Paul Warne

Playing career Warne was born in Norwich, Norfolk, and is a supporter of Norwich City. He started playing non-League football for Great Yarmouth Town, before moving onto Diss Town, with whom he won the FA Vase in 1994. After playing for Wroxham, he started his professional career at the age of 23 when he signed for Wigan Athletic, before moving to Rotherham where he played over 250 games in all competitions, then he moved to Oldham where he became a firm fans favourite in his time there, helping the club to the League One playoffs in the 2006/2007 season, eventually moving on free transfer to Yeovil, where he struggled to get amongst the goals regularly.

During the summer of 2009, after failing to agree a new deal with Yeovil, he joined his former club Rotherham United on trial and impressed pre-season. He subsequently signed a one-year contract with the Millers, scoring on his debut on the opening day against Accrington Stanley. On 11 August 2009, he scored the equalising goal as Rotherham surprisingly beat Championship side Derby County 2–1 in the first round of the League Cup. It was made all the more of an upset by the fact that Derby had reached the semifinals of the competition the previous season. He signed a one-year contract extension in June 2010.

Coaching career Rotherham United Upon his retirement as a player, Warne joined the coaching staff at Rotherham in May 2012 as a first team fitness coach. In November 2012, he was award a testimonial match by the club in honour of his many years of service as a player, coach and caretaker-manager.

After four years in a coaching role, Warne was appointed caretaker manager of the first team on 28 November 2016 following the resignation of Kenny Jackett. On 13 January 2017, he was appointed manager until the end of the 2016–17 season. On 5 April 2017, with Rotherham's relegation from the Championship confirmed, Warne was appointed on a permanent basis with a rolling one-year contract.

During his time as manager, Rotherham, were relegated from and won promotion to the Championship on three occasions each, with promotions in 2018, 2020 and 2022 following relegations in 2017, 2019, and 2021. He also won the 2022 EFL Trophy.

Warne's final game as Millers manager was a 0–0 away to Middlesbrough on 17 September 2022 which left Rotherham eighth in the Championship after nine games; he left the club five days later and dropped down a division to manage League One Derby County.

Derby County After interim manager Liam Rosenior was relieved of his duties, EFL League One side Derby County Football Club, recently saved by local businessman David Clowes, approached Rotherham United to request permission to speak to Warne. Paul Warne was officially announced by Derby County as their new head coach on a four-year deal on 22 September 2022, after The Rams agreed a compensation package with Rotherham for Warne, alongside assistant head coach Richie Barker, first team coach Matt Hamshaw, and first team goalkeeper coach Andy Warrington.

Following a stellar January 2023 that saw Derby achieve a 100% win record, Warne was awarded the League One Manager of the Month award for the third time in his career. Form collapsed after this however, and Warne oversaw just six wins in the final 18 games as Derby finished the season in seventh place, the joint lowest league finish in the club history, missing out on a playoff place by one place and point. Warne called the season a "failure".

Warne rebuilt the squad ahead of the 2023–24 season with 12 players signed, with players such as Curtis Davies, David McGoldrick and Jason Knight departing. Derby suffered a bad start to the season, losing their first three games at Pride Park Stadium 2–1 in the league to Wigan Athletic and to Oxford United by the same score, as well as a 2–0 loss to Blackpool in the EFL Cup in between; after this defeat, Warne said that he felt like player's heads were being turned by transfer speculation. Derby suffered a spate of injuries in the first two months of the season and after the first 11 games of the League One season, found themselves in ninth place and ten points behind leaders Portsmouth; Warne said the club were behind their target and demanded improvement from the squad on 11 October 2023. The team subsequently lost 1–0 away to Shrewsbury Town leaving the pre-season promotion favourites 11th in the table and with questions starting to arise regarding Warne's future, though the club later came out in support of the manager. On 14 November 2023, Derby were knocked out of the first round of the FA Cup after a first round replay at home to Crewe Alexandra, the first time the club have been eliminated at this stage since the 1984–85 season, Warne found his team "unpredictable" as they impressed in a league win 3–0 at home to Barnsley three days earlier, This impressive end to the year saw him win the Manager of the Month award for December 2023. In early 2024 Derby found themselves in second place in the table but in February 2024, after Derby's first back-to-back league defeats at Barnsley and at home to Charlton Athletic, Warne warned his players that they needed to improve if they wanted to stay in the automatic promotion places. Derby responded well to this message, with Derby winning their first four league matches in March and after a 1–0 win to promotion rivals Bolton Wanderers, Warne was delighted with the result but told his players not get carried away with Derby being four points clear of third place with seven league games remaining. Having won five from six across the month, he was awarded the Manager of the Month award. Warne achieved his fourth promotion from League One to the Championship after a 2–0 win at home to Carlisle United on the last day of the season confirmed Derby would be promoted as runners-up with their highest ever points tally.

Ahead of the 2024–25 season, Warne released seven first team players from the previous campaign including captain Conor Hourihane, midfielder Korey Smith, whilst first-choice goalkeeper Joe Wildsmith and midfielder Louie Sibley rejected a contract offers. Derby signed 11 players in the summer transfer window, however delays in some of these transfers until after the season started lead Warne to warn that his side was not Championship ready in mid-August after picking up a single win in the club's first three Championship matches, as well as a second round EFL Cup defeat to League Two Barrow. However, on 31 August 2024, Derby beat Bristol City 3–0 at Pride Park with Warne describing it as "the best Derby performance I've seen since I've been here"; this led Derby to gain six points in the first month of the season over four matches. On 7 November 2024, following the dismissal of Mark Robins at Coventry City, Warne became the longest serving active manager in the EFL Championship.

On 7 February 2025, the club released a statement announcing Warne had been relieved of his duties, having lost his last seven games, with Derby sat in 22nd place, just two points from safety. In Warne's final game in charge against Sheffield United, fans began turning against Warne with abusive chants, with Warne comparing the feeling to that of being a "pantomime dame".

Milton Keynes Dons On 15 April 2025, Milton Keynes Dons announced the signing of Warne on a 'long-term deal' as head coach, relieving caretaker Ben Gladwin who had taken over in March after the sacking of Scott Lindsey. A press release stated, "This is a significant appointment for MK Dons and demonstrates the club's unwavering ambition to attract a head coach of Paul's calibre while in League Two".

On 8 April 2026, with four games to play, and with the club in the second automatic promotion spot and two points clear of fourth place, Warne was shortlisted as a nominee for the EFL Manager of the Season award for League Two.

Despite not winning the award, in his first full season, Warne went on to win the fifth promotion of his managerial career as Milton Keynes Dons achieved automatic promotion with a second-placed finish on 86 points, missing out on the League Two title on the final day.

Personal life He is a supporter of Norwich City as well as being a fan of American football team the Pittsburgh Steelers, often referencing the sport in interviews. Shortly after his appointment as head coach of Milton Keynes Dons - known for their controversial relocation and criticised by many as an example of franchising - Warne commented he was pleased at the association due to his interest in the NFL where franchising is more commonplace.

Career statistics

Managerial statistics + Managerial record by team and tenure

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2021–22; play-offs: 2018 EFL Trophy: 2021–22

Individual EFL League One Manager of the Month: December 2017, February 2022, January 2023, December 2023, March 2024