. They asked me my situation. I didn't know what I was going to do. Over 10 days, I had two interviews with other clubs and another close one before then. Then everything at Leeds happened in 24 hours last week. I spoke to Wolves on Wednesday, I don't think they wanted to make a quick decision. I spoke to Ken on Thursday. He said, "Come over and I'll tell you about the club, you can start on Sunday and meet them on Monday."
I went back and thought that would be a waste of a game and I wanted to make sure we got three points against Doncaster, which we did – even if it didn't look possible at 2-0 down. It wasn't a bad first team-talk! They responded to the changes. Neil Redfearn was already shouting at them when I went in. I let him do that. I wanted to be the good cop! It was fantastic when the third goal went in at the end, it was hairs on the back of your neck time. The lads know it will give them belief, that has probably been missing. We will get better for next week. We will be more organised after a week's training, and then another week training gives us a great chance to get sorted out.
I would imagine a betting man would say the play-offs would be difficult. We have to win every game. If we lose a couple it's beyond us. But I've been in to the academy and you've never seen anything like it. It's the biggest academy complex at a club I've been at, by a mile. It's "top of the Premier League" standard.
I tell you what: it feels good to be back!
Read Neil Warnock in The Independent every Saturday
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