April 6 2008

Leon Cort

Leon Cort insists he has nothing to prove to Crystal Palace boss Neil Warnock.

Cort lines up against his old team mates when Palace take on promotion-chasing Stoke in Monday night's televised clash.

Warnock did not rate the centre-half when he replaced former manager Peter Taylor in October, claiming Cort was too soft and sold him to the Potters for £1.2million after an initial loan spell.

But Cort says: "I don't feel I have anything to prove to Neil Warnock on Monday night - I've always been confident in my own ability. I was quite disappointed when he let me go because I didn't feel that I had a chance to show him what I could do. But I understand that when a new manager comes in they want to do their own thing.

"He didn't fancy me as a player and Tony Pulis did - that's football. The way things are going at Palace it doesn't look as if they have missed me too much anyway."

"If I scored I would have to see what happens," added Palace's Player of the Year for last season.

"But if I did celebrate it wouldn’t be to rub anything in against Palace - it would just be because I was delighted to score because we’re under pressure to stay where we are.

"I enjoyed my time at Palace and met some great people - to be playing them so soon is a bit of a shock.

"I did leave Palace on a bit of a sour note and I want to show what I can do. I will be enjoying the game, let’s put it that way."