Players - Stephen Warnock

Stephen Warnock
Birthdate: 12 December 1981
Birthplace: Ormskirk, England
Other clubs: Bradford City (loan 2002), Coventry City (loan 2003-04), Blackburn Rovers (2007-09), Aston Villa (2009-13), Bolton Wanderers (loan 2012), Leeds United (2013-15), Derby Country (2015-16), Wigan Athletic (loan 2016), Wigan Athletic (2016-17), Burton Albion (2017-18), Bradford City (loan 2018)
Signed from: Local
Signed for LFC: 1996 – Professional 27 April 1999
International debut: 01.06.2008 vs. Trinidad and Tobago
International caps: 2/0 - 17.11.2010
Liverpool debut: 10.08.2004
Last appearance: 09.01.2007
Debut goal: 15.03.2006
Last goal: 15.03.2006
Contract expiry: 22.01.2007
Win ratio: 61.19% W:41 D:10 L:16
Honours: European Super Cup 2005
Total games/goals opposite LFC: 8 / 0
League games / goals / assists: 40 / 1 / 1
Total games / goals / assists: 67 / 1 / 3

Player Profile

Legendary left-back, Alan Kennedy, had a hand in bringing Warnock to Liverpool: "I remember Stephen being at one of my soccer schools and he really stood out as being a brilliant prospect. I got on the phone to Steve Heighway and Roy Evans and said you have got to take a look at this boy." Warnock overcame three leg breaks as made his way from the Liverpool academy into professional football! He showed great character and determination to survive these ordeals and make a name for himself. Academy director and former Liverpool star, Steve Heighway, witnessed Warnock's struggles: "We shared the pain and the agony he endured. Watching him go through six months of rehabilitation from a broken leg, then watch him break his leg immediately again and go through a further six months rehab and then get another slight break after that. I don't think people realise what he has achieved." Warnock is a versatile player who is equally adept at left-back and in left and central midfield. He is a tough customer which former Liverpool teammate, Danny Guthrie, can testify to. "Stevie Warnock is the hardest tackler. He's mean in the tackle, even in training."

Before he made his first-team debut Warnock impressed when on loan at Coventry in the 2003/04 season when he was voted Fans' Player of the Season. Warnock made 30 appearances for Liverpool in Rafa's first season at the club. Despite finally making progress 2004/05 was a heartbreaking season for Warnock. "On a personal level, the Carling Cup and Champions League finals stand out as particularly low points for me. I'd played in every round of the League Cup before the final, and missed out on a medal. Then when I wasn't in the squad for the European Cup final I'd have to say that was my lowest point of all. There weren't enough winners' medals for us all, so I didn't get one. I spent time over the summer getting over that." Warnock made the same total of appearances the following season but did make six more starts. He was still not too happy with Rafa's modus operandi: "Even if you’d played really well one week, you never thought you would play the next. People were being rested in September and October and I just think that’s crazy. You don’t want to be rested at that stage of the season. I thought I needed to play week in, week out to improve myself as a player. But it was not just the team, it was the same with the squad as well. The squad used to go up on a Friday afternoon and you wouldn’t even know who was going to be in it. It was comical sometimes. No one would have a clue why certain people were not included but the manager would keep his reasons to himself."

After making only six appearances in the first half of 2006/07 Rafa sold Warnock to Blackburn in the January 2007 transfer window where he made the left-back position his own and also featured in midfield. Warnock made his international debut in a friendly against Trinidad & Tobago on 1 June 2008 which has proved to be his only international. Warnock was in inspired form and was voted Blackburn's Player of the Year in the 2008/09 season. On 11 April 2009, before Blackburn Rovers' match against Liverpool, Warnock put a flower display with the numbers '96' in front of the Kop on the twentieth anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster. This was greeted with chants of 'Stephen Warnock' from the Kop. Aston Villa bought Warnock in the summer of 2009 where he had a steady first season, appearing in 30 of the 38 Premier League matches as Villa finished sixth in the table. They also reached the final of the League Cup and the semi-final of the FA Cup but were beaten in those competitions by Manchester United and Chelsea respectively. Warnock was named in England manager Fabio Capello's provisional 30-man squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. He made the final squad of twenty-three players but did not see a single minute of action in any of England's four matches.

Warnock missed the second part of the 2010/11 season due to injuries, but come the new season he was fit again and raring to go. Although he played in most of Villa's first-team matches in 2011/12, Warnock was not selected for the early competitive matches of Paul Lambert's reign at Villa Park. After being on loan at Bolton Wanderers from September 2012 until January he was released from his Villa contract that had six months to run. Consequently, Warnock signed a two and a half year contract for Leeds United. He played in fifteen matches in The Championship for Bolton Wanderers and sixteen for Leeds United in the 2012/13 season. New Leeds manager Brian McDermott, who had replaced Neil Warnock, made the defender his captain for his first match in charge, against Sheffield Wednesday in April 2013. In 2013/14 Warnock played in 27 of Leeds United's 46 matches in the Championship, scoring once (the winner at Yeovil early in February). Stephen also played in United's League Cup defeat at Newcastle in September. Leeds ended the season in 15th position. Halfway through the January 2015 transfer-window Warnock signed an 18-month deal with another Championship club, Derby County, but was loaned to League One Wigan for the last three months of the campaign. After helping them to promotion he signed a one year deal for Wigan, missing only one game in 2016-17 as they were relegated from the Championship back to League One. After his contract expired he remained in the Championship with Burton Albion, but the joined Bradford City on loan in the January 2018 transfer window.

In April 2018 Warnock announced he would be retiring at the end of the season, saying he wanted to make the call himself rather than wait for his body to tell him it was time to stop. He was named captain for Bradford's last fixture, a 1-1 draw at Scunthorpe.
Appearances per season
Season League FA LC Europe Other Total
Totals 40 3 8 15 1 67
2004-2005 19 1 4 6 0 30
2005-2006 20 2 1 6 1 30
2006-2007 1 0 3 3 0 7
A more detailed look at the player's appearances
Apps Minutes Opponent
5 243 Tottenham
3 256 Middlesbrough
3 225 Blackburn Rovers
3 193 Manchester City
3 114 Everton
3 5 Fulham
2 180 Birmingham City
2 180 Portsmouth
2 167 Norwich City
2 154 CSKA Sofia
2 148 Arsenal
2 144 Chelsea
2 136 Southampton
2 106 Aston Villa
2 93 Newcastle United
2 90 Sunderland
2 42 Grazer AK
2 40 AS Monaco
2 4 Charlton Athletic
1 90 West Ham United
1 90 Burnley
1 90 Leverkusen
1 90 Wigan Athletic
1 90 PSV Eindhoven
1 90 FBK Kaunas
1 90 Reading
1 84 Manchester United
1 81 Millwall
1 79 Sao Paolo
1 76 Crystal Palace
1 70 Benfica
1 64 TNS
1 46 Olympiacos
1 46 Bolton Wanderers
1 28 Maccabi Haifa
1 20 WBA
1 12 Watford
1 3 Bordeaux
1 3 Anderlecht
1 2 Luton Town
Total Started/substitutions
46 Started
36 On the bench
21 Substitute
22 Substituted
Total Venue
37 Away
29 Home
1 Neutral
Total Competition
40 Premier League
15 Champions League
8 League Cup
3 FA Cup
1 World Club Championship
Total W D L Win % Manager
67 41 10 16 61.2% Rafa Benítez
Goals per season
Season League FA LC Europe Other Total
Totals 1 0 0 0 0 1
2004-2005 0 0 0 0 0 0
2005-2006 1 0 0 0 0 1
2006-2007 0 0 0 0 0 0
A more detailed look at the player's goalscoring
Total Opponent
1 Fulham
Total Started/substitutions
0 Started
1 Substitute
Total Competition
1 Premier League
Total Goal minute period
1 76-90 minutes
Total Goal origin
1 Open play
Assists per season
Season League FA LC Europe Other Total
Totals 1 0 1 1 0 3
2004-2005 1 0 1 0 0 2
2005-2006 0 0 0 1 0 1
2006-2007 0 0 0 0 0 0
A more detailed look at the player's assists
Total Opponent
1 Fulham
1 Millwall
1 Total Network Solutions
Total Competition
1 Champions League
1 League Cup
1 Premier League
Total For player
1 Milan Baros
1 Igor Biscan
1 Steven Gerrard
Milestone Appearances
# Date Against Stadium Competition
1 10.08.2004 Grazer AK Arnold S. Stadion Europe
50 14.01.2006 Tottenham Anfield League
Milestone Goals
# Minute Date Against Stadium Competition
1 90 15.03.2006 Fulham Anfield League
Related Articles
Stephen Warnock on Premier League World

Premier League World show #43. 10 April 2019.

Stephen Warnock on realising Liverpool ‘dream’, acrimonious exit & near return

PlanetFootball, Ramez Nathan, Published on 20th December 2018.

Djibril can win his battle

LIVERPOOL'S Djibril Cisse will find inspiration within his own dressing room as he begins a painful rehabilitation from an horrific broken leg today. From 1 November 2004.

Warnock becomes Rovers' second signing of the transfer window

Despite being with the Anfield club since the age of 11, the 25 year-old needed little convincing from manager Mark Hughes to sign for the Ewood Park club on a three and a half year deal for an undisclosed fee.

Why Warnock's champing at the bit part

By Nick Townsend, Chief Sports Writer at The Independent. Published: 30 October 2005.

Related Quotes

"I remember Stephen being at one of my soccer schools and he really stood out as being a brilliant prospect. I got on the phone to Steve Heighway and Roy Evans and said you have got to take a look at this boy. I thought he was fantastic against Leverkusen. I really like him as a left back. He has a great left foot and can pass the ball and get forward. The tackle he made near the end was just brilliant and Rafa will like that seeing a player never giving up and showing great commitment."

Alan Kennedy on Warnock in March 2005

"There were some good times last season and some really tough ones too. On a personal level, the Carling Cup and Champions League finals stand out as particularly low points for me. I'd played in every round of the League Cup before the final, and missed out on a medal. Then when I wasn't in the squad for the European Cup final I'd have to say that was my lowest point of all. There weren't enough winners' medals for us all, so I didn't get one. I spent time over the summer getting over that.

"The night in Istanbul was a strange combination of emotions for me. When you're so close to it as a Liverpool fan who's grown up hearing about those kind of nights, you feel grateful that you're experiencing something which so many other supporters would love to be a part of. "Then, on the other hand, you're having to come to terms with the most disappointing few days of your life as a footballer because you're not in the squad. It's definitely something I'll look back on with mixed thoughts, even though I was so happy as a supporter and player that we won.

Warnock looking back at the 2004-2005 season

"After the Middlesbrough game the manager took me to one side and told me he wanted my agent to meet up with Rick Parry because he was happy with the way things are going. My agent had a meeting yesterday morning and the negotiations were very easy. It was all sorted on the same day and I asked if I could sign it as soon as possible. The contract was drawn up during the afternoon and I signed it after the game."

Stephen Warnock signed a new deal in August 2005

Warnock speaks from the experience of a former Kopite, a member of that celebrated choir perpetually determined to rehearse its own version of the Hallelujah Chorus. Those supporters will no doubt forgive him the heinous sin that he once watched his football at Goodison. "My dad [Mike] and my brother [Neil] had season tickets there; they're confirmed Evertonians, you see," he explains. "I was always a Liverpool fan, but as a boy I went with them - although I used to support all the away teams! Then my friend down the road had a spare ticket for a Liverpool game. I went, and was hooked."

Stephen Warnock has always been a confirmed Red

"Stephen Warnock. We shared the pain and the agony he endured. Watching him go through six months of rehabilitation from a broken leg, then watch him break his leg immediately again and go through a further six months rehab and then get another slight break after that. I don't think people realise what he has achieved - and he is a very, very good player."

Academy director Steve Heighway asked which player he was most happy to see progress from the academy.

"Stevie Warnock is the hardest tackler. He's mean in the tackle, even in training."

Danny Guthrie in November 2006 when asked which player to avoid in training at Liverpool

"He has Champions League experience and has played a decent amount of Premier League games as well. He is naturally left-footed which gives us balance on the left side which we didn't have with Lucas Neill. I just like his attitude to the game. He wants to get up to people, to put pressure on people and really he just fits the bill as far as I'm concerned.

"Liverpool really appreciated the qualities that he has and they weren't too keen on allowing a good young English player to leave their football club. I think that is the reason maybe the deal hasn't been done before."

Mark Hughes on his capture of Stephen Warnock in January 2007

"It's been a fantastic move for me and I just wish I had done it earlier. But that's the beauty of hindsight, isn't it? Things might not have worked out quite as well for me if I'd come here earlier. I love it here and I've got people who believe in me, which I didn't have at Liverpool. That gives you so much confidence and now every game I go into I feel confident that I'm good enough to be here, and good enough to play, which is something I didn't always feel at Liverpool."

Stephen Warnock in May 2007 on his four months at Blackburn

"Even if you’d played really well one week, you never thought you would play the next. People were being rested in September and October and I just think that’s crazy. You don’t want to be rested at that stage of the season. I thought I needed to play week in, week out to improve myself as a player.

But it was not just the team, it was the same with the squad as well. The squad used to go up on a Friday afternoon and you wouldn’t even know who was going to be in it. It was comical sometimes. No one would have a clue why certain people were not included but the manager would keep his reasons to himself."

Stephen Warnock was not a big fan of Rafa's rotation system

Other Clubs
Club Season Club rank League apps League goals Total apps Total goals
Bradford City 2002-2003 England First Division 12 1 12 1
Coventry City 2003-2004 England First Division 44 3 49 3
Blackburn Rovers 2006-2007 England Premier League 13 1 20 1
Blackburn Rovers 2007-2008 England Premier League 37 1 43 1
Blackburn Rovers 2008-2009 England Premier League 37 3 43 3
Aston Villa 2009-2010 England Premier League 30 0 41 1
Aston Villa 2010-2011 England Premier League 19 0 22 0
Aston Villa 2011-2012 England Premier League 35 2 38 2
Bolton Wanderers 2012-2013 England Championship 15 0 15 0
Leeds United 2012-2013 England Championship 16 1 17 1
Leeds United 2013-2014 England Championship 27 1 28 1
Leeds United 2014-2015 England Championship 21 1 22 1
Derby 2014-2015 England Championship 7 0 8 0
Derby 2015-2016 Championship 20 0 22 0
Wigan Athletic 2015-2016 League One 11 0 11 0
Wigan Athletic 2016-2017 Championship 45 0 48 0
Burton Albion 2017-2018 Championship 14 1 17 1
Bradford City 2017-2018 League One 13 0 13 0
Total 416 15 469 16