- Photos from QPR vs Norwich
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- (If accurate!) Mirror "West Brom players present Peter Odemwingie with a QPR shirt after his Hoops move falls through
- Premier League FORM TABLE: Reading Second - after Manchester United
- On This Day: First Match for QPR after Chris Wright had announced he was Resigning as QPR Chairman (and Langley and Carlisle has been injured). ...Birthdays for Max Ehmer (21) and Darren Peacock (45)
- One Year ago Today: FA Strips John Terry of the England Captaincy - and AVB says QPR Ruined Chelsea's Season!
- Reminder: QPR Fan Forum On Thursday, February 7
CHAIRMAN FERNANDES ASSURES
TELEGRAPH - JASON BURT
Queens Park Rangers chairman Tony Fernandes says Premier League club 'will not become a Portsmouth'
Tony Fernandes, the chairman of Queens Park Rangers, has strongly defended the club’s spending in the January transfer window and denied he has acted “recklessly” insisting there is a “sensible” business plan in place.
By Jason Burt, Football Correspondent11:59PM GMT 02 Feb 2013
The Malaysian entrepreneur said that if QPR were relegated from the Premier League it would not lead to a financial meltdown.
“I’m an accountant, I run businesses. We are sensible with what we are doing,” Fernandes said, claiming that the club’s wage bill had actually been reduced in January, because of the number of players who had gone out on loan, and despite the arrival of high-earners Christopher Samba, for £12.5 million, and Loïc Rémy for £7 million. On the pair, Fernandes denied that Samba was being paid as much as £100,000-a-week and insisted that the defender would stay at the club should they be relegated – and did have a clause in his contract reducing his salary. Rémy, however, would be sold.
“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,” Fernandes said. “I don’t think there is any recklessness there.” Nevertheless he conceded that owning a football club was a “gamble”.
“No one can guarantee anything in football,” he added. “But you try to minimise the risk as much as possible and that’s where the expertise of the management comes in and they say 'this is what we need to survive’ and you look at it and if it makes sense then the board and myself support it.
“Anyone who says we are gambling then, of course, we are.” It is the degree of that gamble that matters and Fernandes has been irked by the criticism he has faced – that he is playing fast and loose with the club’s future and its finances, that relegation from the Premier League could lead to a Portsmouth-style administration.
“People have not seen the balance sheet, have not seen the P and L [profit and loss account], have not seen the five-year plan,” Fernandes argued.
“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.”
That was well understood? “Yes, we didn’t want to be at the bottom of the division and, yes, if we go down it will hurt. But we are businessmen who are prepared for all eventualities.
“We, QPR, have to move out of the small club syndrome and for constant security have to build a bigger stadium, a better infrastructure. So far it hasn’t worked but we won’t be the first club for whom everything hasn’t gone exactly to plan.
“We inherited a squad where every single player who has left is no longer playing in the Premier League, doesn’t that say something? We have replaced and replenished the squad at a very low cost because most of them were free transfers. This is the first window that we have spent big money [last January Bobby Zamora was bought for £4.5 million and Djibril Cissé for £4 million]. One is Chris Samba who we’ve wanted for three transfer windows. It has been our problem from day one — a centre-back. Chris is a good guy, he’s 28 and whether we go up or down he will be with us. We are building a team around him.
“We paid £12 million for Samba but West Ham paid close to that for Matt Jarvis [£10.75 million] and Sunderland did for Adam Johnson [£10 million]. I think every club has an £8-9 million player, In Rémy’s case we paid £7 million for a very good striker who is 24 and has a resell value. If you go on [the website] transfermarket.com we have one of the best valued squads but our squad has not performed well.
“We’ve also let eight players go on loan [in January] which has taken a massive chunk off the wage bill. And there may be one or two more going in the Russian transfer window and the American transfer window. It’s gone down. I can categorically state that not a single player is on £100,000-a-week. The wage we are paying Loïc Rémy is the wage that Newcastle were offering him. I just persuaded him that our project and London was a better project than Newcastle’s.
“We paid what Newcastle were offering. I spent a lot of time and effort and he saw something in this project that he wanted to take a risk. If it doesn’t work then we can find him somewhere else.
“It’s not always about money. QPR are the bottom club and you don’t come to the bottom club for the dollar sign. And I’m not going to get players for the dollar signs.”
If QPR are relegated Fernandes and his backers — including the Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal — will stay, he insisted.
Fernandes also clarified what he meant when he said he might walk away if it was felt he was not doing a good job. “I have to take the responsibility,” he said. “But leaving the club didn’t mean I was going to take my investment out – it just meant someone else might be better suited to be chairman.” Telegraph
- AUDIO of QPR CEO Philip Beard re QPR Spending and Finances
The Observer/Daniel Taylor
QPR's big transfer window gamble strays close to line of recklessness|
It is a scattergun approach that may spark a great escape if Harry Redknapp can make the most of his restorative powers but if QPR go down, who clears up the mess then?
Tony Fernandes, the QPR chairman, increasingly comes across as the gambler trying to cover his losses with wild bets. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Action Images
Nobody with a Sky Sports microphone bothers with Portsmouth any more on transfer deadline day. There was a time, not so long ago, when they would be outside Fratton Park from daybreak to last thing at night. Harry Redknapp would wind down his car window to let us know who was next to arrive. He would thank his chairman and talk about how terrific it was to sign another player for a big fee and fat contract. Then he would drive away with a little wave to the crowd who had gathered expectantly.
No point going down there now, though. The gates are locked. The curtains tremble. Portsmouth won the FA Cup under Redknapp and were bucket-collection skint within six weeks of handing it back. These days you will find them grubbing around for points towards the bottom of League One, just grateful still to be going. Pompey are the rusty old Fiat that has failed its MOT and been left out over winter. There's an engine in there somewhere, but it sounds terrible.
All of which may make this an appropriate moment, perhaps, to ask what measures Queens Park Rangers have in place to avoid the possibility of their own meltdown if they drop out of the Premier League this season. Is there even the basis of a fully integrated plan? Or, looking at their business over the last couple of weeks, is this the point when they, too, appear to be basing their entire financial strategy on the theory of chaos?
They are not alone, to give them their due, when it comes to the frenzy of the transfer window and what it tells us about the clubs who prefer to do their business the sensible way and those who can be found on the trolley dash.
Yet QPR stand out for a number of reasons when their chairman, Tony Fernandes, increasingly comes across as the gambler desperately trying to cover his losses with a series of wild bets. Redknapp, the man who once walked out of a television interview after he was described as a "wheeler-dealer", has brought in half a dozen players and tried for goodness knows how many others. For the club's sake, you just hope they know what they are doing.
There is, after all, a point when spending becomes reckless and QPR are surely straying close to the line when, even ignoring for one moment the Loïc Rémy deal, they have just splurged £12.5m on a 28-year-old centre-half – Chris Samba – and agreed to pay him somewhere around £20m in wages over the next four and a half years.
It is true, granted, that someone with Samba's competitive courage could be an important player for a club that have won two league fixtures all season and that, if the gamble comes off and there is a dramatic late feat of escapology, they will no doubt consider he was worth every penny. But £12.5m? Simon Jordan may be a tiresome old rent-a-quote sometimes but when the former Crystal Palace chairman described it as "financial suicide" it was almost reassuring to find someone within the sport who was not willing to sugarcoat the truth. Niall Quinn was also in Sky's studios alongside Jordan on deadline night. Financial suicide? "It's heading that way," the former Sunderland chairman agreed. Jordan talked about a club with "lunatics running the asylum", where the culture was to sign the cheque and think of the consequences later, and it all boiled down to one thing: where does it leave QPR if they go down?
On Friday, at Redknapp's press conference, he was asked that very question and delivered a masterclass in evasion. Will they be financially stable? "I don't know," he replied. "It's the chairman's decisions." It's big money, though, Harry … "That's up to the chairman and the shareholders. That's their decision to spend the money."
Nobody returned to the subject or pointed out that, a few days before the transfer window opened, Redknapp had talked about wanting to change the spending culture of the club. It was his job, he had said, to make sure the owners no longer had "their pants taken down". He was sick and tired of agents wanting a quick payday, and he made it clear that a club the size of QPR had to stop being such an easy touch. "You shouldn't be paying massive wages when you've got a stadium that holds 18,000 people." Quite.
It sounded very noble at the time and still does, in fact. It can also look a bit silly, however, when the club then breaks their transfer record twice in the space of two weeks, first for Rémy and then Samba, and agrees to pay them more than Gareth Bale earns at Tottenham and more than everyone bar Theo Walcott takes home at Arsenal.
There will be QPR supporters, of course, who argue that it is worth the gamble. Far better, they may say, that Fernandes is throwing money at the problem rather than the shift in policy that his Aston Villa counterpart, Randy Lerner, has brought in. Yet there is a middle ground otherwise known as common sense.
Certainly it's a bewildering set of events when, in 18 months, a club can make 31 signings. In three transfer windows QPR have now signed seven new strikers, seven centre-halves, four goalkeepers, eight midfielders, a winger, two left-backs and two right‑backs. They now have such a bloated squad – 42 players if we are counting the 10 they have out on loan – that it has been impossible for them to shoehorn everyone into the revised 25-man squad they submitted to the Premier League on Friday. Luke Young, one of football's forgotten men, has been left out. Andy Johnson, another former England international, is due back from injury next month – but no need to rush now. Radek Cerny has not played for 13 months. That won't be changing between now and May.
Redknapp brought in Samba, Andros Townsend and Jermaine Jenas to go with Rémy, Tal Ben Haim and Yun Suk-yung but missed out on Peter Crouch and Peter Odemwingie. He had no joy with an ambitious inquiry for Scott Parker and, most perplexingly, he also tried to sign David Bentley, the player he marginalised at Tottenham to the point he ended up at Rostov in Russia. They, of course, are just the deals we know about.
It is a scattergun approach that may yet form the backdrop to one of the great escapes if Redknapp can make the most of his restorative powers. At the same time, QPR are still bottom of the league, with 17 points from 25 games, and it does makes you wonder whether there is any kind of joined-up thinking behind the scenes and what might happen a little further down the line bearing in mind Fernandes has already indicated he will relinquish his position if they go down. Who clears up the mess then?
Because it would be a mess. Maybe not as extreme as Portsmouth but a mess, all the same. Guardian
EXPRESS - JIM HOLDEN CHIEF SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
FANS SWEAT ON ANSWER TO HARRY’ REDKNAPPS £100M QUESTION
Harry Redknapp did some deals on deadline day
Sunday February 3,2013
THE windows are shut. QPR can make no more casino gambles in the transfer market and Harry Redknapp can drive past the TV cameras without leaning out of his car to chatter about footballers he covets for his dream team.
Now the doors open at Loftus Road to 100 days of fear and wonder for the loyal fans of Queens Park Rangers.
The fear is obvious.
It is the danger that their homely club has spent many millions of pounds in reckless fashion – over-stretching on record transfer signings and over-loading their wage bill in a way that will bring ruin if the club is relegated.
The wonder is there, too.
Will this prove an inspired gamble on tough and talented players like Christopher Samba and Loic Remy and keep the vast riches of the Premier League flowing in? Could it be the turning point that allows a hugely popular manager in Redknapp to guide Rangers towards the heady ambition of playing in the Champions League?
There are 100 days and 13 matches for QPR to haul themselves off the bottom of the table to immediate safety – and the truth is that nobody can know how this story will pan out.
Some Rangers fans will be full of optimism. It is the way of many football supporters; to walk into their ground with hope in their hearts and not worry about tomorrow.
Many others will be quivering; they will see the spectre of what happened to Portsmouth and Leeds in recent times. It is less than nine years ago that QPR fans trudged the streets of west London collecting money in buckets to help pay players’ wages when the club was deep in financial crisis.
Supporters haunted by those memories might have preferred a different strategy to that being pursued by Rangers’ owner Tony Fernandes – a strategy of patient, gradual building that has been the policy of rival clubs like Stoke, Everton, West Brom, Spurs and Swansea, to name but five.
It’s too late for that. The casino plunge has been taken.
Redknapp has worked both ways before. He was manager at Portsmouth when a splurge of cash bought triumph and glory in the 2008 FA Cup Final. Not long afterwards the bubble burst and the club, to its eternal shame, couldn’t even pay debts owed to the St John Ambulance and the local boy scouts.
He was then manager at Spurs where financial planning was conducted on a measured, long-term basis, and his managerial skill fashioned a thrilling team that soared into the Champions League.
How does Redknapp feel at being involved in another mighty gamble?
If his views appear curiously inconsistent, he is hardly alone in the world of football in changing his mind with each passing gust of wind.
His sober comment in December was: “I don’t want to spend the owner’s money really. We’ve got a stadium that holds 18,000 people and shouldn’t be paying big wages.”
Last week he heralded the “fantastic” signing of giant defender Samba for a club record £12.5million fee and reported £100,000-a-week wages. He was just as pleased when striker Remy came in a colossal deal.
Yes, this is the owner’s doing. It is the owner’s money, the owner’s gamble. But Redknapp hardly discouraged it.
Listen to his own words about the acquisition of Samba: “The simple facts were the chairman said to me a couple of weeks ago, ‘If you had a choice of a centre-half to replace Ryan Nelsen, who would you like?’
“I gave him a couple of central defenders – Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, John Terry, Chris Samba – that was as far as it went.”
Was this a realistic wish-list for a club marooned at the bottom of the Premier League? Was this likely to avoid big wages?
Surely an experienced manager, one closely acquainted with the Portsmouth nightmare, could also have suggested cheaper alternatives?
I don’t want to spend the owner’s money really
 |
Harry Redknapp
|
There have been 27 signings by QPR in the 17 months since Fernandes arrived at Loftus Road, most of them prior to Redknapp’s appointment, and too many appear a waste of money.
There has been £61.5m spent on transfer fees alone, never mind wages pitched at the level of a top-four team.
QPR are a relatively small club. They are perennial underdogs with brief spells in their history of quirky brilliance. They thrive under confident, charismatic managers like Redknapp, but have never been big spenders.
Who can blame their supporters for enjoying the Redknapp bounce?
Yet, at the same time, who could blame them for trembling deep in their bones about the extent of the financial gamble?
Here’s the £100m question: When the windows open again in summer will sunlight be shining on those loyal fans of Queens Park Rangers? Express
The Good old Days! Six Year Flashback - Chairman Paladini
QPR1st - Recent rumours update Saturday, 03 February 2007
Mercedes Benz?
-
On Thursday, QPR 1st contacted Gianni Paladini to ask if he could shed any light in relation to recent rumours that have been circulating.- When asked about the recent rumour involving the delivery to Loftus Road of fourMercedescars, GP's response was to say that there were no new Mercedes purchased by or associated with the club through any deal.
- The Trust rep did mention to him that the original supporter who raised this issue was known to her and that this person is not the kind to concoct imaginings up, and GP reiterated that he had no knowledge of any new Mercedes, that he has no idea how this rumour started, and went on to say that he owns his own car which was purchased before he had joined QPR.
-GP was also asked if any bids had come in recently for the club(to purchase) and he denied this, saying there had been "no bid" and "no bid for �12m", saying that if this had been the case then he and the other directors are not stupid, they would not stand in the way of someone coming in with money to take the club forward, that he would step aside for the good of Queens Park Rangers, and that he would buy a ticket and be happy to just watch the football.But until that time comes he said he wants to finish the job he started, and to do his utmost that we remain a Championship side.
- When asked about the possibility of a restructure of the ABC loan, GP commented how/the board did not want to disappoint fans, that there is the possibility of a restructure before the five year end clause comes into effect, but that he could not say too much about it at the present moment. He did say how Deloitte and Touche have been helping with this and that they have also compiled their first report on the club economics and that Antonio Caliendo and himself were happy with it.
- GP also mentioned briefly about the Dean Parrett situation (this was the day before yesterday which was before the announcement was made about Dean's move to Tottenham), saying that a deal was going through; there was nothing he could do about it as Dean is a schoolboy; that there are rules within the FA that have to be complied with; and that the thing they were working on was compensation for QPR, which he mentioned would amount to a significant figure.
- Our thanks to Gianni Paladini and if anyone has anything they'd like to raise/comment on in relation to the above then please get in touch on the usual email address; info@qpr1st.co.uk
http://www.qpr1st.com/index.php?option=c....-news& Itemid=4
CURRENT TABLE
| Club | Pld | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| Man Utd | 26 | 65 |
| Man City | 24 | 52 |
| Chelsea | 26 | 46 |
| Arsenal | 26 | 44 |
| Everton | 26 | 43 |
| Tottenham | 24 | 42 |
| Liverpool | 24 | 35 |
| Swansea | 26 | 34 |
| West Brom | 24 | 34 |
| West Ham | 26 | 33 |
| Stoke | 26 | 30 |
| Newcastle | 26 | 30 |
| Sunderland | 26 | 29 |
| Fulham | 26 | 28 |
| Norwich | 25 | 28 |
| Reading | 26 | 26 |
| Southampton | 26 | 25 |
| Wigan | 26 | 22 |
| Aston Villa | 26 | 22 |
| QPR | 25 | 17 |
TABLE A YEAR AGO
| POS | LP | CLUB | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
(2) | Manchester United | 25 | 18 | 4 | 3 | 61 | 25 | 36 | 58 |
| 2 | |
(1) | Manchester City | 24 | 18 | 3 | 3 | 63 | 19 | 44 | 57 |
| 3 | |
(3) | Tottenham Hotspur | 25 | 16 | 5 | 4 | 49 | 25 | 24 | 53 |
| 4 | |
(6) | Arsenal | 25 | 13 | 4 | 8 | 48 | 35 | 13 | 43 |
| 5 | |
(4) | Chelsea | 25 | 12 | 7 | 6 | 44 | 31 | 13 | 43 |
| 6 | |
(5) | Newcastle United | 25 | 12 | 6 | 7 | 36 | 36 | 0 | 42 |
| 7 | |
(7) | Liverpool | 25 | 10 | 9 | 6 | 29 | 23 | 6 | 39 |
| 8 | |
(9) | Norwich City | 25 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 37 | 41 | -4 | 35 |
| 9 | |
(8) | Sunderland | 25 | 9 | 6 | 10 | 34 | 26 | 8 | 33 |
| 10 | |
(11) | Everton | 25 | 9 | 6 | 10 | 26 | 27 | -1 | 33 |
| 11 | |
(10) | Swansea City | 25 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 28 | 32 | -4 | 30 |
| 12 | |
(14) | Fulham | 25 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 31 | 36 | -5 | 30 |
| 13 | |
(12) | Stoke City | 25 | 8 | 6 | 11 | 24 | 38 | -14 | 30 |
| 14 | |
(13) | Aston Villa | 24 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 29 | 33 | -4 | 28 |
| 15 | |
(15) | West Bromwich Albion | 24 | 7 | 5 | 12 | 24 | 34 | -10 | 26 |
| 16 | |
(16) | Queens Park Rangers | 25 | 5 | 6 | 14 | 27 | 44 | -17 | 21 |
| 17 | |
(17) | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 24 | 5 | 6 | 13 | 27 | 44 | -17 | 21 |
| 18 | |
(19) | Blackburn Rovers | 25 | 5 | 6 | 14 | 37 | 56 | -19 | 21 |
| 19 | |
(18) | Bolton Wanderers | 25 | 6 | 2 | 17 | 29 | 51 | -22 | 20 |
| 20 | |
(20) | Wigan Athletic | 25 | 4 | 7 | 14 | 23 | 50 | -27 | 19 |
QPR OFFICIAL SITE
R's boss reflects on missed opportunity ...
We’re unbeaten since the turn of the year so we’ve just got to keep going. "
Harry Redknapp
HARRY REDKNAPP rued two points dropped after QPR were held to a goalless draw by Norwich City.
Adel Taarabt’s second-half penalty miss proved costly as Rangers were frustrated in their search for a breakthrough.
A share of the spoils stretches the R’s unbeaten run in 2013 to five league games and Redknapp couldn’t fault his players, who were disappointed to come away with only a point for their efforts.
“I couldn’t have asked for any more,” the R’s boss told www.qpr.co.uk. “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.
“We just need to turn those draws into wins and we didn’t have a better opportunity to do that than today.”
Saturday’s stalemate leaves Rangers three points adrift of safety prior to the rest of the afternoon’s top flight action.
Redknapp knows their fortunes need to change if they are to claw themselves out of trouble.
“We needed three [points] today,” he said.
“But we’re unbeaten since the turn of the year so we’ve just got to keep going.
“We got a point on Tuesday, looking to get three today but we’ve got to keep going.
“Hopefully our luck will turn.”
The R’s best chance of the afternoon fell to Taarabt after Jamie Mackie was upended by City goalkeeper Mark Bunn, who made amends by saving the resulting spot-kick.
Redknapp laid no blame at the Moroccan’s feet, though, who was once again the driving force behind most of the R’s attacking play.
“Adel was outstanding again, another fantastic performance,” he said.
“It’s just one of those things. If we’d scored we’d have won the game, no doubt about it.”
The R’s boss was equally pleased with the performance of new signing Chris Samba who, despite a lack of match fitness, lasted 90 minutes on his full debut.
“He was fantastic,” Redknapp said.
“He hasn’t played since November because of the winter break in Russia. He said he was about 40 per cent fit.
“If he’s only 40 per cent fit I don’t know what he’ll be like at 100%!
“He was outstanding; he’s such a good player.”
Fellow deadline-day recruit Andros Townsend also made a big impression on his first appearance in a Hoops shirt.
He added: “Andros had an outstanding game, absolutely brilliant. He never stopped working.
“He’s a young player with a great future.” QPR
|
Dave McIntyre/West London Sport
Worried Rangers to assess Remy groin injury
QPR are to assess the extent of a groin injury that kept recent signing Loic Remy out of their 0-0 draw against Norwich.
The French striker was hurt during the closing stages of training on Friday and was ruled out of the match at Loftus Road.
Manager Harry Redknapp subsequently
described the injury as a groin tear, but Rangers have yet to establish
whether it is a tear, which would sideline Remy for several weeks, or
merely a strain.
Redknapp said: “He tore his groin. He
struck a ball in the last minute of training. We’ll see how he is
tomorrow morning and then take it from there.”
Remy was badly missed by Rangers, who defended well with debutant Chris Samba at the back but were unable to find the net.
Their best chance came when they were
awarded a second-half penalty, but Adel Taarabt’s spot-kick was well
saved by Canaries keeper Mark Bunn.
“We couldn’t have tried any harder. We gave everything we had, but just needed a break,” said Redknapp.
“We got the penalty and if we can
score that we go on and win the game. We looked strong defensively, but
unfortunately we couldn’t convert the penalty.”
Defender Nedum Onuoha missed the game with a back problem. West London Sport
OBSERVER
Adel Taarabt misses penalty for QPR in draw with Norwich
James Callow at Loftus Road
- The Observer, Saturday 2 February 2013 09.50 EST
- Jump to comments (76)
QPR's Christopher Samba, left, and Norwich City's Wes Hoolahan battle for the ball at Loftus Road. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action Images
Harry Redknapp's claim that Queens Park Rangers need a miracle to avoid relegation this season looks all the more apposite after Loïc Rémy, the striker signed in January from Marseille for £7m, broke down with a potentially serious groin injury. Rémy been expected to lead Rangers' attack against Norwich City, but pulled up in training on Friday, and was sorely missed as his team-mates laboured to a goalless draw against a side without a win in eight league games.
"He tore a groin muscle. It happened in the last minute of training. He just kicked the ball and felt it go," Redknapp said. "We'll have a look it on Monday. No idea how long he'll be out for."
Although a QPR spokesman on Saturday night attempted to play down the seriousness of an injury that could keep the £80,000-a-week striker out for months, Redknapp's forward options look threadbare.
Redknapp's predicament is exacerbated by the failure to sign Peter Odemwingie and Peter Crouch on transfer deadline day, and Bobby Zamora's chronic hip injury.
The twice-capped England striker came on as a substitute against Norwich as he continues his convalescence from a hip operation in November and played a part in the buildup to Rangers being awarded a penalty, their best chance of victory and which Adel Taarabt had saved by the initial transgressor, Mark Bunn.
"Bobby made a big difference to us but he can't play longer than 20 minutes," said Redknapp. "His hip just seizes up on him and he might need another operation. Just getting him through 35 minutes is a miracle."
Redknapp also admitted that Chris Samba, recruited from Anzhi Makhachkala last week for a deal reported to be worth up to £34m in wages and fees, will need to be managed back to full fitness after spending two months resting during the Russian league's winter break. "I asked him yesterday how he was and his genuine answer was: '40% – I haven't played since November,'" Redknapp said. "He came out and played today, well the man is a colossus. A proper centre-half."
QPR seem increasingly capable of keeping sides at bay, last weekend's FA Cup debacle against MK Dons notwithstanding, but they could muster only three shots at goal in a dire opening half. Norwich ceded most of the possession to the hosts and their lack of pace on the counter was exacerbated by the loss on 24 minutes of the winger Anthony Pilkington to a hamstring injury which will keep him out of Republic Ireland's friendly with Poland on Wednesday. But they still managed the first two shots on target, the first a tame header from Robert Snodgrass and the second a volley from Wes Hoolahan that forced a wonderful save from Júlio César.
That stirred Rangers into an immediate response, with the introduction of Zamora drawing Norwich's attention and freeing Jamie Mackie to race into the penalty area. Mackie was heading away from goal and towards the byline when Bunn raced off his line and inexplicably ran into the forward. Taarabt's penalty was firm enough, but Bunn dived well to his left to push to safety. Rangers did not let their heads drop and dominated the rest of the match, with the on-loan Tottenham winger Andros Townsend a serious threat on either wing and another signing from Spurs, Jermaine Jenas, providing greater balance and shape in midfield after coming on for Stéphane Mbia.
Townsend had fans hoping for a winner in a belatedly promising period for Rangers, with a fierce drive from 30 yards, but Bunn again parried brilliantly to secure his side a point and give his manager, Chris Hughton, plenty of positives. "It was an excellent point to take away from home against a team who are in good form," said Hughton, who gave Luciano Becchio his debut from the substitutes' bench after his midweek arrival from Leeds United. "We're on the back of a dip in form but we wanted a reaction and we've had that. We're not getting the wins we want but we're building that gap between us and the bottom three, which is so important to us."
The QPR Squad of 25
Goalkeepers: Cesar, Green, Murphy Defenders: Ben Haim, Bosingwa, Fabio, Hill, Onouha, Samba, Traore, Yun Midfielders: Diakite, Derry, Granero, Hoilett, Jenas, Mackie, Mbia, Park, Wright-Phillips
Strikers: Bothroyd, Campbell, Remy, Taarabt, Zamora
Goalkeepers: Cesar, Green, Murphy Defenders: Ben Haim, Bosingwa, Fabio, Hill, Onouha, Samba, Traore, Yun Midfielders: Diakite, Derry, Granero, Hoilett, Jenas, Mackie, Mbia, Park, Wright-Phillips
Strikers: Bothroyd, Campbell, Remy, Taarabt, Zamora
A QPR REPORT PERSPECTIVE - CLUB RESPONSE AWAITED
The Club and its "Associations"
An ongoing matter of continued "regret" to at least this blogger: That Queen's Park Rangers FC continue to provide a forum on its Official Match Day broadcast show to "QBlockPete" - Pete Davies.
Ultimately, obviously the owners and senior management of Queen's Park Rangers Football determine who they want to employ or utilize. But equally, QPR supporters - quite a few of whom have been supporting QPR a lot longer than any of the current QPR owners, employees, or "Associates" - retain the freedom to express their views (whether supportive or critical) and concerns on matters pertaining to QPR.
If you want to express any views on this matter either privately or publicly, pm me on the QPR Report Messageboard or email at qprreport@hotmail.com
