Last updated at 16:07pm on 18th April 2008
Neil Warnock has lashed out at Rafael Benitez for making a mockery of the Premier League survival battle - and hopes he never wins another trophy at Anfield.
The former Sheffield United manager is still seething that Liverpool lost 1-0 after fielding a severely weakened team at Fulham last May, a result which ultimately kept the London side up by a single point at the Blades' expense.
With Liverpool playing in the Champions League semi-final on Tuesday, Warnock expects Benitez to leave his star names on the sidelines again against the Cottagers on Saturday but believes that would show contempt for the clubs fighting to preserve their top-flight status.
"My advice to Reading, Bolton and the rest would be, if you're expecting any favours, don't hold your breath," said the Crystal Palace manager. "They will have to do it themselves.
"The fact of the matter is that if Liverpool were already out of the Champions League and needed to win to get fourth spot, they would play their strongest side.
"Instead, I fully expect them to play a weakened team at Fulham.
"It's part of a big club's mentality. They look after themselves and they don't bother about anyone else. The whole story that Sheffield United were going down and me having a pop at them afterwards was just treated like fish and chip paper by them. Liverpool didn't care because they weren't the ones getting hurt by it all.
"I'm still very bitter about it and personally I hope Liverpool never win another trophy under Benitez. I like them as a club but I would be very pleased to see them win nothing."
Warnock still shudders when he recalls the moment he saw Liverpool's line-up at Craven Cottage last season.
"I felt sick, physically sick, when I found out the team Liverpool were playing," said Warnock.
"We had a late kick-off at Villa Park that day and when we saw who Benitez had picked, we were struggling to even think who they were.
"We hadn't even heard of them and a lot of them haven't played for the club since.
"It was scandalous, really. You don't feel it's fair but it just confirmed that these guys don't give two hoots about clubs like Sheffield United or people like Neil Warnock.
"You can talk about rules being put in place to stop it happening but that's not going to happen.
"The Premier League don't care about smaller clubs like Sheffield United, as they proved with the whole Carlos Tevez affair last season.
"Big clubs look after themselves and the people who run the Premier League will always look after themselves. Nothing will ever change.
"The sad thing is I felt we had done enough last season; we had 38 points, which would have been enough in a normal season.
"For us to get that number of points was an achievement and yet it's gone down in history as a relegation on my CV, not an achievement.
"Nobody got hurt apart from me and Sheffield United. Rafa Benitez certainly didn't."
The former Sheffield United manager is still seething that Liverpool lost 1-0 after fielding a severely weakened team at Fulham last May, a result which ultimately kept the London side up by a single point at the Blades' expense.
With Liverpool playing in the Champions League semi-final on Tuesday, Warnock expects Benitez to leave his star names on the sidelines again against the Cottagers on Saturday but believes that would show contempt for the clubs fighting to preserve their top-flight status.
"My advice to Reading, Bolton and the rest would be, if you're expecting any favours, don't hold your breath," said the Crystal Palace manager. "They will have to do it themselves.
"The fact of the matter is that if Liverpool were already out of the Champions League and needed to win to get fourth spot, they would play their strongest side.
"Instead, I fully expect them to play a weakened team at Fulham.
"It's part of a big club's mentality. They look after themselves and they don't bother about anyone else. The whole story that Sheffield United were going down and me having a pop at them afterwards was just treated like fish and chip paper by them. Liverpool didn't care because they weren't the ones getting hurt by it all.
"I'm still very bitter about it and personally I hope Liverpool never win another trophy under Benitez. I like them as a club but I would be very pleased to see them win nothing."
Warnock still shudders when he recalls the moment he saw Liverpool's line-up at Craven Cottage last season.
"I felt sick, physically sick, when I found out the team Liverpool were playing," said Warnock.
"We had a late kick-off at Villa Park that day and when we saw who Benitez had picked, we were struggling to even think who they were.
"We hadn't even heard of them and a lot of them haven't played for the club since.
"It was scandalous, really. You don't feel it's fair but it just confirmed that these guys don't give two hoots about clubs like Sheffield United or people like Neil Warnock.
"You can talk about rules being put in place to stop it happening but that's not going to happen.
"The Premier League don't care about smaller clubs like Sheffield United, as they proved with the whole Carlos Tevez affair last season.
"Big clubs look after themselves and the people who run the Premier League will always look after themselves. Nothing will ever change.
"The sad thing is I felt we had done enough last season; we had 38 points, which would have been enough in a normal season.
"For us to get that number of points was an achievement and yet it's gone down in history as a relegation on my CV, not an achievement.
"Nobody got hurt apart from me and Sheffield United. Rafa Benitez certainly didn't."
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utusanLFC :
the curse of the sourgrape or sore-loser or sure-loser... or all the three combined tofit the bil of this manager.
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