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Among the two sides already relegated this season (Reading and Queens Park Rangers, for those living in caves/under rocks), it’s remarkably easy to feel for the former. Though far removed from the traditional variety of English clubs which were owned by co-operatives of fans, Reading have been modest to themselves and the League. Though hardly ambitious, they ran within their means and provided their fans and others with their share of thrills and spills, all while on a tight leash. That leash is unforgiving in the modern day world though, and it swiftly pulled the Madejski Stadium back where they came from. And of course, there is the effect of the well-documented “new season” syndrome, where promoted clubs look irrevocably shaky. This juncture brings us to the second team relegated this year, Queens Park Rangers, and their curiously strange predicament.
It has been remarkably difficult to watch QPR play and not wince in absolute disgust. In fact, the wincing came far before their first game of the 2013/13 season, when Mark Hughes began his spending spree, without so much as the blink of an eye, on players who were far off their prime and/or weren’t deserving of the astronomical wages they were set to receive. It is easy to set eyes on clubs which have been bathed in money by the spurt of foreign ownership (yes yes, the usual Chelsea, Manchester City, PSG, Malaga), and wade around in tremendous success. Yet, under Malaysian owner Tony Fernandes, QPR have done nought than fail on multiple occasions. After the Fernandes takeover, QPR signed the following players under Mark Hughes: Nedum Onuoha, Djibril Cisse, Bobby Zamora, Samba Diakite, Ryan Nelsen, Andy Johnson, Robert Green, Park Ji-Sung, Junior Hoilett, Jose Bosingwa, Julio Cesar, Esteban Granero, Stephen Mbia, Sam Magri, and Taye Taiwo, Fabio da Silva and Federico Macheda were bought in on loan; all over the course of two transfer windows. That none of these players other than Zamora, Nelsen and Julio Cesar made a positive impression over the season is indicative of their flawed spending policy. Hughes had led QPR to a remarkable start in the EPL season, with no wins in 16 games, and with the club rooted to the bottom of the table.
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Fernandes acted quickly enough, and brought Harry Redknapp in to stem the flow of this waterfall. The scenario hasn’t changed much since his arrival though. And after being drafted in November, Redknapp spoke of how “too many players were earning too much”. So much so, that they even overshadowed some of his players in Tottenham. This assessment was refreshing in its essence, and particularly barbed owing to his singling out Jose Bosingwa as one of those who don’t deserve what they earn (he earns £ 65,000 a week). What he said next also exuded great sense. A club like QPR can hardly afford to sustain such an expensive model of recruitment and salary when their stadium, Loftus Road, can only seat 18,000 people at full capacity, and their fanbase is hardly widespread. But these concerns were flushed down the drain by Redknapp himself, when he went on a spending spree in January, twice breaking the QPR transfer record in the process, when he signed Loic Remy for £8 million, and then Christopher Samba for £12.5 million. And then he went out and signed Jermaine Jenas from Tottenham, just to prove how much he can contradict himself.
Of all the calamities at QPR, the worst has undoubtedly been the gifting of contracts to undeserving players, and then throwing caution to the wind by not inserting relegation clauses in most. It is said that of the new signings, only Remy has a relegation clause attached. The financial situation at Loftus Road isn’t rosy either, with Fernandes having to secure a £15million loan from Barclays Bank in March, the first such borrowing under his ownership. QPR still owe around £90m in debt to various parties, after borrowings and investment by Fernandes and stakeholder Lakshmi Mittal. This inordinate level of spending has not only spelt doom for a club once looked up at due to the way it was run, but they now run the risk of going the way Rangers did in Scotland, or ending up in doldrums the way Portsmouth are in League One now. They also epitomise all that is wrong with football at the moment. Fans of QPR are now of the belief that Fernandes owns the club as a side-business to promote his primary business, that of an Asian airline. It is for the love of football that one sincerely hopes that this club does not end up the way Blackburn Rovers did, after the infatuation of a bunch of senseless owners sent them to their doom.
