Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp has hit back at Niall Quinn after the Sunderland chairman accused the Fratton Park club of spending "silly money" this summer.
Redknapp has signed six players so far, including Sulley Muntari, David Nugent and John Utaka for a combined sum reported to be €29.7 million.
That led Quinn, who spent €7.42 million to prise Michael Chopra from Cardiff as well as funding a number of Roy Keane's other acquisitions, to criticise Portsmouth and West Ham for inflating the price of what he deems average players.
Those comments infuriated Redknapp, particularly as Sunderland matched Redknapp's reputed €8.9 million offer to sign Nugent from Preston.
"I don't know why Niall's saying that. What's it got to do with Niall Quinn really?" he said. "They've just paid £5 (€8) to £6.5 (€8.9) million for a lad from Cardiff (Chopra). He should stop poking his nose into other people's business.
"It's not their business, they should look after their own team. 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, maybe that's why I've been in the game so long and why I do what I do.
"I got Sylvain Distin and Hermann Hreidarsson on free transfers. I paid money for three players. They offered the same amount of money for David Nugent that we did but he chose us. Maybe he's upset about that."
Quinn named Portsmouth as one of the teams responsible for pushing up transfer fees for players who can't justify the price.
"If I was going to spend a fortune on breaking the bank, I would be going after the players Liverpool or Manchester United wanted to sign," said Quinn.
"But, in the middle, people are fighting each other and raising the prices for the same players. You can see it with West Ham and Portsmouth . . . The agents are having an absolute 'beano'."
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