Watch: Warnock lifts lid on how Houllier ended his Liverpool dream

Stephen Warnock played every game of his Liverpool career under Rafa Benitez but it was Gerard Houllier who stopped his Anfield connection.

Speaking on Undr the Cosh, the former left-back explained how Kenny Dalglish’s Reds submitted a loan offer to Aston Villa for the services of our then ex-player.

The boyhood Red was delighted until: “My agent rings me and says, ‘you’re never going to believe what’s happened’

“So the manager [Houllier] was away when it [Liverpool’s approach] happened and got wind of it and basically turned round and said, ‘tell them we want a £1million loan fee’. Liverpool went, ‘we’re not paying that’ and he went, ‘well, it doesn’t happen then’.”

After making the England international train with the reserves prior to this, the 45-year-old explained his reaction to the update: “I remember thinking, ‘you horrible man’. I was furious, I’ve never been so angry. How can you stop someone playing football? It was like, because it was Liverpool, he wanted to p--- me off even more.”

It’s fair to say that the ex-Blackburn full-back wasn’t the biggest fan of the Frenchman, nor was he of his former Spanish manager on Merseyside either.

You can watch Warnock’s comments (from 1:20:27) via Undr The Cosh on YouTube: