Warnock 'disappointed' by Barton
Former QPR boss Neil Warnock is "disappointed"
Joey Barton has fiercely criticised him but says he will not enter a war of words with a player he made captain at Loftus Road.
GettyImagesNeil Warnock signed Joey Barton from Newcastle for QPR last summer
Warnock was sacked as QPR manager two weeks ago, seven months after winning promotion to the top-flight, and Barton has not minced his words when offering his opinion on the 63-year-old and his departure.
Earlier this week Warnock, perhaps aiming a dig at frequent Twitter user Barton, claimed forces inside and outside of the club had been "poisoning" owner Tony Fernandes against him via social networking sites.
His comments sparked an angry response from Barton, who tweeted that Warnock was an "embarrassment" and told the veteran boss to "look in the mirror".
Despite the disparaging remarks, Warnock says he is not interested in getting into a slanging match with his former skipper.
Writing in the Independent, he said: "I'm told Joey Barton had a few things to say about me on Twitter last night. Obviously, I'm disappointed with the comments, but I don't feel there's any need to respond.
"I don't have a problem with anybody at QPR and when I tuned in on Sunday to watch their match at Newcastle I was cheering them on.
"That might surprise people since I was sacked but most of the QPR players I brought to the club, many of them are the same players who did me so proud in winning the Championship last season, so obviously I want them to do well."
Warnock also re-emphasised he feels no bitterness towards Fernandes, and believes his comments about the club's owner have been taken out of context.
He said: "I'm not bitter at all towards Tony Fernandes and I was disappointed at the way some comments I made on TV this week were sensationalised by the tabloids.
"I was asked about tweeting and said it was a dangerous path to go down, when players and fans are tweeting the chairman, as one person's opinion could get undue weight, and it's hard to have much context in 140 characters.
"Then I picked up the papers and read I was 'poisoned', which wasn't what I meant at all."
