A huge talking point through much of this season has been the demise of Queens Park Rangers, and the gamble taken in January to try and spend their way out of trouble. As we can plainly see, with a seven point gap between themselves and the safety mark, it hasn’t worked.
£8m was spent on Loic Remy – a sum that has seemed reasonable for a player of his quality. Five goals in nine games is a strike rate that would remind manager Harry Redknapp of a more fleet-footed Yakubu at Portsmouth.
More controversially perhaps, Christopher Samba cost £15m, with rumoured wages of £100,000. He has certainly made an impact, but perhaps for the wrong reasons, conceding a penalty, and posession for Fulham‘s opening two goals in QPR’s recent 3-2 defeat. Jermaine Jenas and Tal Ben Haim will also be on hefty pay packets, which begs the question, are QPR not sleepwalking towards the most crippling of relegations?
Thanks to the Premier League’s new parachute payments, the Loftus Road outfit will receive £60m over four seasons, instead of the current £48m. When you factor the club’s billionaire owner Tony Fernandes into the mix, you realise that as long as his riches are present, and he is willing to share them, fans should not be unduly concerned.
Therein lies the problem. Like so many before them – Redknapp’s old employers, League Two-bound Portsmouth in particular, they are reliant on one man, with a small stadium. Gate receipts will not sustain them once Fernandes has had his fun, so they better make sure they are in the Premier League when that day comes.
The good news is, the aformentioned parachute payments should replace those who lack the guts to help the club back up. There have certainly been many in the blue and white this season lacking the guts for Premier League football, despite earning Champions League wages.
Keith Hill, before leaving Barnsley, complained after his side’s 2-1 defeat at Blackburn that Jordan Rhodes cost £8m for a club that had just been relegated. We can expect similar outbursts next year from many managers if QPR do, as expected, make the drop down to the Championship.
QPR will be just fine. Whether they deserve financial aid from the Premier League is certainly up for debate, but as this season has proved, it is still possible to fail spectacularly with millions to spend. Thank God for that.
