Former Middlesbrough, Sheffield United and QPR manager Neil Warnock has announced his retirement.
The 73-year-old left his most recent job with Championship side Boro in November and has enjoyed a 41-year career at 16 different clubs.
Warnock holds the record for the number of promotions in English football with eight, notably taking his childhood club Sheffield United to the Premier League in 2006.
When announcing the decision, he told Sky Sports: “I decided to take a break.”
In total, Warnock has managed more than 1,600 games during his managerial career.
Warnock spent 11 years playing as a winger with clubs including Rotherham United, Barnsley and Crewe Alexandra, before retiring at the age of 30.
He assumed his first full-time managerial role with Northern Premier League side Gainsborough Trinity in 1981.
Warnock also put Cardiff on top flight in 2018 as part of a spell featuring the disappearance and tragic death of Emiliano Sala, that Warnock described was his “worst week in football”.
Throughout his career, he was known as a tenacious leader who could bring a dressing room together and who never shied away from criticizing the referees.
Michael Brown, who played for Warnock at Sheffield United and at Leeds, paid tribute to his former boss’s “incredible career”.
“When I first met Neil Warnock, he was probably still fighting to prove himself,” he said.
“In Sheffield United, in the first days we had 12,000 spectators.
“Great passion for the game. Yes, he doesn’t always do things that don’t make people uncomfortable, but that’s part of the makeover.”
