A likely midtable finish in the Championship would be the best result for Queens Park Rangers in more than a decade, but with the recent departure of manager Paulo Sousa — who alleged ownership lent Dexter Blackstock to Nottingham Forest without his knowledge, When Saturday Comes Daily insists, “no satire written on the recent adoption of football as a plaything by the international jetset could match what is happening for real at Loftus Road.”
Evidence suggests that, like many wealthy men dabbling in a new interest, Flavio Briatore doesn’t seem to have prepared to listen to expert advice “ or else he didn’t ask the right people. If the QPR chairman began with zero knowledge of football personnel and tactics 18 months ago, then it’s reasonable to assume that what little he has picked up since has come from discussions with agents, whether they are lobbying for their players to be picked in the team each week or touting their clients as possible signings. And plenty of agents must have been getting their calls returned over the last two seasons, during which QPR have had two European managers and a plethora of players from overseas.
Then there is the question of what the QPR owners hope to achieve. Even if the club got promoted it’s highly unlikely that they could become a significantly bigger outfit than they are currently. At a time when Chelsea and Fulham are enjoying the most successful periods in their history there is no new fanbase in west London, or further west of the capital, for QPR to tap into “ and certainly no cause for them to think they would need a significantly bigger new stadium, as has been mooted.
The latest rumour is that Briatore wants Darren Ferguson to take over. But if Sir Alex’s son continues on his upwards trajectory with Peterborough he will surely get much more enticing offers. In fact, for a manager to accept the QPR job at the moment would be a sign of a lack of ambition, of someone happy to turn up for a big pay packet for a year or so before being summarily dismissed by the Grand Prix pillocks.