Former Leeds United boss Neil Warnock has said he was devastated to lose Robert Snodgrass while at Elland Road and believes that the Scottish winger could have been the man to seal the club’s return to the Premier League.
The current West Ham attacker left Leeds in the summer of 2012 for Norwich City, having made 187 appearances for the club, scoring 41 goals and chipping in with 40 assists.
Warnock, who left the club in April 2013, and his men eventually finished 13th in the Championship, having flirted with both promotion and relegation and the manager believes that Snodgrass leaving was a big part of their failure to seal a top six spot.
He told Sky Sports: “Snodgrass was one of my biggest disappointments when I had to let him go from Leeds.
“I thought we could have gone up that year with Leeds – to lose him a week before the season starts to [then Norwich boss] Chris Hughton was soul destroying for me but he came and pleaded with me to let him go because of his family.
“He is a great lad – a lovely lad and I had to do that. Unfortunately the money I was promised for him was never forthcoming.”
Opinion
They say that one man does not make a team but Snodgrass’ talents would have been a huge miss to that Leeds side back in 2012. His numbers for the Whites make it clear as to just how important he was to their push up the Championship and so he would have been difficult, if not impossible, to replace. The fact Leeds still languish in the second tier show that they have never really had the squad to make a push for promotion but this year looks very different. Winger Pablo Hernandez has taken on what Snodgrass was doing during his time at Elland Road, scoring and assisting on a regular basis, so could he be their talisman? Only time will tell, but you can be certain that current manager Marcelo Bielsa will be delighted they tied him down to a new contract as he approached the end of his last deal in the summer. His performances could well prove Warnock right in his assessment of what Snodgrass could have done had he remained.