Neil Warnock: Ex-Cardiff City boss happy to help pay for Taffs Well defibrillator

Neil Warnock led Cardiff City to promotion to the Premier League in 2017-18

Former Cardiff City boss Neil Warnock says it is "nice to put a bit back" after he helped pay for a defibrillator at Taffs Well Football Club.

Warnock, 72, became a friend of the club during his three-year spell with the Bluebirds.

The now Middlesbrough manager was due to be part of a fundraiser for the defibrillator but that was cancelled because of the pandemic.

"It was just great to help really," Warnock said.

"We live in the outskirts in Cornwall and to have a defibrillator in our village, it's just given everybody that bit of support that we can just get there quickly and it saves lives.

"They (Taffs Well) have got one now so I am ever so pleased."

Former Taffs Well chairman John Newberry worked as a driver for Warnock when he was at Cardiff.

When Warnock wanted his Cardiff side to play a local pre-season game - but stressed the need for a grass pitch - Newberry suggested a visit to his club, in the Rhondda Cynon Taff village of Taff's Well.

"He said there's one (a grass pitch) in my village if you want to look at it and he took me to Taff's Well. That's where it all started," Warnock told Radio Wales Breakfast.

"It was John who asked me about the defibrillator. We were going to do a question and answer and the money raised would have paid for it.

"But unfortunately the pandemic came so we had to put that on hold.

"He said we have raised a little bit and we are hoping to raise the rest. I said well I'll give you the rest."

Taffs Well's Kevin Francis said the Cymru South club were grateful for Warnock's "very generous" donation, which has seen the defibrillator installed outside the clubhouse at their Rhiw'r Ddar home.

"The committee really wanted to provide something for the local community," Francis said.

"It's important that this defibrillator sits outside the ground so it's not just for the players on the pitch."