Stephen Warnock hid seizures from Liverpool for fear of release

Stephen Warnock hid seizures from Liverpool as a youngster because he feared the club would release him, the former footballer said on BBC Radio 5 Live.

"I was petrified of telling Liverpool because I was worried of being released," said Warnock, who is 44 and now a 5 Live pundit. He was responding to an interview with Hull City midfielder Matt Crooks, who has epilepsy. "It's the first time I've ever really spoken about it," he said.

The key numbers, as the BBC reports them:

• The seizures went on "for three years or so", including a handful while he was at Anfield.
• He has not had one since the age of 14, and needed no medication or driving restrictions.
• He went on to make 67 appearances for Liverpool, then played for Blackburn Rovers, Aston Villa and Leeds United before retiring in 2018.

It began at school, where he blacked out at a computer and woke up in a hospital bed after friends called an ambulance. Another seizure at home led to CT and MRI scans. The BBC piece does not say whether he received a formal diagnosis.

For context, epilepsy affects about one in 100 people in the UK.

The take: the fear was not just another seizure, but losing his place at Liverpool. He did not know what triggered them, and he feared that disclosing a condition would cost him exactly that. A teenager afraid to disclose seizures is a player who needs reassurance, not another reason to stay silent.