Barring something almost unprecedented, QPR will be dropping out of the Premier League this season. While the schadenfreude from Chelsea and Fulham fans is expected, the overall sense of glee at Rangers’ demise this season has been rather disproportionate.
In particular, Tony Fernandes seems to have become something of a figure of fun for rival fans, and I really can’t understand that. If you follow Fernandes on Twitter, and you keep abreast of his various interactions with the football community, then you’ll know exactly what I mean. He’s derided for spending so much money, he’s laughed at for funding what looks to be a losing cause, and he’s treated with a disdain he really doesn’t warrant.
Sure, there’s no better way to antagonise the average football fan than by spending a lot of money, but in this age of Venky’s and the Al-Hasawi family, shouldn’t we be embracing someone who prioritises a competitive on-pitch product?
Mark Hughes’ spending may have been haphazard and unsuccessful, and Harry Redknapp’s late January splurge may have been too late to save this season, but what criticism can you really level at Fernandes for that? If he has the money, why shouldn’t he be spending it? Nobody is more aware of the financial risks associated with relegation than a club’s owner, so who, really, are the press or the supporters to question his approach to that risk/reward conundrum?
“Oh, Fernandes is just trying to spend his way out of trouble – it’s so cynical.”
We’ve heard that a lot this season. A quick question for anyone who’s voiced that opinion over the last few months: what, exactly, did you want QPR to do in that situation? Smile sweetly and hope for the best? Ignore the squad imbalance created by Mark Hughes and embrace relegation?
If anything, in this age of austerity-loving owners and foreign investors with little interest in satiating the fans’ need for success, Fernandes should be acclaimed for using the extent of his financial muscle to try and keep his club in the Premier League.
If you don’t support Chelsea or Fulham, yet you do desperately want to see Rangers in the Championship next season, then why is that? Or is it just the slightly childish urge to see ‘the rich guy’ not get his own way for once?
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I’m a QPR fan and overall appreciate the efforts to Tony Fernandes, however there have been mistakes. The biggest of those being that he waited til the last week of the transfer window in summer 2011 to buy the club, which did not allow Warnock time to prepare for the season, leading to us giving silly contracts to people like Barton, SWP & Anton Ferdinand in a panic. That set a precedent of reckless spending and we havent really broken that culture since then.
I don’t bare Harry any ill-will but at the same I would like him to go in the summer, for us to get a young manager and try to build a side that can compete in the PL. I look at the clubs that came up with us (Norwich and Swansea), they have spent a fraction of what we have but have stability, even though they both lost their managers in the summer, the nucleus of their sides have not changed too much from the ones that came up.