the times | Monday June 29 2020 2GG 13
thegame
up the famous steps for the trophy
presentation — the players will
receive their medals and the trophy
on the pitch. “It’s not going to be the
same as stepping out in front of
50/60,000 people, but we won’t shy
away from the occasion,” Curle says.
“We want the players to enjoy it. And
I see some positives: the players can’tGREGOR ROBERTSONExeter City and Northampton Town
meet tonight in the first behind-
closed-doors final at Wembley, an
oaccasion that Keith Curle, the
Northampton manager, believes will
be “surreal”. No more than 400
people will be present inside the
90,000-capacity stadium for the
League Two play-off final. Gone will
be the usual pre-match pomp and
ceremony. The teams will leave the
tunnel a minute apart, then stand
distanced for the national anthem.
Afterwards, there will be no climbtell me they didn’t hear me.” Both
teams overturned semi-final
first-leg deficits to reach the final:
Northampton, who finished seventh
when the season was curtailed, with a
3-0 win over Cheltenham Town;
Exeter, who finished fifth, with a 3-1
victory over Colchester United, via
an 111th-minute extra-time winner.
Matt Taylor, the Exeter manager,
has sympathy for absent fans, and
for his players. “I’ve spoken to my
captain, Jake Taylor, and to lead
your side out at Wembley is a great
honour,” the manager, 38, says. “For
your family not to be there is really
disappointing.”‘Surreal’ occasion awaits at Wembley
LEAGUE TWO PLAY-OFF FINAL
Exeter City v Northampton Town
Wembley, 7.30pm
TV Sky Sports Main Event/Now TVretirement of which he has spoken
for almost 15 years.
The first time the r-word was
mooted was during the tail end of his
eight years in charge of his boyhood
club, Sheffield United, between 1999
and 2007. A few months later he
joined Crystal Palace for “one last
challenge”. Warnock had not long
since managed his 1,000th game but,
after (invariably successful) spells in
charge of Queens Park Rangers
(twice), Leeds United, Crystal Palace
(again), Rotherham United and
Cardiff City, he is now 11 games shy
of 1,500.
Even last July he was adamant:
2019-20 would be his final season.
“Sharon and I want to be able to go
and see one or two things while
we’ve got our health,” he said of his
wife. But every time the call comes.
Another fire to fight. Poor Sharon.
There were few surprises in the
manner of Saturday’s win.
Middlesbrough had 31 per cent
possession and completed only 89
successful passes (to Stoke’s 330), the
fewest of the season. But there was
no doubting which team deserved
the three points, or showed the spirit
and desire and commitment to
secure them. And that, after three
days of training, with a previously
moribund-looking Middlesbrough
team who had won only once since
New Year’s Day.
Warnock made six changes,
fielded players in their best positions
and kept things simple, as he always
has. None of the front three — Britt
Assombalonga, Ashley Fletcher and
Patrick Roberts — started in the
defeat by Swansea last week but
Fletcher scored the opener, the
excellent Roberts laying it on with a
wicked set piece, Assombalonga was
a bustling presence all afternoon and
Warnock heaped praise on all three
afterwards. They will arrive for
training with a spring in their step
this morning. Everyone will.
That is what Warnock does best. It
always has been. The game has
advanced in myriad ways in the four
decades since the former
Chesterfield winger, who sold
insurance, worked in a grocer’s and
practised chiropody, became part-
time manager at Gainsborough
Trinity, but personality, the human
touch, the capacity to engage and
inspire — at all levels of the game —
is still a precious a commodity. Just
ask Liverpool, whose return to the
summit of English football has been
chronicled in fascinating detail in
recent days but which would still
have been impossible without one
man: their manager, Jürgen Klopp.
Another viral clip that has done
the rounds once again over the past
week juxtaposes Warnock with Pep
Guardiola, the Manchester City
manager. The gruff Yorkshireman
and the cultured Catalan. Team talks
from the Etihad home dressing room
and from inside Bramall Lane. Pep’s
plea for his players to show
“courage”; Warnock telling his troops
they have to defend like the rash on
Nick Montgomery’s chest, the club’s
former midfielder. Their habitats and
methods could not be further
removed but both know how to
make their players follow them.
Saturday’s win lifted
Middlesbrough to 19th, two points
clear of the relegation zone and Hull
City, who they visit on Thursday
night. Warnock preached caution.
“Make no mistake, it’s a great result
today but we’re miles away from
being safe,” he said. But who would
be surprised to see him lead the club
to safety — and extend his latest
Last Dance into next season and a
tilt at a record ninth promotion?Warnock went
through the
emotions on
his return