Neil Warnock only tips his hat to the most deserving managers, but it was the headwear needed by Pep Guardiola for a visit to Mansfield Town that really earned the respect of the Cardiff City manager.

Forget the tributes given to Guardiola for the elegance of his team, or his own sartorial accolades, what really impressed Warnock – whose Championship side host City in the FA Cup on Sunday afternoon – was the fact that his opposite number wrapped up warm on a freezing night to cover all bases before Cardiff won their third round replay at Field Mill.

“The biggest thing for me was that our replay with Mansfield was the coldest night of the year, really bad conditions, and yet he sat in the stand in his hat, and to me that is class, that is a bit of class, that is,” says Warnock.

“He’s got hundreds of staff and yet he came to watch the two teams. I thought, well done to him. It means he cares. You’ve got to take your hat off to that.”

Warnock, 69, has seen most types of challenges during 49 years in the FA Cup as player and manager, but he admits the one posed by the Premier League leaders as they chase trophies on four fronts is as difficult, but also as rewarding, as anything he has known.

He welcomes the break from Cardiff’s promotion bid – an effort that has recently been stabilised with two clean sheets and four points, following four successive league defeats – but concedes training has been different this week against opponents he knows will dominate possession.

“We will have a go but it has been the easiest week of training, because we haven’t had a ball,” says Warnock. “We have just been chasing shadows to get used it – getting pieces of paper out and letting the players chase them in the wind! It’s been great.

“But it is also nice for me to manage against a team like that and work out how we can try and give them some sort of a game. At the same time, I want us to try and show what we can do as well.

“We want to do well. You don’t want to get battered. You’ve got defend for your lives, your keeper has to have a good game, and then it comes down to your forwards. We want to give them problems and my team selection will have to be positive and we’ll have to be disciplined in certain areas too.”

For all his admiration for Guardiola, however, Warnock says City’s dominance, and the resulting financial response from Manchester United is something he finds unsettling with regard to the general health of the game.

“When you’ve got so much money to spend, they can buy any player in the world.  It could be to the detriment of English football, in the longer term, that Manchester City and Manchester United are spending the money that they are spending.

“I think the beauty of the English game is results like Swansea beating Liverpool, bottom beating top. You are going to get less of that happening if these two clubs keep going like that.”

Every indicator points to Guardiola’s team gliding onwards as they seek four trophies but Warnock, who first tasted the FA Cup as a player back in 1968, reckons he can work the miracle required.

“My best FA Cup achievement so far would be beating Man City when I was with Notts County in 1991, when we were in the old Second Division. They were in the top flight.

“But this would be the biggest. They are the world’s best team. But don’t put your money on it. And don’t tell the fans. But you never know.

“The FA Cup is just special, isn’t it, because you don’t know what’s around the corner. I remember at QPR we played Chelsea and everyone said we had no chance. And we ended up beating them 1-0.

“They had two men sent off on the day and they lost their rag. I’m not saying Man City will lose their rag, but things happen in football.

“I know one thing – I’m going to enjoy it and won’t be anywhere near as nervous as when there are points at stake, when your stomach is going and you have your last meal at 10 in the morning.”

It would be easy for Warnock to be grudging in his praise for Guardiola – a manager from a different generation and operating in a different footballing universe.

But Warnock tends towards generosity for managers who share his passion for the game and the Spaniard is no exception.

“Pep wants to be a winner, doesn’t he? He knows he is fortunate to be where he is, but he’s earned that with the clubs that he’s had and with the moneys that he’s spent he’s had success.

“Turning up at Mansfield for our replay was the biggest thing for me. That was a bit of class.

“I love watching his teams. I’m looking forward to playing against them, but I’m dreading it as well, as on a bad day we could get turned over quite easily.”

So would Warnock swap the Championship and Cardiff for the hot seat at the Ethiad Stadium?

“It wouldn’t be as much fun. And I’d be out my depth with players like they’ve got.

“ You know, Pep has had world class players every day of the week for years. It’s slightly different to me in that respect.

“But I think managing is very similar. You make the best out of what you’ve got. Your tactics are the same. You go in and see what you’ve got with the players and adapt to that. It’s a challenge on Sunday, but it’s one we have got to enjoy.”