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Is the QPR house built on sand about to change hands? Guest column
Is the QPR house built on sand about to change hands? Guest column
Monday, 1st Aug 2011 12:30 by Chris King

Chris King returns to LoftforWords to give his opinion on the latest goings on in W12 with a takeover by Tony Fernandes apparently in the offing.

Achieving Premier League survival has, in recent years, become akin to swimming across the English Channel in the early 1900s in terms of the gargantuan outlay required in order to execute the task. Whereas traversing the waters between France and England requires endless training, supreme courage and indefatigable strength, staying in the Premier League has come to depend simply on spending an astronomical sum of money, having the right manager, enjoying a significant amount of luck and, crucially, finding three inferior teams.

QPR have already satisfied the second requirement; Neil Warnock is about as experienced as an English manager could hope to be, boasts superb organisational skills, can inspire teams to greatness and has a bone to pick with the English top flight after his relegation with Sheffield United back in 2007. He will want to prove, having already made huge strides at Loftus Road in just over a year, to himself, the footballing world, the W12 faithful and the media, that he is ready for Premier League management.

Based on the events of the past year, luck ought not to be a problem either. The old football cliché states that, if the ball goes one way you’re a winner, if it goes the other, you’re confined to a mere footnote in history. Rangers, along with Norwich City and Swansea City, would probably still be meandering in the Championship had it not been for moments of huge fortune. Adel Taarabt’s opener against Portsmouth back in February certainly comes to mind on this front.

However when it comes to the ‘throwing money around in the hope of building a team fit for 17th’, the Premier League’s Clause IV, QPR look destined for immediate relegation. There is a nauseatingly bargain basement feel to the R’s recruitment this summer, and very few connected with the club will be unaware as to why this is the case. Kieron Dyer, Jay Bothroyd and Danny Gabbidon have all arrived on free transfers, whilst the club is set to well and truly splash out in completing a £1.25million move for Blackpool striker DJ Campbell.

There is a sense that Norwich City are also building a squad to a cost, but if so the Canaries have managed to control their outlay about as well as those who took charge of the construction of Wembley Stadium. Swansea City have also trumped the R’s in terms of spending, but neither side looks substantially stronger on paper than Warnock’s charges. Despite this, Danny Gabbidon has done little to strengthen a defensive motley crew that, despite its size, offers little variation in ability from ‘probably not up to scratch’ to ‘unfit for Premier League football.’

In fact, it may coherently be argued that Adel Taarabt has been Rangers’ best signing so far this summer. With most pundits agreeing that Kieron Dyer was signed as a charity shop replacement for Adel Taarabt, like an electronic children’s toy that only turns on every few days and runs out of battery within ten minutes, with Taarabt now remaining at Loftus Road, where else could Dyer fit into the starting eleven? DJ Campbell and Jay Bothroyd, on the other hand, actually seem to constitute sensible additions to the striking ranks, previously bereft of anybody even approaching suitability for top flight football.

So moving on to the final category, are there three teams in the Premier League less well equipped to survive than QPR? In short, probably not. Barring some inconceivably high profile signings by either club, Norwich and Swansea will probably be fairly close to the R’s by May 2012. The catastrophic ineptitude of clubs such as Wigan Athletic and Wolverhampton Wanderers, halted in the final few weeks of the season to superb effect, may be enough. Yet both sides boast greater top flight experience, altogether more complete teams and plentiful squads than Rangers.

The final bolt from the blue was the bizarre statement issued by the club concerning talks with a potential buyer, referring to a period between March and May of this year. Causing a wave of bemusement and utter confusion to spread across West London, it was followed by the news that Team Lotus principal and owner of Air Asia, Tony Fernandes was interested in purchasing the club. Discounting Fernandes’ affinity with West Ham United, which would naturally be a sore sport for diehard Rangers fans, this could actually be good for the club.

For without bringing cynicism into every aspect of life, QPR supporters probably gave up a long time ago on any dreams of eternal footballing happiness or even extended contentment in this field. The logic therefore must go that whoever owns the club – be it the eminently untrustworthy Paladini, the perennial enemy Briatore, the pint-sized Judas Ecclestone or the outsider Fernandes – should be judged not on their moral suitability but the financial commitment they are willing to make to QPR Football Club.

With the Premier League’s ‘fit and proper persons test’ widely derided as irrelevant and lacking any jurisdiction regarding takeovers, Rangers fans ought to institute one of their own. First question; do they have the money? Second; are they willing to spend it? Third; will they support the manager? Finally; will the revenue from player sales be passed on to the manager? If the answer to all four is yes, then frankly any other concerns surrounding background, morality, intention and a tendency towards profiteering are of no concern.

QPR board members are, sadly, never going to be emotionally tied to a club like Norwich City, which still feels as though it is being run by men and women with an actual connection to it. For as long as most will remember, the club has been a disaster, run by characters ranging from the incredible to the utterly ludicrous, so all that matters now is that money is put in place, a vaguely competent squad assembled, and that the blue and white hoops have a sponsor’s logo on them by the time Warnock’s side take to the field against Bolton Wanderers on August 13.

Photo: Action Images



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PinnerPaul added 14:09 - Aug 1
Good article but

"Rangers, along with Norwich City and Swansea City, would probably still be meandering in the Championship had it not been for moments of huge fortune." is nonsense - NO team goes 46 games without luck - good and bad - but even the most miserable of Rs fans & we have plenty - have to concede we WERE the best team in the League last year by some way.
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lifer added 14:33 - Aug 1
A decent, thought-provoking feature, but I have to go along with PinnerPaul. The Rs were deserved champions last season. Sure we had a bit of luck here and there, but so does every other team in every league in the world. We won the Campionship by being the best team. I agree it's going to be a tough season in the Premiership this season whether or not Fernandes rides in on a (blue &) white charger distributing money and some sort of stability. However, I don't think relegation is quite such a certainty. Norwich & Swansea have spent a bit, but have they actually improved their first XIs? Wigan are flogging their best player, and there are a few other teams who look encouragingly weak. At least our bargain buys all have the required quality. It's only their fitness that is in question. If the club is taken over and Fernandes gives Warnock some spending money, I think The Rs stand a real chance of survival. Good to back though, isn't it?
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lifer added 14:33 - Aug 1
A decent, thought-provoking feature, but I have to go along with PinnerPaul. The Rs were deserved champions last season. Sure we had a bit of luck here and there, but so does every other team in every league in the world. We won the Campionship by being the best team. I agree it's going to be a tough season in the Premiership this season whether or not Fernandes rides in on a (blue &) white charger distributing money and some sort of stability. However, I don't think relegation is quite such a certainty. Norwich & Swansea have spent a bit, but have they actually improved their first XIs? Wigan are flogging their best player, and there are a few other teams who look encouragingly weak. At least our bargain buys all have the required quality. It's only their fitness that is in question. If the club is taken over and Fernandes gives Warnock some spending money, I think The Rs stand a real chance of survival. Good to back though, isn't it?
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CorbyQPR added 14:51 - Aug 1
Agree lifer. Also the point about Dyer is an interesting one. I think Warnock is really considering using him at right back, he has played there for England & I thought looked good against the Italians on Saturday. Clever stick Warnock is!
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jamois added 16:49 - Aug 1
Yeah agree with these comments very much. I'm quietly excited about the signing of Dyer. His versatility will be immense if he stays fit. Just a thought on Fernandes. Yes he's a hammer and I'm not happy about that. But then the midget is a scum supporter so...But if you read up about Fernandes, two things strike me: a) he's a really good entrepreneur and a very enthusiastic person with good energy and good vision; b) he's "only" worth $330m. Dollars that is. My concern is that a club like ours, with only 18000 seats, is never really going to make money. If we want to become a progressive premiership side then we would need an owner who can bankroll us a bit. He cannot. Unless he wants to bankrupted. C'mon Lakshmi, surely you can turn out some pocket change???!
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jo_qpr63 added 23:27 - Aug 1
Long term plans would be bigger stadium, an academy,and keeping hold of our best players.
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jamois added 03:58 - Aug 2
Sadly I think such plans are a fantasy if we have Fernandez at the helm. A personal fortune of £200m doesnt get you anywhere in the prem these days. I cant think of any owners inthe PL with less money actually. We will probably be a yo-yo team, which is a damn sight better then we could have hoped for 4 hrs ago, unless a greater fortune steps into the picture.
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jamois added 04:03 - Aug 2
Years not hours. Corrective text not clever
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