Neil Warnock has hit out at Southampton for dragging their heels over the signing of Kaspars Gorkss – and revealed he is “delighted” Reading captured the defender.
Southampton declared an interest in Gorkss after Rangers circulated his name for a transfer during the summer, but have also been on the trail of Bristol City’s Liam Fontaine.
And as an agreement between the Saints and QPR finally seemed close, Reading manager Brian McDermott came in with a bid after having an offer for centre-back Paul Robinson rejected by Millwall.
The Royals promptly signed Gorkss on three-year contract in a deal worth around £900,000.
“We had Southampton messing about for three weeks and to be honest I’d had enough of that,” said Warnock.
“Brian McDermott was magnificent when he spoke to me. Then within five minutes he was talking to the player, within two hours was having a meal with him, and then he signed him. That’s how to do business.
“At Southampton we had a chairman who was talking to us for weeks and weeks, and I’m delighted Kaspars has now gone to Reading. It’s a good club.”
R’s boss Warnock, who hopes to seal the signing of Joey Barton in the next 24 hours, insists he had no doubts about letting Gorkss go despite Rangers’ limited defensive options.
Bradley Orr and Kieron Dyer have picked up injuries, while Clint Hill is suspended and QPR were unable to recall Peter Ramage from his loan at Crystal Palace.
But Warnock said: “Kaspars knew he wasn’t going to be in my plans. I spoke to him and said: ‘Look, you’ve been fantastic for me and I think if you can get a good club for three years, this is the time to do it.’
“He did great for me and I thanked him for that. He’s a fabulous person as well as a good player.”
This post was last modified on 26/08/2011
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we don't want puncheon for crying out loud. a bit part player in the blackpool team that capitulated in the second half of the season.
glad southampton priced him out of a move cos otherwise we'd be stuck with him now. who's going to pay £1m for a player that couldnt get into a lge 1 side?
Fans are very sensitive /protective of their club aren't they ? They see a headline and assume that Warnock is knocking their club- his only reference was towards the Chairman for 'dragging his heels' and expressing his frustration. Nobody knows the full story-but a headline is enough to make everyone's mind up-which is clearly what QPR and Soton were unable to !!-regarding each of their 'intended targets'-assuming that each club really were interested in the 2 players mentioned-again we don't really know do we?
Where does Warnock say Southampton was not a good club? He says, according to this article, Readin is a good club. Get off your high horses and pipe down. None of us know what has been happening behind the scenes and probably never will. So until deals are down concentrate on the Championship!!
Warnock always was a big mouth. Cant say I am too concerned about missing out on this individual either. Lets see who finishes ahead at the end of the season.
I'm concerned that Cortese is sometimes playing brinkmanship when negotiating transfers and, in doing so, giving Southampton a bad name. He messed Scunthorpe about over the protracted transfer of Nigel Adkins, and the transfer of a Tunisian defender fell through when the player felt unhappy that Southampton had reneged on paying his home club a fee that was part of the deal. Now we have lost Gorkss and Fontaine and are running out of time to sign a competent central defender.
Of course, it is appreciated that he didn't allow Arsenal to get Oxlade-Chamberlain without paying a sizeable fee but he should be mindful of keeping good relations with other clubs because you never know when you may need some goodwill
He has been messing around for ages over buying Puncheon and reckon 1 mill is to much for a young player who has done well in the prem. Yet moans when we decide not to buy an aging defender he asked 1 mill for fit only for the championship.
Suddenly the player that no-one in southampton has become a person,yet southampton have done everything in their power to kick him out of the door,if they had been realistic about someone they clearly don't want,perhaps he would have found himself a club by now,Respect is a two way street.
just buy Puncheon then before 5 o'clock . thank you.
Warnock reckons that the right way to do business is to conclude it within hours. Well, it would be, wouldn't it, when one is attempting to offload a player that doesn't feature in one's plans. So unless you are a blithering hypocrite, Warnock, speak to Cortese about Puncheon, have a chat with Puncheon, take him out to lunch and then please sign him. What's holding you up? Surely given the wealth of your new owners, the fee cannot be a problem?
On the other hand, when buying rather than selling, it is wise to bear in mind the sayings that counsel caution, like "marry in haste, repent at leisure", "more haste, less speed", etc, Cortese is right to take his time to ensure that a player is what we need, rather than plumping for the first one offered by another club or a greedy agent. What would you know about the right way to do business? You're only the manager, not the Chairman; the monkey, not the organ-grinder.
"which is a bit much given the farcical way QPR has been run these last few years"
Hardly the fault of the Manager, and you needn't look too far for instances of clubs being run badly.