‘Brought us together’ – I tapped up Premier League striker and rival chairman spent 30 mins reprimanding me

Neil Warnock has revealed he once attempted to tap up one of Simon Jordan’s players.

The legendary manager admitted their friendship was born out of the transfer approach during his time as Sheffield United boss.

Meanwhile, Jordan had been chairman at Crystal Palace, a role he held between 2000 and 2010.

During that time, Warnock attempted to sign striker Marcus Bent for the Blades.

However, his approach to the deal saw Jordan confront him the next time the two clubs met.

The pair had been discussing Morgan Gibbs-White’s current transfer saga on Matterface & Jordan.

Recalling his alleged tapping up, Warnock told talkSPORT: “That brought us together. I tapped one of his players up, Marcus Bent.

“Then he grabbed me when we played down there, collared me in the room and we had half an hour.”

Bent would go on to join United in October 1999 just nine months after leaving Palace for Port Vale.

In 13 months at Bramall Lane, the forward scored 22 goals in 47 appearances under Warnock.

He also has 40 goals in 214 Premier League appearances to his name across his career.

Bent featured in the top-flight for eight different clubs, most notably for Everton and Charlton.

Despite their differences on the deal, meanwhile, Jordan later appointed Warnock as Palace manager.

After taking charge in October 2007, he spent over two-and-a-half years at Selhurst Park and reaching the Championship play-offs in his first season.

As for Gibbs-White’s failed move to Tottenham, the England midfielder had looked set to join the club earlier this month.

Spurs had triggered his £60million release clause only for his arrival from Nottingham Forest to break down.

Instead, the City Ground side have issued a legal complaint against their Premier League rivals over an alleged illegal approach.

Addressing the rules against tapping up players, Jordan admitted: “It’s a strange rule because in no other industry is it expected that you aren’t able to speak to someone else if you might want them to come and play for you or work for you.

“If Barclays Bank wants someone to come from Lloyds, they don’t have to go through some ridiculous protocol of not being able to speak to them.”

Gibbs-White featured for Forest in their pre-season friendly against Monaco on Saturday.

However, he has not been included in the squad for their trip to Portugal this week.

His absence from the travelling party is due to a private matter and not related to a possible transfer, with Gibbs-White expected to join the group later this week.