One that could even consign the club to the black hole that the likes of Portsmouth and Leeds have disappeared into.
The financial implications of their drop, parachute payment or not, are huge given their expensive outlay on transfer fees and wages.
Players paid huge salaries and not enough of them looking like they have the ability or desire to fight for the club the supporters love.
Is it really just 21 months ago that QPR came up on a wave of huge optimism for their first taste of top-flight football in 15 years?
They topped that Championship table of 2010-11 with 88 points, four ahead of Norwich and eight ahead of Swansea, who needed the play-offs to join them in the Premier League elite.
Compare how the three clubs have fared since then. The first season up, and while Swansea finished 11th and Norwich just a place behind, QPR required a result elsewhere to go their way, so they could survive on the final day.
In Norwich's case they stabilised and are still 12th after a dramatic late win at Carrow Road against Everton on Saturday.
Swansea, under Brian Laudrup, have pushed on again, lie ninth and yesterday won the League Cup for the first time in their history.
QPR have remained in crisis, currently staring into an uncertain future, seven points adrift of safety with just 11 games to go.
I wonder what Neil Warnock must be thinking. He was the man who in less than two years delivered the promotion to the top flight that the club had craved for so long. But changes of management and big-money signings did not signal a revival in the club's fortunes — in fact, things have got worse.
The demise has come at a cost of around £60million in net transfer spending alone and that's before you lump in the huge contracts, which range from £50,000 to £120,000 A WEEK for the top-paid players.
To think it was QPR who were the club that went up with the stronger squad — yet the tinkering at the other teams has been far more delicate.
Norwich's net spend in their time since promotion has been £15m with Swansea's even less at £5m, that includes the £2m spent on Michu.
They got rid of Warnock too early, Mark Hughes changed too much too quick and Harry Redknapp, try as he might, has been unable to bail out a ship that was already sinking.
He is not one to criticise his own players but even he was startled at how much certain players were earning for what they gave in return.
Still Fernandes has backed his man to try and dig the club out of the mess they are in with the big-money signings of Loic Remy and Christopher Samba.
But the decline is terminal. The cushion of cash has been enough for too many players to fall back on, while the pain of relegation digs deep into the Loftus Road faithful.
No comments:
Post a Comment