Neil Warnock has paid tribute to Leeds United, admitting it’s “nice” to see Marcelo Bielsa’s side back in the Premier League.
The Middlesbrough boss is of course not well thought of at Elland Road following his stint as manager back in 2012.
Warnock took over from Simon Grayson, but would be on his way out of the club just over a year later, having revamped the squad and left them just outside the Championship’s relegation zone.
Since leaving Leeds, the former Cardiff City boss hasn’t missed the chance to aim a few digs at the club, having suggested earlier this year Bielsa’s side were only at the top of the table due to a lack of quality in the Championship.
Warnock though was in a slightly more magnanimous mood when speaking about Leeds’ promotion on talkSPORT, and was full of praise for the parts played by Ben White and Kalvin Phillips.
“It’s nice to see Leeds getting promoted,” Warnock said.
“The crowd, it’s an amazing crowd there, they are vociferous and everything. I think they will do quite well as well.
“I think they’ve sorted themselves out at the back. They’ve got the lad White on loan, and he’s made such a difference.
“I thought they were weak defensively if I’m honest the season before, but they’ve sorted that out.
“I thought they were a lot stronger there, and if you’ve got that, and you’ve got the forward players they’ve got, and the midfielders – Phillips is probably the best in the league in midfield – they had the right recipe this year, even though they had blips.
“There were no really good teams to overcome that, and they managed to go again. All the other teams were really close together, and as you saw at the end, no-one wanted to go up really.”
