Spend or be damned

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Jamie Jackson
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 22 August 2012 19.42 BST

Tony Fernandes's QPR continue quest to spend or be damned

QPR's approach to sign players with little re-sale value raises questions over Tony Fernandes's vision for the club

Last September Tony Fernandes, Queens Park Rangers' new owner, told the Guardian: "The message is: 'I don't know where we'll take this club, but we'll give it our best shot.'"

In the first season following promotion the journey would be a haphazard stumble to near-relegation shaped by a scattergun recruitment policy that now stands at two managers, 40 players used and 16 recruited if Michael Dawson's expected move from Tottenham Hotspur goes through.

Factor in the desire of the manager Mark Hughes, who replaced Neil Warnock in January, to add Real Madrid's Ricardo Carvalho (on loan) and Dawson's Spurs colleague Jermain Defoe before 1 September and that is enough for a completely new match-day squad since Fernandes became majority shareholder.

All this would be fine if QPR had kicked-off their first full campaign under Hughes with style and stability, but by 4.50pm on Saturday Michael Laudrup, in his first Premier League match as a manager, had overseen Swansea City's 5-0 hammering of the Hoops at Loftus Road.

Hughes's words following their survival, despite losing 3-2 to Manchester City in that final day championship decider, suddenly convinced a little less. "We will never be in this situation again while I am manager," the Welshman said. Hughes's optimism was probably founded in his knowledge he would never have to select Joey Barton in a QPR XI again.

After witnessing how the midfielder came close to costing the club their Premier League status by being sent off against City in May, and compounding this with further clashes with Sergio Agüero and Vincent Kompany – for which Barton received a 12-match ban – Hughes hoped the midfielder's travails and tweeting would soon be someone else's problem.

Barton was the first player to be signed under Fernandes's ownership. Hindsight's wisdom now places this and his appointment as captain by Warnock as a disastrously wrong tone-setting move for the new era, one from which Hughes is still trying to recover the club.

Those 40 players called upon by QPR are five more than any other club in the corresponding period. Norwich City and Swansea City, promoted alongside QPR in 2011, have needed 29 and 28 respectively.

The profiles of the 15 signed so far during Fernandes's time in charge reveal the fault-lines in the club's policy. Only six could be expected to have either a significant sell-on value or have their best years ahead of them.

After Barton, 28-years-old when he arrived in August 2011 and who has been linked with a loan move to Marseille, came Luke Young (32, joined last August), Shaun Wright-Phillips (29, last August), Djibril Cissé (30, January) Bobby Zamora (30, January), Andrew Johnson (31, this summer), Ryan Nelsen (34, this summer), Rob Green (32, this summer), Park Ji-sung (31, this summer) and Dawson, who is 28.

If the 34-year-old Carvalho and Defoe, 29, arrive, then expect the wags at Loftus Road to whistle the theme from Dad's Army whenever QPR play. Hughes's squad also includes Kieron Dyer, 33, and Shaun Derry, 34. Both were named on the bench against Swansea.

Of the 16, only the 22-year-old Junior Hoilett, Anton Ferdinand (27), Armand Traoré (22), Nedum Onuoha (25), Samba Diakité (23) and the Manchester United loanee Fábio da Silva (22) have an argument for youth or sell-on value. Fernandes told the Guardian: "We haven't paid for 95%, many are free transfers and many of these players, for example, Junior Hoilett, have huge value."

In a multi-tweet dispatch following Swansea's 5-0 rout of QPR, Fernandes said: "That was a pretty poor anniversary. Worse than last season. But I remain positive. We haven't gelled yet. Have faith and be optimistic. I always said it takes time to gel this team and know our formation. There are some positives. Ji was great. Hoilett looked good. We dominated the first half. I don't honestly feel that bad. But 5-0 is 5-0.

"[The] defence was very poor today. No excuses. But this is a far better place we are in than last season against Bolton [QPR lost to them 4–0 at Loftus Road on the first day]. [There are] many many positives. I feel we are in a much better place, just takes time. At 2-0 we chased the game and lost shape. Its about a season not one game."

Fernandes even offered Hughes the confidence vote not always welcomed by managers. "I have a fantastic relationship with Mark Hughes," he said. "He's as disappointed as me. He will fix this. No one expected this. Better now than later. For all QPR fans we are working overtime. Once we have analysed the game we know what we have to do. Body blow but we are all fighters."

QPR are at Norwich City on Saturday, themselves 5–0 losers at Fulham last week, before a challenging three-game run which features a trip to the champions, Manchester City, the visit of Chelsea, the European champions, and the short journey to Tottenham Hotspur, who finished fourth last season.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/aug/22/tony-fernandes-queens-park-rangers?

 

Defoe! Cerny alert.....

 

The fact is that to write good news in the UK is seldom seen as news. We get all the cr&p stuff and then a sweet story at the end to make you feel it is worth living after all.

You can re-write that article something along the lines of the incredible journey the club has been on, getting rid of Bernie and Flav, bought by a true football fan, having millions to spend if required, making marquee signings and, by the way, we lost our first game.

As of now, there is a shed load more of good news compared to the bad. In the UK,however, that ain't news!

 

if it wasn't for the internet news agencies spreading this rubbish, only the 4 people who buy the guardian would've read this!! any team who has ever won trophys at the very top of football, has done so by buying it, end of...........

 

TF clever man always in the news raising the profile of the club... watch and learn my friends

 

You called....

I've said it before and I will say it again Defoe is still a target.

 

I'm not entirely sure what the point was. Poorly written because it had no natural conclusion.

Will TF know the value of the playing staff? Well he is a businessman..

Is this a short term plan? Well actually, a large amount of money is going into the club infrastructure and future production lines.

Unimpresssed and disinterested in lazy journalism.

 

"There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.

OSCAR WILDE, The Picture of Dorian Gray" Nuff said and good call DT.

 

This morning TF says squad is good and we are talking to a range of players on different levels and will be over the next 8 days. Repeats the need for team to gel. No comment on Dawson deal, discussions ongoing. Says we are calm and set to do sensible deals and he is optimistic. Not making short team decisions and will do what's right for the club, it's not a sprint. Asked about JB, says no progress, irons are in the fire and he is a QPR player at the moment and we'll wait and see what the next 8 days bring.