Neil Warnock: His bizarre Crystal Palace team talk based on wife's dream

Neil Warnock might have announced his retirement from management back in April, but his legend will live on for years to come.

The 73-year-old called time on his career having taken charge of 16 clubs across 42 years.

His last job came at Middlesbrough, with whom he parted company in November 2021.

Far more renowned for producing comedy gold on the touchline than his tactical brilliance, Warnock’s management style was unorthodox, to say the least.

During a recent appearance on talkSPORT, former Crystal Palace midfielder Darren Ambrose shared the story of a 2010 Warnock team talk at Selhurst Park that might well be among the most bizarre of all time.

“We were playing Wolves, we had come in, we all sat down, Ambrose explained, recalling Warnock’s half-time address with the FA Cup fourth round replay tied at 0-0.

He said ‘Right, my wife Sharon, she had a dream last night…’

“No one really laughed when he said this because that was what he was like. He said: ‘She dreamt that my right-back scores the winning goal today. So Danny Butterfield, you’re playing up front.’

“He wasn’t even the right-back at the time, he was a fringe player because Nathaniel Clyne was playing right back at the time.

“We all started laughing then and he was like ‘No, I’m being serious.’ I was taking centre with him, and even then I was looking over to the bench thinking ‘Gaffer, is this a joke? Put him back to right-back!'”

Warnock was in no mood to change his mind. Palace went into the final 45 minutes of the match with second-string right-back Butterfield up top.

What seemed a daring gamble soon turned into a managerial masterstroke.

“I think about 12 minutes later, he had a perfect hat-trick. Left foot, right foot, and header, we won the game 3-1.

Y