Neil Warnock on 'calming the waters' at Huddersfield Town and being a custodian and not just a manager

Which brings us to Neil Warnock and Huddersfield Town.

The Championship is predictable only in its unpredictability. It wouldn't be the biggest shock, say, if Town swapped a relegation fight in 2022-23 for a potential tilt at the top six next time around, With Warnock at the helm, it is hardly beyond their remit.

In some respects, that's missing the point.

Primarily, the 74-year-old has been convinced to stay at Huddersfield in 2023-24 to help smooth a transitional period for the club. It’s importance should not been underestimated given some pretty rough times since the Terriers were relegated from the Premier League in 2018-19, with the 2021-22 campaign being the obvious outlier.

Under the new ownership of Kevin M.Nagle, Town do not need to run before they can walk and clearly won't. With EFL constraints limiting what they will spend in the transfer market, Huddersfield must find their way again. It’s not a time for grand plans.

Warnock may have a penchant for acts of relegation escapology and also promotions given his lengthy and impressive CV. His parting gift when (if) he decides to call it a day again next May would be putting Huddersfield on a stable footing.

In five of the last six seasons, Huddersfield have been fighting relegation and it can be draining. The club needs order.

Warnock may be a South Yorkshireman, but Huddersfield can undoubtedly be bracketed as one of his clubs. He feels duty-bound to look after them.

Warnock said: "It has been a difficult time behind the scenes and it's great for me to calm the waters without Jake (Edwards - new CEO) having to worry about a new appointment yet.

"It gives them a bit of breathing space and helps the club along.

"We are going to be limited with the EFL, finances wise. So we are not going to be bringing in loads of players and putting the club in jeopardy. We are going to try and do it in a sensible way and we are going to need the lads to perform to get into a respectable position in this league.

"I tried talking to a striker and I offered him our top wages and he got two and a half times that somewhere else... That's what we are up against. I do think anything is possible. But the main thing is to steady the ship. It needs a bit of stability.

"The fans really showed me in the last two games, wow I have never experienced that. To give them something back, even if it’s not the success with promotion.

"We are sensible people in Yorkshire, but we want a good club in the Championship who is capable of going into the Premier League."

The fact that the new owners have had the good sense to see that a season of consolidation under a safe pair of hands in Warnock is no bad thing and that evolution as opposed to revolution is the way forward is surely to be applauded.

Offering a coherence as to why, Edwards commented: "The objective was to avoid the instability and chopping and changing we saw last season as that really affects the club and players.

"We saw the transformation of the club when Neil came towards the end of the season. A very talented strong group of players were able to lift their heads up, stick their chests out and have belief and confidence and that takes real skill, leadership and experience to change a dressing room around like that in a short space of time.

"Neil did that, with the help of Ronnie (Jepson) too.

"As much as we are focused on this season and the continuity is important as Neil knows those players inside out, we will very much work together on transition and what the future holds and where do we go from here with the players and philosophy moving forward and Neil is going to play a huge part in that."

This time three years ago, Warnock had been similarly convinced to stay put at another Yorkshire club in Middlesbrough following a very close shave with relegation.

The respect that Warnock holds among Teessiders will always endure, although his time would ultimately be tarnished by his sacking in November 2021 - with Chris Wilder quickly named as his successor.

The manner of his departure did not sit well with Warnock. But it did light a fire.

Warnock continued: "All I have said (to Huddersfield) is 'look, I didn't want to do another year, but I will do another year' if it helps everyone out. Sharon (Warnock's wife) agreed to that.

"What I don't want to happen is what happened at my last club (Boro) where I didn't feel I was treated right. All I want to know is if we are having a bad time or looking at things between now and Christmas or after Christmas, I just want you to be straight with me.

"Don't do what happened at my last club and go behind my back... Because that's not me and I don't deserve that and I didn't deserve that then. But that just made me more determined to be successful here. And that's what drives me on."