Warnock relishing Rovers return

25 September 2009 13:38
Warnock left Rovers shortly before the transfer window closed on September 1 and has established himself as Villa's first-choice left-back. But he is unsure what sort of reception he will receive from the Blackburn supporters as Villa look for a seventh straight win in all competitions. Warnock said: "The Blackburn game was one of the games I looked for straight away to see when we would be playing against them. I'm surprised that it's come around so quickly but I'm looking forward to going back there. "I'm not too sure what kind of reception former players normally get there. "I think they're usually quite good. Hopefully I'll get a good reception, but you just never know. "There's no bad feeling. I've spoken to the chairman (John Williams) and the manager (Sam Allardyce) after I signed here and everything was left on good terms. There was a good understanding between us. "I remember when I was at Liverpool I always felt I was good enough to play in the league but that didn't work out for me. "It was Craig Bellamy who was at Liverpool, and had just left Blackburn, he told me how much of a great set-up and a good club it was. "He helped me decide to go there. It's a great club and they gave me the chance to move on and get my career back on track so I'm forever grateful to them." Warnock is relishing the prospect of challenging for honours with Villa who are again in contention for a European spot after four league wins on the trot. He said: "Villa are such an exciting team and I know we can go to places and get results. "I remember the game last year and I think Villa were the only team that beat us at Ewood Park when Sam Allardyce was in charge and they thoroughly deserved it on the day. "We were all sat in the changing rooms afterwards and said actually we did deserve to lose because they were the better team. They attacked quickly and defended well and we couldn't cope with it. It's exciting to be part of it." Nevertheless, Warnock knows it will be dangerous to underestimate Blackburn despite their poor start to the current campaign. He said: "They have got good quality in the team and signed quite a lot of new players this year and I think it needs a little bit of time for them to gel and to get used to the speed of the English game. "The way they play is tough to play against. They play a lot of percentage football and it's very difficult to deal with but they have got a lot of quality in the team so they can mix their game up. "I think they will have a good season. "They have got to start doing things differently financially and I think it will be a test of the manager's ability. "But you only have to look at his days at Bolton to know that he can go and pick a player out for virtually nothing and turn him into a superstar. He's got that ability. "He's obviously got a great core of players anyway to work with that are more than capable of doing things in the Premier League."

Source: Team_Talk