Quotes from Neil Warnock

If you are a manager with a new owner who has more ideas than knowledge, all you can do is get your head down and do your best, which is what Malky Mackay did at Cardiff.

After more than 30 years in the dugout I have come to realise there is a need at many clubs for someone who can act as a link between managers and owners.

The way that I am, most of my time as a manager has been putting fires out and I don't enjoy dealing with chairmen and owners but I know it's part of my job.

The report I remember most vividly from school is the one I destroyed before I got home, telling my parents I'd lost it. Three words stood out, and still do: 'Must try harder'.

I like soppy films, sentimental stuff with children.

People just do not realise what a football life can be. Since 1968 I've never had more than a few weeks out of work, when I left Sheffield United and I have not had a Christmas.

I used to think you needed a passport to go south of Watford. But when I came to London the people were fantastic, so good, right down to earth, my kind of people.

I would like to apologise to anyone who has put a bet on me becoming the next Scotland manager.

It doesn't bother me what division I am managing in.

It's suggested I am big pals with Willie McKay. Am I? I don't think I am. He is an agent. You need these agents if you want to do a deal.

But the art of management has not changed. The art of it is still 80 to 90 per cent man-management. It is just a matter of getting the best out of what you have got.

Ask anyone in the game: if you want a player from France or a French player, 99 per cent of the time, you will have to deal with Willie McKay or someone like him. If you want to get the job done, then you need the Willie McKays of this world.

The chairman, Mehmet Dalman, he was brilliant for me. He helped me left, right and centre, he lives aboard now but he was my shoulder.

When I do pack it in, there's plenty for me to do down in Cornwall. There are some decent local teams, like Bodmin, that I'd like to go and watch.

Oh, I love Cornwall, it's so special. We bought the house when I was with Plymouth Argyle and we've just kept that on and kept modernising things.

As a manager, you know you're going to take the brickbats from other clubs and their fans. But I do enjoy making my own fans happy.

Personally I have not encountered racism at matches, or in clubs I have worked in, for many years.

I can't say I ever got to the stage of swapping phone numbers with refs, but I don't have a problem with managers and referees communicating.

People talk about flip charts, tactic boards and other rubbish like that. But the truth is that as a manager you just need to get the best out of the players at your disposal.

As I found at QPR, a club in the process of a takeover is paralysed.

However successful someone is in their field of business, and however well-meaning and hard-working, it is difficult to come into football and immediately work out how the industry works, who to trust, what to do. That is the sort of role I think I can fill.

Most of the clubs I have had, they have been in a precarious situation when I have taken over and I have had to change it, even going back to Scarborough and all that.

It's easier to sit at your desk and have a bun, but I've been really disciplined because I feel like I have to give myself a chance. You can't let yourself down on that. You have to be mentally sharp in this Premier League.

I find the quality of the officials in the Premier League so much better than the Championship.