NEIL WARNOCK has hit back at former Huddersfield boss Andre Breitenreiter – branding him a BUFFOON.
The Terriers crashed into League One a year after Warnock rescued them from relegation against the odds.
But Warnock was surprisingly let go by Huddersfield in September after just seven games while in a solid mid-table position and replaced by Darren Moore.
Moore was sacked after only winning three of his 23 games at the helm before Breitenreiter took charge for the final 14 – winning just two.
Yet the German decided to dig out Warnock for scathing criticism when he was left following the club’s relegation from the Championship.
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He accused the legendary 75-year-old – who holds the record for most promotions (eight) and managing most games (1,626) in English football history – of not getting the team fit in a pre-season where he took players for a game of golf and visited a pub while on a short tour of Cornwall.
But Warnock hit back and said: “We played Leicester, who won the Championship, third game of the season and should’ve won the game. We lost 1-0.
“Jamie Vardy came up to me and said, ‘You’re the hardest team we’ve played against for years.’
“Our stats man told me that although we lost that was the most a Huddersfield team had run for three years. That’s how fit we were.
“And this buffoon comes along and starts talking about me getting them playing golf and going to the pub.
“In those last 14 games of the season, besides throwing everyone under the bus, the thing he missed out on was he should’ve taken them to play more golf and out to the f***ing pub!”
He added: “Different people have different ways of managing. Yes, we went to a pub in Cornwall after a hard game.
“We face three non-league teams down there and people can say, ‘Oh, it’s just non-league.’
“What people don’t know is they trained morning and afternoon and then played a game in the evening so that was effectively three training sessions.
“We went there to get fit. If you asked anyone about hard working teams, I bet I’m in the top two you don’t want to play.
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“But I love making people feel wanted and happy too as it makes them work and play harder for you.”
Warnock says Breitenreiter “lost the dressing room” at Huddersfield, which ultimately led to the team being relegated.
He points to the German’s man-management of striker Josh Koroma and midfielder Jack Rudoni as examples.
The veteran boss said: “I loved Josh Koroma. He was a rogue but a likeable one. I took him under my wing whereas managers that have followed didn’t rate him and the last one (Breitenreiter) told him only what he was not good at – while I told him what he was good at.
“In the last game of the season against Ipswich he took Jack off after 30 minutes because he made a mistake.
“I rang Jack up and said if you made that mistake for me I’d have pulled up over and said, ‘You made a mistake, now go and score us a goal.'
“That’s the difference between me and the buffoon.
“The lads there were ringing me up, saying, ‘We don’t do set pieces, don’t know what we’re doing on a Saturday.’
"Then he comes out and says that about golf and pubs. The guy hasn’t got a clue has he? Had he stayed there, they’d have got relegated from League One! He lost the dressing room.”
Warnock is sorry to see the Terriers in League One and admits he was surprised when CEO Jake Edwards informed him the club wanted to part company with him so early in the season.
He said: “Jake told me the club’s owner Kevin Nagle wanted to go in a different direction. Well, they certainly did that!
“We believed we could’ve pushed towards the play-offs.
“The day after we left, the club’s sporting director Mark Cartwright moved into the nice big office I had while Darren Moore got a pokey little room. I rang Jake a week later and said, ‘If you wanted my office, you didn’t have to sack me!
“But we had a great time at Huddersfield.
“It wasn’t just the players we got on side but the office workers, the cleaners, the fans who were great, everyone. They were all my boys and girls.
“When I went to Sheffield United, the place was a mess but when I left everyone was together. I like to do that – when everyone is together, they work better. It’s a great shame what has happened to Huddersfield.”
Warnock – who has had more comebacks than Elvis – insists he has really retired this time after a short spell at Aberdeen.
And he is currently focused on helping National League South club Torquay as a consultant.
The legendary boss revealed if he ever did want to return to managing in the EFL he has been told he has to take a FOURTEEN-HOUR football management course at St George’s under ex-Rangers, Brentford, Nottingham Forest and QPR chief Neil Warburton.
He said: “I had a call from the LMA and was told, 'Mr Warnock if you come back into football you have to do a 14-hour course at St George’s before you're allowed back in.' That sums the game up now, doesn’t it?”
