Speaking on the Die for Three Points Podcast, Neil Warnock has been sharing some stories from his time as a manager and his time at Leeds United.
Warnock didn’t have the best of times at Elland Road, but, to be fair to him, his hands were tied by the club’s dire financial position at the time under Ken Bates.
Warnock, as he’s shown throughout his career, always has ideas whenever he arrives at a club chasing promotion in the Championship, and he says that there were a number of signings he wanted to make at Leeds, but they were blocked by Bates.
One of these players was actually Joel Ward – the current Crystal Palace defender who was at Portsmouth at the time.
Warnock almost signed Ward
The retired manager spoke about his time at Leeds.
“We went to pre-season down to Cornwall and Ken Bates said to me that we had to get some money in at some point. So Chris Hughton came after Snodgrass and Chris Hughton came after Snodgrass. Ken said to me that I could have half of whatever I got to reinvest. They offered a million and he said ‘we should take that Neil’, and I said we’ll get more than that leave it with me,” Warnock said.
“Eventually it got up to £3m, and I thought I had £1.5m, but Ken said that the banks had pulled the plug and we had no money. I remember saying to him what about Ward, the lad who’s at Palace now, Joel Ward who was at Portsmouth, we could’ve got him for £200k, and we could pay over two or three years, and he said ‘well you buy him then!’”
What could have been
Neil Warnock isn’t the most popular man in Leeds United history, but at another point in time he could’ve been perfect for the Whites.
His personality as a brash, no-nonsense Yorkshireman suits the club to a tee, and his track record at Championship level when he is backed by his owners speaks for itself.
Sadly, at that time, Warnock couldn’t do much with that Leeds team, and ultimately, it remains one of the rare failures in his storied managerial career.
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