QPR completed the signing of Coventry full back Gary Borrowdale in one of the more bizarre transfers of the 2009 January window and the farce has only grown since.

This was a bizarre deal because the QPR manager Paulo Sousa did not actually seem to want to sign the player. Borrowdale joined on loan initially in November the week before Sousa was appointed and not only failed to make an appearance for Rangers in two months but also failed to make the bench on a number of occasions.

QPR were woefully inadequate in the full back department at the time and Borrowdale had always looked pretty steady and reliable at Palace and Coventry but Sousa did not seem to believe he was the answer. Nevertheless with the deal agreed before he arrived Rangers spent a fee that was reported at the time as in the region of £600k, has since been spun by the club as being barely £100k but in reality was at least £300k, on him in January 2009 regardless.

Borrowdale failed to play a single minute of football for QPR in his six months with the club during 2008/09 and ended the season out on loan at League Two side Brighton where he made 12 appearances in a successful relegation battle. The Borrowdale signing sums up everything that is wrong with the way QPR scout and recruit players and is an abject embarrassment to the people involved in that process. As usual QPR were generous with the length of the contract – Borrowdale penned a three and a half year deal at Loftus Road despite the manager not wanting him. It remains to be seen what, if any, role he will play in that time.

The full back came through the ranks at Crystal Palace and made 85 appearances for the Eagles before a £650,000 move to Coventry to rejoin former manager Iain Dowie 18 months ago. He was not a first team regular at the Ricoh after Dowie’s departure and spent time on loan at Colchester United before Rangers in 2008/09.

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