Warnock Vindicated by Subsequent Events at QPR and Leeds

Poor Old Big Gob, he knows he did a good job at both QPR and Leeds but nobody else seems to be in a hurry to acknowledge the fact. Both Hughes and Redknapp have pointed the finger and used the Warnock as a scapegoat for QPR's travails, and now the revisionists are trying to paint his tenure at Leeds as one of abject failure, when really the blame, as the Warnock knows, should be apportioned between Master Bates and the Arab bank built on sand.

Who is to blame for the QPR mess? Well, in the Warnock's book, it has to be Fernandes. He came in like Father Christmas on cocaine, making extravagant claims and triggering false expectations. A two tier salary system was immediately established with journeymen like Wright-Phillips and Joey Barton signed on a King's ransom whilst the guys who had battled to get QPR up continued to collect groats and bottle tops.

Then he sacked the Warnock in a move reminiscent of West Ham's sacking of Pardew after the Board had divided his dressing room with the signing of Tevez and Mascherano - although there's no suggestion that the Warnock shafted one of the player's wives - perish that thought!

Then in came Mark Hughes and out came the cheque book, with a host of absurd signings. It was like the Eggert and Alan "Turds" Curbishley era at West Ham all over again. If it could run and kick a ball, Mark Hughes wanted it. And what Mark Hughes wanted, Fernandes stupidly delivered. The gRs toasted every signing, claiming each to be a tactical master stroke, and like Oliver, Hughes asked for more, then more, then more again. And Fernandes, high on his own ego, chucked the cash around like a gambling addict in a casino.

It was always going to end in disaster but the silly gRs, like the Claret & Blue Klan at Upton Park, wouldn't be told and bought into all the crap about a five year plan. Five years? In football, you take one game at a time, you don't operate on Stalinist five year plans! New stadium? New training ground? How about building a decent team first?

But Fernandes still couldn't see beyond his own stomach. Out with Hughes and in with 'Arry. And 'Arry, inevitably, had his own shopping list, and 'Arry loves to spend big money if the Chairman is stupid enough to give him access to his wallet. Bournemouth, Southampton and Portsmouth all went bust after 'Arry managed them, and he blew the Rio Ferdinand money at West Ham too.

The money spent on Remy and Samba was obscene. Yes Remy is a good player but QPR will be over a barrel when he leaves in the summer so the "investment" will not be recouped; and a fortune will be lost on Samba, especially after his frailties were so laughably exposed against Fulham.

And despite all the money spent, QPR have remained lower in the table than they were when the Warnock was sacked. If you pay peanuts you get monkeys; but if you pay caviar you get even bigger monkeys it seems! So the Warnock sits beneath his Bodhi tree smiling at the mess Fernandes has made of things!

And now look at Leeds. The Warnock has gone but what has changed? Same team, same tactics, same excuses, and Leeds, under interim manager Anthea, sit lower in the table than at any point under Old Big Gob's reign. Some will say it's just a coincidence, but the Warnock will know differently. He knows that it was down to him, and him alone, that Leeds were in the top half of the Championship table; and now, without him, all thoughts have suddenly turned away from promotion and to survival.

There are no statues of the Warnock at either Loftus or Elland Road but perhaps there should be. It's only after the guy has gone that people appreciate his true worth. One day, Leeds fans may find themselves saying, "If only we hadn't sacked Neil Warnock!"