 Tuesday, 5th Feb 2013 22:59 by Clive Whittingham Tony Fernandes and CEO Philip Beard have hit the publicity trail this week in an effort to quell the criticism and concerns surrounding QPR’s extravagant transfer activity in the latest January window. NewsHaving brought in 16 players during 2012, Rangers splashed out again during January by smashing the club record to bring in striker Loic Remy for £7m, and then blowing that out of the water with the £12.5m acquisition of Chris Samba. With Loftus Road’s small capacity and the club’s perilous position at the bottom of the Premier League, it’s been open season for the national press as they speculate on whether Rangers are about to become the latest club to go the way of Portsmouth, Leeds and others. Tony Fernandes sought to reassure fans in a weekend interview with The Daily Telegraph. Fernandes said: “I’m an accountant, I run businesses. We are sensible with what we are doing. If you analyse it we haven’t spent that much money on transfers and as for our wage bill, when I look at other clubs when they put their results out then ours is not too bad and there is now value in the squad. There are no debts like at other clubs. We’ve put in a lot of money and it’s no different from setting up a car business or an airline. But it takes time. QPR were an underinvested club. Simple as that. I’m not in it for one year, I’m investing for the future. I’m investing to build a stadium, to build a training academy, to build a proper business. Of course when you buy a small club you are going to incur some losses at the beginning.” Fernandes has said that Remy will be sold this summer if QPR are relegated, but Chris Samba will stay. Philip Beard took to the club’s official website today to back his boss’ credentials. Beard said: “Tony Fernandes has never said he will leave the club if we’re relegated. Recent reports regarding what money our players are on are completely wide of the mark. Chris Samba was keen to come back to England, this is where his family are. He is not on anything like has been suggested. Even if we win trophies, with all sorts of different bonuses, he would not get anywhere close to the money that has been reported. We have a vision here about what we are looking to achieve and hopefully over the next three or four years Chris will help us to get there.” And Harry Redknapp was more bullish still, saying the deals he secured in January were good for the club and represented excellent value for money. Redknapp, who has rather concerningly (with Steve Cotterill loitering ominously) started referring to QPR as ‘they’, was quoted in The Guardian saying: “"If things don't go well and they want to get £12m for Samba then they will do – not a danger. Arsène Wenger said it was a great deal. So when people start criticising, that £12m will be £14m because managers will start saying: 'Oh Samba, he's back, I thought he'd gone. They've not done their money on Samba.' Samba should be playing for a top four team. I was trying to sign him for all the years that I was at Tottenham. He is quick as lightning, strong in the air and he can play. He is a monster of a player, the full ticket. "Rémy, for £7m, I don't think he's a problem either. If he scores a couple of goals, then he's £12m.Tottenham tried to buy him for £18m last year. The two kids from Tottenham, well one of them [Andros Townsend] is on £3k a week and the other [Jermaine Jenas] is not on very much." The position would have looked a lot healthier with a weekend win against Norwich City but sadly Adel Taarabt’s second half penalty miss proved costly in another 0-0 draw. Afterwards Redknapp said: “I couldn’t have asked for any more. We just needed a break. They gave absolutely everything today, as they have done all year. We haven’t lost a game in the league since the turn of the year. Hopefully our luck will turn. “Adel was outstanding again, another fantastic performance. It’s just one of those things. If we’d scored we’d have won the game, no doubt about it.”
A cutting edge was missing without Loic Remy, out of action altogether with a groin injury suffered in training on Friday. News on the French international’s condition is thin on the ground, with the newspapers taking that invitation to rule him out for three months in some cases or the whole season in others. The more learned opinion seems to be that the injury is a strain, and he will be out for weeks rather than months, but Redknapp is keen to keep people guessing ahead of a weekend trip to Swansea.
In the end though it was Julio Cesar who once again ensured that the R’s didn’t suffer a morale sapping defeat against the Canaries. The Brazilian made two more fantastic saves in the second half to keep his fourth clean sheet in five matches. Cesar is in line for a recall to the Brazilian national side when they play England at Wembley tomorrow night, and has been nominated for the Premier League’s Player of the Month award for January along with Luis Suarez and Reading goal hero Adam Le Fondre. Harry Redknapp has also been named on the shortlist for the Manager of the Month prize, although Reading’s Brian McDermott looks the favourite for that. As if the R’s needed any more bad luck, it seems they will be without midfielder Samba Diakite for an extended period. The Malian would have been away from Loftus Road for an extra week anyway, as his country knocked hosts South Africa out of the African Cup of Nations at the quarter final stage on penalties at the weekend, but even when he does return he may not be fit to play after leaving the game injured after 24 minutes. Meanwhile former manager Mark Hughes, who will surely go down as one of the worst bosses in QPR’s history, is taking the club to arbitration as he seeks a £4.5m payout following his sacking in November, according to the Daily Mail. Still, at least Andros Townsend impressed on his debut after signing on loan from Spurs and he told the club’s official website that he’s confident of helping QPR avoid relegation this season. Townsend said: “I don’t feel in the slightest that hope is disappearing. If you see the way we played against Norwich we were the better team by far and if we take that form into the remaining games then I think we will be fine. You can see we have massive quality. Adel Taarabt showed what he can do and the big man Chris Samba looked dangerous from corners and will be a big threat. Even when Bobby Zamora came on it showed positive signs for the rest of the season. I’m confident.” The 25 men charged with accomplishing the task of keeping Rangers in the Premier League were named on Friday and are as follows: Cesar, Green, Murphy, Ben Haim, Bosingwa, Fabio, Hill, Onouha, Samba, Traore, Yun, Diakite, Derry, Granero, Hoilett, Jenas, Mackie, Mbia, Park, Wright-Phillips, Bothroyd, Campbell, Remy, Taarabt and Zamora. Some strange choices, given Jose Bosingwa’s pariah status and DJ Campbell’s apparent impending loan to Blackburn Rovers. Questions will no doubt be raised about both at this Thursday’s Fans Forum at Loftus Road which LFW will be attending and reporting back on later that evening. Loan WatchMichael Harriman was awarded the Sky Sports Man of the Match award on Monday night as Gareth Ainsworth’s Wycombe continued their surge up the table with a win at high flying Gillingham. The Chairboys were good value for their 1-0 success at Priestfield, their ninth win in 13 games, which was sealed by a late goal from substitute Mat McClure. Harriman recently extended his loan at Adams Park until the end of the season and Ainsworth told the Bucks Free Press after the latest win: “Michael Harriman was outstanding against Myles Weston, one of their best players. He kept him quiet all night and he eventually had to come off the pitch. Some of our last ditch defending was awesome. They never really broke us down with any really good moves but we had to defend really well. We'll win more than we'll lose if we keep playing like that." Bruno Andrade was an unused substitute. Not such good news for Joey Barton who was sent off for the first time for Marseille, and seventh time in his professional career, in their weekend defeat against Nancy. Barton’s red card, for two yellows picked up either side of the hour mark, paved the way for a 1-0 home defeat that leaves his side six points off the pace in third place in Ligue 1. Afterwards Barton said: “"I am disappointed. I am partly responsible for this loss. I apologise to my team-mates. The referee made his decisions, but I don't think my tackles were too dangerous." Manager Elie Baup added: “"His first card was unjustified since there was no foul, and on the second he was committed to trying to get the ball. We waited a long time and wondered when Barton would be sent off for the first time, and that was done tonight. But he did not deserve to be sent off." Barton was sent off twice – against Norwich and, infamously, at Man City – during his single season as a QPR player. Elsewhere Ale Faurlin couldn’t help Palermo lift themselves off the bottom of Serie A as they lost 2-1 at home to Atalanta. In Turkey Anton Ferdinand came on for the final half an hour of Bursaspor’s 1-1 draw at home to league leaders Galatasaray. Not much luck for the loaned R’s elsewhere with Rob Hulse unable to prevent Millwall’s 1-0 defeat to Hull after coming on as second half sub, Michael Doughty playing 59 minutes of St Johnstone’s 2-0 Scottish Cup defeat to St Mirren, Jordan Gibbons appearing for the final nine minutes in Inverness’ 2-0 loss to Kilmarnock and Frankie Sutherland not making it off the Portsmouth bench as they lost 3-2 at home to Colchester in League One. Tom Hitchcock was also on the bench for Bristol Rovers’ game this weekend, but they did win 2-1 against Barnet to climb out of the League Two relegation zone. Tonight they drew 1-1 with Cheltenham and Hitchock came on for the last 12 minutes. Former R’sThe curse of Southend seems to have struck Lee Cook and Martin Rowlands again in their bid to reach Wembley with current club Leyton Orient. Rowlands was part of a QPR side beaten 4-0 at Roots Hall in the Football League Trophy in January 2004, and both played in a televised 5-0 set back for John Gregory’s Rangers side three years later in the Championship. Tonight they went out for revenge in the Southern Area Final of the Trophy but were on the wrong end of a 1-0 home defeat. Jimmy Smith had a spectacular late goal ruled out meaning the League One O’s must turn around a single goal deficit by the seaside next week. It could be worse though. In the Northern Section final first leg Coventry lost 3-0 at home to Crewe in front of a record crowd of 31,054 at the Ricoh Arena. Leon Clarke scored late in the previous round to knock out Preston, and has five goals in eight appearances for the Sky Blues since signing permanently from Charlton, but couldn’t find the target tonight and now faces a tough challenge to reach Wembley this season. Elsewhere Kieron Dyer has got fixed up with another club despite his woeful fitness record over the last five years. Championship promotion chasers Middlesbrough have taken a chance on Dyer with a short term deal after his January release by QPR but he got off to an inauspicious start with a 4-0 defeat back at old club Ipswich, where his donations help to fund the club’s youth set up. Afterwards Dyer, who came through 90 minutes unscathed, said: “Ipswich took us by surprise. Although they have plenty of good players, for us to lose 4-0 was especially hard. This is the worst place for me to get a hammering like that because this is still my home town and my mum still lives here so it was pretty humiliating. In fairness, the Ipswich crowd has been so special for me down the years, but you can imagine the grief I will get.” Not a good weekend either for our former coach Keith Curle who has been sacked by trigger happy Notts County after taking just two points from the last 11 games. A weekend defeat by bottom of the table Hartlepool – whose scorers were bizarrely Hartley and Poole – saw County wield the axe on a boss for the sixth time in four seasons. The club’s development squad coach Chris Kiwomya, another ex-QPR man, has been placed in temporary charge and is the bookies favourite for the job but a 2-0 defeat at Stevenage in League One tonight will not have furthered his cause. Premier League Shorts- West Brom have told striker Peter Odemwingie not to return to training until next week, following his failed attempt to force through a deadline day move to QPR. Meanwhile manager Steve Clarke says he will discipline Goran Popov after he was sent off against Spurs on Sunday for spitting. Young midfielder George Thorne has been ruled out for eight months with a knee ligament injury. - The FA will not take action against Stoke striker Michael Owen, despite him appearing to thump Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta in the back towards the end of his side’s 1-0 defeat at Ashburton Grove on Saturday. Referee Chris Foy saw the reaction at the time and took no action, which rules out retrospective punishment from the FA. - Tottenham’s decision not to sign another striker in January could have backfired almost immediately with Jermain Defoe set for three weeks on the sideline with a ligament injury suffered in the weekend win at West Brom. The club’s only other recognised senior forward Emanuel Adebayor is still at the African Nations Cup. - Man City boss Roberto Mancini will not repeat his trick of last season and rule his side out of the title race just yet, despite a weekend draw with Liverpool leaving them 10 points behind league leaders Man Utd who won 1-0 at Fulham. Mancini said: “This championship is not over, absolutely not. There is still time for a team to make a mistake. We probably now need to win all of our 13 games, but if not 11 or 12." Parish NoticeboardTickets for the forthcoming away match at Aston Villa on Saturday March 16 go on general sale on Thursday. Rangers have an initial allocation of 1,700 in the Doug Ellis stand lower tier (the side stand I believe) priced £35 adults, £27 seniors, young adults and students, £10 under 16s. There are also eight wheelchair spaces and 20 ambulant disabled tickets priced £25 adults, £20 seniors, young adults, students and £10 juniors with a carer seat available if required. Tweet @loftforwords Pictures – Action Images Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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