Stephen Warnock is still angry at the way Rafa Benitez treated him ahead of the 2005 Champions League final.
Warnock was part of the Liverpool squad that season, but missed out on a place in the 18 who took part in that famous final victory in Istanbul.
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The Reds came back from 3-0 down to beat AC Milan on penalties, but the game left Warnock with mixed emotions.
The defender, who played 67 times for the club, laid into manager Benitez for the way he handled his squad selection and criticised his man management skills.
He told the Undr The Cosh podcast: “His man management is horrendous. I’ve said this to loads of people - his tactics are brilliant, but his man management is zero.
“He has no idea how to speak to anyone or talk to anyone. It was summed up by Istanbul. Istanbul was an absolute disgrace with how he treated me and a few of the lads. He just didn’t care.
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“It was two weeks after the season that the Champions League final was on, we were in [training] for those two weeks.
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“Two days before we were going over to travel to Istanbul and I remember the last training session, every time a squad list of 18 would go up, it would be the first XI and the subs. There was no added two or three players to travel.
“I remember running in after the last training session thinking ‘please be in’. I looked on the squad list and my name was there.
“I was like ‘f***ing hell, it’s the Champions League final. I’m either on the bench or playing’. I showered as quick as I could, got my phone and rang my family and said ‘listen, get the plane tickets to Istanbul’.
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“I’m at home packing to get ready and my phone goes and it was Paco Ayestaran, who was the number two at the time to Rafa.
“He goes ‘we’ve made a mistake on the squad, you’re not in it’. I was like ‘what!?’ [Benitez] didn’t even have the b******* to ring me. I was like ‘you f***ing coward’. I was fuming.
“The team travelled, played the game, and after he comes up to me and says ‘I’ll speak to you next week’. He didn’t apologise.”
Warnock was still a youngster at the time and by missing out on a place in the 18-man squad, it also meant he missed out on a huge bonus.
“I remember thinking at the time - it shouldn't come into it, but it did - it was one of the biggest games of football's year, but our bonus was massive either way.
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"It was £100,000 to lose it and £200,000 to win it. And I was thinking, 'F***ing hell, that's a massive amount of money.' Because I wasn't on much money at the time. [That's for] whoever's in the [matchday] 18, it doesn't go pro rata across the squad. Literally, if you're in the 18, you get it.
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“I’ve come from thinking last year I’m going to be playing in the Championship with Coventry, being on decent-ish money, but nowhere near that."
Warnock also recalls captain Steven Gerrard trying to make him feel better at missing out on playing and the windfall.
"Gerrard came up to me after the game and said ‘it’s s*** what happened, we’ll make sure you get your money’. I’ve still not seen it - why say it?”
Warnock was a Liverpool fan growing up, but the way he was treated by Benitez led him to seeking a move elsewhere.
He eventually left in 2007 to join Blackburn before going on to play for Aston Villa, Derby, Leeds and Wigan.
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He added: “It was hard for me because I’m a Liverpool fan and grew up standing on the Kop and I was thinking ‘I hate this team’. I was fuming.
“It’s not like I hated the team, I hated Rafa. I was sat there so happy for the lads, but also p***** off.
“I remember that night they said the plane leaves at this time to go to the parade in Liverpool, then they changed it and said all the squad involved, and their wives and girlfriends, were on it.
“We missed the parade and I watched it on Sky Sports. We missed it because our flight was late coming in.
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“The squad literally landed at Liverpool airport, got ferried to the buses and started the parade.
“I just remember thinking ‘what a s***show’. I was gone, I’d decided I was leaving.”