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"Weekend Flashbacks"
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- Compilation of Reports QPR's WIN OVER CRYSTAL PALACE
- Some Great Photos from QPR-Crystal Palace
- For UK Users only (Sorry!): Video Highlights of QPR-Palace Game
- Chinese Video "China Football Hooligan Song Japan QPR .flv"
Mail - QPR and Crystal Palace face FA charges after bottles hurled at keeper Kenny
- Queens Park Rangers and Crystal Palace could face FA charges after bottles were thrown at Rangers keeper Paddy Kenny in QPR's 2-1 win at Loftus Road on Saturday.
- The FA will consider the referee's report on Monday.
- Meanwhile, QPR chairman Gianni Paladini brushed aside a possible points deduction for his club over alleged breaches of regulations.
- He said: 'Why should I be concerned about anything? Of course I'm not concerned" Mail
MIRROR/Neil Mcleman- Facts behind Ranger's Faurlin charges
- The FA last week charged QPR, and chairman Gianni Paladini, on seven counts over the transfer of Alejandro Faurlin in 2009.
- The Championship leaders have already denied the charges while also claiming “there has been no deliberate wrongdoing”. Once QPR respond formally to the FA, a commission of inquiry will be established “within weeks” with the aim of reporting a decision before the end of the season.
- The facts:
- Faurlin joined from Instituto on a three-year deal “worth” £3.5million in 2009.
- The FA have been investigating the case since September when QPR asked for permission to buy out a third party that owned Faurlin’s economic rights.
- The Football League notified the FA because the club appeared to be in breach of FA regulations for over a year.
- After the Tevez Affair, the Premier League and FA clarified the rules to ban any form of third party ownership in English football.
- The questions are:
-1. What evidence do the FA have of third party ownership?
- 2. Is ignorance of breaking the laws a legitimate defence?
- 3. If found guilty, will the FA impose a greater punishment than the Premier League which gave West Ham a £5.5m fine over the Tevez Affair?
- Warnock, the ex-Sheffield United manager, claimed: “The points deduction should have been automatic.” Mirror
TELEGRAPH -Queens Park Rangers defiant in the face of FA charge
There is an air of defiance about Queens Park Rangers. They face the possibility of a points deduction after being charged by the Football Association over the details of the signing of Argentine Alejandro Faurlin, but few seem concerned at Loftus Road.
In the lead: Heidar Helguson put QPR ahead in their game with Crystal Palace at Loftus Road Photo: GETTY IMAGES By John Ley 7:41PM GMT 13 Mar 2011
John's Twitter
Saturday’s 2-1 victory helped Rangers forge a 10-point gap at the top of the Championship and while Norwich can reduce that to seven on Monday, Rangers need 19 points from their final nine games to be certain of promotion.
The FA could have a say in that and a speedy conclusion is expected, but a fine seems a more likely scenario over the Faurlin affair. Indeed, neither manager Neil Warnock nor chairman Gianni Paladini appear too concerned that the transfer of a player nearly two years ago will halt their progress.
Several questions over the affair, related to third-party ownership, remain publicly unanswered, but as Paladini said: “Why should I be concerned about anything? Of course I’m not concerned.”
Warnock added: “I’ve just got to trust the people I speak to. I’ve got to let the legal people get on with it. I’m happy with what they have told me about what we are going to do.
“I wasn’t aware of anything until two hours before it came out. I’m too old in the tooth now to believe everything I hear or read.
“When you’ve been through what I’ve been through over the last few years, to have a team like this... I’m going to enjoy every minute. I’m having the time of my life.”
The fans in London W12 now believe they are heading for a return to the division they last played in 15 years ago. The days of Ray Wilkins and Les Ferdinand may be long gone but a fellow Ranger of that era believes the club’s time is ready to return.
Dougie Freedman, now the Palace manager, was in the squad at Loftus Road when the club were in the top flight.
“I would like to see QPR go up for the club’s sake,” said the Scot, who failed to make the first team in his time at Rangers. “They were in the Premiership then and the fans have always stuck by them. I hope they do it for that reason.
“They have really good, top quality players — that is why they are top of the league. They know when to put pressure on, when to take slow free kicks, when to take quick corners, that is the difference.
“They have got too many players in every position with that experience that you can’t quite buy. And if you do have to buy them, you have got to have QPR’s money to buy it. That is the difference.”
Such was proved when Adel Taarabt, later described as a “matador” by Warnock, provided the pass – the 19th time he has assisted a goal – for Heidar Helguson to secure the lead.
Palace’s response was impressive, James Vaughan finishing with ease before the controversial winner.
Paddy McCarthy seemed to play the ball when challenging Vaughan but Martin Atkinson gave a penalty and sent off the Irishman before Helguson converted the spot-kick. It prompted an angry reaction from some Palace fans, who threw bottles and other objects at QPR goalkeeper Paddy Kenny. The FA said last night it would investigate the trouble.
Palace looked sprightly and came close to a draw. Afterwards Freedman revealed that a spot of yoga is helping his players fight relegation.
“I did it towards the end of my career and it really helped me,” he said. “It is about giving the guys the opportunity to get together in a room, very quiet and stretch. I feel it is something that will help.” Telegraph
DAVID MCINTYRE BLOG re Faurlin Allegations
- Quite a week By davidmcintyre
Despite the odd dig at newspapers over their coverage of the Alejandro Faurlin affair, Neil Warnock is experienced enough to know how these stories tend to be covered.
Warnock is quick to point out that he isn’t able to comment too much on the issue. There are also limits on how it can be reported.
There are limits partly because, at this stage, it’s a story that’s very difficult to develop and take forward. There isn’t really much that can be added to the statements by the FA and the club. Much of the rest has been based on predictable snippets emanating from QPR this week, or pure speculation.
In some ways it’s comparable to the absolute non-story that was the Football League’s supposed threat to remove Flavio Briatore as Rangers owner.
That one took on a life of its own, despite the fact that there was never any chance whatsoever that Briatore’s status at QPR would be affected (at least by the League) because of his Formula One ban. Anyone who suggested otherwise simply didn’t understand how the club’s ownership worked and was structured.
I say comparable only in some ways, because it was another case of the media chasing its own tail and speculation being taken as fact, but the difference is that this time the issue is real, as is the possibility of a bad outcome for QPR if a verdict goes against them.
I’ve followed Faurlin’s QPR career from the very start, having done the first story that ‘Alejandro Damian Faurlin’ was on his way to London to sign for Rangers, which at the time the club were typically unamused to see appear in the press.
From my time putting that story together, I know that the situation with Faurlin was complicated and confusing, although that is often the case with overseas signings.
I also said soon after the signing went through that Instituto de Córdoba, his club at the time, received little or nothing for him, that the cost of the Faurlin transfer was one of a number of issues on which QPR fans have been misled in recent years, and that the ridiculous price tag was the result of the club’s preoccupation with sticking it to their critics.
Clive Whittingham also touched on that in an excellent article on the LoftforWords website this week, mentioning as well Gianni Paladini’s apparent suggestion on a radio programme that QPR had paid nothing for Faurlin.
Jim Magilton, Rangers’ manager at the time of Faurlin’s signing, was unhappy about the bizarre price tag placed on the player’s shoulders. The whole issue was typically badly handled by a badly-run club, and is just one of a host of examples of how poorly the club has operated since 2005.
It’s also another example of the knots QPR can tie themselves in when looking for short-term approval.
Another was the implication that the ever-popular Mittals had ended the Briatore era, which made Bernie Ecclestone’s subsequent buy-out of Briatore hard for QPR to explain. So they didn’t.
But confusion and incompetence is not the same as breaching FA rules. It’s up to the FA to prove QPR did this, and Rangers to show that they did not.
It’s certainly true that the club are very confident indeed that they have nothing to worry about. They have been keen to put out that message via those willing to report it, and it’s also reflected in Warnock’s comments.
Fans might take some comfort from that. However, since 2005 QPR have been involved in a number of legal cases, disciplinary hearings and the like, have sent out a similar message of absolute, overwhelming confidence, and lost.
That said, there is no doubt that Rangers, with the obvious strength of their owners, are now well placed to fight their corner.
The club is arguably more powerful, and certainly wealthier, than the FA and all the Championship clubs potentially affected by any verdict put together.
An outcome that denied QPR Premier League football would doubtless be challenged beyond when next season is due to start, which would be a nightmare for the authorities for obvious reasons.
It’s been speculated that the reference to “no deliberate wrongdoing” in QPR’s statement suggests they will argue that if any rules were broken, it was unintentionally.
If incompetance is to be part of QPR’s defence, the club should have plenty of supporting evidence to hand, based on events of the last few years. In fact they might need the length of the Wembley pitch to set out that argument, not merely a room within the stadium.
Paladini’s enemies, and there are plenty of them, will no doubt see all this as his potential nemesis.
On the subject of his enemies, Paladini and his allies have long suspected supposed friends of those he ousted in 2005 of plotting against him. There have been rumours of League and FA investigations into QPR’s dealings long before now.
Paladini has always argued that this, coupled with new rules brought in by the sport’s governing bodies, mean that every aspect of his work has to be absolutely beyond reproach, and any dodgy dealings on his part would be impossible to hide.
And while some of his opponents feel Paladini is finished at QPR regardless of the outcome of the FA charges, they’ve said that before.
They said it in the build-up to the infamous 2005 boardroom battle, which he won. They said it after the outcome of the Dave Morris trial. They said it after the Briatore/Ecclestone takeover. They said it when Iain Dowie, his recommendation to the board, was at loggerheads with Briatore. They said it when Paulo Sousa, a double Champions League winner, was at loggerheads with him. They said it when Paladini relinquished the title of sporting director last year and his future was assessed. And they’ve said it on numerous other occasions too.
If QPR successfully fend off the FA’s charges, or incur a punishment that doesn’t stop them being promoted, it’s perfectly possible that Paladini will emerge much stronger.
You can be certain his supporters will argue that thanks to him Rangers secured a quality player in Faurlin, paid nothing for him, and the signing was so audacious and skilful it made the FA suspicious, perhaps even earned the club a slap on the wrist, but ultimately the deal was sound, showing just what a brilliant operator Paladini is.
The man credited with saving the club – something that drives his enemies to distraction – could then be credited with getting it promoted.
Whatever else Paladini is or isn’t, he’s a survivor. A notorious survivor in a business notoriously difficult to survive in. The list of people he has seen off at QPR proves that. David McIntyre Blog
QPR 37 36 73
Swansea 37 16 63
Norwich 36 13 63
Cardiff 37 14 62
Leeds 37 11 61
Nott'm Forest 37 14 60
Burnley 35 9 56
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