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The Gaffer
How does a top professional football manager cope with the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, with living, breathing and sleeping football 24 hours a day, 365 days a year? How does the man in charge handle the ever-present danger of getting sacked in the ultimate results business?
Neil Warnock's The Gaffer contains countless insights into the trials and tribulations, the joyous peaks and the soul-destroying troughs of life as a football manager. This wonderful new book takes fans into the changing room, the training ground and the boardroom. Warnock draws heavily on a lifetime of experiences at all levels in football, but particularly on his tumultuous spells at Crystal Palace, Queens Park Rangers, and Leeds United. From transfer dealings to negotiations with agents, from half-time team-talks to training sessions, from scouting trips to team-bonding sprees, from administrators to chairman, from injuries to referees - The Gaffer spills the beans.
You won't have read a football book like this before.
Neil Warnock's The Gaffer contains countless insights into the trials and tribulations, the joyous peaks and the soul-destroying troughs of life as a football manager. This wonderful new book takes fans into the changing room, the training ground and the boardroom. Warnock draws heavily on a lifetime of experiences at all levels in football, but particularly on his tumultuous spells at Crystal Palace, Queens Park Rangers, and Leeds United. From transfer dealings to negotiations with agents, from half-time team-talks to training sessions, from scouting trips to team-bonding sprees, from administrators to chairman, from injuries to referees - The Gaffer spills the beans.
You won't have read a football book like this before.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 2013
3 people are currently reading
57 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 27, 2022
Neil Warnock can be a pretty scarey guy to referees and I wonder if he has a similar effect on editors.There is a lot of interesting information and anecdotes drawn from Mr Warnocks vast experience of managing ,especially his tales of rogue players and owners.I certainly didn’t dislike the book nor the author but it drove me nuts as a good tale got lost in among too much rambling .SYes some cracking anecdotes but even better had there been brevity and shape .
January 13, 2018
I've long admired Neil for his attitude & honesty and this book just confirmed my opinions. It wasn't really so much a story but felt like a collection of anecdotes. Maybe if I hadn't been following QPR at the time the book covered I wouldn't have given it five stars overall, I was though so it really enthralled me seeing the club from the inside
October 23, 2018
Enjoyable look at the life of a football manager. The timelines seem to jump about a little bit, and mainly focuses on spells at QPR, Palace and Leeds, which means a lot is left out from earlier roles. However, there's enough material about both Warnock's personal experiences and the life of a football manager in general.
July 27, 2018
Very interesting stuff. I enjoyed this book as it gives much different perspective of English football comparing to "glorious"stories of Man Utd. Chelsea etc. This one is much more about every day work in sometimes struggling football clubs etc.
July 27, 2019
Good insights and stories but only if you know/like football and management.
March 7, 2022
A rollicking read
July 28, 2024
Siempre me gusta leer este tipo de biografias porque se aprende mucho de como es el día a día de un entrenador de fútbol.
June 29, 2013
The story of Neil Warnock's adventures and misadventures in football management... well, the recent ones anyway.
Our author is how you'd expect him to be from his public profile. There's no great 'man behind the mask' situation to ponder, and hence, looking at his experiences behind the scenes at football clubs will herald very few surprises.
It's important to stress that this really suffers from being a second book. Our subject had already done his autobiography a few years earlier so most of his story about being 'The Gaffer' has already been told and isn't repeated for this tome.
There is also seemingly very little structure to the book (This is the killer.) This seems to be a collection of anecdotes and opinions often a paragraph long. At least if they were put in clear,chronological order, there would be a journey, a story rather than what appear to be random ramblings. Whilst it'd be a little unfair to blame Warnock for this, as he isn't a wordsmith by trade, I did hope that Glenn Moore "who assisted Neil Warnock with writing 'The Gaffer', (and) is football editor or The Independent (Newspaper)" could have done more to turn a bunch of notes and experiences into a book. But thankfully, Just like Warnock's teams, this gets much better in the second half and more structure emerges.
Lastly, you need to at least be a journeyman supporter in the beautiful game to understand a lot of the characters and technicalities. No extensive explanation's present. This wasn't an issue for myself, but could potentially ruin the experience for a newcomer to the beautiful game.
DT 29/06/2013
Our author is how you'd expect him to be from his public profile. There's no great 'man behind the mask' situation to ponder, and hence, looking at his experiences behind the scenes at football clubs will herald very few surprises.
It's important to stress that this really suffers from being a second book. Our subject had already done his autobiography a few years earlier so most of his story about being 'The Gaffer' has already been told and isn't repeated for this tome.
There is also seemingly very little structure to the book (This is the killer.) This seems to be a collection of anecdotes and opinions often a paragraph long. At least if they were put in clear,chronological order, there would be a journey, a story rather than what appear to be random ramblings. Whilst it'd be a little unfair to blame Warnock for this, as he isn't a wordsmith by trade, I did hope that Glenn Moore "who assisted Neil Warnock with writing 'The Gaffer', (and) is football editor or The Independent (Newspaper)" could have done more to turn a bunch of notes and experiences into a book. But thankfully, Just like Warnock's teams, this gets much better in the second half and more structure emerges.
Lastly, you need to at least be a journeyman supporter in the beautiful game to understand a lot of the characters and technicalities. No extensive explanation's present. This wasn't an issue for myself, but could potentially ruin the experience for a newcomer to the beautiful game.
DT 29/06/2013
January 19, 2014
Myopic and one-sided insight into the brilliance of Neil, sensibly focusing on the last three clubs of his career (as ot stands, anyway). As a QPR fan this was pleasingly slanted towards the Rangers years but the constant explaining away of defeats by poor reffing and other mitigating factors, rarely his fault does serve to remind of that aspect of his public persona that makes Neil difficult to warm to when he is not managing your club.
Nonetheless, I do feel that Neil was nothing short of heroic during his time at QPR and take much of what he says as gospel. In particular his opinions of one or two players made me reassess them and the day to day realities of running a club (i.e. why the volume of the transfer bill is often not the issue but rather the timing of the transfer funds being available).
I admire Warnock and he speaks from the heart. He is also a family man, which makes this biography interesting in that it shows how he managed the work - life balance. I found this difficult to put down, even if it did get a little repetitive in places (for which the ghost writer should be shot).
Nonetheless, I do feel that Neil was nothing short of heroic during his time at QPR and take much of what he says as gospel. In particular his opinions of one or two players made me reassess them and the day to day realities of running a club (i.e. why the volume of the transfer bill is often not the issue but rather the timing of the transfer funds being available).
I admire Warnock and he speaks from the heart. He is also a family man, which makes this biography interesting in that it shows how he managed the work - life balance. I found this difficult to put down, even if it did get a little repetitive in places (for which the ghost writer should be shot).
August 23, 2013
Not a classic by any measure but Warnock details his time as manager of Crystal Palace, QPR, and Leeds. Supporters of one of these teams (like myself, QPR) will appreciate the insight into their club. If you are unfamiliar with English football many of the names, places and events described will not mean anything to you. An easy read but not for everyone.
March 31, 2014
Enjoyed this.
After reading The Secret Footballer, it's sequel and the Secret Player I thought this was a good insight into the other side of football, management.
It's not just a look at Neil Warnock's career but also goes into life as a manager on the whole.
Written in his inimitable style, the humour comes through.
Worth a read if you like your footy!
After reading The Secret Footballer, it's sequel and the Secret Player I thought this was a good insight into the other side of football, management.
It's not just a look at Neil Warnock's career but also goes into life as a manager on the whole.
Written in his inimitable style, the humour comes through.
Worth a read if you like your footy!
March 30, 2014
I decided to read this book because of the reviews saying it gave a real insight into what it's like to be a football manager. I agree that it does give a degree of insight, but the majority of the book relates to the teams Warnock managed. This is hardly surprising, though I found large sections of the book boring as I had no real interest in the teams or their players.
March 3, 2015
Having never been a fan of Neil Warnock, I approached this book fully expecting to abuse him throughout the reading. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I found that he is actually a very nice man. A good read, very well written and each chapter had structure to it.
June 15, 2013
easy going read at neil warnocks look at football management through his career with some funny moments listed
September 2, 2013
A good light holiday read. I've never known whether to like or hate Neil Warnock, but regardless he is worth listening to. Some interesting stories in here, worth a read.
February 3, 2014
I really enjoyed this audiobook read by the man himself, Neil Warnock. I am not a fan of any of the teams he's been connected to but this is a fascinating read/listen for any football fan.
January 16, 2018
actually got as library book.. Quite interesting but not the insightful story I was expecting. Ferguson's memoirs much better.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews