Neil Warnock: What I've Learnt This Week

This afternoon's match against Arsenal, the statisticians tell me, is my 1,000th as a League manager. I never thought, when I started managing a Sunday League team called Todwick in my spare time - I was still playing at Scunthorpe - I would be in this position. And there's another 300 matches at non-League level which don't count.

After Todwick it began for real at Gainsborough Trinity more years ago than I care to remember. Having gained a foothold in management there I moved on to Burton Albion, then up to Scarborough. My first season we were 50-1 outsiders to gain promotion to the Football League yet we did so. The achievement of being the first manager to take a team automatically into the Football League really whetted my appetite for management.

So did our first game, the first of the 1,000. It was one of those you dream about when the fixtures come out: Wolverhampton Wanderers at home. It was a wonderful fixture, they were slumming it in the old Fourth Division but had Steve Bull in his pomp. But it was August Bank Holiday. Wolves fans came up in their thousands. They were sleeping on the beach. To say they were slightly merry come kick-off would be an understatement. Most didn't get in. The gate was 7,314, plus a few I sneaked in. It finished a 2-2 draw with some wonderful goals but in the second half the ref stopped it because there was trouble. Graham Turner, manager at Wolves at the time, and myself had to walk over to the Wolves fans and ask them to calm down. I remember a can just missing my head. I bent down to pick it up and it was full of sand. It would have killed me. I thought, "Bloody Hell. What am I doing here?"

It did calm down but one or two parts of the ground were vandalised and we had another repair to do after two Wolves fans climbed on to the roof of the old terracing. They started jumping up and down and one went straight through. We thought he must have been seriously injured. An ambulance came and carried him out. Apparently, because of the condition he was in, he hardly felt the fall and when he sobered up he discharged himself.

We just missed out on the play-offs and decided to go full-time. I had a chiropody practice so I had to make a decision. Pack up football at that level, or pack up the toenail-clipping. There wasn't really any option but to give management a go.

I didn't stay at Scarborough long, though. I left for Notts County after a disagreement with the Scarborough chairman at the time, Geoffrey Richmond, who's probably better known for his time at Bradford City. We were both starting in football and we both realised afterwards that we made mistakes at the time and laugh about it now. I know Geoffrey has his critics, but he means well because he loves football. I had a wonderful few years at County. They were the oldest club in the world but they'd never been to Wembley. We went twice in the play-offs and I'll never forget the scenes going there and coming back home. While there I turned down Chelsea; a few months later I was on my way again. So much for loyalty.

Next stop was Torquay. Everybody said, "Don't go, you'll be relegated from the League", but I loved it. They call it the English Riviera and it's a wonderful place. I remember Meadfoot beach. Once I took the team to a café there and did tactics with the salt and pepper pots. They were so bad it would have been pointless doing it on the training field.

Being in Torquay gave me the chance to look at Cornwall. I fell in love with the place. The West Country has got to be one of the best places in the world, let alone England. I kept Torquay up, then went to Huddersfield. We had another two Wembley visits, the club's first since the 1930s, and it was great to see them move into a new stadium.

Then it was back to the West Country, drawn by the location and the fact Plymouth were a sleeping giant. In September I found myself bottom of the League having played five and lost five. I brought the Cat, Kevin Blackwell, into the team and we set off on a run which ended up at Wembley. We had 33,000-plus fans with us; the West Country closed for the day. Even today it's great to talk to fans of these clubs about such days.

I had a spell at Oldham then it was on to Bury. They were in the equivalent of the Championship and they were not really geared up for it. In one of the biggest disappointments of my career we were relegated but it was a great effort by the lads and we only went down because, for that year, placings were decided by goals scored, not goal difference.

Then I came here, to Bramall Lane. I'd already applied for the job on numerous occasions without success. I'd have done it for nothing. That was seven years ago and we've had some great times.

I was appointed for the usual reasons. The club had no money, dwindling fans - there were 8,000 at the previous game - a large wage bill and massive debts. Now look at us. We've sold 20,000 season tickets and we'll average about 30,000. It's been an absolutely incredible roller-coaster. Good and bad, I've loved every minute of it. I've really loved the dressing-room spirit I've managed to get at these clubs . When I look round at people like Craig Short, who was with me at Scarborough and is still with me, when I think of men like Ronnie Jepson and Andy Booth, there's been some great characters.

2. The best of times, the worst of times

Most memorable of the 1,000? The second semi-final of the 2002-03 play-offs against Nottingham Forest. We won 4-3 after extra time having been 2-0 down at the hour-mark. It had everything a manager could go through, despair, anxiety elation, any adjective you care to use was involved in those two hours. Forest are only just recovering now.

The worst came 10 days later, the play-off final against Wolves. We never turned up and were 3-0 down at half-time. The worst thing was we had to stay over after the game. The hotel was like a morgue.

3. 'Cat' will be back

Kevin Blackwell and I go way back, he played for me at Scarborough, Notts County, Huddersfield and Plymouth. Then he was my assistant. He'll be disappointed to have lost his job at Leeds this week but he can walk away with his head held high. In football you know for every good time there is a bad one around the corner. But you learn from blows like that and I'm sure he'll come back.

4. Today is the most daunting of them all

My 1,000th game is probably more daunting than all the previous 999: Arsenal away when they've just won at Manchester United and we have 10 players injured. It certainly gets the blood flowing. I think we're 10-1, and that's just to get a shot on target, let alone win! But we've had some good games with Arsenal in recent years and there's always some unbelievable result in football.