Stephen Warnock is going to complain to the PFA after being dropped from the side, supposedly on the orders of Massimo Cellino.

Despite a reasonable start to the season, Warnock has been left out of the side for the last two games, although he has been included amongst the substitutes. This has led to first Cooper and then Beradi playing out of position at left-back, where neither has looked comfortable, so it doesn’t look like the decision to drop Warnock has been made for footballing reasons alone.

Darko Milanic told the Yorkshire Evening Post last week that team selection will be down to him alone. "If you have a president like our president, one man, it’s normal that people or (the media) talk about this. It’s not my problem. It’s my decision." But this has been contradicted by Warnock.

The player claims that his troubles began when he missed a tackle in the game at Watford and Cellino phoned Hockaday from the stand to demand that he be substitiuted, but the Hock refused. So when Warnock scored against Bolton the following Saturday he made a phone gesture as part of the celebration. I was wondering at the time what that was all about.

And it seems that Cellino was furious at that gesture, though it’s surprising that he waited another four games to swing the axe. But Warnock has now been dropped, and has asked the PFA to take up his case. However, I’m not sure if it’s within the PFA’s remit to get involved in team selection issues, and as long as he continues to be paid in accordance with his contract they may not be able to do anything on his behalf.

But there is no doubt that Cellino will be further enraged by this latest challenge to his authority, and we may well have seen Warnock’s last appearance in a Leeds shirt. Il Presidente may now prevent him even being named as a substitute, and he could be likely to go out on loan and to leave the club altogether in the January transfer window.

Where that leaves us in terms of finding another specialist left-back is something Cellino will have to work out, but no doubt the president knows best.

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