![[image]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tRIFCdUzu2L1n_oE0jLHeG75zZ7AMHJ72d9GHL3Xqcy_8uuTf-4krCZZPuF7KSr-T9YUzJ3k7XvLnNcqppFdiPPghSaujH360HDs5wfKrZPdSgVj20_SkqcLsPR_eJhlUDWJ2Ze2ofY8lA3A=s0-d "[image]")
-The Opening of the Original Loft 29th October, 1938. From the Bushman QPR Photo Archives
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- On this Day in 1969: Horrific (but unforgettable and historic season ended with loss at Chelsea...Also On this Day in 1977: CRUSHED Manchester United 4-0 and in 2003: Last minute winner at Brentford
[How will this impact on QPR if we're relegated, and have (which we will) massive "excess costs?)
The punitive fines are the central tenet of a new “financial fair play”
framework for the Football League’s top flight, as they seek to transform
the league’s routine pre-tax losses into profits. If approved, the proposals
would also curb the kind of turbo-charged investment that saw Queens
Park Rangers legitimately record a £25.3 million pre-tax loss in
their promotion season.
The proceeds of such eight-figure fines applied on a sliding scale according
to the size of a club’s losses would be distributed to those clubs who do
comply with the rules.
Investment in youth development and the accounting charges relating to past
spending on players and stadium-building will be deductible from the
calculations. However, crucially, owners will be obliged in future to fund
their clubs not through debt but by equity: gifts, not loans.
“The fact these are equity contributions makes it far more effective than
debt,” Crystal Palace’s co-owner, Steve Parish, said. “As it is, the success
of a football club has very little to do with the funds generated in the
League. So people don’t even try to improve the business, to attract new
fans. They go instead for an overseas investor and aim for the Premier
League. By the time that person has become disillusioned they’ve added
£20-£30 million in debt to the balance sheet.”
Fortunately for QPR, the risk paid off with promotion, making their £22.2
million of new debt easier to bear. For others, the debts are dangerous.
Deloitte reported in its 2011 review of football finance that, overall, Championship
clubs spend £4 for every £3 they generate. The picture has become so bleak
that even evangelical free marketeers are converts to the new thinking.
Bristol City’s owner, Steve Lansdown, who made his fortune in financial services, said: “A few years ago I would have been totally against this because I don’t believe in any form of capping.
“I believe in the free market and that is what sport and business is all about. But there are a lot of issues in football and I have suffered as an owner, where you can spend excessively. In the emotion of the game it is very hard to curb your instincts.”
The fines would apply only to clubs who have been promoted to the Premier League: transfer embargos would apply instead to clubs who overspend and fail to win promotion.
Six months ago the rules received the unanimous “in principle” backing of Championship clubs. The Football League is now hopeful of gaining the formal approval of a 75 per cent threshold — 18 member clubs — to introduce the new regulations. If such support is mustered then the first season against which clubs will be judged is the current one, although sanctions will not apply until the 2014/5 season.
Even so, the rules must rumble down a rocky road before being implemented. The draft rules, seen by Telegraph Sport, state: “In the event that payment is not made by a promoted Championship club in accordance with [the agreed] timescale, that Championship club will be deemed to have explicitly authorised the League to notify the Premier League of such non-payment and to register the same as a [football creditor] debt due to the League.”
It would mean the fines being deducted at source from the Premier League’s broadcasting distributions to its member clubs. So far, the Premier League, which is believed not to have been consulted on the new rules, has yet to provide its consent to this area of the regulations.
The Premier League’s concerns for the integrity of its own competition while new members are forced to hand over massive sums in fines could lead to a major future conflict at Gloucester Place, where both organisations are housed. TELEGRAPH
MAIL/Sami Mokbel - QPR players mull fresh Terry handshake snub with race row pair set to meet again
Queens Park Rangers will hold a team
meeting early next week before deciding whether to shake Chelsea skipper
John Terry's hand. The west London rivals meet at Stamford Bridge a week on Sunday in a match that will resurrect the race row between Anton Ferdinand and Terry.
The Chelsea defender faces criminal charges over allegations he racially abused Ferdinand during a Premier League clash on October 23. The court case has been adjourned until July 9.
Court date: Chelsea captain John Terry (left)
will stand trial this summer accused of racially abusing QPR defender
Anton Ferdinand (right)
It is not clear whether feelings have changed since then but it is virtually certain that some members of the QPR squad would refuse Terry's hand.
Rib knock: Terry (left) could be taken out of the firing line against QPR
Terry is carrying a rib injury, so manager Roberto Di Matteo may decide to take his skipper out of the firing line.
But the Italian seems set to be short of defensive options for the game, with Branislav Ivanovic suspended and David Luiz suffering with a hamstring problem. Mail
Next: Tottenham Hotspur: "Shared" Players...Past Results and Photos....Remembering Earlier This Season (Photos from the Bushman Archives)
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Aston Villa 33 -13 35
Wigan 34 -25 34QPR 34 -19 31
Bolton 32 -29 29
Blackburn 34 -28 28
Wolves 34 -39 23