Leeds United: Warnock’s sorry about Barkley UPDATED
YEP 14/2/13
By Phil Hay
Neil Warnock admitted he was wrong to promise Ross Barkley a guaranteed start in Leeds United’s first team after agreeing to end the midfielder’s short-term loan at Elland Road.
Barkley was sent back to Goodison Park ahead of Tuesday night’s defeat at Middlesbrough with Warnock reluctant to commit himself to fielding the 19-year-old in all of United’s Championship fixtures.
Leeds and Everton agreed that Barkley would be used regularly during his initial month in Yorkshire, and he started three times against Barnsley, Bristol City and Cardiff City.
But despite United expressing an interest in retaining him until the end of the season, his return to Everton became inevitable after Warnock named him on the bench at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday and restricted him to an appearance as a last-minute substitute.
Warnock spoke with Barkley and Everton manager David Moyes prior to Leeds’ clash at Middlesbrough – a match which was scheduled to be the last of Barkley’s loan – and he claimed it was “unfair” to extend the youngster’s deal with several teams interested in taking him elsewhere.
The United boss said: “I spoke to David and Ross but I can’t guarantee playing him – and I did say I would do that when I took him.
“It’s only fair to them that he gets first-team football.
“You’ve got to be straightforward with each other and I couldn’t guarantee him that.
“But David was great about it and so was Ross and he’s going to be a cracking player in the next few years.”
Barkley, who completed a loan at Sheffield Wednesday before Christmas, came to Leeds in the second week of January amid strong interest from other Championship sides and made his debut in fractious circumstances as a 2-0 defeat at Barnsley led to calls from United’s supporters for Warnock to be sacked.
He laid on the winning goal for Ross McCormack in a 1-0 defeat to Bristol City eight days later and returned to the side against Cardiff after Everton denied him permission to play in Leeds’ FA Cup fourth-round tie against Tottenham Hotspur.
United turned in one of their most convincing performances of the season against Spurs, claiming a 2-1 win at Elland Road and earning a fifth-round tie at Premier League champions Manchester City this weekend.
Warnock said: “I didn’t really want to change the team after the Tottenham game but I did and I felt a little bit guilty after that.
“I shouldn’t have promised to do that.”
The United boss indicated that he was still on the look-out for a loanee winger, despite seeing his side’s season suffer a potentially fatal blow with a damaging defeat against Boro at the Riverside on Tuesday night.
Leeds are eight points short of the Championship play-offs with 15 games to play but when asked about replacing Barkley, Warnock said: “At the moment we need something a little different, something in a different area to improve the squad.
“I’ll be trying to do that in the next few weeks.”
By Phil Hay
Neil Warnock admitted he was wrong to promise Ross Barkley a guaranteed start in Leeds United’s first team after agreeing to end the midfielder’s short-term loan at Elland Road.
Barkley was sent back to Goodison Park ahead of Tuesday night’s defeat at Middlesbrough with Warnock reluctant to commit himself to fielding the 19-year-old in all of United’s Championship fixtures.
Leeds and Everton agreed that Barkley would be used regularly during his initial month in Yorkshire, and he started three times against Barnsley, Bristol City and Cardiff City.
But despite United expressing an interest in retaining him until the end of the season, his return to Everton became inevitable after Warnock named him on the bench at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday and restricted him to an appearance as a last-minute substitute.
Warnock spoke with Barkley and Everton manager David Moyes prior to Leeds’ clash at Middlesbrough – a match which was scheduled to be the last of Barkley’s loan – and he claimed it was “unfair” to extend the youngster’s deal with several teams interested in taking him elsewhere.
The United boss said: “I spoke to David and Ross but I can’t guarantee playing him – and I did say I would do that when I took him.
“It’s only fair to them that he gets first-team football.
“You’ve got to be straightforward with each other and I couldn’t guarantee him that.
“But David was great about it and so was Ross and he’s going to be a cracking player in the next few years.”
Barkley, who completed a loan at Sheffield Wednesday before Christmas, came to Leeds in the second week of January amid strong interest from other Championship sides and made his debut in fractious circumstances as a 2-0 defeat at Barnsley led to calls from United’s supporters for Warnock to be sacked.
He laid on the winning goal for Ross McCormack in a 1-0 defeat to Bristol City eight days later and returned to the side against Cardiff after Everton denied him permission to play in Leeds’ FA Cup fourth-round tie against Tottenham Hotspur.
United turned in one of their most convincing performances of the season against Spurs, claiming a 2-1 win at Elland Road and earning a fifth-round tie at Premier League champions Manchester City this weekend.
Warnock said: “I didn’t really want to change the team after the Tottenham game but I did and I felt a little bit guilty after that.
“I shouldn’t have promised to do that.”
The United boss indicated that he was still on the look-out for a loanee winger, despite seeing his side’s season suffer a potentially fatal blow with a damaging defeat against Boro at the Riverside on Tuesday night.
Leeds are eight points short of the Championship play-offs with 15 games to play but when asked about replacing Barkley, Warnock said: “At the moment we need something a little different, something in a different area to improve the squad.
“I’ll be trying to do that in the next few weeks.”
