Adel Taarabt back in QPR training after Tony Fernandes intervention

Adel Taarabt back in QPR training after Tony Fernandes intervention

• Taarabt back in training with Harry Redknapp’s first team
• Redknapp had been engaged in spat with player over fitness
• Fernandes orders end to row between player and manager
• Taarabt: I’m being made a scapegoat

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The Guardian, Wednesday 22 October 2014 14.51 BST
Adel Taarabt trained with the QPR first team after chairman Tony Fernandes acted to end the player's war of words with Harry Redknapp. Photograph: BPI/Rex


Adel Taarabt trained with Harry Redknapp’s first-team squad at Queens Park Rangers on Wednesday as club, manager and player attempted the first tentative steps towards a measure of reconciliation after their very public recent fall-out.

The QPR chairman, Tony Fernandes, had issued a statement on Tuesday admonishing the pair for the spat which had erupted over the midfielder’s weight and ordered both parties to cease their war of words. The club declined to go into detail over what internal action, if any, had been taken against Taarabt or, indeed, Redknapp with the potential there for both to be fined in the wake of their dispute earlier this week.

Taarabt had appeared to bring the club into disrepute with his unauthorised response to Redknapp’s claims that he is three stone overweight, comments made after Sunday’s 3-2 defeat to Liverpool at Loftus Road. The Moroccan could have been fined up to two weeks’ wages for his own comments – he earns £65,000 a week, with the Professional Footballers’ Association monitoring the situation closely – though there was also the possibility that Redknapp could be disciplined with Fernandes’s patience sorely tested by his outbursts first in his post-match press conference and then in print on Tuesday afternoon.

The London club’s squad had been granted two days off after the match against Liverpool, meaning Wednesday was the first day manager and player would come face to face since the spat. Taarabt was in attendance at QPR’s Harlington base and is understood to have trained with the first team. While the priority is uniting the squad before next Monday’s game against Aston Villa – QPR currently prop up the division – any peace between the two is likely to prove temporary with the player, who is contracted until 2016, expected to leave Loftus Road in January, if not before on loan.

Fernandes’s statement read: “As a club, we are fully aware of stories in the press over the last few days regarding Harry Redknapp and Adel Taarabt. We regret these issues being played out in public and both Harry Redknapp and Adel Taarabt have been notified of our disappointment regarding their handling of the situation. I have spoken to them both personally.

“On behalf of the club, I would like to apologise to the QPR supporters for the embarrassment this has caused and confirm that the issue has been dealt with internally. The club’s entire focus is now on the Aston Villa fixture next Monday and hopefully after a tough few days we can turn a negative into a positive and build on Sunday’s improved display.”

Redknapp had accused Taarabt, who has made only two substitute appearances in the Premier League to date this term, of being overweight, prompting the 25-year-old – who spent time on loan at Milan last season – to respond: “[Redknapp] spends most of the time in his office but when he gets off the phone he comes down to watch for five or 10 minutes – he never takes a session. The training sessions aren’t what I would expect under another manager. They are not as intense, the players aren’t as motivated.”

The manager subsequently told the Sun: “The only reason he has lost weight is because he has had tonsillitis. That’s the only way we could get any weight off him. He is not fit to play a game, that’s the truth. He is the worst professional I have ever come across and I have been his only ally at QPR for the past three years. He doesn’t try and I have protected him for too long.

“The fitness coaches at QPR, everybody tells me he doesn’t try. He doesn’t want to run around. I have tried to protect him until now, but the fans have to know what’s going on. Even I could suck my stomach in for a picture and look OK.”

After Taarabt’s loan spell at Milan, the Italian side deemed QPR’s £6m asking price for a permanent deal too steep to pursue. However, the Rossoneri’s chief executive, Adriano Galliani, praised the player’s commitment during that spell at San Siro. “I can’t talk about the merits of this specific situation and I don’t want to get involved in it,” Galliani told the Evening Standard. “All I can say is that when Taarabt was with Milan, he did very well. I have read what has happened this week but I don’t know the exact nature of it. However, when Taarabt was with us he played well, trained well and behaved as a serious professional.”

 

Lets start a new...here too as well as in the team

 

pick him this week
if he is 3 stone overweight we will soon know
if he plays well then harry will know

 

This is madness, we need to win this match....................if Arry is right, it is a stupid way to show that.

 

Ignore all the **** that has gone on, and pick our best 11.

Last weeks starting 11 deserve to start again.

Would love it if Adel knuckled down, trained hard and made the bench.

 

Yes the bench seems like a likely compromise.

 

Our team was granted two days off after losing another match

WTF....... That's what I find amazing. Must get me a different job.

 

Adel isn't the knuckling down type, his place on the bench should be on merit & not for show. We have an opportunity to pick up points against a beatable Villa side, that should be our only focus.

 

I was just about to post the very same thing.....no wonder bloody fitness is an issue.....

Surely they would be doing analysis of the game and looking at Villa to pinpoint where they are weak, but then with Redknapp, Bond & Jordan in charge what am I talking about!!!!

 

This!
It ain't rocket science (oops that's another thread :-/ )

 

Seems like he's been told to give Adel another chance and prob put him on the bench to appease fans and media alike.
Dont know how this will go down with others actually making an efort in training and not making the banch. Dont be suprised if he gets Yuns place. That would make us all happy wouldn't it
Wonde how its going o affect the team spirit also. A player being played because the owner says so. Sounds like we have gone even further backwards.
TF has to either back his manager or get rid IMO. Cant be everybodys friend all the time

Really cant see Harry enjoying being told what to do by TF. This could get really intresting, really quickly

Watch this space.....

 

If he's on the bench I hope it has an RSJ in it...

 

Shallow Hal