NEIL AND WOOLMER IN A WAR OF WORDS

NEIL WARNOCK claims he has been ordered to pay a £2,000 misconduct fine after being “betrayed” by fourth official Andy Woolmer.

The League Managers’ Association have told the Cardiff boss to plead guilty to his misconduct charge after being sent-off at Reading on Monday night following a comment-by-comment touchline dossier gathered against him by Woolmer.

The Northamptonshire official, 52, who has been a referee for the past 14 years, is alleged to have kept detailed notes of his conversations with Warnock, who was sent to the stands in the 78th minute by referee Steve Martin for what the manager claimed was something “trivial”.

Warnock (above) said: “I feel betrayed. I said things to the fourth official Andy Woolmer – who I have known over many years and been one of his biggest fans, sending letters in about his refereeing – and it is those comments I have made personally that are being used against me.

“I said things to him during the game and he must have written them down from the first minute. I find it very unusual for a fourth official to make notes like this.

“The LMA say I have no option other than to plead guilty and get fined £2,000. That’s a disappointment to me and I feel really let down.

“I don’t think fourth officials should write things down like that. I don’t feel what I said to him could be construed as offensive, not the way I spoke to him. I didn’t say it to the TV or the radio or the media, I said it to him.

“There were things that happened on the Reading bench – I never went out of my technical area, but you didn’t see Jaap Stam in his area.

“I wanted to have a personal hearing, but I’ve had to accept what the LMA say.”