Forget ProZone and sports science, Neil Warnock has turned Crystal Palace from relegation fodder into promotion candidates in six months by going back to basics. That means no computers or fancy formations and no beating about the bush at the Coca-Cola Championship club in South London. Selhurst Park is buzzing and the 59-year-old Yorkshire-man, who likes to call a spade a spade, is relishing living in the capital and proving his critics wrong.

“I’d like to say that I’ve been using a lot of technology and these computer things to help me, but I’ve not really,” Warnock said. “We’re just enjoying ourselves and training with smiles on our faces. If we don’t get another point, so what? If we don’t win another game, so what? We’ll still have had a great season.”

Such a great season that, despite picking up only ten points from the opening ten matches of the campaign, Palace are only one win away from securing a place in the play-offs. Warnock’s abrasive manner has made him plenty of enemies, but no one can deny that his methods work.

Palace were sleepwalking towards League One when Simon Jordan, the Palace chairman, sacked Peter Taylor in October and replaced the former England Under21 head coach with an old friend who was out of work and smarting from Sheffield United’s relegation to the Championship on the last day of last season. Since November, Palace have lost only five out of 32 league matches and are within touching distance of the play-offs and a return to the top flight after a three-year exile. Not bad for the odd couple, who were described as the most combustible men in football when they decided to work together last year.

“Simon has been very supportive,” Warnock said. “He’s put a lot of money into this club, but he hasn’t had much success. Now, he’s got a typical Neil Warnock side. We’re gritty, enterprising and we never say die. People have been waiting for explosions between us, but we work well together because we’re both full of drive and enthusiasm.”

Living in London also has its advantages for a manager who has spent most of his career working in the North and who turned down the opportunity to manage Chelsea 17 years ago because he was worried about the traffic on the M25.

“Neil’s a family man,” Jordan said. “He loves his family and he loves taking them out in London. They’ve been to a few shows in the West End and I’ve had a few calls from him whenever they’re out and about – ‘Hello, chairman, you’ll never believe it but I’m on a tram in Croydon.’ Or ‘Hello, chairman, I’m on the pier in Brighton.’ He’s been a breath of fresh air at the club. He’s the best manager I’ve ever had.”

Jordan, who made his millions in the mobile phone business and bought the club he has always supported, worked his way through seven full-time managers in eight years before striking gold with Warnock. “He rubs people up the wrong way because he says what he thinks and he doesn’t pull any punches,” Jordan said. “He’s very clever, he’s very crafty, he’s very brave and we have a lot of respect for each other. I wouldn’t swap him for anyone.

“People expected us to have lots of bust-ups, but that’s not the way it’s turned out. I don’t look for trouble, but I never shy away from confrontation. We’ve both got egos, but we have an excellent working relationship and we both know that the Premier League is the only place to be.”

Warnocks of wisdom

On astrology “I’ve just looked up the character traits for my sign, Sagittarius. It says ‘witty conversationalist, free-spirited, intelligent, positive, honest, reliable, enterprising, temperamental and impatient’. Thinking about it, that sums me up to a tee."

On living in the capital “I've only been in London a few months and I’m concerned I’ve gone native. Instead of going to a match today, I’m off to a show. At this rate I’ll soon be having jellied eels for tea instead of chip butties.”

On turning down the Chelsea job in 1991 “My big dislike is traffic jams and that’s why I’m going to live in Cornwall when I retire. The only traffic jam there is when the tractor pulls up at the post office.”