Legendary former Scarborough FC boss Neil Warnock praises Athletic revival

Warnock, who took Scarborough FC into the old fourth division of the Football League as the champions of the GM Vauxhall Conference in 1986-87, will be heading back to the coast this month as part of his ‘Are You With Me’ tour.

He will be speaking at The Spa Complex on Saturday November 19, with several members of the Seadogs’ Conference champions team set to appear on stage during the show.

The former Leeds United, Sheffield United and Crystal Palace boss said: “I was invited to the Bradford Park Avenue game earlier in the season and I could tell when I went into the game afterwards that there was a great camaraderie in there.

"They were 2-0 behind but they never gave up and drew 2-2 late on, I told them that was just like my Boro team, we never knew when to give in either!

"Jono Greening has done a great job with Scarborough Athletic, they are playing very well at the moment.

“No-one was expecting them to do so well this season in their first year up at this level after being promoted, but there is a great atmosphere around the club, you could sense it at the Bradford Park Avenue match.

“The fans were brilliant on the night and it is especially good to see the younger fans make so much noise, when we were doing so well with Scarborough FC the young fans made so much noise and gave us plenty of support.

"It is good to see how well the new club has done as it was such a shame how it ended up with old football club. It is a shame to see how the old ground is now replaced by those new buildings.

"Scarborough has always been a special place for me as I’ve so many great memories from my time there.

"My favourite memory is definitely the open top bus tour through the town after we gained promotion, it finished off a great week for us.

"No one rated us that season and we were joint-bottom in the title odds with the bookies at 50-1, with Dagenham, so to get promoted to the Football League as champions the first time that it was possible to go straight up was amazing.

"We had a great team spirit that season, I signed 17 new players that summer and managed to get three top-class centre-backs and I built the system from there.

"I remember Cec Podd was a great captain. He came in and was not bothered about how much money he was going to get, which is so different from what you hear about so many top-level football clubs nowadays.

"I think I can put my long career in management over the years down to how I got hold of the dressing rooms, that was the key to it.”

During the highly successful speaking tour Warnock has invited three players from a former club onto the stage to talk about a few memories, but he is facing a problem for the Scarborough show as he has 10 of the 1986-87 squad all want to go on stage!

The former Boro boss added: “We usually get three of the players from one of my old teams up on stage but for this one I have 10 lads who want to do it so I may have to get a few more seats ready!

"Over the years whenever we have come back to Scarborough for reunions for that title-winning team we always get loads of fans coming up with memories of that season, even those who are only 20-odd years old!

"I have often brought my teams back to Scarborough during my time at other clubs for little training breaks or for pre-season training camps, sometimes when we had running on the beach the loser had to jump in the sea!

"We also had a great time away from the football, I can remember one time in particular when we were ten-pin bowling and I cleaned up money-wise against the players!

"When I come back to the Spa it will spark lots of nice memories as we often went for walks around that area when I was manager at Scarborough.”

Warnock’s first full managerial job was with Northern Premier League side Gainsborough Trinity in 1981.

Following this he managed Burton Albion before joining Boro in 1986.

Warnock announced his retirement from management earlier this year after 42 years in the dugout.