There is no rest for the wicked and certainly none for Neil Warnock as he prepares to take charge of Cardiff City’s vital clash with Wolves tonight on the eve of his 70th birthday.
The Bluebirds manager is intent on celebrating with three points, an opportunity that would provide him with enough reason to raise a few repeated glasses when he dines out with his family on Saturday.
Opportunity rarely looks this inviting in the Premier League. Having got away to an eye-catchingly successful start, Wolves currently have the worst form of any team in the league with just one point gained in their last five matches.
Both Warnock and Wolves’ Portuguese manager Nuno Espirito Santo insist they have hugged and made up at a League Managers Association meeting since their infamous spat last season, but both have more meaningful and tangible goals on offer than mere revenge.
Still, as battles between bosses go, it was a corker. No post-match handshake as Nuno brushed past Warnock in order to celebrate victory on the pitch with his players, a belated attempt to offer an outstretched arm moments later, a volcanic refusal from Warnock, and recriminations that followed into the post match press conferences.
Despite two victories from their last three home games, Cardiff are still second from bottom and Warnock has no doubt that survival this season would represent a far bigger achievement than following Wolves up from the Championship last summer.
“Last year was the biggest achievement of my career in the circumstances,” Warnock said. “If you sort of multiply that by 10, then staying up would be in around about that.
“It is do-able. You can always look back and wish I’d done this and that. I did feel in the summer we needed a few more players. It’s been the strike force – we haven’t scored enough goals.
“We nearly got a striker (Tammy Abraham) and I was let down in the last minute in the window. We did get a couple of midfielders: Harry Arter and Victor Camarasa, who have been great for us.”
Warnock admits that the likes of Wolves – who won a remarkable and heated encounter last season, 2-1, after Cardiff missed late penalties – are better equipped to stay up, but he hopes to strengthen his squad in January.
“The other teams have got a 25-man squad with three or more under-23s who are internationals. We’ve got a 25-man squad and then we’ve had four and five injuries, three goalkeepers. We’ve had a job putting seven subs out.
“We’ve got to bring in three or four [players] to give us the next step up to compete with the teams we’re playing against.”
Cardiff have scored just 11 goals this season, the second-fewest in the Premier League, but Warnock admitted there are other issues to contend with.
“It’s not just a striking problem, no. When we’ve made a mistake at this level we’ve just got punished. It’s just fine margins. You get punished more at this level and the players are so much better.
“The difference now is the top four or five clubs. You always thought as a lower-down [club] you could beat these teams. You can’t very often nowadays, they’re so far ahead, even Everton on Saturday.
“You’ve got a £45m striker [Richarlison], a £50m midfielder [Gylfi Sigurdsson] behind him and we’ve spent £32.5m or something. You’re up against it but they knew they’ve been in a game.
Slavisa Jokanovic recently became the first Premier League manager to lose his job when he was replaced by Claudio Ranieri at Fulham.
However, Warnock is not worried about his future and remains confident Cardiff can avoid relegation.
“If I am going to get the sack, I’m probably going to get a better job,” said Warnock.
“The pressure’s not on you as much when you know you can do a job. I love the Championship but I still feel with the right backing we’ve got a chance in the Premier League.
“It never worries me, the sack. The only thing that drives you on is your own pride, aims and ambitions. To keep Cardiff up this year would be unbelievable.
“While we are favourites to go down, if we can hang in there until January and bring a few players in, we’ll have a fighting chance.”
Josh Murphy is expected to return to the Cardiff starting line-up. The winger dropped to the bench for the 1-0 defeat at Everton last weekend but has been a key figure for Cardiff in recent home matches.
Warnock has some late decisions to make as he has “two or three niggles” in camp and Kenneth Zohore is still struggling with a calf injury.
Wolves have no new injury concerns, with Jonny Otto their only enforced absentee.