His one man ‘Audience With’ shows reach London, Manchester and Bristol in September and, after taking in games at Ibrox and Parkhead, Neil Warnock has a notion for one more date. The definitive story of his 34 days at Aberdeen has yet to be told.
“I fancy doing a show in Glasgow,’ he tells Herald Sport. “I’m going to tell my man who organises them that I want to do one in Glasgow because I do get on with people up here. I like the Scots, me.
“I never got into slagging off the football up here because, listen, it is what it is.
“Everybody knows there are two teams that are always going to be dominant up there.
“But I still think it’s possible for a Hearts or a Hibernian or an Aberdeen to get amongst them.
“I would love to have had a go at that for a couple of years, bringing my own players in. Sadly it wasn’t to be.”
It’s over a year since one of the gnarled veterans of British football quit Pittodrie after six games in charge. Enticed north by an invitation to steady the ship until the end of the season, he realised it wasn’t going to work after two or three games.
“Without going into detail Aberdeen didn’t feel right after a few weeks.
“They asked me to stay on and get through the season and get through the cup game against Kilmarnock, which I did.
“But I thought it was better to go then. It wasn’t going to be long term for me, so that’s life.
“They’ve got to the cup final and I don’t recognise anybody left now if I’m honest.
“But, look, it needed a big change, a big turnover really.
“That’s why I said to them, ‘get your next man in, having a look at what he needs.’
“There might be….
“The thing is, I didn’t really want to go into detail over why I left quickly.
“I just wanted to let them get on with how they wanted to run the club.
“I thought the new manager should come in and try to deal with the obvious problems that were there really.
“If I started dealing with them over that, I thought I’d probably fall out with people…”
On leaving Pittodrie he drove straight to Dunoon for a few days, stopping off to take in a Morton training session in Port Glasgow and play some golf at Blairmore and Stroan, the golf course 20 minutes from the Dunoon holiday home he purchased in 1990. A therapeutic bolt hole when his wife Sharron was diagnosed with breast cancer he took himself to the picturesque fifth hole, overlooking the Holy Loch, to block out the noise and clear his head.
Now a man of leisure he has gathered all the details of the North Coast 500 and plans to hit the road in the next 12 months. He rarely stays still for long.
“I’ve been all over’ he confides. “Pep invited me over for a couple of days so I went over there….”
An unlikely meeting of minds he pauses to gather up the name dropped casually into the conversation before explaining that he took in City’s 1-0 win over Wolves at the beginning of May.
“We got on from the moment we first met, when we had a long chat. It was funny because City played against an Italian team in Europe and they asked him, ‘were you surprised by their tactics Pep, with the man marking?’
“He said, ‘no, Neil Warnock’s been doing that to me for years….”
He dissolves into laughter before moving seamlessly into an account of his Old Firm game.
Pictured sitting beside Rangers director Graham Park at Ibrox for the recent 1-1 draw he found the experience underwhelming.
“It wasn’t a very good game was it? It wasn’t my kind of game with bloody tackles flying in everywhere and heads going in where it hurts.
“I expected one of those games and the whole thing was a bit of a damp squib on the end.”
“I had Charles when he was nothing,’ Warnock recalls. “He didn’t run about much but he was the best finisher at the club, he could score goals when you gave him a chance.
“So when I saw him come up here and take charge at Rangers it was funny that really.
“That Rangers job would have been ideal for me at one point, but there was always somebody putting a spoke in.
“There was always somebody behind the scenes who wanted somebody else. So I was disappointed that it never happened.
“I would like to have had a go, because when I pull up at Ibrox and get into the car park I think it’s special.”
It seems only right to point out that the job is vacant once again. Sensing where the conversation is headed he laughs, “They could do a lot worse….
“Listen, I suspect the new people coming in will have something to say on who the manager will be. They will have an idea on who they want.
“All I know about what’s happening with the Americans is what I read in the papers. But it’s a great club and it’s ripe for investment.
“I don’t really know who they should be going for, but I wasn’t a fan of Clement at all, me.
“When I came across him I thought he was arrogant, if I’m honest. I didn’t have a great deal of time for him.”
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He has more time for Brendan Rodgers, crossing the city of Glasgow for Saturday’s 3-1 win over Hibs at the invitation of Easter Road – and former Aberdeen striker – Junior Hoilet.
“All credit to Brendan. A little over 12 months ago, when I was here, he was getting slaughtered.
“To do what he has done proves what a good manager he is. I mean, 17 points? Bloody hell.”
In England you’ll find people who swear blind that Celtic could stick their nan in the technical area and win the league with the cash and resources at their disposal. Warnock snorts, giving the idea short shrift.
“Let’s wait and see what they do when Brendan goes then. Let’s see how easy it is then.
“To be fair, they’ve invested right. They’ve run the club the right way the last few years.
“They have sold players when they needed some money and they’ve pretty much supported him with what he wants signings wise. That’s what you get when you have something running smoothly and I hope that happens at Rangers now with the new people.
“I hope they get some stability and get somebody in who they can work with and make a fight of it.“
“When I was at Crystal Palace they had three recruitment people working on computers all day long.
“We needed a centre half desperately and I went in and said, ‘look, there’s one in Scotland who was spotted by one of our scouts.’
“So I sent my assistant Ronnie Jepson up to watch him and he came back and said, ‘gaffer, he’ll do for us.’
“So I told these computer lads, we can get this centre half for a few million pounds and I would like him if I could.
“So they said, ‘give us 24 hours’ and off they went to crunch the numbers and look at all his clips.
“Then they came back and told me, ‘sorry Neil, we don’t want you to sign that player. We don’t think he’s good enough.’
“I said, ‘what do you mean, he’s playing with a fag in his mouth! He reads the game so well he doesn’t have to sprint.’
“It turned out that they didn’t think Virgil van Dijk was quick enough for the English Premier League. Virgil van Dijk!
“I saw Virgil two years later and he came up and said, ‘I know you tried to sign me from Celtic.’
“I said, ‘yeah, I bet you’re f****** pleased now that they thought you were too slow…’”
Even if a late invite comes in the post - “maybe Brendan will ask me along” – his daughter’s wedding in Italy will prevent him heading to Hampden for the Scott
Fourteen months since he left, Aberdeen might prove to be his final job in management. The man himself is closing no doors.
“You never know son. I got offered a job with 10 games to go until the end of the season. Never say never….”
