Neil Warnock has agreed to stay on as Cardiff City manager next season after talks with the club’s hierarchy.
Warnock has won 11 of his 23 games since he was appointed until the summer following Paul Trollope’s departure in October.
And ahead of Saturday’s home game against Fulham, the 68-year-old revealed he will be in Wales next season to “have a go” at winning promotion to the Premier League.
“I’m pleased to say I’ve agreed everything,” Warnock said at his weekly press conference. “We’ve not put pen to paper but we’ve agreed an extension for next season.
“We’re singing from the same hymn sheet. We’re desperate to do well, we all want the same thing. My objective is to be as popular here in 12 months time as I am now because we don’t know what’s around the corner.”
Warnock has played a canny political game in recent weeks as he has positioned himself ready to take the best possible option for an attempt at an eighth career promotion.
He had warned of other clubs on the look-out for a new manager, but was also shrewd enough to stress that a very modest summer budget on new players – as low as £6m – could be enough to convince him to stay.
Now, Warnock has praised owner Vincent Tan and chairman Mehmet Dalman as “nothing but supportive” and revealed he plans to bring in “four or five” new signings at the end of the season.
“We’ve had to show them what we can do,” he said. “It’s a trust thing between a manager and an owner, we all want the same thing, nobody’s guaranteed but with their support we can give it a good try.
“We’ll be up against a lot of clubs with a lot of money. But it’s easy for a manager to commit to a club when the fans want you. I’ll be here as long as the fans want me because if they want me I’ll be doing a good job.
“If my health is good there’s no reason why I won’t be here for a couple of years. We’ll just have a go next season and see where we are.
“We all want to do well though there are no guarantees – just look at Ranieri.”
Cardiff are 12th in the Championship, 13 points off the play-off places.