Perspective on Lee Camp at QPR, His £100,000 Nottingham Forest Move and QPR Rumours

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Dave McIntyre BBC 606 £100k for Camp is a decent deal
- Rangers have sold Lee Camp to Nottingham Forest for an initial fee of just £100,000 and believe it or not, it makes financial sense.
- The Camp v Cerny debate has been done to death.
- My view always was, and still is, that despite being somewhat overrated by QPR fans, Camp is by far the better of the two keepers and should be playing instead of Cerny.
- That’s very much a minority view, such has been Cerny’s success in turning opinions his way after a shaky start.
- But forget all that. In purely financial terms, the deal for Camp is a decent one for Rangers – however bad it may seem on the surface.
- The initial fee, followed by an additional sum in January plus two more payments based on appearances, mean Rangers should recoup at least £200,000 for Camp and maybe end up with closer to £300,000.
- That’s less than Rangers paid Derby for him and, I believe, significantly less than he is worth.
But in real terms a player is only worth what someone will pay for him, and Forest’s was the best offer on the table.
- Camp was simply not going to play for QPR this season.
- Given that, and the absence of better offers, at some point it pays to cut your losses and do business, which is what Rangers have done.
- The alternative was to have a high-earning player sitting on the bench, which would have made no financial sense whatsoever.
- Doing this deal with Forest means that beyond the small transfer fee, there is also an overall annual saving.
- Yes, it could potentially leave Rangers without adequate cover for Cerny.
- But that’s a football issue. In purely financial terms, the club have done the right thing.

- Camp had to go and while Forest have got themselves a bargain, Rangers got the best deal possible.
-No-one has been more critical of Gianni Paladini than me, but when it comes to Lee Camp he hasn’t done too badly.
- Camp’s name is rarely mentioned on the dreaded list of ‘Paladini signings’ but it was very much his.
With John Gregory’s position weak after a 5-0 mauling at Southend early in 2007, Paladini went from encouraging the re-signing of Camp on loan from Derby to insisting upon it.
Camp was a popular arrival and was later signed for a reasonable price – around £350,000.
- And after Camp fell out of favour with the top brass at Loftus Road, the deal Paladini has done to get him out of the building is, in all fairness, not a bad one in the circumstances.
- A much bigger fee for Camp was agreed last season when he departed on an initial loan deal but Forest opted not to go ahead with the signing, which was their right.

Now the transfer fee looks shockingly low, but the alternative was sheer financial lunacy.
Blame lies with Paladini and QPR not so much for the fee, but for creating unrealistic expectations among fans over transfer fees in general.
- Barely a week has gone by in recent years without some story or rumour emanating from the club – usually taken as fact by readers – that bids have been turned down for this player or that, when actual bids for QPR players are in fact very rare indeed.
- It creates discussion among supporters, many of whom will be impressed and/or grateful that interest in their favourite players is being fought off.
- But it’s a short-term gimmick that almost always comes back to haunt the club.
- It happened with Dan Shittu and especially in the case of Lee Cook, who for months was supposedly the subject of multi-million-pound bids from various clubs which were all repelled by your glorious board.
- But when Cook wanted to go and in any case needed to be sold to balance the books, only Fulham were seriously interested and Rangers spent the summer trying to cobble a deal together.
- Those who’d been led to believe Cook would fetch more cash were left disappointed.
- More recently, the kind of money Rangers are rumoured to be getting for Dexter Blackstock bears no resemblance to what Forest would pay for him, and the same applied to Camp.
- This creates a delusional view of what QPR players – and indeed most Championship players – are worth.
- This also affects how incoming transfers are perceived, with many fans seeming to think fees ranging from £500,000 to £1m somehow don’t count, and show the owners are not willing to spend big money.
- A couple of hundred grand for Camp isn’t ideal, but it isn’t to be sniffed at either.
In the circumstances, it’s a realistic fee and a decent bit of business. BBC606



Camp Speaks - Nottingham Forest Official Site - Billy Appeal Lures Camp
- The opportunity to work again for Billy Davies was the key factor behind Lee Camp's desire to join Nottingham Forest.
- The 24 year old finally got his wish today as he signed a four-year contract after Forest paid Queens Park Rangers an undisclosed fee.
- Camp played briefly under Davies for Derby and had another taste of the Scot's methods last season during his loan spell at The City Ground.
- And he told us: "I enjoyed the time I had on loan with Forest and built up a good rapport with the fans.
- "But the big thing for me is Billy - I know what he's all about and what he'll want to do and how he will approach things.
- "And having worked with him and his backroom staff before, it all fits.
- "It ticks every box and although being at home and closer to my family is important to me as well, essentially my motivation was to come and play for Nottingham Forest."
- The former England Under 21 international made 15 loan appearances for The Reds last season and had hoped the two clubs would strike a deal during the January transfer window.
- That never materialised and Camp is happy his patience has been rewarded.
- He added: "There's always a doubt that a deal won't go through but I had pretty much made up my mind as soon as I knew the club were interested.
- "I've worked with Billy before and know what he's all about. I'm very excited, am pleased that it's all done and dusted and can't wait for it to start." Nottingham Forest


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