Neil Warnock on Middlesbrough's promotion hopes and loaning Djed Spence

Come the end of the season, though, the 73-year-old might find himself with an even better record. If Middlesbrough make it to the Premier League next month, he’s going to be telling anyone who will listen that he’s actually on eight-and-a-half.

It is just over six months since what proved to be Warnock’s final stint in management came to an end, in the wake of a draw at West Brom that ended in an emotional farewell on the Hawthorns pitch. Chris Wilder has replaced him at the Riverside, and is the man charged with the task of getting Boro over the line and back into the top-flight. Watching on from afar, though, Warnock cannot help but take a paternal pride from the achievements of the squad he helped assemble during his year-and-a-half in charge.

“I’d love to see them go up,” he said, now comfortably resettled in his family home in Cornwall. “I know there’s been a few changes here and there, but let’s be honest, it’s my team, isn’t it? I’d be counting it as at least a half on my tally! I feel like I put most of those lads together and set them on their way.

“They’re a great group. One of the best things about my time at Middlesbrough was the spirit in the dressing room and the way we all grew together. Don’t forget, we were heading into League One when I arrived. Things were a bit flat, but we sorted a few things out and got things going again.

“The lads all bought into what we were trying to do, and the whole lot of them sent me some lovely messages when I left. I’ve kept them on my phone, to be honest. To a man, they all got in touch, thanked me and wished me well. That meant a lot to me.”

Eight members of Boro’s 18-man squad for last weekend’s defeat to Hull City were signed on Warnock’s watch, and it can definitely be argued that at least another two or three had their careers transformed during their time working under him.

Not all of his transfer moves worked out as planned – Uche Ikpeazu was jettisoned at an early stage of Wilder’s tenure, while Sammy Ameobi is yet to kick a ball following his arrival last summer – but a number of Warnock’s key decisions have turned out to be crucial elements of Boro’s ongoing promotion push.

“I like to think we got a fair few things right,” he said. “Crooksy (Matt Crooks) is one of the big ones. We thought we’d lost him at one stage, it looked for a while like he was going to Ipswich, but we pushed and pushed for it and eventually Steve (Gibson) got the deal done. From all the conversations I’d had, I knew he’d be a diamond. It doesn’t surprise me at all that he’s done so well.

“Duncan’s (Watmore) another one. No one wanted to touch him when we gave him a chance. He had to come and play for nothing for a while, but he did it because he’s a great kid who wanted to prove himself and he trusted us when we said we’d give him a fair chance. It’s great to see his career back on track like it is.

“Then, of course, there’s Isaiah (Jones). I remember at the start of last summer, there were quite a few people within the club saying, ‘He’s not ready yet, he’s only just come back from Queen of the South’. I wanted to give him an opportunity though.

“We took him down to Cornwall and I just said, ‘Listen, relax, enjoy yourself, and show us what you can do’. That’s what he did. I’ve never known a lad take things in so quickly. That was the main thing that stood out – whatever you told him, he went away, worked on it, and never made the same mistake twice. Within a couple of days of watching him, I remember turning to Blackie (Kevin Blackwell) and Ronnie (Jepson), and saying, ‘You know what? This kid can defend. We might have got ourselves a player here’.”

Jones’ emergence dovetailed with one of the most controversial moves of Warnock’s Riverside reign, the decision to allow Djed Spence to join Nottingham Forest on a season-long loan. Since moving to the City Ground, Spence’s rampaging displays at right wing-back have seen him develop into one of the most exciting talents in the country, but Warnock maintains he was right to send the 21-year-old to alternative employers.

“Me and Djed had had a few run-ins, and we weren’t really seeing eye to eye,” said Warnock. “There were a few things that had been going on in the background, and then suddenly you had Isaiah bursting onto the scene.

“If you remember, we actually played both of them in a couple of the early games of the season, but it quickly became obvious that it was going to be a straight choice of one or the other if we were going to be playing a system where one would be at right wing-back. My choice was to go with Isaiah.

“The question then was what was best for Djed? Was it best to leave him sulking on the bench because I wanted to give Isaiah a proper go? Or was it best to send him somewhere where he could play and enjoy himself a bit more?

“It doesn’t surprise me how well he’s done at Forest, but I think it’s worked out for the best for everyone. Djed’s settled down and started playing well. Forest have got themselves a player that might well help them win promotion. And Boro have a player where, if they want to sell in the summer, he’s probably worth ten times what they would have got last year. He hasn’t been sulking around the place, and in Isaiah, they’ve also got a player that could easily be their right-back for the next decade if they want him to be.”

Warnock’s next decade will look rather different to his last one, with the septuagenarian adamant he will not be rowing back on his decision to retire. Is he really so sure? “Yeah. Mainly because Sharon would kill me.”

He intends to travel around the country hosting a series of talk-ins though, and is determined one of the dates will bring him back to Teesside.

“I’d like a chance to say a bit of a goodbye,” he said. “That moment in front of the fans on the pitch at West Brom was brilliant, but probably my one regret is that I didn’t get chance to thank the supporters at the Riverside. I’d like to think they appreciate what we tried to do during our time up there, which let’s be honest, because of Covid and all that, wasn’t always the easiest.

“It would be good to see some of the fans again, have a bit of a natter, and tell a few tales. I might not be a manager anymore, but I reckon I can still talk a good game.”