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GUARDIAN
Stuart James/The Guardian
QPR's profligacy and Reading's prudence could not beat the drop
The Premier League's bottom two clubs opted for conflicting transfer and wage policies to stay up but neither have much hope left of succeeding
It looks like a collision of the condemned. Reading and Queens Park Rangers, the bottom two clubs in the Premier League, meet at the Madejski Stadium on Sunday waiting to be put out of their misery. Ten points adrift with only four games remaining, the threat of relegation looms large for two clubs whose approach to the season could hardly have been more different – yet is almost certain to end with the same miserable outcome.
While Reading were frugal spenders last summer and stand accused of never giving themselves a chance to survive in the top flight, QPR cast their net far and wide, broke their transfer record twice and, in the eyes of many, committed financial suicide. Whatever the postmortems reveal, the objective for both next season is to secure an immediate return, which is a lot easier said than done.
Since the Premier League's inception in 1992-93, only 16 teams have won promotion at the first attempt following relegation. It is sobering to think that a higher number of clubs have suffered another relegation over the seasons that follow, 13 have gone into administration and four have slipped into the fourth tier. There is, in other words, no easy way back.
Harry Redknapp has already outlined his blueprint for success in the Championship. Based on the promotion he won with Portsmouth 10 years ago, the QPR manager has talked about the importance of being able to "freshen it up" and how that task was made easier at Fratton Park because "an awful lot of players were out of contract". At QPR, however, Redknapp will not have that luxury.
As things stand QPR have 25 established players whose contracts run at least until the end of next season. Rob Green, Luke Young, Anton Ferdinand, Armand Traoré, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Shaun Derry, Alejandro FaurlÃn, Park Ji-sung, Jermaine Jenas, Stéphane Mbia, Bobby Zamora, Andy Johnson, Jay Bothroyd and Djibril Cissé have 12 months remaining; José Bosingwa, Adel Taarabt, Joey Barton and Jamie Mackie have two years still to run; Júlio César, Nedum Onuoha, Samba Diakité, Junior Hoilett and Esteban Granero signed contracts that expire in 2016 while Christopher Samba and Loïc Rémy have another four years left on their deals.
While there may well be offers for players such as Mbia, Taarabt, Júlio César, Green, Granero, Hoilett and Rémy, who has a buyout clause in his contract, it promises to be a major struggle to offload others, in particular Young, Cissé, Wright-Phillips, Zamora, Johnson, Barton and Bosingwa, all of whom are in their 30s and earning north of £40,000 a week.
As for Samba, the extraordinary financial package QPR put together to sign him looks more ludicrous by the day.
"I fear for QPR. They have given wages that are total madness," says David Sullivan, West Ham United's co-owner. "I said to Tony Fernandes [the QPR owner], it's a bold move in January when you sign three or four more players on huge wages. He said: 'Well, it's one last throw of the dice.'
"It's almost unlucky they were having a bit of a run because it gave the board the belief that they could survive. Now they've got a chance in 100. How they get rid of some of the players I do not know."
The parachute payments, which from the start of next season rise from £48m over four years to closer to £60m, will help, although QPR's financial mess – they lost £23m last year and have spent a fortune on wages, transfer fees and the termination of Mark Hughes's contract since then — will not be resolved by that windfall alone.
Sullivan, who suffered relegation twice with Birmingham and once with West Ham but on each occasion won promotion to the Premier League the next season, predicts QPR will make a huge loss, which could have severe implications in terms of the Football League's financial fair play regulations further down the line. "QPR will get about £25m in parachute payments next season," Sullivan says. "But total income next year won't be £40m. And I bet their wage bill will be £70-80m. I would say next season they will lose £50m even after the parachute payment."
The influence parachute payments have on the promotion shakeup is often overstated. Since 1995-96, when the Premier League was reduced to 20 clubs, only 20 of the 51 promotions were achieved by teams benefitting from those handouts. As for the eight clubs currently receiving the £48m package agreed in 2010, Birmingham are treading water in the Championship, Blackpool, Burnley, Blackburn and Wolves are at risk of being relegated to League One while Portsmouth will start next season in League Two. Only Hull, on course to win automatic promotion, and Bolton, who occupy the final play-off place, have the chance to go up in 2013-14.
While Reading have relegation clauses in place for every player, which means one of the lowest wage bills in the Premier League will immediately be brought in line with a number of other Championship clubs, few at QPR have similar agreements, adding to their financial woes.
The one comfort for QPR fans is that they have wealthy benefactors behind the club, including the vice-chairman, Amit Bhatia, who is the son-in-law of Lakshmi Mittal, the fourth richest man in the world. Together with the backing provided by Fernandes and his Malaysian business partners, QPR have the wherewithal to swallow the costs of relegation.
Last month, though, QPR secured a £15m loan from Barclays Bank, which raised a few eyebrows and it remains to be seen how long successful businessmen will be prepared to throw good money after bad. "If the owners and directors support them fully and keep that side together, you'd have to think it has got to be good enough to get them back up," Sullivan says. "But is it? Is it just a lot of older players who are paid so much they've got no incentive to get promotion?"
At Reading, the financial fallout will be nothing like as damaging. Their outlay in the transfer market last summer was less than £5m, which Anton Zingarevich, the club's Russian owner, has since admitted was a mistake. Jimmy Kébé, the Reading winger, hit the nail on the head in December when he said: "We are a good Championship team trying to compete in the Premier League."
Reading brought in about £23m in player sales in the two years following relegation from the top flight in 2008 but there will be no repeat of those sort of figures this time around. The squad that Nigel Adkins will bring down is nowhere near as talented as the one relegated under Steve Coppell and, other than Alex McCarthy, the highly-rated goalkeeper, it is hard to imagine Premier League clubs picking away at the carcass.
For Sullivan, it is just a relief to be watching from afar. "You lose money in every direction after relegation," he says. "The big thing is the wages. You could axe 20 staff on £20,000 a year and it saves you £400,000, and you've hacked your administration to bits. It's awful. But one player can be on £3m a year and you can't shift him. I had players on £30,000 a week and you offer them £1m to go and they won't. But you can't just prune, prune, prune. You've got to go out and bring in new faces, I totally believe that."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/apr/26/qpr-reading-relegation
MIRROR - Gareth Ainsworth's 600th as Player/Looks Back
MIRROR By Darren Lewis Gareth Ainsworth exclusive: After 20 years and 599 games, Becks is the best I ever played wit Wycombe war-horse set to retire this weekend after his 600th game on the Crazy Gang, Goldenballs and how he wished he'd played for Blackburn Gareth Ainsworth took a few seconds to reflect on the best player he has ever played with during his long career. Then it came to the Wycombe midfielder. "David Beckham came over to Preston when he was 17," he said, "He ended up taking my place in the team! "He was absolutely phenomenal in training every day. He was just a kid but he was absolutely ripping it up. "He wasn't yet the best technically because he was so young and was still developing. But, potential wise, you could see that this kid was going to be brilliant. "I remember the gaffer, Gary Peters, pulling me into his office and saying, 'We're getting this kid on loan from Manchester United' and that was that. "When he turned up, there was no fanfare surrounding him, no press following him. Nothing. He just got on with his job. He was a great player and showed people around him what it took to become a top player. "When you've played with Becks, there are not many other players you could single out as being better! "He was an outstanding talent at Preston, even at that age. It's just a nice story to be able to say that I was at the club when he came to take some of the first steps in what has been - and still is - a magnificent career for him." There are a great many people who share the same respect for 39-year-old Ainsworth. The midfielder brings a fine career spanning 20 years and 599 games - from non-League to the Premier League - to an emotional close this weekend. It is fitting that his 600th and final game as a player should be against Port Vale, a club where he became Player of the Year for his performances during the 1997-98 season. Vale's promotion to League One last week means it will be all smiles at Adams Park, which is sure to show its appreciation for one of its favourite sons before, during and after the contest. After this weekend, Ainsworth devotes his energies to being a manager full-time, having signed a new, two-year deal at Wycombe earlier this week. He added: "It's the perfect game to go out on in some ways. I've had a lot of happy times at Vale. We're at home this weekend, it's my 600th appearance. I can't wait. "I think if it was a club I hadn't played for, I would be more worried, but Vale are promoted and as long as my family are with me at the end that is the most important thing for me." High points in his illustrious career begin with his first victory - the debut that ensured all his hard work as a youngster had paid off. "My first-ever professional game," he smiled, "Preston away at Shrewsbury in 1992. I'd made it as a professional and if I'd only ever played one game it would have made the world to me. "Then, obviously to play in the Premier League was special. I've played at Wembley and helped QPR to promotion on the last day of the season. There was also promotion with Wycombe as captain. "They have all been really special. But I don't think I will ever eclipse pulling the shirt on for the first time. The nerves of going out there, with mum and dad watching and thinking, 'I've made it as a professional!" Less memorable times include an ill-fated £2million move to Premier League Wimbledon in 1988. His spell in south London was blighted by injuries that limited his appearances for the Crazy Gang. Ainsworth added: "That was one that I would rank as a low point. I had wanted to move to the Premier League and there was a lot of hype about me. But I picked up a groin injury and was out for a year. That was probably the lowest ever that it got. "But I always gave it everything I had and always tried to conduct myself in the right way." There is one other regret... "Not pulling on a Blackburn Rovers shirt!" Ainsworth laughed. "I have been a fanatical Rovers fan since the age of five or six. "I got released as an apprentice at 18. So I played at reserve level but never made it as a pro at Blackburn. That could have been a nice thing to do. The club is in my blood." Ainsworth is the latest in a string of talented managers that have cut their teeth at Wycombe before going on to bigger things. Martin O'Neill, John Gregory and Paul Lambert all learned their touchline trade at Adams Park. But it wasn't until the arrival of boss Luigi Di Canio at QPR, during the stewardship of Flavio Briatore - one of the most chaotic spells at the west London club ever - that Ainsworth decided management was for him. He explained: "It's something I didn't want to do until very late in my career. Luigi was the first person who told me that I should coach and do my badges. "I thought, 'Yes, I'll do it'. And getting the caretaker job at QPR really gave me some good grounding because the chaos behind the scenes there, well, I don't think I will ever experience that again in football. "It was crazy - even more chaotic than I thought. I was right in there and there were things going on around me that I was not aware of. "It was probably the first time I had seen political things at the club that happen at all clubs but you are not aware of as a player. "I learned the other side to transfers. Results. Reporting to the chairman. It was just an eye-opener. It gave me a really good grounding. "I'm thankful but I was pleased to get out and now I want to do it my way. Any football matters have to be the managers and my time at QPR has rammed that home more than ever." As for his own managerial influences, Ainsworth is specific about the attributes he has picked up. "In terms of motivation and turning me from a boy into a man, I'd say John Beck the ex-Cambridge United and Lincoln City manager. I picked up a lot of psychological stuff and the will to win. "Then you go on to your Ian Holloways, John Gregorys and John Rudges. "Football has always added something to my game and I wouldn't be the player I am today without a combination of all of those talented men. It has been a real pleasure to play under them all." "I'm a big believer in creating your own path and not following everyone else. "If it works, fantastic. If not, it's still fantastic. "I just can't be more grateful to every chairman and every fan that has ever put faith in me and got behind me on the pitch whether as a player as a manager. "It's the best job in the world. There are a lot of people who have been there for me and I know a lot of people who would love to have had what I have experienced in the game." "The FA, with the new era at St George's Park, wants to educate coaches and managers. I really want to learn. Learn quickly but learn well. "Every single day in management something new happens and you need to know what to do. You need to handle it your way. "If I can have half the careers of some of the great guys I have learned from I will be delighted." One man who will have a lump in his throat come 4.45pm tomorrow will be Gareth's dad, Bill. Gareth added: "I cannot emphasise how much my dad has meant for my career. I've never had an agent. I have had him with me in an advisory capacity. |
MAIL/Sami Mokbel -EXCLUSIVE: QPR scrap awards night to avoid fan backlash after horror season
Queens Park Rangers have cancelled their end-of-season awards party for fear of a fans’ backlash.
The news emerged as co-owner Tony Fernandes prepared to fly to England for talks with the club’s hierarchy next week.
Rangers supporters are frustrated that the club’s lavish spending on wages has failed to head off a virtually certain drop into the Championship — and management have scrapped their planned dinner to avoid potentially embarrassing episodes.
Shambles: Queens Park Rangers have endured a difficult campaign that seems destined to end in relegation
Shambles: Queens Park Rangers have endured a difficult campaign that seems destined to end in relegation
Going down: Harry Redknapp has not been able to save QPR from the drop
Going down: Harry Redknapp has not been able to save QPR from the drop
At the end of the 2010-11 season, a brawl marred West Ham’s player awards dinner, which took place 24 hours after their relegation into the Championship was confirmed.
Instead, the QPR player awards will be handed out before the final game at Loftus Road, against Newcastle on May 12.
Fernandes is due in London next week as Rangers prepare for life in the Championship. He is expected to meet manager Harry Redknapp and other officials to begin work on a plan of action this summer. A number of the club’s top earners — including Loic Remy, Chris Samba and Julio Cesar — are expected to leave.
But Redknapp says he still has the hunger to manage Rangers if, as expected, they are relegated.
The 66-year-old believes his side can pass their way out of the Championship next season, but said the squad will need an overhaul during the summer, with ‘characters’ brought in to strengthen his team.
Redknapp stressed that Joey Barton, who is on loan at Marseille, would be welcome back and said he would target experienced players. The former Spurs boss had success with Teddy Sheringham and Paul Merson, whom he signed for Portsmouth in the twilight of their careers.
The manager said: ‘You can play football to get out of the Championship but it will be very difficult to come straight back up. It’s full of quality and tradition and big, big clubs.
Welcome: Redknapp said that Joey Barton can come back and play for the club
Welcome: Redknapp said that Joey Barton can come back and play for the club
‘I need characters that are up for playing Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday, but there have got to be some players going out first. I am ready for the challenge. I like football. I haven’t exactly got a hard life. I’m not tired of it at all.’
Redknapp also revealed that Bobby Zamora, who is suspended for tomorrow’s trip to Reading after his red card against Wigan, needs a hip operation but must weigh up the benefits of surgery as he would be out for 10 months.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footbal....-backlash.h tml
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