- On This Day, Thirty-Nine Years Ago: Stan Bowles Graced Loftus Road playing for Carlisle! A few months later, he was a QPR Man!
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QPR OFFICIAL Site - CLUB STATEMENT
Posted on: Fri 29 Apr 2011
- The Club are aware of the story printed by The Sun newspaper today (Friday 29th April 2011), but will not make any further statement as both the Club and The Football Association agreed to make no comment on this matter until after the hearing." QPR
- QPR Report: A Watford Perspective
- Jim Magilton Writes About Being a Manager
- FA Congratulates Prince William
- Dave McIntyre: Sponsor Tiger Feet Walk to Watford
- Tiger Feet Sponsored Walk to Watford
- Paul Hart Exits Swindon
- Five Years Ago: Season Concludes for Gary Waddock's QPR
- Year Flashback: Saksena Talks re QPR
- Marking Seven Years Since Gianni Paladini Bought Into QPR - "Paladini buys stake in QPR"..."Rangers are lifted as Italian pumps millions into club."
THE SUN/Shaun Custis - Guilty
QPR'S automatic promotion into the Premier League is set to be blocked by the FA.
SunSport understands the runaway Championship leaders are likely to face a big points deduction - possibly up to 15 - if they are found guilty of breaking strict third-party ownership rules over the signing of Alejandro Faurlin.
The evidence against the West London club is said to be damning and they could now end up in the play-offs.
The only winners would be Cardiff and Norwich who could then go up automatically.
The hearing into the signing of the Argentine midfielder two years ago begins next Tuesday and a verdict will be delivered three days later.
A four-man panel will comprise an independent QC, two from the FA's disciplinary panel and a football expert who will be either a former player or boss.
In theory, they should begin with a blank sheet of paper but many at the FA are openly discussing the case and reckon QPR - five points clear at the top of the table - are in big trouble. Those who have seen the evidence say Rangers are defending the indefensible.
An FA source said: "There's no question QPR have broken the rules. They know it as well. The only debate is what to do about it.
"If they aren't found guilty you might as well scrap the rules about third-party owners."
Some within the corridors of power believe QPR should be hit hard because they were well aware they were acting outside the regulations.
When West Ham were punished over the Carlos Tevez affair they were actually found guilty of failure to disclose information - not of breaking third-party ownership rules because such legislation did not exist.
Since then the FA have made third-party ownership illegal so the argument is QPR were worse offenders because they were well aware they were committing an offence.
If Neil Warnock's side are found guilty they will have seven days to appeal.
However, if QPR take legal action or other clubs decide to seek legal avenues because of points they lost when Faurlin played against them, the whole issue could drag on throughout the summer.
The nightmare scenario could even be that the Championship promotion play-offs do not take place at all until the issue is resolved. The Sun
PAUL WARBURTON/FULHAM CHRONICLE - Lifting the Championship trophy will put pressure on FA - Warnock
- NEIL Warnock wants the Championship trophy ready and waiting at Watford tomorrow (Saturday) because if QPR finally claim it – the manager reckons it puts even more pressure on the FA to let them off a possible points deduction.
- Warnock’s logic is that if Hoops get their hands on the silverware, there is an awful lot of egg on official faces if an independent tribunal recommends to take it back off them next week.
- Rangers are charged with seven breaches of rules concerning the transfer of midfielder Ali Faurlin that could lead to a points fine.
- On Tuesday, the club will present their side of the story with the verdict expected before the final game of the season at home to Leeds on Saturday week.
- Warnock explained: "I don’t have any control on when we get the trophy – that’s up to the League. But should we beat Watford, I’ll take it now.
- "It might mean there’s even more pressure on the commission to deal with the matter sensibly, although I’ve said all along I’m not bothered by the hearing." Fulham Chronicle
Alternatively....!
DAILY MAIL writes "...But Sportsmail believes that the club is still likely to get off with a fine."
MAIL - Pile the pressure on the FA to act sensibly by winning title, roars QPR boss Warnock By Sportsmail Reporter
Neil Warnock wants his QPR side to pressurise the FA into swerving a points deduction by winning the title on Saturday.
Rangers are charged with seven breaches of rules concerning the transfer of midfielder Ali Faurlin and will present their side of the story on Tuesday.
A decision will be reached before the final weekend of the season but Warnock wants his side to be presented with trophy if and when they earn it.
Gather round: Neil Warnock (second left) talks to his players during their match against Hull
He said: 'I don’t have any control on when we get the trophy – that’s up to the League. But should we beat Watford, I’ll take it now.
'It might mean there’s even more pressure on the commission to deal with the matter sensibly, although I’ve said all along I’m not bothered by the hearing.'
Warnock's comments come amid reports that the evidence against the West London club is damning and that the FA could dock them 15 points - sending them into the play-offs.
An FA source told The Sun: 'There's no question QPR have broken the rules. They know it as well. The only debate is what to do about it.
'If they aren't found guilty you might as well scrap the rules about third-party owners'
But Sportsmail believes that the club is still likely to get off with a fine.
In the dock: QPR are under investigation for the transfer of Alejandro Faurlin (second right)
A four-man panel will comprise an independent QC, two from the FA's disciplinary panel and a football expert who will be either a former player or boss.
When West Ham were punished over their signing of Carlos Tevez, they were found guilty of failure to disclose information - not of breaking third-party ownership rules because such legislation did not exist.
Since then the FA have made third-party ownership illegal and so the argument is QPR were worse offenders because they were well aware they were committing an offence.
If Neil Warnock's side are found guilty they will have seven days to appeal.
The nightmare scenario is that the Championship promotion play-offs could be postponed until a the case is dealt with.
False dawn: QPR fans invade the pitch before being informed their side haven't yet won the title
Meanwhile, Warnock has said his side are the best team he has ever managed.
The champions-elect are limping over the line somewhat, having drawn their last three games, but can seal both promotion and the title by winning at Watford in the penultimate round of npower Championship games.
And Warnock, who took hometown club Sheffield United into the top flight back in 2006, is already looking forward to seeing how his current charges get on in the Barclays Premier League.
'I think this is the best team I've ever had. I think we've got more players that can win games than (I did at) Sheffield,' he told Yahoo!'s 'The Dugout'.
'I've never had a midfield player like Ali Faurlin, then there's all the youngsters you've got to wait and see like Jamie Mackie. Even Wayne Routledge has got something to prove in the Premier League.
'Paddy Kenny I believe is the best keeper in the country, but I'm probably biased, so I'm looking forward to seeing him at the top level.' MAIL
THE INDEPENDENT - Terence Blacker: Going up, going up, going up
One Saturday morning, almost exactly 15 years ago, my son and I took a coach ride from west London to Birmingham. The in-coach entertainment was the comedy film Dumb and Dumber, but the mood on the bus was not festive. We were football fans, about to experience the gut-wrenching misery of relegation.
Our team, Queen's Park Rangers, had been part of the great, extravagant party that is the top football league in England over the years of my son's childhood. We had enjoyed some heady moments: an unlikely victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford, a hilarious 6-0 thrashing of Chelsea. Today, though, would not be one of them. That afternoon we were beaten by Aston Villa, and were finally and definitively down. As we trooped miserably back to the coach, I noticed some surprisingly sympathetic glances from the home fans.
Here is a shocking truth rarely articulated in the press: football can represent the best as well as the worst in human nature. The media may feed on tales of Premiership love-rats, referee-bulliers, graceless managers, yobbish fans, strikers who say rude words into a camera after scoring a goal, but, away from the headlines and usually at a more local level, it is a sport which not only gives pleasure to millions but now and then can set an example of decent behaviour.
Maybe these are the kind of gloopily positive feelings only entertained by a fan when his team is doing well. After 15 years in the outer darkness of the lower leagues, 14 of which included moments of humiliation and embarrassment, QPR are, barring another bizarre plot twist in the soap opera of the club's recent history, about to return to the big time.
Like the fans of other medium-sized family clubs, QPR supporters are used to being patronised and mocked. There are bigger, flasher, more glorious clubs, and I envy their fans not one bit. For them, victory is the norm – something for which their clubs have paid millions. For us, it is a treat. To be reaching the end of a season having dominated our division since the kick-off last August is a sort of miracle.
There is the pleasure; what of the decent behaviour? In every team, there are stories, mini-myths, in the making. Those of QPR over the past season have had an unusual number of happy endings. A little over a year ago, the club was the laughing-stock of professional football. Managers were hired and fired with manic frequency. There was a flamboyant, out-of-control chairman. One manager was said to have head-butted a player. The police were called to the boardroom when someone was reported to have drawn a gun. A faint whiff of dodginess attended some the club's financial dealings.
Within months, that all changed. A veteran English manager, with a reputation for dourness and dull, effective football, was hired and transformed the club. A young Moroccan called Taarabt, utterly brilliant but too moody for the larger clubs to handle, became the undisputed star of the league, having been cleverly managed and made captain of the team. A goalkeeper whose career seemed to be in tatters after he had failed a dope test was brought into the team and performed astonishingly. Ageing, workmanlike footballers began to play out of their skins.
The manager, Neil Warnock, has behaved like a man who had been reminded, at the end of his career, that sport should above all be fun. He has encouraged flair – not seen it as a dangerous, suspiciously foreign indulgence.
Because nothing is ever straightforward at QPR, a convincing lead in the league could still count for naught if an inquiry, held by the Football Association next week into alleged irregularities surrounding a transfer in 2009, results in a deduction of points.
It would be a mind-boggling reversal, to lose a prize won so decently in such a mysterious, shady manner, but then QPR fans are used to that" The Independent
- Flashback: Sean Connery and "The Showbiz XI at Loftus Road"
- Long-time QPR Club Secretary, Ron Phillips (having solved the "Missing Apostrophe" Question:"How Queen's Park Rangers became Queens Park Rangers").... offers further memories re his time at QPR
- Playoff Dates Information! (Hopefully Non-QPR!)
