Give me a dinosaur any day of the football season

DINOSAUR!

That was the word used by some people in the footballing sphere when news emerged in February that veteran manager Neil Warnock was taking over at relegation-threatened Rotherham United.

They implied that he wasn't part of the new breed of football manager who cares more about his V-neck sweater matching his tie than his centre back partnership working cohesively.

The evolution of the football boss is something that has accelerated over the past few years and the media-trained yes men now being hired are doing nothing for the excitement factor of our beloved game.

The characters seem to be disappearing and, like the dinosaurs, are hurtling towards extinction.

The word dinosaur indicates someone who can't move with the times, someone who is in danger of losing touch with the here and now, someone who is unwilling to adapt to new methods.

Indeed, Warnock himself admitted that the characters on the touchline were becoming few and far between just before he took his side to Hillsborough.

But to throw that insult at him is massively unfair, unjust and plain and simply not true.

A dinosaur wouldn't be able to keep up with the rigours of Championship football, they wouldn't be able to outfox the modern managers and ultimately, wouldn't get another job.

But people clamour for Warnock to come and help, to dig them out of trouble – usually on the back of one of the new breed not fulfilling their promises.

And his record since he returned to the front-line with the Millers speaks for itself, and is bettered only by top club Burnley in the second tier.

Played eight, won four, drawn two, lost two. Thirteen points taken from the last 15 available has seen the Millers move out of the relegation zone and leapfrog two other sides.

Warnock's remit when coming to South Yorkshire was to keep the club up and it looks as though he is on course to do that thanks to a run of form that is expected of a play-off hunting side, not relegation candidates.

And the fact that this month has seen the Millers square up to some of the best this league has to offer and take points from every one of them only underlines the fact that sometimes, experience in football outweighs tapered trousers and designer stubble.

Warnock has proved time and time again that he can tactically outmanoeuvre better sides and has come up with – in a very short space of time it has to be said – a formula that works for the Millers

It works for the players available, it works for the fans on the terraces and it works for the short term success of  Rotherham United.

A heroes’ performance at local rivals Wednesday, a half-time team talk that changed the course of the game against Middlesbrough and the perfect substitutions at the perfect time against Derby, just a few examples of his tactical nous and his ability to motivate the underdogs.

It sounds silly, but how many chairmen up and down the country have fallen for a well-spoken manager who has no experience of managing a Sunday league side, never mind a Championship club?

For me, every other club can keep their carbon copy managers who offer nothing different.

I'd take a dinosaur that wins games and breeds confidence any day of the week.