Neil Warnock already on the Sheffield Wednesday wind-up and makes huge call on Garry Monk-bought Middlesbrough pair

And Sheffield United-supporting Middlesbrough manager Neil Warnock has wasted no time in beginning to wind up Sheffield Wednesday fans, intimating he’d like to be the manager that relegates them from the Championship.

Warnock is a Blades icon having managed them for eight years at the turn of the century and seems to thrive on his thorny relationship with Wednesdayites.

With just three matches left, Wednesday are locked in a battle for survival with Rotherham United and Derby County and speaking after his Boro side came from behind to beat the Millers 2-1 last night, the 72-year-old suggested he’d like to see the Owls go down.

Despite their win over Blackburn Rovers on Tuesday, a Wednesday defeat and a Derby win at home to Birmingham City on Saturday would confirm a third Owls drop into the third tier since they were relegated from the Premier League in 2000.

“I am happy we have got the points, but disappointed as it is Rotherham, if I am honest, as I want to see them stay up,” Warnock said.

“So I said to the lads that I want us to try twice as hard on Saturday, being a Unitedite.”

Warnock also made a big call on £21m of strike force, confirming that Ashley Fletcher and Britt Assombalonga will not play a part on Saturday or indeed for the rest of the season.

The forwards cost a reported £6m and £15m respectively and were brought in during the short Boro reign of former Sheffield Wednesday manager Garry Monk.

The duo are out of contract at the end of the season and will leave the Teesside club.

Warnock said: “They won't be involved again now. I just felt it was the right time now. It is difficult for players as well. It is not their fault all together.

“Both of them have probably got another club, so I am told, so I did not think there was any point. We have agreed to let them train on their own. It is only two weeks and they are not going to get any fitter now.”

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