Former Sheffield United manager Neil Warnock has revealed how he was offered the Chelsea job by their former chairman Ken Bates.

In his book, 'Made In Sheffield: Neil Warnock - My Story', which is being serialised in The Sun, Warnock wrote: "Towards the end of the 1990-91 season, I was offered the job of Chelsea manager by Ken Bates.

"Chelsea had a very strong dressing room with some powerful characters. But they were locked in a cycle of mediocrity and Bates wanted someone to shake them out of it. We met at Stamford Bridge and walked across the pitch. I think I was supposed to be impressed but I wasn't. The stadium was falling to pieces. There were bits hanging off it everywhere.

"Then Ken got out all these plans of the way the stadium was going to be when all the renovations were done. It was all restaurants, corporate boxes, the whole works.

"'Those are the outlines of how it's going to look in six years,' Ken said proudly. 'Why are you showing them to me?' I asked. 'When have you ever kept a f****** manager for six years?'

"We laughed about it but both times I met Ken I got stuck in horrendous traffic on the M25. Bloody gridlock both times. I hate traffic, being still and not being in control of how quickly I can get somewhere. I turned them down and they gave the job to Ian Porterfield.

"I don't have a lot of regrets about my past but I do have a chip on my shoulder about the fact that I never got a shot at another big job after that.

"It bugs me when I see other managers getting top jobs and I know they're not as good as me.

"I don't help myself with the way I say it as it is and I suppose I put a lot of chairmen off.

"But if you look at my record, it's as good as nearly anybody's."