One manager has now claimed that he once rejected the opportunity to take charge of Chelsea during his career.

Neil Warnock told ‘The Peter Crouch Podcast’ that that he turned down the chance to manage the Blues, and even hinted that it was a decision he doesn’t look back on fondly.

Warnock has established a reputation in the game as one of the better managers never really to get a look in at a top club in the Premier League.

Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images

His best work has arguably been done in picking up a record number of promotions, with him achieving that eight times in English football.

While the pairing of Warnock and Chelsea is one that is likely difficult to imagine based on his recent career, he has claimed in an earlier stage of his management game he was offered the role.

He said: “I turned Chelsea down. I turned them down in the early 90s. I’d done really well at Notts County, we’d gone from the third division to the first, the lads come to me and said ‘please if another manager comes in they won’t know us and get rid of us.’

Warnock turned down Chelsea

“There was a lot of psychological pressure on me. I went to see Ken Bates twice, and I thought they were a good club – would have had Kerry Dixon and players like that. The chairman pleaded with me and eventually I didn’t go.

“I stayed and got the sack six months later, so that really set me up in management. When managers leave, I’ve got every sympathy for them.”

Chelsea currently employ Mauricio Pochettino as their manager, however he has begun to increase the pressure on himself with some underwhelming results.

The most recent one of those was a defeat to Middlesbrough in the first leg of the EFL Cup semi-final. There is certainly an eye on the second leg already.