NEIL WARNOCK knew it was time to leave Sheffield United the moment they were relegated from the Premiership on the final day of last season. 

Defeat at home by Wigan coupled with West Ham�s unlikely 1-0 win at Old Trafford condemned the Blades to the drop on goal difference.

Warnock confessed: �I had not felt that much pain since the day my mum died when I was 13. I know some people will think that�s inappropriate, but that�s how I felt. I�m just being honest.�

But it was a foul-mouthed tirade from Hollywood actor and Bramall Lane director Sean Bean which proved to be the final straw for Warnock.

He recalled: �I got back to my office and my best mate, Paul Evans, was waiting for me. My wife Sharon, and the kids Amy and William were there, too.

�Sharon had been crying and the kids knew why she was so upset. It wasn�t just the football. Not just because of the result.

�Twenty minutes or so after the game had ended, Sharon and William were sitting in my office when the film actor, Sean Bean, who is a Sheffield United board director, burst in with his girlfriend.

�He was obviously the worse for wear. He wanted to know where I was. Sharon told him I was doing a Press conference and I�d be back soon.

�So Sean Bean started swearing at her and my five-year-old son. �It�s your f****** husband that got us relegated,� he said, pointing at her. �He�s a f****** w*****�.

�That�s Sean Bean, the tough guy actor. Some kind of tough guy, eh, reducing a five-year-old kid and his mum to tears.

�I was livid to begin with. I wanted to go and find him but Paul told me not to waste my time.

�He might be a film star but he wasn�t a star in my eyes that afternoon.

�If that incident hadn�t happened maybe I�d still be Sheffield United manager today. But it made me realise what certain people at the club were saying about me behind my back.

�I was never really sure why Sean Bean was on the board of directors in the first place. Celebrity supporter I suppose. I didn�t have a lot to do with him and never really rated his opinion on football.

�I remember one board meeting when he made a big show of how he wanted to make an important point about something he�d spotted to improve the club�s fortunes.

�We all waited expectantly until he announced �Do you think Captain Blade has served his purpose? I think we should get rid of him�.

�That was it, all he wanted to talk about. Captain f****** Blade, the fluffy team mascot. That was the extent of his contribution.

�Kevin McCabe, the Sheffield United chairman, apologised when he heard about Bean�s behaviour on that day.

�He said he wouldn�t tolerate that kind of behaviour, told me Bean had done a few other things over the previous months and was going to ask him to review his position on the board. 

“But I saw Bean was marching on Westminster with the fans in protest at the Carlos Tevez affair the other day. So I�m not holding my breath about him going.

�I can understand supporters getting frustrated about their team. I�ve been spat at and abused by fans in my time and when I was at Bury one fan wrote on the website that the only way to get rid of me was to set fire to my wife.

�But this was different. This was a club director and I simply could not tolerate someone who came down to my office just to have a go at my family.�

Warnock insists he had never even thought about relegation until the final day of the season.

But he revealed: �I was thinking of leaving if we�d stayed up. I just thought it might be a good time to go. 

“After eight years at Bramall Lane I could bow out knowing I�d done my job. Unfortunately things didn�t quite work out that day.

�Even after we were relegated, I could have stayed on. But my relationship with the chairman had changed over the past couple of years.

�He moved abroad for tax purposes and we were having to hold board meetings in Belgium. Things couldn�t go on like that.

�It was also obvious to me that he wanted to bring in a �big name� manager like Dalglish or Hoddle.

�Now he�s got what he wanted with Bryan Robson.�