Neil Warnock is man with over four decades of mangerial experience. But when it comes to manging in front of the fans, he's like a kid at Christmas.

With his first home game in charge of Middlesbrough in front of fans on the horizon, he's already looking forward to having them act as the twelfth man this season. 

Boro's first home game of the season is this Saturday against Bristol City at the Riverside Stadium. While 1,000 supporters were allowed in the stadium last September as part of an EFL trial to allow crowds back into sporting venues, it will be the first time a capacity crowd will be allowed inside the ground since March 2020.

Warnock is yet to taste the feeling of a home crowd at the Riverside Stadium and is yet to hear the fans chant in the home of the Riverside Stadium. He missed last year's EFL trial game after contracting Covid-19. 

While the majority of his reign in charge of Middlesbrough has been without the fans, he says this pre-season has given him a sense of what's to come from the home support.

"It’s because we’ve been able to have fans around." said Warnock.

"The trip to Devon, we stayed in Cornwall but we played in Devon and the fans managed to come and see the games, the ones that wanted to so it was good to get that back because the lads have missed that.

"It was like a family friendly situation there. Everybody thinks that footballers are a little bit high up and a bit beyond that but we’re not. We like the fans to mix with us and everything and I thought that was a great week in that respect.

"I think they’re all looking forward, I’m looking forward to them being at home because I want them to be the twelfth man. I don’t think we’ve had much help with the officials and things since I’ve been here really at home whereas I think the crowd, there’s no let-up in the crowd so I’m asking them to really be my twelfth man.

The travelling away support of over 1,000 fans bought out the allocation for Bor's away trip to Fulham in the opening day of the season in just four minutes. 600 more tickets were made available in the days leading up to the game at Craven Cottage. 

They were witnees to a gritty Boro performance where Warnock's men rode their luck at times and salvaged a draw through Marc Bola's late strike as the game finished 1-1. 

The 72-year-old is a man who has managed over 1,500 games in his careeer and has claimed over 600 victories, a feat that very few people achieve in their careers. He says the feeling of winning and what it does for the fans is what still gives him the fire in the belly after all these years. 

"That’s what I’ve been in the game for, for all these years." Warnock added. 

"Forty odd years I’ve been a manager now and, crikey before some of you were born, it does register how people think but you have to move on.

"The one thing that I’ve not lost is that I want to win and Steve (Gibson) knows that. I know all these clubs have got quite a bit more with the parachutes and things like that but there’s only eleven people on the field and one manager against me. Every time I go into a game, that’s what I want to do and I want the fans to believe in that and obviously I want them behind us.

"I’m looking forward to it. It’s as if I’m a young pup and I just want to do well starting off in my career."