Why survival now holds an even greater significance for QPR
Published:According to QPR chairman Tony Fernandes, all that matters for the club this season is survival. In fact, keeping their heads above the Premier League tide is so important that even finishing 17th on goal difference would be considered a good season.
But after revelations were made about the state of their finances during their stint in the Championship last term, survival has taken on even greater prominence for the Loftus Road side.
When figures for the last financial year are presented to the Football League in December, it’s expected that Rangers will have made losses similar to the £65.4m they squandered during their 2012/13 top-flight relegation campaign.
If those assumptions are realised, then the club will have breached the second tier’s Financial Fair Play laws, however the fact that Fernandes is now a Premier League chairman doesn’t absolve him of punishment.
If the Harry Redknapp-managed side were still members of the Championship they’d be hit with a transfer embargo, but as they’ve been promoted they can be handed a £40m fine.
Fernandes is adamant he’ll fight any charges, but with the Football League confident of their case, failure to settle the score could see the London club refused re-entry into the Championship should they be relegated again.
That would see the club slide all the way down to the Football Conference, a blow that would rip the club apart from the seams should it materialise.
The R’s are currently 6/4 to be relegated with Ladbrokes and sit in 12th place after one win and two losses from their opening top-flight gambit.
The club’s first assignment after the international break is a game against free-spending Manchester United, which QPR are 9/1 to win.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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