Warnock: Gainsborough to Gunners in a thousand steps

Many supporters have found it hard to accept that Neil Warnock's career has redeeming features. But as he somewhat wearily points out, when his Sheffield United team run out to take on Arsenal today for what is being billed as his 1,000th game as a league manager, consider how few of the previous 999 matches have not produced something to talk about.

"There's usually excitement, because I can honestly say I've never, ever gone anywhere for a draw," said Warnock in a break from preparing his squad for what should be their sternest Premiership examination to date. "I am unique. I think I bring laughter, I make people smile and my teams give value for money, home and away." And if the laughter is sometimes derisive, the smiling through gritted teeth and the value for money based on incident rather than class then, his defiant sub-text runs, so what? At least it is not boring.

He is proud of how far he has come, deservedly so. "I was thinking, from Gainsborough Trinity to the Emirates Stadium, because I had 300-odd games in non-league before taking Scarborough up. But I always had an awful lot of confidence in myself as a manager, that I was going to go as high as I could. I loved man-management, getting the most out of a group of players, and I was thorough.

"I knew not being good enough as a player would make it difficult to get a good job, so I got the first at Gainsborough by hook or by crook. I took them on to a professional level. I had bits of fortune of course, job interviews which if I got [through them] I wouldn't be where I am today. I was interviewed by Hyde United and came second - but how fortunate, because I wouldn't have got Scarborough two weeks later."

Outside the Premiership promotions with Scarborough, Notts County (twice), Huddersfield, Plymouth and Sheffield United, not to mention numerous cup runs, speak for themselves. As perhaps do the endless controversies, fallings-out, and personal and often petty disputes.

In many cases Warnock says his reputation has gone before him and he has been judged before the facts have been established. The infamous "Battle of Bramall Lane" - when West Brom were awarded the points after a match in 2002 had to be abandoned - is a case in point. Warnock, after having had three players sent off, was accused of ordering two injured players to come off - but was later cleared of all charges other than minor misbehaviour to the fourth official which cost him a reprimand and a £300 fine.

It all helps to explain, he says, why so few of those 999 games have been in the top flight. "The only way I was going to get a job in the Premier League was by taking a team up, but having done so there's nothing like it. It's surprised me how good the feeling is, and that's why no matter what, I'm going to enjoy it."

It partly explains why, despite a faltering start to the season and being hit by injuries to creative players including Michael Tonge, Steve Kabba and Danny Webber, Warnock will relish his day in north London. The other reason is the presence in the opposite dug-out of Arsène Wenger. "Of all managers, he's improved us all. He's not had it all his own way with the media but bringing in nutritionists, dieticians and the other stuff, it's extended players' careers by five or six years, and managers, too.

"If you told me at Scarborough I'd have an earpiece in and a device to tell me the performance of every player during a game, whether they're at maximum or just strutting around, I wouldn't have believed it.

"I love to watch Arsenal - last Sunday [against Manchester United] it was like watching a Rolls-Royce. We're somewhere between a Ford Anglia and a BMW - there's a fair bit of scope with us. But I think deep down he [Wenger] respects us, he knows that while all the pundits expect them to batter us, it'll be a tough game because he knows what my teams are.

"Tell you what, though, I'd love to swap jobs with him, just for a week, to manage a team that can play like that. I'd bloody love it."