Middlesborough boss Neil Warnock has warned Cardiff City they face "pigsty" conditions at Stoke City on Tuesday night after letting off a furious post-game rant at the bet365 Stadium on Saturday.
The former Bluebirds boss took his side to the Potteries on the back of a midweek win over Swansea City at The Riverside.
Warnock has got his Boro players clicking after a good start to the season but they come unstuck at Stoke, going down 1-0.
But it was the state of the changing facilities that enraged Warnock. The home side have closed the dressing room due to Covid restrictions and provided the travelling team with a portable cabin - something that Cardiff players will have to contend with on Tuesday evening.
He said to our sister site TeessideLive : "It’s nice to get in here [the press room] where it’s quite warm. Those changing rooms were a pigsty. In fact, pigs would have seen it and run away.
“They stuck us in a little portable cabin. Now you can’t tell me with social distancing we wouldn’t have been better off in the dressing room.
“We give them everything at Middlesbrough - heat, lovely room, and we’re in a pigsty around the corner here.
“The toilets don’t work, they’re blocked. We had fumes coming in before the game and we had to get the maintenance guy in. Why didn't they look at that before we arrived?
“The showers were leaking, water everywhere on the floor. It’s an absolute disgrace.
“I didn’t say anything to the players before the game because you don’t want to make excuses, but it was an absolute disgrace today that.
“There’s no way we’re giving them a dressing room when they come up our place. If our chairman won’t, I’ll pay for a portable cabin!”
Nathan Collins' first-half header was the difference between the two sides and Warnock refused to use the changing room conditions as an excuse for the defeat.
He continued: “You can’t blame it. I haven’t said anything to the players because I’m not about making excuses for the result.
“You just shouldn’t be made to change in a place like that. My dressing room was another portable cabin 20 yards further down the road, water all over the floor and bloody freezing.
“We’ve taken pictures. It’s out of order. I know there’s a pandemic, but when you look at the facilities we give teams at Middlesbrough, I’m sure Stoke City from the Premier League can be better than that.”
Neil Harris takes his Bluebirds team to Stoke on Tuesday evening having recorded three morale-boosting victories on the spin, the latest a 1-0 win at high-flying Watford. And what will be even more pleasing for the manager is that they haven't conceded in any of those matches.
A bullish Harris spoke to the media after their victory at Vicarage Road and said the focus is now on Stoke City - and the South Wales derby next Saturday.
He said: "We've certainly not played as well as we have done in the last three games in the first part of the season.
"It's certainly a statement that the league will look at that and see us climb the table, with nine points and three clean sheets, and teams will fear Cardiff City when we are on a roll.
"It is a statement, but the message to the players was clear: Well done today, but it's now about Tuesday at Stoke and the small matter of dealing with Swansea City on Saturday."
