Neil Warnock listened to his wife before taking Rotherham job

Neil Warnock's ill wife gave him the green light to accept the Rotherham job, the veteran manager has revealed.

Warnock answered the Millers' SOS last week when he accepted the job until the end of the season, taking on a 16-game brief to beat the drop in the Sky Bet Championship.

It ended a three-month exile for the 67-year-old following his pre-Christmas exit from QPR, but the ill-health of his wife Sharon had meant that Warnock's decision to return to the game - and the club he played for between 1966-71, was not clear cut.

However, once she had given her blessing, Warnock only needed five minutes with chairman Tony Stewart before accepting the job.

"A lot of it was down to my wife," Warnock said. "She's not been well. But I think I might have got on her nerves Monday and Tuesday.

"When I told her I was favourite for the Rotherham job she said, 'Why don't you go for it?'. That was the encouragement I needed.

"It happened very quickly. When I met the chairman on Thursday, before we'd actually agreed anything, and I said I wanted to come up after the meeting and take training in the morning, I think he was a little bit shocked, I don't believe you should mess around, particularly at my age."

Warnock's reign started in positive fashion with a 0-0 draw against play-off chasing Birmingham on Saturday, though the Millers drifted to five points from safety after results elsewhere went against them.