WARNOCK’S STILL BITTER

NEIL WARNOCK still believes West Ham got away with it in the Carlos Tevez affair because they were a “big London club”.

Twelve years on and the resentment continues to fester for Warnock, who was manager of relegated Sheffield United when West Ham survived, despite admitting breaking Premier League rules. West Ham were fined £5.5million for flouting third-party ownership regulations over Tevez. However, controversially the league decided not to deduct any points, which could have saved the Blades from the drop.

Following a court case two years later, in which Warnock spoke, West Ham agreed to pay Sheffield United £20m in compensation.

But he has heard no whisper of an apology despite seeing a project that had been eight years in the making unravel on the final day of the 2006-07 season when defeat to Wigan saw the Blades relegated on goal difference. “I still can’t explain how I feel,” said Cardiff boss Warnock (below).

“It’s just a bitterness. It still rankles because if it had been the other way round and Sheffield United had stayed up, you can bet we would have been denied points rather than just given a fine.

“But in Sheffield there is still a strong belief that it was a London club, one of the top names in the game and the Premier League did not want to upset them.

“We had beaten them 3-0 in

April and thought we were there. But from the moment Tevez started scoring all those goals, it felt that it was the way it was going to be.

“They should have been dead and buried before the final game but then when they went to Old Trafford and my players learned Sir Alex Ferguson had left out six of their big hitters, their heads were in the their hands. “And sure enough, it was Tevez who scored that day, too. “Sheffield United eventually got their money after the legal battle, I have never heard of anybody getting an apology.”