BEFORE he retires to his home in Cornwall and a life of uncomplicated bliss, Neil Warnock has a Premier League itch that badly needs scratching. It has been getting under his skin for 12 months, from the moment his beloved Sheffield United lost their Premier League status on goal difference, which Warnock still regards as a gross injustice triggered by the Carlos Tevez affair. The irritation will be relieved only when the best-known manager outside the top flight is once again standing where he firmly believes he belongs: in a Premier League dugout.

“I was robbed prematurely of my Premier League career, absolutely,” said Warnock. “It took me a long time to get there – seven years with Sheffield United – so I am bound to feel bitter, aren’t I? Last season was tainted by a relegation with circumstances that had never been heard of before. Fortunately I managed to finish my book off and that helped me get a lot off my chest.”

If completing his typically trenchant autobiography was cathartic, it has been nothing compared to Warnock’s return to the lower leagues. After eight months rehabilitating Crystal Palace, he stands on the cusp of an achievement that would rank among the most astonishing of a managerial career stretching back nearly three decades. The Championship side hasn’t even secured a place in the playoffs – victory at home against Burnley today would guarantee it – but Warnock has had such an impact in south London that Palace are as short as 12-5 with some bookmakers for promotion. From second-bottom after 16 games to pole position in the playoff race with one to play, it has been a remarkable turnaround.

“To come from the Premier League to a club like this, most people thought I was a nutcase, the ones who didn’t think that already,” quipped Warnock. “I knew other jobs would come up when I spoke to [Palace chairman] Simon Jordan, but I have always said I would like to work for him for a year before I packed in. The club has always been my type: muck and nettles, horrible to get in and out of, the crowd is hostile, horrible dressing rooms – it is fabulous.”

The headlines and referee-baiting have tended to obscure the achievements (six promotions with five different clubs), as has a reputation for being a football Neanderthal, which is perhaps why Warnock has been pigeonholed as a lower-league manager. “When I came to Palace I had not given up on the Premier League, but I knew the only way to get there was to take a club up.”

Warnock is not short of self-belief, but in his ability to instil belief in the players he directs that has Jordan describing his ninth manager in little more than seven years as Palace chairman as “the best I’ve ever had”. Furthermore, unlike many of his colleagues, Warnock is unwilling to propagate the blandness masquerading as camaraderie that club spin doctors and the League Managers Association seem to want. He calls a spade a mighty big shovel.

“There are not that many good managers around when you look at who is getting jobs,” he said. “If a job was to come up tomorrow in the Premier League or the Championship, in the past you could pick five names who would be good candidates. At the moment you couldn’t pick many at all, if any. I still don’t think enough people realise how much experience counts in management.”

When he succeeded Peter Taylor last autumn, the 59-year-old son of Sheffield promised that Palace would be his last managerial job. “I have changed my mind and have no thoughts about this being my last job at the moment,” explained Warnock. “I am loving it that much. I would like to manage in the Premier League again now. This has whetted my appetite.”

What if he didn’t take Palace up this season and one of the top-flight clubs came calling? “Simon would probably send me on my way with his blessing. Simon would probably drive me. ‘Give me a million and you can have him’.”

Despite reneging on his initial plan to retire at 55, Warnock does not see himself hunting for lower-league bargains much beyond his 60th birthday. “It is nice to spend a bit of time with your family at some stage. I am not like Bill Shankly used to be, I don’t want to die on a football ground. I think there is more to life than winning a football match.”

Yet the feeling persists that the public doesn’t quite appreciate his achievements. “It is great to give satisfaction. I wanted the fans to enjoy my type of football. You want goalmouth incidents, shots and saves, oohs and aahs, which are lacking in a lot of games. I don’t miss European games and I don’t like watching England play – I don’t get any excitement from watching them.

“But I would love to have managed them for a game. Especially against Estonia or the like. Why we can’t play British football and have to keep playing continental football against those sort of teams I don’t know.”

Imagine that. Neil Warnock as England boss. About as likely as it seemed only weeks ago that he would manage Palace in next season’s Premier League.