Neil Warnock played a 14-year-old in pre-season for this bizarre reason

Neil Warnock is widely known in the footballing world as an interesting character to say the least, a pioneer of the 'old-school' way in English football.

A man who is known for sticking to his guns and not being the most adaptable, Neil Warnock has always been straight forward with his sides and it has resulted in a managerial career spanning over five decades.

One of Warnock's ex-goalkeepers Paddy Kenny was on the 'I Had Trials Once' podcast, which focuses on stories to do in the lower divisions and oftne non-league in English football.

Kenny has often been referred to as 'Neil Warnock's son', so it is no surprise that he had a hilarious story to tell of something he experienced under Warnock in a pre-season game.

"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.

Only Neil Warnock could get away with this 😂

🐐🐐🐐

(via @IHadTrialsOnce podcast)

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— The #EFL Zone (@TheFLZone) July 7, 2023

"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 podcast co-hosts were in hysterics over the story, but it showed Warnock's eccentric nature as a manager, and though he could be seen as straight-forward and tough, there were stories of him that are quite funny.

Warnock is currently the manager at Huddersfield Town, coming out of retirement to take over the reins in February this year, guiding the team to safety in the Championship despite being seven points adrift in March.

The 74-year-old signed a one-year contract extension this summer, hopefully giving football fans more funny stories like this one.