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Telegraph Piece/John Ley
Queens Park Rangers celebrate after beating Watford but their fate has yet to be decided by FA
Little with Queens Park Rangers is straightforward. Their players danced in the Hertfordshire sunshine yet the threat of a points deduction still looms large.
Queens Park Rangers celebrate after beating Watford but their fate has yet to be decided by FA
Even one of their entourage could be heard, through the dressing-room window, saying: “Enjoy this feeling boys because we’ll probably get caned next season.”
Little with Queens Park Rangers is straightforward. Their players danced in the Hertfordshire sunshine yet the threat of a points deduction still looms large.
Even one of their entourage could be heard, through the dressing-room window, saying: “Enjoy this feeling boys because we’ll probably get caned next season.”
There is no doubting that Rangers have been the best team in the Championship this season. But was the presence of key player Alejandro Faurlin illegal? Will the Football Association find Rangers guilty of third-party ownership?
Will they fine them or, worse, deduct points? And if they do enjoy the promotion most accept they deserve, where to now? They have very wealthy backers and want to be part of the Premier League party for a long time.
So many imponderables but, for chairman Gianni Paladini, there is only hard work and excitement to look forward to. Paladini, a one-time player and agent, is as colourful as his manager, Neil Warnock.
“This is the most unbelievable time of my life,” the Italian said outside the condemned main stand at Vicarage Road. “We have worked so hard to get this far and get investors like Flavio [Briatore], Bernie [Ecclestone], [Lakshmi] Mittal and [Amit] Bhati.”
The FA issued a statement on Saturday morning distancing themselves from quotes attributed to an FA ‘source’, hinting at a 15-point deduction. Paladini, though, remains defiant, insisting Rangers will contest any serious punishment.
“We will fight all the way,” he said. “Justice will be done. We have not tried to cheat anybody. We have done everything in good faith. But there will be no need for us to fight because we have done everything right.”
They have certainly done things right on the pitch, with the season’s outstanding performer, Adel Taarabt, and Tommy Smith scoring the goals which, at the third attempt, delivered Rangers to the Premier League.
“It’s been a great story,” Paladini said. “It’s great for the fans who have had to put up with ---- for so many years.”
Paladini was involved in a court case in 2006 after which all defendants were found not guilty of conspiring to blackmail and falsely imprison him at gunpoint.
The memories remain and Paladini said: “I went through so much to save the club. What a story. I went through so much when nobody would touch the club. I’ve been to hell and back, there were so many tough times. But this makes it all worthwhile.”
And he promised that Rangers would remain in the top flight, saying: “I can’t wait for next season. We will stay up. Now that we have got into the Premier League, we are not going there for half an hour.”
Warnock, though, accepts that nothing at QPR is certain. Bathing in the glory of his latest success rather than worry about tomorrow’s start of the inquiry, Warnock admitted his time in management is ticking down.
Five years ago he hinted at retirement and, at the age of 62, he is under orders from his wife to finish – but not just yet. “Yes, she’s given me the ultimatum,” he added.
“I won’t tell you how long I’ve got left. Listen, I can’t see me staying the length she’s told me I’ve got left, at QPR. Can you? Because we’re bound to lose three or four next year on the trot.”
Much could depend on how Taarabt takes to the Premier League. A complex character, the former Spurs playmaker dazzles with his tricky feet but at times his attempts to be the second Cristiano Ronaldo see him fall flat on his backside.
“I’ve said to Adel he’s got to change,” warned Warnock. “He’s at a crucial period in his career. He’s got to be more dedicated, he’s got to listen to me and take it on board.
"He’s got everything in his locker but if he went somewhere now and it was the wrong place we’d probably get him back at Christmas on loan.” Telegraph
Guardian/Jamie Jackson
QPR's Neil Warnock hoping FA will permit the club's Premier League dreamNeil Warnock will be hoping for good news from the FA disciplinary panel on Friday and if he gets it, extra funds from the club owners
Will Queens Park Rangers' billionaire owners, Bernie Ecclestone and Lakshmi Mittal, finally splash the cash if they are confirmed as a Premier League club 15 years after last playing in England's top division?
After Rangers' win at Watford on Saturday only the Football Association can now prevent Neil Warnock's side from facing the likes of Manchester United and their neighbours Chelsea at Loftus Road next season.
On Friday QPR will hear the verdict from an independent panel regarding the seven charges relating to alleged third‑party ownership of their Argentinian midfielder Alejandro Faurlín. If found guilty on one or more counts QPR could be docked enough points to stop automatic promotion and force them into the play-offs.
They could, though, receive only a fine or be cleared of wrongdoing. If so, Warnock can then start planning his third tilt at managing in the top division, having done so already with Notts County from 1991‑93, and Sheffield United in 2005‑06.
Ecclestone, the commercial-rights holder of Formula One, and Mittal, a steel tycoon, have the wherewithal to inject more money into QPR than Chelsea have received from Roman Abramovich.
Yet since the pair and the former chairman Flavio Briatore bought the club in 2007 spending has been modest, with QPR's latest accounts indicating only £15m-20m has been provided so far, in the form of loans. The £3.5m to secure Faurlín from Instituto de Cordoba in July 2009 was the most expensive buy under the current owners.
Yet Mittal is promising to increase spending: "I think so because it is a big responsibility. You have to live up to the Premier League. But there are some clubs who like to have a big budget. There are other clubs who can do a job with limited budgets but higher productivity."
This last comment echoes Ecclestone's vision for QPR. The majority shareholder, who has stated that he may be willing to sell his stake for £100m, said: "The idea of pouring in millions to buy success is not my way of doing things. I won't be trying to outdo the likes of the top, well-established Premier League teams by spreading money all over the place.
"Sure, we will try to buy players to fit the right positions – but at the right price. And by that I don't mean spending £100m."
Warnock is proud of the blend of a team that mixes the talents of Faurlín and Adel Taarabt, the Championship player of the year, with players he says were finished before he signed them.
"Look all down the spine at Paddy Kenny, Gorkssy [Kaspars Gorkss], [Shaun] Derry, Clint Hill, [Heidar] Helguson," he says. "Helguson was bombed out last year [on loan from QPR] the other two got free transfers from Crystal Palace, Paddy Kenny was cast away [from Sheffield United]."
Derry, a defensive midfielder, is 33, the central defender Hill is 32, Helguson 33, Gorkss 29 and Kenny 32. Apart from Kenny, who played a full Premier League season for Warnock at Sheffield United, and Helguson with Watford and Fulham, the rest have little or no experience of the Premier League.
Mittal sounds like he has been listening to Warnock, probably via his son-in-law, Amit Bhatia, who runs the club for him. "There is still much we need to improve, such as the defence," the vice-chairman said.
"To stay up we will also need a good goalscorer. But it is very different to a year ago. Then, if you had asked me, I would have said QPR should not go into the Premier League. But now we are ready."
Taarabt, the 21-year-old Moroccan often given a free role by Warnock, has scored 19 times, with Helguson, who has 12, the only other player in double figures.
For Warnock the dream is for the FA not to sour what has been a fine season so that he can try and establish QPR, and himself, in the Premier League. "I would imagine that teams going up nowadays have to stabilise, like Stoke and Bolton have done: it's staying up, generating the money and getting better players each year," he said. "That's the art of management."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/may/01/neil-warnock-qpr-premier-league
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Congratulations to the Tiger Feet Charity Walkers!
