EPL side Queens Park Rangers Dir of Football Les Ferdinand said that the club is "suffering from several years of profligate spending and a failing youth system," according to Teddy Cutler of the LONDON TIMES. In a "withering assessment of the club’s predicament," Ferdinand "offered no excuses for another miserable season at Loftus Road that has seen QPR suffer" a second Premier League relegation in three seasons. Ferdinand’s chief concern is the expenditure -- including the eighth-highest wage bill in the Premier League, ahead of Southampton, Stoke and Swansea -- that has meant QPR is facing a fine of up to £60M ($94.4M) from the Football League for "allegedly breaching Financial Fair Play regulations." Ferdinand: "There has been a lot of money thrown at it [the club] in the wrong direction, and we’re suffering the consequences of that now." QPR Owner and Air Asia CEO Tony Fernandes is "challenging the fine via an independent arbitration panel." But regardless of whether QPR is "forced to pay out or not, Ferdinand believes the club's mindset must change." He said, "We need to regroup and realize what this club is and where it is, and the best way forward. QPR has always been a family club -- one that has brought players in from the lower divisions. I think we've gone away from that -- we have bought players who command high salaries, and we haven't had much return from that." Ferdinand "identified the failure of QPR's youth system as a potential cause of the current instability." He added, "If you look at the youth team, we haven't had someone come through to play in the first team for 16 years now. That's unheard of for a club like QPR" (LONDON TIMES, 5/16).
EXACT FINE UNKNOWN: In London, Nick Harris wrote QPR will "play in the Championship next season -- having avoided a theoretical relegation to the Conference -- after agreeing to a binding arbitration process" that could see it forced to pay a FFP fine of up to £50M ($78.7M). The "precise" level of QPR's potential fine remains unknown; the most likely range is between £35M ($55.1M) and £50M. It could also "yet be nothing" -- a panel of legal experts are in the "process of deciding whether the Football League's FFP rules are legally enforceable, and if so, to what precise extent QPR breached them." Sources said that the "most important thing for QPR fans" is that Fernandes has now "agreed to abide by whatever decision these independent experts make." In doing so, the Football League will "allow QPR to re-enter the Championship instead of facing possible demotion to the non-League, mooted previously by Football League CEO Shaun Harvey as one outcome" (DAILY MAIL, 5/16).
