please log in to view this image Queens Park Rangers are set to avoid a crippling fine from the Football League that relates to their overstepping of the Financial Fair Play rules in 2013-14, with the punishment expected to be around a more manageable £8m. The west London club’s figures for the period in question – which was their promotion season from the Championship back into the Premier League – showed losses of £9.8m, although the chairman, Tony Fernandes, and the other shareholders wrote off a further £60m in loans. The manner in which they did so raised questions, and they have been at the heart of the FFP discussions between the club and the Football League. For QPR, who are now back in the Championship, the worst case scenario was that the Football League did not accept the write-off and applied a fine based on them losing around £70m, which would have been one of more than £50m. But the discussions have been positive from the club’s point of view and they are now expected to be docked around £8m. QPR have made a similar sum this summer following Raheem Sterling’s £49m move from Liverpool to Manchester City. Sterling began his career at QPR’s academy and when he left them for Liverpool – in a deal initially worth £600,000 but potentially rising to £5m with add-ons – the club negotiated a 20% sell-on clause which related to the profits from any subsequent sale. The details of how many of the add-ons that Sterling triggered have not been made public but it is understood that QPR received a payment of £8.8m after his transfer to City. QPR recorded losses of £65.4m in 2012-13 but they were able to show that they reduced their expenditure in 2013-14 by £22m. Fernandes, meanwhile, has argued that the FFP rules were unfair on his club, in that it was impossible for them to bring down their overheads to the required levels after their relegation from the Premier League in 2013. The squad has undergone radical surgery in light of their latest relegation into the Championship, with a number of high-earning players removed from the pay-roll. The director of football, Les Ferdinand, has overseen plenty of new signings but he has refused to pay out weekly wages of more than £20,000. http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/aug/18/qpr-fine-financial-fair-play-8m?CMP=share_btn_tw
