Neil Warnock played right-back up front because of wife’s DREAM… and he scored a HAT-TRICK, Darren Ambrose reveals

NEIL WARNOCK’s wife once dreamed a RIGHT-BACK would score the winning goal in one of her husband’s FA Cup ties – and her premonition came true.

Ahead of Crystal Palace’s fourth-round replay with Wolves in 2010, Warnock’s wife Sharon had a vivid dream that the tie would be settled by a full-back.

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Ever the trusting husband, Warnock put faith in Sharon’s dream and opted to throw then second-choice right-back Danny Butterfield up top.

Sharon’s premonition, stunningly, came true as Butterfield scored the perfect hat-trick – much to the amazement of ex-Palace midfielder Darren Ambrose.

During an appearance on talkSPORT, the retired midfielder recalled: “We got a draw away and we’re playing them at home.

“So we’ve come in and we’ve all sat down and he said, ‘Right, my wife Sharon, she had a dream last night.’

“And no one really laughed because that was what he was like. And he said, ‘She dreamt that my right-back scores the winning goal today.

“And we were like, ‘Okay.’ ‘So Danny Butterfield, you’re playing up front.’

“And he wasn’t even the [first-choice] right-back at the time, he was a fringe player because Clyney was playing right back at the time – Nathaniel Clyne.

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“We all just started laughing then and he was like, ‘No, I’m being serious.’

“And I was taking centre with him, and even then I was looking over to the bench like going, ‘Gaffa, is this a joke? Put him back to right-back.’

“And I think about 12 minutes later, he had a perfect hat-trick – Danny Butterfield. And we won the game 3-1.”

Co-hosts Gabriel Agbonlahor and Alan Brazil were left in awe of the Warnock story – which prompted several out-of-favour players to frequently ask the retired manager about Sharon’s dreams.

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Ambrose continued: “Left, right, header – won the game 3-1.

“And honestly, every team talk we came in from after all fringe players were going, ‘Gaffa, has Sharon had a dream last night? Am I in the team? Am I gonna score?

“The guy was insane, he’s old school.”

Palace hero Butterfield has fond memories of the match and is still to this day blown away by Warnock throwing him up front on the back a dream.

Butterfield said: “He came into the dressing room and gave his team out.

“I was obviously listening out for right-back and he was playing Nathaniel Clyne. I thought, ‘Well, I’m not playing then.’

“Then he said, ‘And across the front, we’ll have Butts, Alan and Darren (Ambrose).’ It was like, ‘Wow.’ It was completely unexpected.

“A few of the lads were laughing. It was typical of Neil Warnock to think of something like that, completely out of the blue.”

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