Angry Warnock denies claims he lost stomach for a fight

by Daniel Jones

FORMER manager Neil Warnock has issued a ferocious parting shot at the administrators running Crystal Palace.

The 61-year-old has rubbished claims made by Brendan Guilfoyle, of the P & A Partnership, he left the Eagles because he no longer had the stomach for a fight.

Warnock insists that Guilfoyle wanted him to go and said that he was undecided on the switch to Loftus Road until as late as Monday morning.

"It sickens me that he can say such rubbish," raged Warnock. "How can he say that I didn't have the stomach for a fight? Was he not at Doncaster? Did he not see how we scrapped for a point?

"If I haven't got the bottle, then why have I gone to Queens Park Rangers? They are in the same position, scrapping for survival.

"There is no one more disappointed than me how this has turned out. The fans don't deserve this, they have been absolutely fantastic from day one.

"It's not been easy to leave. In the end our relationship had broken down and it's best all round that I have gone."

Guilfoyle dismissed the ex-Palace manager's claims, stressing he did everything he could to keep Warnock at the club.

"I even got in touch with Simon Jordan in the hope that he could persuade him, but Neil's mind was made up," said Guilfoyle. "He told me his heart wasn't in it anymore. So I apologise for questioning his stomach for the fight, yes I got the wrong part of the anatomy.

"But to say that I wanted him to go is absolute rubbish."

*For the full explosive interview and all the reaction to the change of regime at Selhurst Park see Friday's Croydon Advertiser.