Harry Redknapp has hit back at a tabloid newspaper exposé on the club’s recent trip to Dubai. Off the field the board of the Official Supporters’ Club has resigned in frustration following the recent Fans’ Forum.
Redknapp’s fury related to the Daily Mirror back page splash from Saturday morning quoting unnamed QPR players who said the recent training camp in Dubai was treated “like a stag party” by and out of control playing squad.
A typical quote from the article said: “In the evening some players were out, until 3am, 4am, 5am – and then went to training at 8am. It was like a stag party. Some looked at it as if we had a five-day holiday. It wasn’t one or two of us. That’s the problem.”
But this was in stark contrast to reports from QPR fans on the ground who said QPR were the hardest working and best behaved of the six teams out there that week.
Something doesn’t quite add up somewhere and the victory at Southampton provided Harry Redknapp with the perfect opportunity to rubbish the story in his post match press conference.
Redknapp said: “It’s disgusting. It is a completely and utterly fabricated story that has got no truth to it whatsoever. I took the team away, we arrived at five o'clock in the morning, trained that morning and every morning I was there. I let the players have one night out with about four or five other teams out with them that night I'm as sure as I can be that the story came from a football agent who is trying to make problems for the football club."
And in true Redknapp style, conveniently shoving the story a bit further down the news agenda, he revealed that the club had rejected the chance to make a quick fire profit on defender Chris Smaba. Redknapp claims that Zenit made an offer larger than the £12m Rangers paid for the centre back in January to take him back to Russia almost immediately.
Redknapp said: “The chairman asked me 'what do you think?' and I said 'it is up to you, it is your club, it is your decision'. I left it to the chairman. He came back and said he had turned it down and said 'get on with it'."
Samba has been called up for Congo’s World Cup qualifier against Gabon on March 23.
Redknapp was also full of praise for stand in goalkeeper Robert Green who came on as a second half substitute at St Mary’s and made a fine save from Jose Fonte to help QPR win the game. Julio Cesar, who left the field injured and struggled all afternoon, has still been named in the Brazil squad for their friendly games with Italy in Switzerland on March 21 and Russia at Stamford Bridge on March 25.
Off the field the relationship between the club and its supporters remains strained. At the recent fans’ forum event held at Loftus Road it was clear that the majority of issues that those present wanted to raise were directed towards chief executive Philip Beard and it quickly became apparent that the club has simply not been responding to communication from fans on even the most basic topics for some time. Beard’s tactic for dealing with a torrent of complaints was to plead ignorance and promise to look into the issues later and then contact supporters individually.
The problem was, towards the end of the meeting Linda Favell, long suffering member of the club’s Official Supporters’ Club committee, stood up and pointed out that many of the issues Beard claimed to know little about had been raised with him previously be her organisation. Her frustration was clear and understandable and it meant that the CEO’s forum tactic – for that’s surely what it was when you look back through minutes of meetings with the association that he attended – had back fired.
Now Favell, and the rest of the committee, have resigned en masse in frustration. In a statement released earlier this week the committee said:
“It has become evident that the role of the OSC Committee has been diminishing increasingly of late. The historical objectives and purposes as listed in its constitution are rarely sought by the club. With technological media advances in recent years, the club is able to communicate with individual supporters in ways that render the committee unnecessary. The committee members have been keenly aware of this decline in the recent past, feel under-utilised and consider their contributions unappreciated and unacknowledged. “Ultimately, the decision was reached as a result of the sharp disdain experienced at the recent Fans Forum where seemingly fresh topics were brought to the forum by various supporters’ groups and individuals despite the OSC having discussed the same issues with the club over the past 18 months. The club's demonstration of concern at the forum suggested that the executives and staff had been blithely unaware of some of these issues. This, in turn, has also demonstrated that the efforts made by the committee in voicing concerns on behalf of supporters - in an attempt to improve the match day experience - had at best been given minimal recognition, if not entirely dismissed.
“The committee, as a whole, has adopted the viewpoint of no confidence and stands down in the belief that working with the club has been and will continue to be a futile exercise.”
It has left the club, and Philip Beard in particular, in a difficult position and no official comment has been issued on the mass resignation as yet. The whole thing further highlights a problem that was very apparent at the forum – there has been no adequate communication between the club and its fans for some time. What little has taken place has been largely ignored by the senior management. Recent forums and meetings are a welcome start, but there is much damage to repair.
Throw in today’s report in the Evening Standard which says Rangers lost £22m in their first season in the Premier League and it’s not been the best of weeks. The club’s wage bill increased from £26m to £51m year on year. Debt has increased from £56m to £89m despite turnover soaring from £16m to £64m.
In a statement issued with the accounts chairman Tony Fernandes said: “When, alongside my business partners, I purchased a majority shareholding in the club in August 2011 my goal was to turn QPR into an established Premier League club. This remains my focus and I continue to work closely with Amit Bhatia and other shareholders to make this a reality. Under the guidance of our new manager, Harry Redknapp, we are hopeful that the club will secure their Premier League status going forward. We are confident that the 2012-13 season will also see the club continue to make progress towards achieving their short, medium and long-term off-pitch targets.”
The ‘long term’ message has also been repeated by shareholder Ruben Gnanalignam who says the club is determined to build up its youth academy and start producing players for the first team. All teams from under 12 to under 18 will now be based at the Concorde Club in Cranford while the club works on its new Warren Farm training ground in Ealing.
Gnanalignam told the club’s official website: “This area of the football club is the one we are most interested in.Definitely one of our priorities going forward is the development of our younger players. This is not short-term for us. This is no four-year plan, it’s more like a 40-year plan. Developing our academy and a new training ground are things we will do regardless of where we are. That has never changed. From day one when we arrived, we said the training ground needed to be changed, and the academy needed to be built up. And that’s what we are doing.
“It means a great deal for the QPR fans to see a player come through the youth system and represent the first team. We want to see that happen too. A moment like that will represent one of the better moments in what will hopefully be a very long time for us here at QPR.”
For now the elite development squad – essentially the Under 21s with a smattering of senior pros – drew 0-0 with Ipswich at the weekend.
QPR: Cerny, Magri, Monthe, Sendles-White, Parmenter, Ehmer, Sutherland, Hunt-Laurent (Champion 65), Balanta, Hewitt (Brown 75), Shariff
The Under 18s won 3-1 against the same opposition with goals from Aaron Mitchell, Connor Hubble and Peter Skapetis – their eleventh straight victory.
Hogan Ephraim has become one of Ryan Nelsen’s first signings as Toronto manager since we last had a diary piece out. The midfielder, left out of Harry Redknapp’s 25 man squad for the second half of the season, made his debut on the opening day of the MLS season at the weekend but couldn’t prevent his new side slipping to a 1-0 defeat against Vancouver in Nelsen’s first competitive match in charge.
In France Joey Barton was substituted 72 minutes into Marseille’s 2-1 home win against Troyes. Marseille were 1-0 down when Barton went off but rallied to win the game and maintain their position in third. Elsewhere in Europe Anton Ferdinand was an unused sub for Bursaspor as they won 1-0 against Sivasspor in Turkey and Ale Faurlin was also stuck on the bench as Palermo drew 0-0 with Torino in Serie A.
Not a good week for the lone Rangers in the Championship. DJ Campbell started twice for Blackburn in four days but they followed up a dire 3-2 home defeat by bottom side Peterborough with a 1-0 loss at local rivals Bolton last night to all but end their play off hopes. Not ideal preparation for this weekend’s FA Cup quarter final against Millwall for which Campbell is cup tied.
Mind you, the Lions aren’t in great touch themselves. Rob Hulse remains sidelined by a stomach injury and in his absence Kenny Jackett’s side lost 1-0 at Leeds and 2-0 at home to struggling Wolves after which the manager apologised to the home crowd for his team’s lack of application. Millwall have lost six of their last seven league games as they prepare for the clash with Blackburn this weekend.
Further down the ladder Michael Harriman and Bruno Andrade both featured in Wycombe’s 1-0 home win against Fleetwood but Tom Hithcock continues to struggle for minutes in Bristol Rovers’ resurgence and he was an unused sub as they won 3-0 against promotion chasing Burton Albion.
Finally Adam Francis - son of Gerry – has joined Conference side Woking on loan following a similar recent spell with Staines. The 20 year old is yet to make a first team appearance for QPR.
- Aston Villa midfielder Fabian Delph says he has been the victim of some “shocking bookings” as he prepares to start a two match ban for collecting his tenth yellow in Monday night’s 1-0 home defeat by Man City. Delph said: “I've got ten yellow cards and deserved maybe only four. The one I got against Arsenal I was in shock. I'm not a player that cheats. The ref said on Monday night that I've meant to handball it, but I honestly did not mean to.”
- Wigan boss Roberto Martinez has defended his players James McArthur and Emmerson Boyce from criticism after their on field altercation during the 4-0 defeat to Liverpool at the weekend. Captain Gary Caldwell had to separate the two on the pitch but Martinez said: “I was glad to see that because in the position we are in we need passion. We can't have players who accept defeat and go through the motions. It was a moment of frustration between the players who had the feeling we had thrown away the opportunity to win three points.”
- Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins says plans are in place should Michael Laudrup be tempted away from the club this summer. Swansea have had Roberto Martinez, Paulo Sousa and Brendan Rodgers poached from them in recent years and Laudrup is attracting interest after a fine first season in South Wales. Jenkins said: “Our job is always to be on the lookout for players and watch other teams playing, and in that context different managers as well. So you're always aware of what's going on around Britain and Europe."
- Liverpool’s latest set of accounts show a rise in net debt from £65.4m in 2011 to £87.2m for the year ending in May 2012. The rise has been attributed to squad strengthening and has been underwritten by the Fenway Sports Group which owns the club.
- Arsene Wenger has admitted Arsenal will find it difficult to qualify for next season’s Champions League after a 2-1 defeat at Tottenham in the North London derby on Sunday. Wenger said: “"We have to fight and it will be difficult now, because we dropped points that we couldn't afford to drop.”
The following tube and train closures are in place this Saturday as QPR face Sunderland at Loftus Road:
- There is no service on the entire Circle Line, however Hammersmith and City Line services will run normally through Hammersmith, Goldhawk Road, Shepherd’s Bush Market and Wood Lane.
- No service between Earl’s Court and Aldgate East on the District Line.
- Buses replace Bakerloo Line trains between Queen’s Park and Paddington on the Bakerloo Line.
- Rail replacement bus services are also in operation between Morden and Totting Broadway at th very southern end of the Northern Line.
- And despite only being open for a matter of weeks, the new southern extension of the Overground is closed once again this week between Surrey Quays and Clapham Junction.
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Pictures – Action Images, Neil Dejyothin