Paladini - QPR Are Not a "Feeder Club" for Chelsea

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Ben Kosky/Kilburn Times - January 16
Paladini: we are not a feeder club

CHAIRMAN Gianni Paladini has vowed QPR will never become a feeder club to bitter rivals Chelsea after a media report suggested that the two clubs were becoming 'increasingly cosy'.
Rangers have just agreed a deal to extend the loan of Chelsea defender Michael Mancienne to the end of the season, while team-mate Jimmy Smith is also staying at Loftus Road until May.
A recent column in the Evening Standard hinted that other loan deals involving the two clubs were imminent - and even mischievously implied that QPR could 'become' the Blues' reserve team.
Stamford Bridge boss José Mourinho recently spoke of his wish to enter a reserve side in the Football League - an idea that received the backing of his Rangers counterpart John Gregory.
Paladini assured the Times: "We will never be Chelsea's feeder club. Our identity is Queens Park Rangers and there's no way in the world we'll merge with any other club.
"We aren't ever going to have a team of 11 Chelsea players. There will only be two or three, maximum, in the QPR side - and they've got to be players we want, not players Chelsea want to lump on us."
Smith, 20, and 19-year-old Mancienne joined Rangers on loan in the weeks following Gregory's appointment and have featured in virtually every game since.
They were the first players to join the Rs from Chelsea since goalkeeper Rhys Evans spent a lengthy loan period at Loftus Road in the 2001-02 campaign.
But any formal link-up between the two clubs would undoubtedly horrify the vast majority of QPR fans, weaned on many years of keenly-contested rivalry with Chelsea until the start of Rangers' decline in the mid-1990s.
Paladini added: "We've looked at getting players on loan from Tottenham or Arsenal, but sometimes they already have arrangements with other clubs.
"Chelsea are just around the corner, which means Smith and Mancienne don't have to move. It's much easier for them to come to QPR and we get two quality players who are doing well for us.
"I think this is good business and there's always a possibility we could buy the players at some point if we can afford it. Obviously we wouldn't be able to spend £5m or £6m."
Mancienne - who was referred to in the Standard column as 'David' Mancienne - has been named in the England under-19 squad for next month's friendly with Poland.
Rangers striker Ray Jones has also been called up for the match at AFC Bournemouth on February
. Kilburn Time