Neil Warnock on Brexit: ‘To hell with the rest of the world’

"To hell with the rest of the world" was how the manager of Cardiff City football club Neil Warnock finished his unscripted Brexit rant on Saturday. As if the "rest of the world" was conspiring against Britain or had a bull's notion what it wanted from the process.

Following his club's 0-0 draw with Huddersfield, Warnock was asked a question about how Brexit might impact UK and European football and in particular the January transfer window.

The 70-year-old Yorkshire man started off bemoaning the lack of clarity surrounding the process while berating politicians for frustrating Theresa May’s attempts to secure a deal.

Not unreasonable given the global reach of his business and the fact that Cardiff owes its top flight status to a £100 million of foreign money invested by Malaysian owner Vincent Tan.

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Permits revoked

Like other Premiership clubs, the money paid for a stadium upgrade and a crop of international players from Europe, Africa, Asia and North America, including Republic of Ireland defender Greg Cunningham. Several of these players could see their work permits revoked in the case of a disorderly, no-deal Brexit.

The global popularity of the English Premier League is what has made it such a phenomenal money-making machine over the past quarter century.

Warnock then vented a more personal view. “Why did we have a referendum in the first bloody place? I can’t wait to get out if I’m honest. I think we’ll be far better out of the bloody thing. In every aspect. To hell with the rest of the world,” he said.

On Monday, the club issued a statement distancing itself from Warnock’s comments, suggesting they didn’t reflect “the political position of Cardiff City Football Club, nor its board of directors”.

Do soccer clubs have political positions? Warnock’s stance doesn’t reveal any wider truth about Brexit or its isolationist underpinning other than to reveal the appetite to leave is more widespread than many liberals like to admit even with the current uncertainty and the potential economic harm that lies ahead.