Harry Redknapp, the Portsmouth manager, has hit back at Niall Quinn after the Sunderland chairman accused the South Coast club of spending "silly money".
Redknapp has brought in six players this summer, including Sulley Muntari, David Nugent and John Utaka for a combined sum reported to be £20m. That led Quinn, who spent £5m to prise Michael Chopra from Cardiff as well as funding a number of other acquisitions, to blast Pompey and West Ham United for inflating the price of what he deems average players.
Those comments infuriated Redknapp, particularly given that Sunderland matched Portsmouth's reputed £6m offer to sign Nugent from Preston.
"What's it got to do with Niall Quinn?" the 60-year-old manager said. "He should stop poking his nose into other people's business. He should worry about what Sunderland are doing and keep their own house in order.
"People shouldn't talk like that. I never criticise other people's teams or other people's signings. I got Sylvain Distin and Hermann Hreidarsson on free transfers. I paid money for three players. They [Sunderland] offered the same amount of money for David Nugent that we did but he chose us. Maybe he's upset about that."