I offered to halve my wages to join Liverpool but jealous manager blocked the transfer

This former Liverpool defender wanted to return to the club after falling out of favour with his manager at Aston Villa but saw the transfer blocked

Stephen Warnock says a "jealous" Gerard Houllier blocked his return to Liverpool from Aston Villa. The 44-year-old claims he even offered to halve his wages to force through the transfer but his plea was brushed aside.

Warnock started his career with the Reds and made a host of first-team appearances before leaving in 2007. After a spell with Blackburn Rovers he ended up at Villa Park where he played under iconic ex-Liverpool boss Houllier, who passed away in 2020.

After a falling out, he sought a move away and his boyhood side were all set to take him back on an initial loan. But his Anfield homecoming never materialised despite him offering to lower his wages, and Warnock thinks Houllier was to blame.

You can listen to brand new episodes of In The Mixer on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!

Speaking on In The Mixer, brought to you by Sky Bet, Warnock said: "So Gerard Houllier was the manager of Aston Villa and I had a falling out with him. I was basically put on the reserve team squad.

"Then Gary McAllister came to me, another assistant manager doing the manager's job, to say, 'Kenny Dalglish has been on the phone. He wants to re-sign you for Liverpool.'

"It was at least on loan to start with, with a view to a permanent. So I was like, 'Yeah, brilliant. Get it done.' And he was like, 'It's the right thing for you. Go back and enjoy your football.'

"But I think there was an element of Gerard Houllier being jealous of the fact that I could go and play for Liverpool and I could go back there and be happy. It's a bad look.

"So they turned around at the last minute and put I think a half-million-pound loan fee on. Liverpool were like, 'Hang about, you've just changed the goalposts.'

"Anyway, the deal fell through and I ended up sitting in the reserves for the rest of the season. Head loss completely. I mean, it got to the point where they had to move me off the reserve team pitch because I was booting balls into the middle of their training sessions.

"When I was supposed to be going back to Liverpool, I said to them with the loan deal, 'Well, if we can make it work, chop my wages in half.' I was like, 'I'll take less. I don't care. Just let me go back and play.'

"They were like, 'No, no, we can't do that.' That was Villa saying that. I was like, 'Yeah, you can. You're making half my wages back for doing nothing. Just let me go. And Liverpool are going to cover my wages there.' They wouldn't do it."

Houllier stepped down as Villa boss at the end of the 2010/11 season having been absent for a spell with ill health. Warnock was reintegrated by his replacement, Alex McLeish, and stayed another season at Villa Park before a loan to Bolton and a subsequent permanent exit to Leeds, going on to also represent Derby, Wigan, Burton Albion and Bradford before retiring in 2018 and moving into punditry.

STEPHEN WARNOCK EPISODE ON YOUTUBE: Subscribe now to be the first to watch the latest episodes of In The Mixer and other original shows, brought to you by Sky Bet. Watch All Out Football's episode with Stephen Warnock here.

Click here to read article