How Warnock became play-offs' record-breaking boss

Neil Warnock led Huddersfield Town to promotion into what is now the Championship at Wembley in 1995

"If you could guarantee going up through the play-offs you'd take it every day," Neil Warnock says - and he should know.

The man whose eight promotions is the most in English football also has the most via the play-offs.

Warnock guided Notts County (twice), Huddersfield Town and Plymouth Argyle to promotion in play-off finals at Wembley in the 1990s - a number that has never been matched by any other manager.

"It's such a great day out at Wembley," the 77-year-old tells BBC Sport as he looks back on his career in the high-stakes environment of the English Football League's (EFL) post-season.

"The memories of driving home after that, you have open-top bus rides and on the town hall steps, you name it, I think I've been everywhere," adds Warnock - who managed the last of his 1,629 games earlier this season after a three-game spell in caretaker charge at Torquay United - with a smile.

So how do you get players ready for what could be the most important set of games in their life, with the prospect of promotion tantalisingly close after a 46-game season?

Warnock had a formula for that - including getting all the players' external worries ticked off as soon as possible.

"My preparation for the four wins was very similar," he explains.

"We were two weeks away from the final and we gave the lads a few days off, then we went to the Belfry Golf Club near Birmingham and we had three days there.

"Then we came back to the training ground, we got rid of all the family ticket allocations, all the people that come on board who want tickets when you get to Wembley, so the players haven't got anything to think about in the last week.

"We did the last week as a normal week, and we stayed in the same hotel, the Hilton at London.

"We had the top floor, we could see the fans coming in, we had a team meeting at lunchtime and then the day before we managed to get into the ground.

"We had photographs and things like that to get it all out of the way for the players.

"They did a lot of things that you probably don't realise need doing. We were really on song, I thought."

Neil Warnock had back-to-back play-off wins with Notts County in 1990 and 1991 as the Magpies reached the top flight

Three of Warnock's play-off successes have come from being the highest-ranked side to enter the end-of-season shootout.

Notts County's victory in 1990 came after finishing third in what is now League One, while his promotions from the second tier with the Magpies 12 months later and from Division Three - now League Two - with Plymouth in 1996 followed fourth-placed finishes when the top three were promoted automatically.

In contrast, his Huddersfield Town team were the final side to make the third tier play-offs in 1995 when only the champions, Birmingham City, went straight up.

"I remember we (Notts County) went to Bolton Wanderers and we were 18 points in front of them," Warnock says of his first-ever play-off match 36 years ago.

"It was a horrible day, chucking it down with rain, they got a penalty, I'm losing 1-0, the rain's pouring down my face, and I'm thinking 'what are we doing here when we've finished all those points above them?'.

"I don't think there's as much pressure when you finish in sixth position and you're playing the team that finished third," he adds.

"I think the pressure is always on the top sides that feel a little bit aggrieved (at missing out on automatic promotion). I just think that there's more pressure on them.

"But from a manager's point of view, you just want to get promotion. That's what you're in the game for, moments like that, and you just hope that you have the rub of the green."

The rub of the green has been something Warnock has not always had in the play-offs.