Neil Warnock, who stepped down as Sheffield United manager in the wake of the club’s relegation from the Barclays Premiership on the final day of last season, has lambasted West Ham United over the Carlos Tévez affair.

The Yorkshire club failed in their attempt to have their relegation overturned in the High Court, protesting that West Ham should have been docked points rather than fined for breaching Premier League rules in the transfers of Tévez and Javier Mascherano, and the decision still rankles with Warnock. “The fact is that everyone in football knows that Tévez is not owned by West Ham and never has been,” Warnock said. “He was illegally registered and should not have been allowed to play in the Premiership. And there’s no way West Ham would have got out of it if Tévez had been banned, even if it was for just the final three games of the season. Not in a million years.”

Warnock, who has likened the pain he suffered upon the club’s relegation to the day that his mother died, has revealed that Sean Bean, the actor and United director, reduced the manager’s wife and son to tears 20 minutes after the final whistle of the defeat by Wigan Athletic at Bramall Lane on May 13.

“Twenty minutes or so after the game had ended, Sharon and William were sitting in my office when Sean Bean burst in with his girlfriend,” he said. “He was obviously the worse for wear. He wanted to know where I was. Sharon told him I was doing a press conference and would be back soon.

“He started swearing at her and my five-year-old son. ‘It’s your f*****g husband that got us relegated,’ he said, pointing at her. ‘He’s a f*****g w****r’.”

Warnock, who is aiming to be back in football management by Christmas, has also revealed tensions with Kevin McCabe, the club chairman. “My relationship with the chairman had changed over the past couple of years,” he said. “He moved abroad for tax purposes and we were having to hold board meetings in Belgium. Things couldn’t go on like that. It was obvious to me that he wanted to bring in a big-name manager, now he’s got what he wanted with Bryan Robson.”