How Warnock knew that Burton's Richard Jobson would be a star

'He ran like a hovercraft, like he wasn't touching the floor' says Brewers manager of the 80s

Richard Jobson played only 18 matches for Burton Albion at the age of 19 before being launched on to a Football League career which eventually yielded 694 appearances for Watford, Hull City, Oldham Athletic, Manchester City and Leeds United, among others.

Neil Warnock told the Burton Albion academy players and juniors in a Zoom Q&A on Thursday how he knew the teenager was something special from the moment he turned up to train ahead of the 1982-83 season.

That season was the first when Warnock stepped back from combining playing with managing after taking the Burton job the previous year. He cites Jobson as an example of when you just know something is right.

“I signed Richard Jobson at Burton,” said Warnock. “He was a student. He asked me if he could come and train with us in pre-season. I said of course you can.

“One session, two sessions and I said to my mate Paul Evans (the Burton goalkeeper at the time) ‘Is this lad real or what? Am I seeing what I think I’m seeing?’ Paul said ‘I don’t know, unless it’s just a bit of luck, this first couple of sessions.’

“He was 6ft 2in, blond hair, he ran like a hovercraft, like he wasn’t touching the floor, he had shots with both feet. We signed him but his dad, who was a headmaster, wasn’t happy, he wanted him to go stay at university, do a degree. He wasn’t having this football lark.”

Jobson was playing in midfield for Burton and supporters quickly warmed to his silky skills. So did scouts. Soon, Watford, then managed by Graham Taylor, wanted him.

“I knew Graham Taylor well and he rang and said ‘we’re going to come and watch your lad, Jobson’,” said Warnock.

“They wanted to see him on the right wing for some reason. So, we played him there and, for the first 25 minutes, he was a disgrace out there, so we shoved him back into midfield and he was unbelievable, scored a goal.

“The next day, Graham rang and said ‘Wow! We’d like to sign him, Neil.’ I said ‘what did you think of the game?’ He said ‘we were delayed, we didn’t see the first 20 minutes! But every time he got the ball he looked dangerous.’ I thought ‘good job you didn’t see the first 20 minutes!' Sometimes in football, you need a bit of luck.”

Warnock was just as quickly impressed when he signed Darren Bullock from Nuneaton Borough, the man who became his captain at Huddersfield Town from 1993-97.

“I went to watch him for seven minutes with my assistant, Mick Jones,” said Warnock. “After that I said to Mick ‘Come on, we’re going now.’ He said ‘there’s only seven minutes gone.’ I said ‘I’ve seen enough, we’ll sign him.’ In seven minutes, he had won two tackles, three headers and they were frightened to death of him. He did really well for us and scored the penalty that got us promoted to Division One.”