Neil Warnock: What I've Learnt This Week

1. Take a big squad to away games. You never know what may happen

We've had a week now in the Premiership and, even though we lost 2-0 at Spurs on Tuesday, I've enjoyed every minute of it and I think the players have too. The fixture computer is clearly not a Sheffield United fan as we've played two of the best teams in the country but we have to get on with it. The first game against Liverpool was a magnificent occasion with almost a full house at Bramall Lane and I thought we acquitted ourselves well against a team I think will go very close this season.

As you probably know, I've had a touchline ban so I couldn't be in the dug-out for either game. It was difficult for me being in the stand because, as good as technology is, with 30,000-plus fans screaming throughout it is still a job to communicate, to be heard and even receive the call from Stuart McCall, my assistant on the bench.

The biggest problem I had against Liverpool was when we conceded the penalty, which we all felt was a little unjust. You could see one or two of the lads' heads go down and I wanted to try to lift them straight away, but by the time Stuart heard me and got a message on they had already perked up and got on with the game. Big Sam [Allardyce] does it every week, he must have really good hearing. Still, it means I could blame Stuart if things went wrong.

Tuesday was even more difficult because we didn't know where we were going to sit until just before kick off, but what a great night for football. There is something special about playing under lights when the ball is zipping around. It was just a pity that we didn't kick-off at 8.20 instead of eight, as I thought we did all right after going two goals down inside the first 20 minutes.

That match, for the first time in my career as a manager, I lost three players through injury on the day of the game which completely threw all our preparations. One was ill but two of them suffered groin strains in a gentle warm-up. Fortunately, being the first away game, we had taken 20 players with us, I normally only take 18. It shows you need a big squad, I just hope the same thing happens to our rivals later in the season.

2. Jamie Redknapp can turn into Robbie Fowler

There was a bit of a fuss on Saturday about me telling the media Robbie Fowler had told us Liverpool's equalising penalty should not have been given. It was a misunderstanding. We were in the dressing-room after the game and one of the lads pointed at the television and said: "even he said it wasn't a penalty". I looked up and saw Robbie's face, so I thought they meant him. It turned out Jamie Redknapp, who was one of the pundits, had said it, but by the time I looked up he was no longer on screen. When I found out I apologised to Robbie.

Having calmed that down I read, on Monday, quotes from me saying we should "ban divers for six games". It made it look as if I was accusing Steven Gerrard of diving. Only much later in the piece did it say I was not. In fact those quotes were made a good six weeks ago.

I'll never be convinced it was a penalty but I'm sure Steven stumbled not dived. If anything he tried to stay upright when others would have dragged their foot to make sure Chris Morgan made contact.

3. Even Roy Keane will need plenty of luck

It looks like Roy Keane is going to join the management fraternity. My message to him is the same as it was to Niall Quinn: "good luck". I just hope he lasts longer than Niall has.

Roy likes his discipline and his preparation, and I'm expecting he will put all that into practice, but having read his book it'll be interesting to see how he man-manages from afar. I'm sure he'll have no problem kicking people up the backside but you do have to put your arm around people at times.

It seems the thing to do is appoint young managers these days and people have asked me if I resent someone coming into a top job without doing an apprenticeship like I did, and men like Jim Smith and Alex Ferguson did. My answer is I don't blame them. If I had a choice when I started managing I'd have rather come in at the top. You do learn from experience, and the situations you have to deal with lower down teach you a lot, but at the top you are working with better players.

When I began I was only part-time, and so were the players. That throws up a few problems you don't get at the top level. On the afternoon of a match I'd get a call from someone saying they had to work an extra shift, or they couldn't get a babysitter. You would have to change your team at the last second. It did teach you not to build up your hopes too much and get you ready for problems. Come to think of it, it wasn't so different from losing three people on the morning of the Spurs game.

Management is an easy game when you are winning but experience helps in the bad times. I remember at Burton Albion going 10 or 11 matches without winning and then you doubt yourself, you think "are you training right?" You look at every aspect. As you get older you just get on with the next game and are as positive as you can be, especially with three points for a win. There's no time to dwell on disappointment.

Last season, towards the end, we went seven games without a win. People were saying "the bubble's burst", all the clubs chasing us were making noises about catching us up. I had to make one or two unpleasant decisions, go back to basics, and be positive. I remember coming in at half-time when we were losing 2-0 and playing poorly at Coventry. You could have heard a pin drop in the dressing-room, the players and staff were really flat. I knew it was down to me what happened next. I was very positive and I changed the system. We still lost but we played better and soon returned to winning ways.

4. They haven't heard of the Blades in India yet

We decided to travel down to London by train yesterday, just to make a change. So I asked my secretary to arrange it. She rang the train company and ended up talking to someone in India who had never heard of football teams, let alone Sheffield United, and had no idea what we wanted. There were 25-30 of us going and all she could suggest was five in one carriage, four in another, three in a third and so on.

So my secretary went to Sheffield station, she got us in two carriages. Eventually they rang back and said they could get us all together. So we got there in the end but why is it that whenever you ring one of these companies, be it the water board, the electricity, you name it, you get someone who doesn't understand what you want to do.

5. My dog doesn't know who I am any more

Our dog, Megan, doesn't like men. Someone visited and she growled at him. I was explaining that she has bad eyesight and sometimes growls at me when I come in at night when Sharon said: "That's not because she has bad eyesight, it's because she doesn't know who you are because you are never here." I suppose it was a way of saying I've been away quite a bit in last few weeks.

But even if she bit me I wouldn't be too worried because she only bites half a leg. When she was a pup we had another dog, Charlie, and a horse in Cornwall. Charlie used to wind up the horse and one day she kicked and caught Megan. She was flipped in the air and lost her teeth on one side.