Neil Warnock “proud” of managerial record after leaving Middlesbrough

Neil Warnock revealed his frustrations after his exit from Middlesbrough was announced minutes after the 1-1 draw with promotion-chasing West Brom.

Warnock had overseen an English football record 1,602nd professional game as a manager at Luton on Tuesday but the draw at The Hawthorns proved to be the end of his latest stint.

Middlesbrough said a decision had been reached by mutual consent with the club lying 14th in the Championship table.

Warnock, 72, said: “I am disappointed how it’s ended up but nothing surprises me really.

“I found out this morning with a call to say they were going in a different direction.

“I felt I deserved a bit more than that. It’s not to be and I wish them all the best because it’s a great club, with super players.

“Whoever comes in will get a great set of lads and will get some support in the transfer window. I think the new man will be given what he wants to get three or four players in.

“They need those players and then I think they still have a good chance of going up. I will look from afar and see how well they do.”

He added: “I am proud of my managerial record and I can’t see it being beaten in the modern day. I have had a really good time.

“It was hard coming into the club during the pandemic but to take the club through that and come out the other side, I am proud and the fans have been great.”

The Baggies were grateful to Grady Diangana for maintaining their unbeaten home record.

He struck a second-half equaliser to rescue a share of the spoils after Josh Coburn had given the visitors, on the back of two defeats, the lead in a drab first half.

Albion pressed to find a winner and Boro keeper Luke Daniels denied Kyle Bartley.

However, the Baggies were also indebted to Sam Johnstone’s dramatic late save to deny Andraz Sporar.

Baggies boss Valerien Ismael said: “It was a frustrating afternoon for us.

“Our quality in the last third wasn’t good enough and our crosses were too wide, or too long or the last passes were too short.

“We needed more quality in the last third to win. I think it was a difficult one because our opponents played with a back six!

“A 6-2-2 formation was something new for me so we needed to be really clinical in the last third because there were a lot of bodies around.

“You need quality to get through that but we lacked quality in the final third. We need to work on it, we need to be more clinical with our last pass. Especially in the first half we were too sloppy.”