QPR chairman Tony Fernandes has again sought to allay fears that the club will face a financial meltdown if its extravagantly assembled squad of players is relegated to the Championship at the end of the season.

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The club’s recent accounts made for grim reading with the wage bill soaring from £26m to £51m in the first year of Premier League football. With another clutch of high earning players added to the roster since then the next set of numbers are almost certain to be worse, and by then QPR are likely to have dropped out of the top flight and lost out on the television riches it brings. It has led to fears from supporters and claims in the media that the club will be facing a financial oblivion similar to that previously seen at Leeds and Portsmouth but Tony Fernandes says not.

Following his recent post-Villa lifelong commitment statement to the official website, the Air Asia boss has spoken to the BBC about what the future would hold for Rangers if they were to drop into the second tier of English football again.

He said: "It's hard - much harder than I thought. It is tough but hopefully next year there is a lot of TV money, hopefully we are still in the Premier League and that will give us a good chance. The press have blown it out of proportion. We are not that far away from Financial Fair Play anyway. Our wage bill is a lot lower than being quoted. I mean the salary of Samba and stuff is just ludicrous when I read what they've reported. We are no different to any other club. We had to build a whole new team. None of the players who left QPR are in the Premier League anymore. These things happen."

Although Fernandes seemed resigned to the club’s fate after the heartbreaking loss at Villa Park, the players remain upbeat and focused on survival according to winger Junior Hoilett.

He told the club’s official website: “It was definitely a disappointing result against Aston Villa but the team is so together as a group. And you can see in training today how together we are. We’re all training hard, working hard and encouraging each other. We are desperate to get the wins we need to pull this off. Fans talk about what’s needed, and we’re the same,” admitted the 22-year-old. “Even in the hotels before we leave for games, we talk about what we’ve got to do. We’ve all got a big part to play in this fight for survival.”

Adel Taarabt could also be key to the fight but according to veteran midfielder Shaun Derry the Moroccan is still being held back by attitude problems. He told Talksport: “I’ve been at QPR for three years now and whenever anyone asks me about what it’s like at QPR, within five minutes people will ask me about Adel Taarabt because he’s one of those characters. He’s one of the players who people just can’t work out. I thought I could work him out, but I can’t. I’ve played a number of games with Adel and all I say for him, and I tell him to his face, he could be whatever he wants to be. At the minute he’s not in the team. He should be in the team because he’s got fantastic ability but only he and his mental state can get himself back into this football club “He can play at whatever level he wants to play at. He really is that good but you’ve got to prove it and you’ve got to have the right mentality to go out onto the football pitch. Your ability can only get you to a certain level. It’s what’s upstairs that gets you everywhere else.”

The Mirror reports that Harry Redknapp has refused a request from new Huddersfield boss Mark Robins to take Derry on loan as the deadline for temporary transfers in the Football League looms. Derry has been out of the side completely since the recent first team trip to Dubai.

Taarabt meanwhile scored but couldn’t help a very strong QPR XI going down to a 3-1 defeat at West Ham last week. Afterwards manager Marc Bircham told the club’s official website: “It was a great goal from Adel. You’ll always get that from him, he’s always there wanting the ball. Sometimes he tries a lot of hard balls which might not always come off but then he’ll have that one bit of magic that does work.

“The tempo was probably not where we wanted in the first half but it was in the second half,” Bircham said. Harry had a word at half-time after I spoke and just let the lads know that they’re not doing it as a punishment, it’s there for their fitness and to get 90 minutes under their belt while we’re coming into the run-in.”

QPR: Murphy, Young (Magri 46), Doughty (Shariff 66), Derry, Onouha, Ehmer (Brown 62), Mackie, Granero, Bothroyd, Taarabt, Hoilett.

In this international week Loic Remy played the last 24 minutes of France’s 3-1 World Cup qualifying win against Georgia; Chris Samba scored the only goal of the game as Congo beat Gabon 1-0 to put them top of their qualifying group; Stephane Mbia came on in the second half as Cameroon won 2-1 against Togo; Armand Traore was an unused sub for Senegal as they drew 1-1 with Angola; and Tal Ben Haim’s Israel side conceded two late goals to draw 3-3 with Portugal. Israel now face Northern Ireland in Group F while Spain and France face each other this week in Group I – the Spanish are second after they could only draw with Finland at the weekend.

Julio Cesar kept goal for Brazil in friendly draws against Italy (2-2) and Russia (1-1). Andros Townsend started for the England U21s as they won 4-0 against Austria in Brighton.

Luke Young and Max Ehmer were the most senior players involved with the U21 EDS side today as they secured a 4-2 win over near neighbours Brentford. Mo Shariff, Ehmer, Mikey Petrasso and Ben Brown were on the scoresheet.

QPR: Joe Lumley; Luke Young, Taylor Parmenter, Ben Brown, Sam Magri; Mo Shariff, Josh Hunt-Laurent, Max Ehmer, Mikey Petrasso; Pete Skepetis, Dylan Carriera

Subs: Tomasso Trani, Bradley Simmonds, Manni Monthe, David Fitzpatrick

According to West London Sport QPR have signed Under 16 goalkeeper Conor Hudnott following his recent release by Chelsea.

Loan Watch

Sky Sports reports today that serial-loanee Angelo Balanta is set for yet another temporary move, with League One play off chasing Yeovil Town looking at a short term deal for the striker.

Very little action for the loaned R’s elsewhere this weekend with Anton Ferdinand’s Bursaspor, Ale Faurlin’s Palermo and Joey Barton’s Marseille off for the international break and a host of other games, including those involving Michael Harriman and Bruno Andrade at Wycombe and Tom Hitchcock at Bristol Rovers falling victim to the inclement weather.

Former R’s

Stefan Moore has signed for Conference North side Brackley Town and Evo-Stik League Southern Premier outfit Leamington on a dual registration deal. The striker, still only 29, had three unsuccessful years with QPR but had more recently been scoring prolifically for St Neots Town. He had 78 goals in 83 appearances for the Saints over the last two seasons and scored ten early this season before moving to Leamington to be closer to his Midlands home at Christmas. Brackley have now moved to secure his services on a duel-reg deal.

Premier League Shorts

- Brighton manager Gus Poyet has rejected the chance to join relegation threatened Reading leaving the Royals still searching for a boss as the international break starts to draw to a close. Paulo Di Canio and Roberto Di Matteo have both been linked with the post but The Guardian reports that former Southampton boss Nigel Adkins is now set for the Madejski Stadium.

- Norwich have agreed to sign striker Ricky Van Wolfswinkel from Sporting Lisbon in the summer for a fee in the region of £8.5m. The Holland international, 24, will sign a four-year deal on 1 July.

- Long serving Newcastle goalkeeper Steve Harper says he does have regrets about now pursuing first team football earlier in his career now the Magpies have told him he will be released at the end of the season. The 38-year-old has been at St James Park since 1993 but has made less than 200 appearances for the club. He said: "The period Shay was playing year in, year out, in the early 2000s, that's when I should have done something about it. Ultimately I wanted to stay and play week in, week out, which I did over two, two-and-a-half years, and not many people get the opportunity to do that at such a fantastic club."

- Stoke striker Michael Owen says he would consider a managerial position in the future after admitting defeat in a long running battle against injury and announcing his intention to retire at the end of the season. Owen said: "I find it hard to say no to people. If someone offers you a good job, I'd think, 'I would love to do that'."

- West Ham will leave Upton Park and move to the Olympic Stadium after a long, drawn out wrangle ended with the government agreeing to stump up more cash for the renovation of the Stratford venue. The government will now pay £60m towards the £190m renovation and West Ham will pay £2m every season in rent alone.

Parish Noticeboard

The following tube and train closures are in operation this Bank Holiday Monday:

- The Circle Line is closed from Gloucester Road to Aldgate and the District Line is shut from Earl’s Court to Aldgate East.

- There is no Northern Line between Kennington and Camden Town on the Bank branch, or Camden Town and Edgware on that side of the two north branches. Trains will run as normal between Kennington and Morden, on the Charing Cross branch through town, and on the High Barnet branch at the north end. Rail replacement bus services will run.

- The Jubilee Line is replaced by buses between Stanmore and West Hampstead.

- The Metropolitan Line is closed from Aldgate all the way up to Uxbridge and replaced by buses. It will operate from Chesham, Amersham and Watford as far as Harrow-on-the-Hill. In addition, there are no Chiltern Trains between Marylebone and Amersham.

- No DLR between Canning Town and Beckton.

Furthermore, those coming from Reading, Staines, Windsor and Weybridge into Paddington and Waterloo should plan their journeys carefully in advance because extensive engineering works at Reading station have decimated the timetable.

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Pictures – Action Images

Photo: Action Images

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