Badly run clubs like QPR and Blackburn ruin themselves. They don't need to be punished any more Bad football clubs impose their own penalties, with bad business Bad owners make bad signings, buy bad players, for bad money, get bad results and achieve bad league positions Near the foot of the Championship, right now, are Blackburn Rovers, a club that may yet be regulated into oblivion by the Football League Yet it is also one operating under the restraints of a transfer embargo since the start of the year The Football League's punishment is disproportionate; potentially ruinous when Blackburn were half-ruined anyway By MARTIN SAMUEL - SPORT FOR THE DAILY MAIL PUBLISHED: 23:14, 25 August 2015 | UPDATED: 23:14, 25 August 2015 Finally, the Football League came to their senses over Queens Park Rangers. Being a bad football club is punishment enough. It does not need extreme action from above. Bad football clubs impose their own penalties, with bad business. Bad owners make bad signings, buy bad players, for bad money, get bad results and achieve bad league positions. The good players can’t wait to get out, and decent managers become contaminated by the foolishness. What would be the point of the Football League extracting a further £50million from QPR, as was first mooted? Tony Fernandes has as good as thrown that on the bonfire, and been relegated. Twice. The real shame is that he meant well. A lot of bad owners do. Near the foot of the Championship, right now, is a club that may yet be regulated into oblivion by the Football League. Blackburn Rovers have two points from four games and were eliminated from the Capital One Cup by Shrewsbury. please log in to view this image Charlie Austin could be set to move away from Loftus Road as QPR continue to struggle Gary Bowyer, the manager, is already touted as the first sacking of the season. As of January this year, Blackburn had debts of £79.8m. So this is a bad club, no doubt of that. Yet it is also one operating under the restraints of a transfer embargo since the start of the year. Leeds United and Nottingham Forest are, too. The Football League allow an annual loss of just £8m and in season 2013-14, Blackburn were down by £42.1m. In this way, they were bang to rights. Blackburn are able to sign only free transfers or loan players, have wage restraints and a maximum squad size of 24. At the time the embargo was imposed they were ninth in the league. They are now in a relegation battle and their best players, such as Rudy Gestede, have left. The Football League’s punishment is disproportionate; potentially ruinous when Blackburn were half-ruined anyway. Venky’s, who took over the club in 2010, have been disastrous owners. They sacked Sam Allardyce and appointed the inadequate Steve Kean, who promptly got them relegated. He was replaced by Henning Berg, gone in 57 days, and then Michael Appleton, gone in 67 days. please log in to view this image Gary Bowyer (right) is favourite to get the sack after Blackburn's disappointing start to the campaign Bowyer had at least consolidated, and Blackburn had settled into relative mediocrity as a mid-table Championship club. And then along came the Football League with their giant ant-squasher of justice. League One now beckons. Why are Blackburn losing so much money? It’s a familiar story. They bought poorly, but expensively, in the Premier League and after relegation could not get poor, expensive players off the books. FFP punishments are set as if owners nefariously overspend in the cause of glory. Mostly, they leak funds through poor strategy while trying to survive in the Premier League. QPR threw money at trying to stay up, but went down anyway. It wasn’t as if they then aimed many millions at the project in the Championship and won the league by 20 points. They bought relatively cheaply — mainly free transfers with the exception of Charlie Austin and Matt Phillips — and scraped up, via the play-offs, with a travesty of a victory, having been outplayed by Derby County. please log in to view this image QPR celebrate a Wembley win after beating Derby in fortuitous fashion to seal a Premier League place Once there, a hapless squad were relegated again. At least their proposed FFP fine, around £8m, doesn’t put the club in jeopardy. How £50m was even discussed by any reasonable body is a mystery. The Football League might as well have seized Loftus Road and told the club to play in the park. There are ways of regulating football without doing harm; and owners who need regulating. For while Blackburn, Forest and Leeds remain bound in red tape, Owen Oyston continues to destroy Blackpool without so much as a word of caution. He’s not spending money, you see. Ambition, that’s the crime. You are free to be a bad owner in the Football League — you just can’t be bad trying to be good. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...n-don-t-need-punished-more.html#ixzz3js7ZLZAl Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Here's another similar article that makes for interesting reading from Feb '13 by Samuel ... He seems to be fighting in our corner. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...es-chasing-glory-beautiful-balance-sheet.html
Sensible article. Difficult to argue with much. Some very apt points. Vankys and Oysten at least makes Tony look a saint.
I fail to see how financially kicking a team when they're down and out can be beneficial in any way, demotion makes the most sense penalty-wise, not fining a club money it doesn't have...
I thought the object of football was to score goals. They didn't - we did (just one, but that was enough!)
Good article. Regrettably it is full of far too much common sense to have any impact on the decision makers.
The article seems to suggest that the FL have done us a favour by agreeing a lower fine. I suspect the truth is that the FL were terrified that its fair play rules would be tested judicially and found to be wanting
The only problem i have with this piece is that it is written by Harolds mate, the same one who gave us grief over the way Harold left......note there is no mention of who brought in these overpriced players, he lays the blame firmly at Fernandez who was basically doing what Redknapp was asking......he also displays his bitterness about the play off......sad really because in the main what he says makes sense.
I was on a train home with a few Derby fans who were arrogant even after they lost. Stupid muppets blew it last season as well.
This may be of some interest being it's about the financial side of things QPR and championship clubs wise. please log in to view this image http://www.insidermedia.com/insider...football-finance-championship-debt-hits-11bn? Interesting to see Notlob in the same mire as us.
Yes but it won't take into account further owners loans to the club since the last set of accounts. I think the total will be more like £250m, or over £300m without the write off. But may have been reduced a bit because of prem telly. Still as long as the debt stops growing now, they don't start charging interest or ask for their capital back, it's all hunky dory.
We're s bad, we're so bad, so bad so bad so bad. He omits we have also got promoted twice in the last five years and stayed up once. Not so bad, and not so boring.
TF employed two of the highest rated English managers and gave them a budget that should have easily kept us in the top flight. One of those managers is now being lauded for his efforts at Stoke. In what way does that make him a bad owner? The Venky's on the other hand were totally cavalier with their managerial appointments and starved Blackburn of funds at the critical moments.
Fair point. We certainly haven't got the worst owner in Fernandes. I suspect, however, a "good" owner, as opposed to simply an enthusiastic one, would not have allowed the manager to act like a kid in a sweet shop. In the case of Hughes, what he wanted, he got. The Stoke board will be exercising a far greater degree of scrutiny over his dealings on the transfer market than QPR did.
