If there was ever a club synonymous with instability, it was QPR. But not for much longer. For once, the capital club appears to be acting sensibly.
Tjaronn Chery has revealed to the Independent that a revamped wage structure has lead to a revamped mentality at QPR.
The capital club have been held up as an example of how not to run a successful football club in recent years due to a series of calamitous, and expensive, signings.
The Independent reported that former boss Harry Redknapp agreed to pay Christopher Samba (below) £100,000-a-week to join on loan from Russian side Anzhi in January 2013, a decision that came to epitomise the club’s reckless spending as the former Blackburn centre-back’s dreadful performances contributing heavily to QPR’s limp and inevitable relegation.
Consequently, Rangers revised their approach following yet another Premier League failure in 2014/15, introducing a £20,000-per-week wage cap, the Independent claim, while subsequently parting company with a number of high earners, including Junior Hoilett and Matt Phillips.
And Chery, who receives a £12,000 weekly package, says the refusal to pay high wages means the club are now attracting players with football on the brain rather than dollar signs in the eyes.
“It’s not like it was before, and this is a good thing,” QPR’s Players Player of the Year told the Independent.
“Now everybody is working, for a new contract, and to play. If you get so much money, you don’t feel the motivation to get more money, because you get it already.
“Now everybody is training hard to be in the team.”
The paper reports that QPR have, as of yet, failed to find a buyer for two of their remaining high earners, Steven Caulker and Sandro (below).
But with Chery, an ambitious, hard-working professional, the face of QPR Mk2, the club’s support finally have a team they can put their pride in.
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