Neil Warnock proud of his work as he departs Huddersfield after draw with Stoke

Posted Thursday, September 21, 2023 by PA

Departing Huddersfield boss Neil Warnock feels he has restored the pride back into the West Yorkshire club as his reign ended with a 2-2 draw against Stoke.

Matty Pearson put the Terriers ahead but Daniel Johnson quickly responded with Stoke’s first away goal of this Championship campaign.

Ben Wilmot’s looping header put the visitors ahead before Jack Rudoni equalised to earn Warnock his final point.

Four months after remarkably keeping the club in the second tier, Warnock was proud of the way his players fought back in his final game in charge.

He said: “What we’ve done in the last six months has put the pride back into Huddersfield.

“The fans are glad they are supporting the Terriers and I feel really proud. It has been hard work this six months.

“I don’t think anybody thought we could do what we did last year, it was an absolute miracle. Yes, it’s come early, I did not expect to leave until Christmas or round about then. But I will look on from afar with great affection – I want them to do well.

“I said to the lads at the end of the game that there is no reason why you don’t go and push on now and look at going up rather than looking behind you.”

The 74-year-old is eager to continue his journey in management following his recent post.

He added: “I’ve just loved every minute on the training ground.

“It’s just got me going again and made me realise that my strength, you can’t get in a book. My strength is what I do with people and you look at my promotions, I’ve never had the best teams but eight great dressing rooms and every one of those players will remember my time here.”

Stoke boss Alex Neil felt his side missed a great opportunity to pick up their first away win of the season and thinks his side’s performance warranted more than a point.

He said: “It’s certainly two points dropped from our perspective.

“You can’t dominate a game as much as we dominated tonight and defend as poorly as we did for both goals and that’s ultimately cost us the points.

“I thought some of our play was as good as we’ve played since I’ve been here at times, I thought we created good chances and scored two goals.

“I don’t feel encouraged right now. It is probably the sorest one this season because of how well we played. You understand in the Championship when you play well you need to make it count – and I thought we played well tonight.”