The former Liverpool star has spoken about how he concealed the issue for fear it would derail his career

Stephen Warnock has revealed how he hid a health condition from Liverpool coaches amid fears it would scupper his football dreams. The former full-back, who played 67 times for the Reds after coming through the ranks before spells at Blackburn, Aston Villa and Leeds, suffered from epileptic fits as a child.

Warnock, 44, recalls his first seizures occurring while he was still at school. He told the BBC: "I was at a computer and then I woke up in a hospital bed. And I was like, 'Wow, how have I got here?' I didn't remember anything, I completely blacked out.

"My friends told me I started having a seizure. Obviously, an ambulance was called, and I was taken to a hospital bed. I was embarrassed, to be honest, because no-one else had it, no-one knew about it, I didn't know about it until it happened."

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Warnock suffered a further seizure at home, which led to him undergoing CT and MRI scans. But he was determined to conceal his condition from Liverpool because he thought it would result in him being released.

"I was petrified of telling Liverpool because I was worried of being released," confessed Warnock, now a pundit. "Because I was thinking, 'If they think I've got a condition they will release me.'

"I was worried about being on the pitch and it happens. There were no triggers for me, I never knew what triggered it. That was what petrified me."

Warnock, who hung up his boots in 2018, has not experienced a seizure since the age of 14 but remains on alert that it could occur again.

"I was in a fortunate position where I grew out of it," he said. "I didn't have to go on medication or worry about driving a car or things like that. It's the first time I've ever really spoken about it."

Epilepsy in children is typically identified following one or more seizures, according to the charity Epilepsy Action. While medication can reduce or prevent epileptic episodes, the condition requires careful and ongoing management.

But living with the condition need not prevent someone from achieving sporting success. England rugby international Tommy Freeman, who also featured on the British and Irish Lions tour to Australia in 2025, began experiencing seizures at 14 and received an epilepsy diagnosis at 19.

He takes daily medication to manage his condition. Last year, he became the first England player to score a try in all five matches of a single Six Nations Championship.