Fernandes and Redknapp to discuss targets
QPR manager Harry Redknapp is due to meet chairman Tony Fernandes on Thursday to discuss the club’s transfer plans.
Both men are keen to make signings following Rangers’ promotion back to the Premier League, while chief executive Philip Beard is expected to hold talks with the representatives of various players in the next week or so.
“Harry and Phil have been doing some work with the scouts – we’ve got a good scouting system,” Fernandes told West London Sport.
“I’ll have dinner with Harry on Thursday, he’s meeting Phil in the next few days and we’ll get a move on.”
Fernandes, who was keen to sign established stars following his group’s takeover of QPR in 2011, continues to insist that lessons have been learnt from the club’s relegation last year.
He now says he would like a younger, hungrier squad of players to be assembled.
“It is Harry’s call, but I’ve been talking about young players – let’s see guys who want to run out of the tunnel at Loftus Road and feel excited,” Fernandes said.
“Before, I couldn’t understand how players just accepted it when we lost. I’ve got other businesses, money and so on, but when we lost I was devastated.
“I couldn’t even open the curtains on a Sunday after we’d lost. I wanted to go into hibernation.
“But when we win I’m not the kind of chairman who just sits there and doesn’t show my emotions, so I like players who have those same emotions about winning and losing.”
And Fernandes claims they will be more diligent before bringing in players this time around.
He said: “The main thing is that we jumped in too quickly with players.
“If someone said ‘He’s played in the Champions League and he wants to come to us’, we didn’t negotiate that hard, we just took him.
“The euphoria of surviving on the final day of the previous season at Manchester City got us a little bit carried away.
“We got excited about having big players and just assumed they would work hard, but it doesn’t work like that.
“We wanted to build a squad that would finish in the top 10 and if you look at it player by player, I don’t think there was anyone who people said was a dumb signing. They just didn’t gel together for one reason or another.”
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