Neil Warnock’s Cardiff City side looked to be in for a tough campaign after relegation from the Premier League. But the Welsh side went into the international in the top half of the Championship, and Warnock is proving that he can still provide at this level.

The Championship’s oldest manager, Neil Warnock turns 71 before the end of the year. A footballing stalwart having began his managerial career with Gainsborough Trinity in 1980, to being a top-flight manager within 30 years via the likes of Sheffield United, Crystal Palace, QPR and Leeds United.

His road to success has been decorated with promotions and play-off finals and few think that there’s many better suited to management in this division than Warnock.

His Premier League record isn’t credit to the work he's done in his career though. He was relegated with Cardiff last season after a spout of refereeing decisions and VAR controversy left him glaring at officials, and bemoaning post-match pressers.

And that negativity and hard luck seemed to continue into this season, after Warnock announced that it’d be his last in the game.

The Bluebirds lost two of their opening three games of the season and looked to be on a steady decline after their Premier League exile. But after going unbeaten from mid-August to the West Brom game last weekend, Cardiff are looking that they might just be okay for another season.

They don't look like the promotion-winning side they were in 2017/18, far from it. But they’ve certainly turned their fortunes around and at very best this season, could challenge for 6th in the supposed finale of the omnibus that is Neil Warnock.

His philosophy has often been slated. Everywhere he's been he's implemented a sort of 'smash and grab' technique, relying on individual talents and hardened defenders to see him pick up points - his side's 3-0 win over QPR last month where Cardiff had just 28% of the ball pays homage to this.

It’s a credit to Warnock who at his ripe-old age can still hurl himself up and down the touchline, up and down the country for away fixtures and face the press after each week.

All of this at nearly 71 is pretty astonishing, and an achievement in itself for Warnock who’s proved many a doubter wrong this season and many seasons before this, and has shown the world that he’s no ‘footballing dinosaur’ just yet.

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