How Neil Warnock left striker Charlie Austin 'fuming deep down' after winner against Leeds while playing for QPR

Neil Warnock’s superstitions left his former striker Charlie Austin fuming during their time together at QPR.
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Warnock returned to Rangers during the 2015/16 season when he became interim manager following the departure of Chris Ramsey.

Austin had a brief, yet productive, spell while playing for the Yorkshireman, yet the forward was left frustrated during a spell out of the starting XI.

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“I’d come back from an injury and it was my first time on the bench,” Austin told TalkSport when recalling a match against Leeds in November 2015.

Charlie Austin.Charlie Austin.
Charlie Austin.

“I arrived at the ground and he (Warnock) was like to me, ‘go and see your family then come down at 1:30pm, let me do my meeting and then just disappear again and come back at quarter to 3’.

“I was like, ‘eh?’ and he said, ‘yeah, don’t worry about warming up, come back then’. So I said to him, ‘are you not going to play me then?’

“And he told me I’d come on after an hour; so brilliant – no problem. So no warm up, go up to see the family and see the lads come in sweating from the warm up.

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“I go in and sit on the bench and after half-an-hour he tells me to grab a masseur and get myself ready for the second half.

“So I do that and came out and watched five minutes of the second half, then go and have a warm up. The next minute, it’s approaching one hour, he says to me, ‘Chaz you’re on’.

“I’m thinking to myself, ‘perfect’.

“So as I get on we’ve got a corner down the Loft End and I’ve scored with my first touch – brilliant. He thinks he’s a miracle worker!”

The winner against Leeds was Austin’s eighth of the season, yet the striker was left on the bench again for a trip to Reading five days later.

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“The problem I had for the next couple of games was he was so superstitious,” added Austin. “I never warmed up, I never did nothing than just being a second-half sub. Deep down I was fuming!”

Austin did return to Rangers’ starting XI and scored twice in a 2-2 draw with Brighton a few weeks later.

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