A time we all worried about, and some media loved it.
I still think the League are punishing us now as they feel we slipped through their net
QPR's promotion party could be ruined by Alejandro Faurlín legal case
Neil Warnock's side will go up if they win at Cardiff today but FA charges over third-party ownership could send them down againJamie Jackson
@jamiejackson___
Fri 22 Apr 2011 22.30 BST First published on Fri 22 Apr 2011 22.30 BST
This article is over 7 years old
Shares
0
Alejandro Faurlin, QPR v Derby County
Alejandro Faurlín will be the subject of an independent panel which will rule on seven FA charges. Photograph: Tony O'Brien/Action Images
Queens Park Rangers will return to the Premier League if they beat Cardiff City in Saturday's lunchtime kick-off in Wales. This is the supposed scenario. Yet away from the pitch the party could be ruined.
On 7 May QPR hope to host Leeds United at Loftus Road as the Championship champions before returning to the top division for the first time since player-manager Ray Wilkins took them down 15 years ago. Yet, the day before, QPR could be docked enough points that prevent automatic promotion, and to force them into the lottery of the play-offs.
After a three-day hearing an independent panel will return its verdict on the seven FA charges brought against the club and its chairman, Gianni Paladini. These relate to the third-party ownership of Alejandro Faurlín, the Argentinian midfielder who has been among QPR's best performers in a campaign during which they have led the Championship almost throughout.
For a club 95% owned by the billionaires Bernie Ecclestone and Lakshmi Mittal, this is an unwanted and potentially disastrous pickle to be in. For Neil Warnock, the manager who has the opportunity to restore the west London institution of Rodney Marsh, Stan Bowles and Les Ferdinand to the big time, there is no concern.
"Not to me," he says. "I didn't want to speak to anybody at the club because I'm not sure what I would hear. So I spoke to the independent barrister and I was very pleased with what he said. I told the players: 'This is from an independent barrister. All we've got to do is worry about the football and let him worry about this.' I'm quite happy when the facts come out that everything will be OK."
Leniency, though, is not assured. QPR are the first club to be charged with breaching the prohibition against fielding a player whose registration, or "economic rights," is owned by a private concern. The four most serious charges relate to the allegation that Faurlín was owned by what is understood to be an Argentinian company in the period from July 2009, when he arrived, until October 2010.
West Ham United were fined £5.5m by the Premier League, after Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano were signed in 2006 and later found to have been partially owned by a third party, but this was not necessarily a precedent. When they joined West Ham, third-party ownership was allowed. The club was actually fined for failing to disclose the agreement to the Premier League.
QPR deny all charges. The club will argue that, because their breach of regulations was flagged up as soon as they became aware of it, clemency should be afforded. But ignorance is not usually a legal argument. And, while QPR may yet receive only a fine, if they are docked points Warnock's men may find when the season ends that even a gap of 10 or 15 points to the third-placed team is not enough for automatic promotion.
All that a side which includes Adel Taarabt, the Championship player of the season, Faurlín, Paddy Kenny, Clint Hill, Shaun Derry, Heidar Helguson and Kaspars Gorkss can do is maintain focus.
As they kick off against Cardiff the Welsh club stand eight points behind QPR. The message from Warnock, who is the 10th manager since Ecclestone, Mittal and the now departed Flavio Briatore bought the club in 2007, is to enjoy. "It's an exciting time. A full house at Cardiff, it'll be a fabulous atmosphere. That's why you're in the game."
Warnock's 13-month tenure has been a success. The 62-year-old is fond of repeating that, despite QPR's cash-soaked owners, he often selects a team that cost only £2m (at £3.5m, Faurlín is the club's most expensive player). Warnock said: "We never envisaged where we would be now. Not in a million years. I said between fourth and eighth, depending on what happened at Christmas. We've played some great football and had some good results with a good mix: solid at the back and some creative players."
Taarabt, a 21-year-old Moroccan, is the undoubted star. "We realise what Taarabt's got," he says. "I tell our players: 'Look at what he's good at. Because if you looked at what he's not good at, you'd want to hang him every week.'"
Previously Warnock has lifted Notts County, in 1991, and Sheffield United, in 2006, into the top flight. Would taking QPR up be the pinnacle of his 43-year career? "Absolutely. It'd be the best job I've done because from being almost relegated when I turned up to not far off the Premier League in 13 months is incredible."
Warnock still argues bitterly that West Ham's ability to field Tevez in the 2006-07 season allowed them to avoid relegation and sent Sheffield United down.
The fear is that, if Cardiff are defeated, or whenever promotion should become automatic for QPR, off-field transgressions could yet again initiate another bout of unwanted acrimony and legal wrangling.
...HAVE NEVER BOUGHT THIS RAG SINCE
....
.
...
..from the sublime to the ridiculous the last two!
....
....
......
....Terry Mancini.....
....Flying Gerry Francis ...
......Mirror mirror .....Morgans