'˜Professionalism' the key for Stevie

Neither Latics nor Leeds have anything riding on the final league game, having failed to reach their objectives.

“It’s a difficult one really,” acknowledged Warnock. “You always wheel out the cliche about wanting to put down a marker for next season.

“But you’ve got to be brutally honest, and we’re in a position where we’ve been relegated, and it is tough to take.

“Morale is low at the moment, and probably Leeds are in a similar situation.

“They don’t know if their manager is staying, they’ve been in the the play-offs all season and all of a sudden they’re out.

“They’re going to be struggling to come to terms with that so, as much as we’d like it to be an entertaining game, it’s going to be hard to produce that.

“All we can do is be professional as we can – and there’s another cliche for you. But that’s the way it is. We’ve got to go out there and try to win the game.”

Warnock is one of several Latics players who are out of contract this summer, and could be playing their final game in blue and white. But he doesn’t feel there’s any added pressure to perform.

“It would be nice to end on a high – but you’re not being judged on one game,” he added. “That’s the thing, and I’m old enough to understand that. You need to show you’re still capable of performing at the level you’re at, and that’s what we’ll be aiming to do.”