QPR manager Harry Redknapp has confirmed that Chris Baird has snubbed the club and agreed to sign for Reading.
Redknapp discovered on Thursday that key defender Nedum Onuoha will be out for at least a couple of months with a hamstring injury.
He therefore looked to finally complete the signing of former Fulham man Baird, who has been training with Rangers for the last six weeks.
Instead the 31-year-old Northern Ireland international, a free agent since being released by Fulham during the summer, has opted for move to the Madejski Stadium.
His decision is a blow for Rangers, who fully expected him to eventually sign despite Baird stalling over putting pen to paper.
“Reading obviously pay decent wages – they were willing to pay Wayne Bridge more in the summer when we wanted him,” said Redknapp.
“I wanted Chris and he trained here yesterday but now we’ve been told he’s signing for Reading.
“We made him what I thought was a good offer and I don’t think we should have offered him more to try to get him here.”
Onuoha’s injury, which was suffered during the midweek draw with Brighton, leaves Redknapp short of defensive options and he now intends to make a loan signing.
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This post was last modified on 20/09/2013
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The Reading chairman gave an interview last week saying how well they ran their club and that they couldn't compete with 'big spending' QPR (inference being we don't). I fail to see how their budget's any different, this and Bridge's signings prove he's talking nonsense to justify to their fans why they sold a couple of players and aren't top of the league (we've offloaded 20 players to reduce wages and offered lower than they have to two old mercenaries). We only want players who want to play for QPR anyway, if he did he'd have signed weeks ago.