Huddersfield Town boss Neil Warnock on reunion day at Plymouth Argyle in a nostalgic Championship opener and his eve-of-season message to Terriers

And without the pressures of frontline management either.

Of course, the 74-year-old writes his own scripts and in his case, it is best to expect the unexpected. He rarely does neutral either.

Instead of being in the posh seats at Plymouth Argyle, Warnock will be at the coalface in his working togs in the away dug-out with Huddersfield Town at the start of another season.

When he does finally call it a day - whisper it gently it will happen at some point - Argyle's home, a place he knows well, will be the footballing venue he visits when he wants a football fix.

For now, management remains his addiction.

He said: "I am not a big football fan, television wise. But I do enjoy going to live games and the 'Green Army' (Plymouth fanbase) is special really and I have a good rapport with them all. Amy, my daughter, comes with me to the games.

"She said to me at Christmas time that hopefully, if Argyle go up, we'll be in the directors box having a nice meal on the first game of next season with no pressure.

"Little did we know how things would change ... but they have always made me welcome, it's a great club with great fans and a very good manager (Steven Schumacher).

"I voted for him last year as my manager of the season. It's so good to see Plymouth back in the Championship. Before I do pass away, I'd love to see them in the Premier League.

"They have built the club in the right way and the fans ... I remember when I was there going to Hartlepool one day and there was a big iron gate outside and a man with his young son waving.

"I went across to him and said: 'I bet you were early today, what time did you set off, five or six o'clock this morning?.’ And he said to me, 'Er no, two o'clock.' He'd set off from St Ives to Hartlepool."

The story of Warnock, a former Argyle manager, starting a new campaign in the part of the world which he has proudly called home for a number of years may be laced with sentiment.

For the Sheffielder, Saturday is always about business first. It is his job to spoil Plymouth's first match back in the second-tier since May 2010 before making the short trip across the Tamar back to his home on the Devon and Cornwall border for once.

Much has been made of Huddersfield's lack of transfer activity so far this summer. Plymouth, on the other hand, have shelved a club record seven-figure fee to land one player in Morgan Whittaker.

Town, by contrast, have not spent a penny. Equally, Warnock is far too experienced to panic, with the window still open for almost four weeks.

He might have been messed about, as he puts it, in his pursuit of some targets and lost out on a few but he prefers to concentrate on what he has got as opposed to what he has not and maximising his resources.

Yuta Nakayama and Sorba Thomas, not involved for contrasting reasons in his 'Great Escape' at the end of 2022-23, will give the impression of new signings. A hugely influential figure in goalkeeper Lee Nicholls is fully fit.

Danny Ward, Josh Koroma and Josh Ruffels have all re-signed and a few youngsters, most notably Kyle Hudlin and Kian Harratt are putting their hand up in a squad which is totally devoid of 'shirkers' and 'wasters' as he puts it.

The experiences of that intoxicating finish to 22-23 are also relatively fresh in the memory and while Warnock is far too long in the tooth to make predictions given the capricious nature of the Championship, Town will surely be able to smile a bit more this season – in contrast to three-quarters of the last campaign which was joyless until he entered the building.

Warnock, keen on bringing in another senior striker and midfielder before the deadline, said: "While we have not made many money signings, it doesn't squash my enthusiasm.

"I am a bit of a realist and know I am probably not going to be looking for my ninth promotion this year, but you never know, anything can happen in football.

"We have a very good 11 who can play against anybody. It's when we get three or four injuries that our problems will come and I have got to get enough in the squad to cover for that. But I am quite optimistic against anybody with my first 11.

"All I have said to the lads is I haven't signed a lot of players and it hasn't been for the want of trying. But don't forget what we did last year with a lesser squad. I just want us to enjoy it. We'll get defeats and one or two might be heavy, looking at some of the clubs, but we have got to bounce back and look forward to the next game."