It is Tuesday night under the lights at Kenilworth Road. Neil Warnock doesn’t know it yet but it is the start of one of the happiest and saddest weeks in his football life.
Even the longest career in English football management has never hit highs and lows like this before. It is, at least, a good way to start. It feels like a throwback night, vital and visceral and vivid. The kind he thrives on.
It feels like a lot of things the Premier League has lost. It feels raw and passionate. It is raucous and loud, louder than most top-flight stadiums, even though there are only 9,790 people in the old ground.