Neil Warnock has probably made most Sheffield United fans cringe with his latest reference to the club.
As a self confessed boyhood Blades fan and manager of the club for eight years, Warnock should know United better than most.
Yet the Cardiff City boss has referred to the team as “Sheffield” while speaking about the recent Gary Madine loan deal.
“Gary needs to go away and get some goals scored,” Warnock was quoted by the Sheffield Star.
“They create a lot of chances do Sheffield, and I’ve said to him: ‘go and get my old club up and get them promoted’.”
Considering there are two sides in the Steel City – the other of course being the Blades’ great rivals, Sheffield Wednesday – this is a bit of a gaffe from Warnock.
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It’s unlikely anyone would refer to Manchester City or Manchester United as simply ‘Manchester’. And considering his history at Bramall Lane, Warnock will be only too aware of the issues grouping United and Wednesday together causes.
However, considering his legendary status at the club, perhaps we can forgive him this once.
The Gary Madine deal
Warnock has also helped his old side out by loaning them Madine. The striker joins Chris Wilder’s men on a six-month loan.
That in itself caused some controversy as Madine is a former Owls player. The 28-year-old was also filmed in 2017 insulting Blades captain Billy Sharp.
Yet both Wilder and – according to Madine – Sharp have backed the deal. The Cardiff front-man joins Kieran Dowell on the list of new January recruits.
The two players fill the positions Wilder was most keen to improve this month; striker and attacking midfielder.
Madine arrives on the back of scoring 10 goals in 28 Championship matches for Bolton Wanderers last season. That record earned him a move to the Bluebirds a year ago. Warnock has since credited Madine with getting them promoted to the Premier League.