My old Liverpool boss told me he was becoming my manager again – my heart sank

Former Liverpool player Stephen Warnock has revealed his dismay when he discovered that Gerard Houllier, his old boss at Anfield, was taking over as manager at Aston Villa.

Warnock, who had joined the Villans from Blackburn a year earlier, feared his move would turn sour. The ex-full back came through the ranks at Liverpool during the latter part of Houllier's reign but never made it to the first team while the Frenchman was in charge.

Although there was no animosity between them, Warnock believed that Houllier didn't rate him highly, given that he had been loaned out to lower league clubs before the ex-France boss' departure. Speaking on the Undr The Cosh podcast, the 42-year-old recalled a chance meeting with Houllier at a charity match shortly after Martin O'Neil left Villa Park in 2010, and what he heard next left him feeling sick.

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"He came up to me and he starts asking me about Villa, so I asked him, 'Are you getting the job?', and he was like, 'I've got the job'. And my heart sank. I just thought f***, this isn't going to be good for me," Warnock said.

"I was worried because of my previous with him at Liverpool. So I was thinking I'm not sure how this is going to go. But I played, which I was quite surprised about even though I was already a regular in the team."

Initially, Warnock thought Houllier had turned over a new leaf, but it wasn't long before the two came to blows thanks to a deep-set misunderstanding. During this period, Warnock was still living in the north west, journeying to the midlands for training.

Moving to Birmingham was