Premier League debuts are a nerve-wracking experience at the best of times, never mind on minimal sleep.
But those were the cards ex-Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock was dealt after one self-centred team-mate wouldn't let him get a proper night's sleep ahead of one of the biggest days of his career. The full-back was trying to carve out a name for himself at Anfield and was selected to start in an August 2004 trip to Bolton Wanderers.
As if the occasion wasn't big enough, the fact Warnock had been kept up all night by a member of his own squad made things that much more difficult. Having made substitute cameos against Manchester City and Tottenham, Warnock wasn't fully prepared when he was only half-awake for his full bow 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. "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.
"I was f***ed in the game the next day, and I remember thinking, 'You b*****d.' I was fuming."
FaceTime wasn't created until 2010, so Warnock presumably meant a video-calling equivalent like Skype. However, needless
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