Guilfoyle claims Warnock forced Palace exit

by Daniel Jones

PALACE'S administrator Brendan Guilfoyle insists he did everything he could to persuade Neil Warnock to stay at the club.

Warnock's drawn out departure to Queens Park Rangers was eventually completed on Monday night.

Guilfoyle had vowed to turn down any offers for the former manager just weeks ago, but said in the end he was powerless to prevent Warnock and his backroom staff leaving for Loftus Road.

"I can assure all members of the Red and Blue Army as well as all of the club's stakeholders that I did everything I could to persuade Neil to stay," he said.

"However, further to an approach from QPR, Neil expressed his desire to leave and explained his focus was no longer on securing the club's status in the Championship. At this point, along with my legal advisors, DLA Piper, a compensation package was agreed with QPR."

After approaches to Steve Coppell, Gareth Southgate and Iain Dowie were all turned down, Paul Hart was officially installed as Warnock's replacement on Tuesday afternoon, with Dougie Freedman and John Pemberton joining the coaching staff.

Despite the knock backs Guilfoyle claimed he was happy with the appointment.

"I'm delighted to get them across the line," he said. "People of their calibre are hard to find. We trawled the market and these are the guys who we came up with.

"They're confident, they're up for it. Dougie knows the club inside out. We wanted a team who could hit the ground running. We haven't got much time so that was important.

"They've been given contracts until the end of the season with a brief to keep the club in the Championship."

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