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Football

10th Jul 2023

The bizarre reason why Neil Warnock once played a 14-year-old in a pre-season friendly

Callum Boyle

Neil Warnock

Classic Warnock

Former goalkeeper Paddy Kenny has revealed that Neil Warnock once gave a 14-year-old a 20-minute cameo during a pre-season friendly.

Appearing on the ‘I Had Trials Once’ podcast, which documents stories from the lower leagues of English football, Kenny – who has played under Warnock several times throughout his career – opened up on the story which took place during a friendly.

He recalled: “Warnock used to take us to Cornwall all the time. We’re playing a game, we were all there getting changed before we go out.

“Warnock’s brought this young kid in, about 14 years old. This young kid’s come in with his Dad, and we were like, ‘what’s going off here, f***ing hell why would he be playing?’

“Anyway, he tells us: ‘Just to let you all know lads, this is so and so and his Dad so and so, he’s playing 20 minutes at the end of the game.’

“We were like, eh? Anyway, this young kid comes on, plays 20 minutes, pre-season I think it was, I think it were Bodmin we were playing.”We found out afterwards, the lad’s Dad had decorated Warnock’s house, so instead of paying, he gave his lad 20 minutes in a f***ing game pre-season!”

Kenny and the rest of the podcast were left in hysterics by the story as another classic moment was added to Warnock’s life stories.

The 74-year-old signed a one-year contract extension at Huddersfield Town after coming out of retirement in February to guide the Terriers to safety in the Championship, despite them being seven points adrift of safety.

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