Neil Warnock has hit back at claims regarding Lee Tomlin

'I couldn't get him on the field' — Neil Warnock defends his reluctance to pick Cardiff City talisman Lee Tomlin ahead of Middlesbrough clash

Middlesbrough boss Warnock comes face to face with the Bluebirds' main man who scarcely featured before Neil Harris took over as Cardiff City manager

Neil Warnock: " I could never get him on the field" owing to his fitness issues.:




By Glen Williams


Saturday 18th July 2020



Neil Warnock has hit back at claims he did not get the most out of Lee Tomlin while manager at Cardiff City, insisting he could "never get him on the field" owing to fitness issues.

Tomlin has been perhaps City's best player this season - certainly the most threatening attacking outlet since Neil Harris took over in November - but scarcely featured while Warnock was in charge.

When Harris took over, he made Tomlin the main man, allowing him to play the full 90 minutes and the Bluebirds reaped the rewards.

Tomlin said back in December that Warnock "always had an excuse" for his reasons for not selecting him, or hauling him off around the hour-mark during games.

But Warnock, the Middlesbrough manager who will come up against Tomlin this weekend, has said he had little option over selecting his £3m capture due to the player's persistent fitness struggles.

"If I didn't play a player... I read a while ago about Lee Tomlin saying he has got more [game time], but I couldn't get Tomlin on the field when I was manager," Warnock said.

Tomlin has certainly enjoyed a strong run of fitness and form this season, although since football restarted his injury concerns have become something of a prominent narrative.

The 31-year-old started his first game since February this week in the 2-1 win over Derby County, in which he scored the winner to move level with Robert Glatzel as the club's joint-top scorer.

But Harris has said in recent weeks he has had to delay team selections on occasion and the player has had to skip some training sessions in order for his hip problem to recover properly.

Whether he plays up at the Riverside this weekend, of course, is as yet unknown, but what Warnock does know about is the talent coursing through this Bluebirds side.


When asked if he was looking forward to going toe to toe against his former club, he replied: "Not really, no, not when I know how good they are and we haven’t won at home since last year.

"They are strong, solid players and good lads as well."

Warnock's number one priority is, of course, to get that one point to ensure Boro's Championship status and he will be desperate to achieve that on Saturday, even if it is against his former side.

But if he were to consolidate Boro's position in the Championship and see Cardiff achieve promotion, that would appear his perfect scenario.

"When I left, I did say the second half of the season the fixtures were a lot better and I thought they could get in the play-offs," he added.

"If they get in the play-offs, I only see Brentford beating them. I don't see any of the other teams, not Forest and Fulham... I think Cardiff will be the team.

"I imagine everyone at Cardiff is hoping Brentford will just clinch that second place, because I think they would rather play West Brom."

Cardiff could mathematically seal their play-off spot this weekend, should other results go their way, too. It would be a commendable feat by Harris, should it happen, given they were off the pace when he took over in November.

The Bluebirds boss this week said City had been "written off" as promotion candidates when he took over, but that is not a view to which Warnock subscribes.



"He might have said that but I never wrote them off," Warnock said. "From day one, when I walked out, I said whoever took over was a lucky person to have a squad like that, because it didn't need a lot of work.

"Whatever signings he made in January, if he made any, I don't know, but it's the same team, isn't it, that's turning out now to when I was there?

“Apparently they are playing a lot better football, a different style and I am looking forward to seeing that [on Saturday].

"But the players are the same players and they are a great bunch, I really enjoyed working with them."

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I personally believe Neil Warnock and every manager has said the same about Lee Tomlin.

Lee Tomlin for years struggled with previous managers.

I think Tomlin finally woke up and realised at 31 yrs old his football career could soon becoming to an end if he did not sort his fitness levels out and his behaviour of the field.

I am glad Tomlin has come good and its exciting times ahead for him and Cardiff City if he continues like he currently is playing

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Perfect

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Strange harris can get him on pitch? But think it's more to do with what NW wants from players and Tomlin definitely couldn't give what was required from NW so he wouldn't play him..

Last edited by pembroke allan on Sat Jul 18, 2020 11:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

I believe Lee Tomlin over anything Neil Warnock has to say.

You can always guarantee a good story from Warnock before becomes up against an old club....

Mind games or has he another book coming out?

Tomlin was a disgrace when he first came to us over weight and in court for assault etc he was a nightmare so sorry cannot blame Warnock completely then fair play to tomlin he got himself fit and give fight to play for Cardiff but how anyone can blame Warnock for not picking Tomlin have a very short memory .

Whatever you think Warnock saved this club when it was going to league 1 supporters were rowing with each other and the atmosphere at games were terrible then Warnock came in brought an enjoyment to the club we became 1 again and as a bonus got us up when we shouldnt have and give it bloody good go in the premiership too so as much as tomlin is loved at the moment dont slag off warnock who helped this club big time and should be thanked for that and not critisised for having a go at tomlin when he was a 3 million flop at first

In my opinion NW did a fantastic job no doubt. However he had his favourites & was inflexible with tacticts. His time has now gone & NH has developed this side in a way that NW could never have done! Onwards & upwards.

"When I left, I did say the second half of the season the fixtures were a lot better and I thought they could get in the play-offs,"

Sir Neil says some shite doesn't he. Wind his neck in and think about what he says.

"When I left, I did say the second half of the season the fixtures were a lot better and I thought they could get in the play-offs,"

Sir Neil says some shite doesn't he. Wind his neck in and think about what he says.

he did say it though.

In my opinion NW did a fantastic job no doubt. However he had his favourites & was inflexible with tacticts. His time has now gone & NH has developed this side in a way that NW could never have done! Onwards & upwards.

Spot On

Tomlin was a disgrace when he first came to us over weight and in court for assault etc he was a nightmare so sorry cannot blame Warnock completely then fair play to tomlin he got himself fit and give fight to play for Cardiff but how anyone can blame Warnock for not picking Tomlin have a very short memory .

Whatever you think Warnock saved this club when it was going to league 1 supporters were rowing with each other and the atmosphere at games were terrible then Warnock came in brought an enjoyment to the club we became 1 again and as a bonus got us up when we shouldnt have and give it bloody good go in the premiership too so as much as tomlin is loved at the moment dont slag off warnock who helped this club big time and should be thanked for that and not critisised for having a go at tomlin when he was a 3 million flop at first

How about the first line of your post reads " the manager was a disgrace, signing a fat guy who had an appearance in court to attend" after all it was the manager that signed him for the £3m quoted? He (tomlin) let warnock down,coming back overweight,in any professional sport (maybe boxing aside?) Is unacceptable, and I posted as much regarding tomlin at the time,slating him,as deserved imho,but when he lost the best part of two stone,came back fitter and leaner than ever,warnock imo bore a grudge with him,and didn't give him time enough to re build lost trust,pretty much like bale at real,why have one of your better players warm the bench,if not to drill home your point? Anyway,whatever the reason,it's done,history.long live the rejuvenation of Mr tomlin,he's been a joy under Harris to date!

Tomlin was a disgrace when he first came to us over weight and in court for assault etc he was a nightmare so sorry cannot blame Warnock completely then fair play to tomlin he got himself fit and give fight to play for Cardiff but how anyone can blame Warnock for not picking Tomlin have a very short memory .

Whatever you think Warnock saved this club when it was going to league 1 supporters were rowing with each other and the atmosphere at games were terrible then Warnock came in brought an enjoyment to the club we became 1 again and as a bonus got us up when we shouldnt have and give it bloody good go in the premiership too so as much as tomlin is loved at the moment dont slag off warnock who helped this club big time and should be thanked for that and not critisised for having a go at tomlin when he was a 3 million flop at first

How about the first line of your post reads " the manager was a disgrace, signing a fat guy who had an appearance in court to attend" after all it was the manager that signed him for the £3m quoted? He (tomlin) let warnock down,coming back overweight,in any professional sport (maybe boxing aside?) Is unacceptable, and I posted as much regarding tomlin at the time,slating him,as deserved imho,but when he lost the best part of two stone,came back fitter and leaner than ever,warnock imo bore a grudge with him,and didn't give him time enough to re build lost trust,pretty much like bale at real,why have one of your better players warm the bench,if not to drill home your point? Anyway,whatever the reason,it's done,history.long live the rejuvenation of Mr tomlin,he's been a joy under Harris to date!

Not that Tomlin deserves much sympathy as he was overweight and unfit for years prior to Cardiff and at Cardiff and his head as we all know now was in a very bad place, but it does seem odd that people either seem to forget or just ignore the fact that Lee Tomlin (who had a history of weight an fitness issues) was signed by Warnock for 3m. I completely agree with the fact that Warnock holds grudges and i feel he must have felt very annoyed with Tomlin as i recall going to the pre-season game this season against Nice at home i think it was (wasnt a great game) and i remember Bobby Reid having a bit of a poor game and around the hour mark i think we brought Tomlin on and he looked leaner, fitter, hungrier and was chasing opposition players down, and when he had the ball was running at opposition players so much so that they were having to foul him, and his passing was causing havoc. Yet as the season began and until his conclusion at Cardiff City Warnock still never felt able to give Tomlin a real chance or put his full backing behind him like Harris has, going with either a 3 man midfield full of workers and no technical ability or going with Paterson at 10 which wasnt working.

Tomlin was a disgrace when he first came to us over weight and in court for assault etc he was a nightmare so sorry cannot blame Warnock completely then fair play to tomlin he got himself fit and give fight to play for Cardiff but how anyone can blame Warnock for not picking Tomlin have a very short memory .

Whatever you think Warnock saved this club when it was going to league 1 supporters were rowing with each other and the atmosphere at games were terrible then Warnock came in brought an enjoyment to the club we became 1 again and as a bonus got us up when we shouldnt have and give it bloody good go in the premiership too so as much as tomlin is loved at the moment dont slag off warnock who helped this club big time and should be thanked for that and not critisised for having a go at tomlin when he was a 3 million flop at first

How about the first line of your post reads " the manager was a disgrace, signing a fat guy who had an appearance in court to attend" after all it was the manager that signed him for the £3m quoted? He (tomlin) let warnock down,coming back overweight,in any professional sport (maybe boxing aside?) Is unacceptable, and I posted as much regarding tomlin at the time,slating him,as deserved imho,but when he lost the best part of two stone,came back fitter and leaner than ever,warnock imo bore a grudge with him,and didn't give him time enough to re build lost trust,pretty much like bale at real,why have one of your better players warm the bench,if not to drill home your point? Anyway,whatever the reason,it's done,history.long live the rejuvenation of Mr tomlin,he's been a joy under Harris to date! [/quote




so if you had an employee who had let you down badly over 2 years.. him turning up after hols for his 3rd year seeming enthusiastic would leave you with no doubts and full of confidence that all was ok. and youd immediately ditch people you know you can rely on for mr let down , or is it a case of slowly slowly and caution ? i know i had my doubts, and to be honest still do , he isnt playing 90 mins, is on the bench a lot along with Harris keeping on talking about injuries .... is Harris DRILLING home some idiotic grudge right now because he isnt on the field since the restart much more , if it is more than he was just before Warnock left..

we all know how good he is mate, including all the managers that gambled on him ...
at the mo he is changing games for us and i have my fingers crossed it continues,, id bet my house that Harries got his crossed too..

Tomlin was a disgrace when he first came to us over weight and in court for assault etc he was a nightmare so sorry cannot blame Warnock completely then fair play to tomlin he got himself fit and give fight to play for Cardiff but how anyone can blame Warnock for not picking Tomlin have a very short memory .

Whatever you think Warnock saved this club when it was going to league 1 supporters were rowing with each other and the atmosphere at games were terrible then Warnock came in brought an enjoyment to the club we became 1 again and as a bonus got us up when we shouldnt have and give it bloody good go in the premiership too so as much as tomlin is loved at the moment dont slag off warnock who helped this club big time and should be thanked for that and not critisised for having a go at tomlin when he was a 3 million flop at first

How about the first line of your post reads " the manager was a disgrace, signing a fat guy who had an appearance in court to attend" after all it was the manager that signed him for the £3m quoted? He (tomlin) let warnock down,coming back overweight,in any professional sport (maybe boxing aside?) Is unacceptable, and I posted as much regarding tomlin at the time,slating him,as deserved imho,but when he lost the best part of two stone,came back fitter and leaner than ever,warnock imo bore a grudge with him,and didn't give him time enough to re build lost trust,pretty much like bale at real,why have one of your better players warm the bench,if not to drill home your point? Anyway,whatever the reason,it's done,history.long live the rejuvenation of Mr tomlin,he's been a joy under Harris to date! [/quote




so if you had an employee who had let you down badly over 2 years.. him turning up after hols for his 3rd year seeming enthusiastic would leave you with no doubts and full of confidence that all was ok. and youd immediately ditch people you know you can rely on for mr let down , or is it a case of slowly slowly and caution ? i know i had my doubts, and to be honest still do , he isnt playing 90 mins, is on the bench a lot along with Harris keeping on talking about injuries .... is Harris DRILLING home some idiotic grudge right now because he isnt on the field since the restart much more , if it is more than he was just before Warnock left..

we all know how good he is mate, including all the managers that gambled on him ...
at the mo he is changing games for us and i have my fingers crossed it continues,, id bet my house that Harries got his crossed too..

Good post,and great analogy but my point was,warnock knew exactly what he was getting at the time,an overweight footballer,about to possibly go to jail (very unlikely today I know and spend £3m on him.I totally get the lack of trust issue between them,but why not leave him out of the squad altogether? Games were not pretty at the best of times,but we achieved the dream under warnock, I tip my hat to him for that but I believe tomlin on this one,why,when you have a possible game changer amongst your squad,would you fail to use him? Like I say,the past is exactly that,the past,whoever of them is being more open with what went on,we currently imho are pretty fortunate to have him in the match day squad at the moment, he is certainly making us tick,but I believe what Harris says,his injury is more complex than is being told,hence him not being overworked,I believe if we wern't fighting for a play off berth,or in a relagation fight,tomlin wouldn't be "risked" his injury,whatever that may be,probably needed longer to heal,hence the "end of season" quotes around his injury,and training would have been curtailed for him,in order to play a part in helping us get that 6th place.risky? Yes.worth it? At the moment,yes! At least for these next 4 games

Tomlin was a disgrace when he first came to us over weight and in court for assault etc he was a nightmare so sorry cannot blame Warnock completely then fair play to tomlin he got himself fit and give fight to play for Cardiff but how anyone can blame Warnock for not picking Tomlin have a very short memory .

Whatever you think Warnock saved this club when it was going to league 1 supporters were rowing with each other and the atmosphere at games were terrible then Warnock came in brought an enjoyment to the club we became 1 again and as a bonus got us up when we shouldnt have and give it bloody good go in the premiership too so as much as tomlin is loved at the moment dont slag off warnock who helped this club big time and should be thanked for that and not critisised for having a go at tomlin when he was a 3 million flop at first

How about the first line of your post reads " the manager was a disgrace, signing a fat guy who had an appearance in court to attend" after all it was the manager that signed him for the £3m quoted? He (tomlin) let warnock down,coming back overweight,in any professional sport (maybe boxing aside?) Is unacceptable, and I posted as much regarding tomlin at the time,slating him,as deserved imho,but when he lost the best part of two stone,came back fitter and leaner than ever,warnock imo bore a grudge with him,and didn't give him time enough to re build lost trust,pretty much like bale at real,why have one of your better players warm the bench,if not to drill home your point? Anyway,whatever the reason,it's done,history.long live the rejuvenation of Mr tomlin,he's been a joy under Harris to date! [/quote




so if you had an employee who had let you down badly over 2 years.. him turning up after hols for his 3rd year seeming enthusiastic would leave you with no doubts and full of confidence that all was ok. and youd immediately ditch people you know you can rely on for mr let down , or is it a case of slowly slowly and caution ? i know i had my doubts, and to be honest still do , he isnt playing 90 mins, is on the bench a lot along with Harris keeping on talking about injuries .... is Harris DRILLING home some idiotic grudge right now because he isnt on the field since the restart much more , if it is more than he was just before Warnock left..

we all know how good he is mate, including all the managers that gambled on him ...
at the mo he is changing games for us and i have my fingers crossed it continues,, id bet my house that Harries got his crossed too..

Good post,and great analogy but my point was,warnock knew exactly what he was getting at the time,an overweight footballer,about to possibly go to jail (very unlikely today I know and spend £3m on him.I totally get the lack of trust issue between them,but why not leave him out of the squad altogether? Games were not pretty at the best of times,but we achieved the dream under warnock, I tip my hat to him for that but I believe tomlin on this one,why,when you have a possible game changer amongst your squad,would you fail to use him? Like I say,the past is exactly that,the past,whoever of them is being more open with what went on,we currently imho are pretty fortunate to have him in the match day squad at the moment, he is certainly making us tick,but I believe what Harris says,his injury is more complex than is being told,hence him not being overworked,I believe if we wern't fighting for a play off berth,or in a relagation fight,tomlin wouldn't be "risked" his injury,whatever that may be,probably needed longer to heal,hence the "end of season" quotes around his injury,and training would have been curtailed for him,in order to play a part in helping us get that 6th place.risky? Yes.worth it? At the moment,yes! At least for these next 4 games

but all players are gambles , all at various degrees... is a fit Tomlin who can play 90 mins regular and has no baggage a 3 mill player { using your figure , ive actually heard both our manager at the time and our chairman say it wasnt half of that } } or worth more like, or even more than what we paid for Bobby Reid ? Warnock paid a lot less than that that hoping he could get more from him... its what he has done elsewhere and here successfully . and what most managers do , a few with Lee... bottom line, for 2 whole years he was a total waste , even went on loan to his ex manager at Forest , did ok but not ok enough for them to buy him despite having money to throw around.. its a real shame for him as well as ourselves and im sure he will look back with regrets.. the 2 stone weight loss shouldnt have happened the year his contract was running out but the year we were heading for the premier league.. thats twice now he has managed to miss out on playing at the highest level { unless you count 6 games at Bournemouth before they jettisoned him } . i know if i had all that talent and those chances it would eat at me later..

Tomlinson obviously loves playing for us and is doing a superb job So who cares what Colin says or thinks anymore. He walked out when he was finally rumbled. Legend my arse.