Neil Warnock reveals Middlesbrough promotion hope in warning to Sheffield United

Neil Warnock, the former Sheffield United manager, admitted he wants another of his old clubs in Middlesbrough to win promotion to the Premier League this season - after firing something of a warning to the second-placed Blades.

Warnock did his boyhood club a huge favour at the weekend as his Huddersfield Town side came from a goal behind at half-time to beat third-placed Boro 4-2 at home. That result, coupled with United winning 1-0 away at Norwich, sent Paul Heckingbottom’s men six points clear of Boro and led to Blades fans chanting Warnock’s name in the away end at Carrow Road.

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Some may reassess their belief about Warnock’s loyalties after a thinly-veiled warning to United in which he said: “I want them to go up now that Michael is here. He’s done absolutely fabulous by putting his arm around them.

“I told him we’ve still got Sheffield United to play.”

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That game, at a potentially-pivotal point of the season, is United’s penultimate clash of the season - by which time Town may still be in with a shot of sealing their own Championship status.

Warnock claimed the Boro result - on the back of another unlikely victory over fellow promotion hopefuls Millwall - was “probably as good a result as I’ve had in my career”.

He slammed the 5/1 odds for a home win before kick-off as an “insult”, adding: “I have never been 5-1 in my life at home.

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“Middlesbrough will not have a tougher game than that this year. At half-time there were two ways we could go - we could lie down and lose four, like we did against Coventry, or we could stop crying and get on with it.

“We had to get on the front foot and have a go at them. I thought the crowd was brilliant. They probably couldn’t believe it after the first half.

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“But the goal lifted them and I haven’t heard an atmosphere like that since I was here first time. I said to the lads, in a few weeks when I am fishing I will think back how proud I was. Everyone gave me everything they had.

“It’s probably as good a result as I’ve had in my whole career that today. In the circumstances, with the squad I’ve got, the opponents, I think that’s as good a performance and result as I’ve ever had.”

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