Cardiff City manager Neil Warnock is anticipating another eventful evening when he brings his side to Portman Road tomorrow night.

East Anglian Daily Times: Bamba was sent off following the incident and banned for too games.Bamba was sent off following the incident and banned for too games. (Image: � Copyright Stephen Waller)

Warnock has been in a number of high-profile battles with the Blues during his career, most notably during his time as Sheffield United boss in the early 2000s, and brings his second-placed Bluebirds to Ipswich tomorrow.

His first visit with Cardiff, in December 2016, is best remembered for an incident involving defender Sol Bamba who, reacting to a challenge from Jonathan Douglas, pushed over his own physio and ended up grappling with his own boss, Warnock, after being shown a red card.

Warnock, who always gets a hot reception at Portman Road, today reflected on a time when he almost ended up managing Ipswich and is looking forward to what he expects to be another eventful evening.

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“I’m sure Ipswich will have something to say and usually at Ipswich something will happen, whether it’s Sol Bamba assaulting me or something else, something will happen,” he said. “The fans always give me a rousing reception.

“I could have managed them a few years ago. I thought I was going to manage it but they went with a young manager!”

Warnock also praised close friend Mick McCarthy and became the latest opposition boss to warn Blues fans they should be ‘careful what they wish for’ with McCarthy’s future at the club uncertain.

“He’s done well. If you’re not the big five or six with the wage bills they have, it’s a very difficult league.

East Anglian Daily Times: Warnock, pictured being taken off the Portman Road pitch by stewards in 2006.Warnock, pictured being taken off the Portman Road pitch by stewards in 2006.

“He’s got them with an outside chance of the play-offs and because I know what it takes, I know how difficult it is.

“You have to be careful what you wish for and you won’t get much better than Mick.

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“If I worried about what people said, crikey, I wouldn’t sleep at night. I think we’re providing entertainment at the minute, home and away.”

When asked about the incident at Norwich, which saw McCarthy deny his shout of f*** off was aimed at the Ipswich fans before apologising for his choice of language on Monday, Warnock said: “It’s just passion. You don’t carry on if you don’t have a bit of passion, you’d be sat at home.

“We’re at the situation where we care and you score a late goal against your rivals, it’s a fabulous feeling and you get carried away at times but that’s what we’re in the game for, you guys wait for us to do something silly like that!”