The fact that Queen Park Rangers have been relegated from the Premier League is old news by now. Initially, QPR looked as if they may be a sure bet to battle for promotion next season as they have a track record of success in the Championship. Since 2010, QPR have won promotion to the Premier League twice, once by winning the Championship title outright, and the other by qualifying through the rigorous test that is the playoffs. The most recent time QPR were relegated, they were able to win immediate promotion the following season.
Relegated: Will QPR Ever Be Back?
The record of success QPR has experienced in the Championship is about to change. Due to the severe financial mismanagement of the club, they will likely be hit with a substantial fine, lose players out of contract, and lose players to Premier League sides looking for a cheap transfer to bolster their squad. I’m not saying a Portsmouth-style tumble down the table is the most likely future for QPR, but it is certainly an outcome that is possible.
The Championship is a difficult level to play at for any club. The rough physical style employed by clubs that may lack the financial resources to field supremely talented teams can take a toll if squad depth is an issue. The issue of squad depth is one that will be very prevalent at QPR in the upcoming seasons. They are set to lose 12 players that will be free to leave as their contracts have run out. The most notable of those players include club heartbeat Joey Barton, team leader Bobby Zamora, and oft injured, but still useful, Richard Dunne. Of course QPR will be keen to retain many of them, but there will be little incentive to stay if an offer materializes from a Premier League club.
QPR also must deal with the fact that their best players want to leave for bigger clubs, which are playing in the Premier League. Most notable from this group is Charlie Austin, who scored more goals than the rest of the team combined at 18. Austin was often the only source of attack for this squad and won many of QPR’s points by himself. Without him and Bobby Zamora, QPR lose most of their experience in the striking roles.
Next in the line of worrying trends for QPR is the lack of chemistry within the club. It was easy to see how dysfunctional the entire set up became at the end of the season as the club gave up on the field. If an early decision went against them, the club would implode, most notably in lopsided results against Manchester City and Leicester City, in which QPR were outscored 11-1 during those two games. This is a problem that will need to be fixed by an experienced manager, but who did they hire? QPR hired first-time manager Chris Ramsey to lead the team.
Chris Ramsey has essentially no first team managing experience, managing mostly youth teams and extremely low level clubs. He has never managed a group of players on the level of a Championship level squad before the end of season trail with QPR. He does have connections from his time with the English national team set up, but that is a small consolation compared to the strong credentials that players will look for in their boss.
These issues are just the normal consequences of being relegated. Every club suffers the struggles of losing players when relegated, so what makes QPR’s situation much more dire? For years, QPR has been paying wages that were unsustainable for a club their size. In years past, the amount of debt the club was taking on was a problem, but not a huge problem. If the owners agreed to support the debt, then it was all fine. Things have changed now that we live in the world of Financial Fair Play (FFP).
The rules of FFP are complicated but can be broken down best by saying you can’t spend millions of pounds more than you make as a club. It is a commonsense measure put in to stop clubs from putting themselves in severe financial trouble to chase promotion or trophies. QPR broke the rules of these relatively new regulations, and that is why they could potentially find themselves in so much trouble.
According to an article by SkySports, QPR face the possibility of a huge fine. The ownership thought they were quite clever and wrote off debt to themselves, instead of the club. That is in violation of the FFP laws and should result in a fine. Without getting into the business of speculating about the size of the fine, or if it will take place at all, QPR are in trouble. Even without the fine, the club will be watched very closely, making it difficult to pay the huge wage bills that have become commonplace.
Pair those troubles with the extreme loss of income due to being relegated from the Premier League, expect the team to be gutted. The television money received simply from being a member of the Premier League is upward of 70 million pounds. Money received from the Championship is a fraction of that large sum, making this loss of income crippling for poorly managed clubs. There are parachute payments for recently relegated clubs, but again those will not cover the cost of the money lost from the television deal.
QPR supporters should prepare themselves for some very lean years. It may be a long time before they build up a squad capable of returning to the Premier League, and if the fines are severe, QPR might never recover and tumble down the league structure.
