Hughes defends treatment of fringe players

QPR manager Mark Hughes has defended his treatment of the club’s out-of-favour players.

The likes of Joey Barton, Rob Hulse, DJ Campbell and Tommy Smith have recently moved on amid reports they had been made to train with Rangers’ youngsters.

An experienced professional training with young players has traditionally been seen as the ultimate snub.

But the phasing out of old-style reserve teams means those out of the first-team picture will now inevitably join newly created Under-21 elite development squads.

“We’ve got a training group of 25. They’re the only players I can pick,” Hughes told West London Sport.

“We’ve obviously had other players who are not in the 25 and they train with the EDS squad, but we view that as a good thing.

“It can be difficult and you have to have a certain mentality to do it, but we see it as a positive thing because the younger players can be around good players and see how they train.

“Sometimes players won’t be happy with that, but it’s not like we’re sending them out to do laps on their own. I’ve never really done things like that.

“It’s difficult when you have to pick 25, which is what you have to do these days. It’s impossible to keep everyone in that group.”

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