‘Liverpool team-mate kept me up all night hours before my debut – I was fuming’
Premier League debuts can be nerve-wracking at the best of times, let alone on minimal sleep.
However, that was the hand dealt to former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock, who was kept awake all night by a self-centred team-mate before one of the most significant days of his career. The full-back was trying to make a name for himself at Anfield and was chosen to start in an August 2004 trip to Bolton Wanderers.
The occasion was already big enough, but having been kept up all night by a squad member made it even more challenging. Despite making substitute appearances against Manchester City and Tottenham, Warnock wasn’t fully prepared when he was only half-awake for his full debut at the Reebok Stadium.
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“When I made my first start was the game where – I’ll never forget this,” he said during an appearance on Undr the Cosh (via the Liverpool Echo). “I played away at Bolton, and it was [Xabi] Alonso and [Luis] Garcia’s debuts as well. And Luis Garcia was in the team, and I roomed with him.”
“He f***ing kept me up all night. He was on FaceTime at about two or three in the morning. He was on FaceTime to his family or whoever it was at like half two in the morning. And you’re thinking I can’t really turn around and go, ‘Will you f***ing go to [sleep].’ This brand new signing, I don’t wanna upset him or anything like that.”
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(Image: Undr The Cosh)
“I was f***ed in the game the next day, and I remember thinking, ‘You b*****d.’ I was fuming.”
While FaceTime wasn’t available until 2010, it’s likely Warnock was referring to a similar video-calling platform like Skype. Regardless, things didn’t pan out as planned – for Liverpool or Warnock – as the Reds suffered a 1-0 defeat, ending their unbeaten run at the start of that season.
(Image: Daily Mirror)
Warnock was substituted at half-time for Djibril Cisse (another summer 2004 signing) and was benched by Rafa Benitez for the following two league games.
Garcia was part of the attacking line-up alongside Milan Baros during the Bolton match and had a contentious equaliser disallowed for offside. However, he scored his first goal for Liverpool just two weeks later, sealing a 3-0 win over West Brom in his Anfield debut.
(Image: Getty Images)
Warnock further claimed that Benitez never resolved the issue because, despite his tactical acumen, “his man management was horrendous.” Liverpool went on to clinch the Champions League title and celebrate one of the club’s most memorable nights later that season, but it’s safe to say Warnock did everything possible to avoid rooming with Garcia again.
