Strangers on and off the pitch – buckle up for QPR’s latest new era
With the baby, the bathwater and the bath thrown out in a frenzied – even by QPR’s standards – summer of transfer activity, Mark Warburton is about to take charge of his first Championship game since becoming manager at Loftus Road.
Like his last two predecessors, Warburton comes into the job determined to play a passing game, building out from the back. Unlike them, he hasn’t been willing to accept minimal changes to the squad and isn’t inclined to quickly change tack if results go against him. So buckle up.
Office strangers
The scale of the turnover of players at Rangers has been well documented and the obvious ‘Queens Park Strangers’ cliche certainly applies.
But it applies off the pitch as well as on it.
While the squad has been thrown together over recent weeks, Warburton has been in the somewhat unique position of presiding over a complete revamp having also never worked with any of the key figures around him.
He knew technical director Chris Ramsey from their days on the youth coaching scene and has similarly formed a good relationship over time with Neil Banfield, who was at Arsenal for two decades and has been brought in as Warburton’s right-hand man. But he has not worked alongside either before.
John Eustace remains at the club and with the title of assistant manager. Warburton knows him too, from their days at Watford, and he wanted to sign Eustace for Glasgow Rangers. But, again, they’ve not worked together as part of a management set-up.
And when it comes to director of football Les Ferdinand, chief executive Lee Hoos and, crucially, the de facto chief scout Gary Penrice, the new manager has started from scratch in terms of building relationships. It’s not just the players who are getting to know each other.
Look into my eyes
If Warburton gets his way there’ll be at least one more signing in before Thursday’s deadline. He wants Scott McKenna – but might need Paul McKenna to persuade both Aberdeen to accept anything like £3m for him and the player to choose QPR when a string of big clubs have long regarded him as a defender destined for the top.
Having captained his country at 21 and already attracted bids of more than double what QPR have been offering, McKenna simply doesn’t need a stepping-stone move and Aberdeen feel they have no reason to sell cheaply.
Yet Rangers seem to think there’s a chance he’ll join them. And it is the case that Championship sides are generally reining their spending in, partly because Financial Fair Play means clubs higher up the chain are desperate to shed players and are therefore no longer demanding extortionate loan fees. So quality players on loan are easier to come by these days, meaning the likes of Aberdeen arguably can’t assume the big offers will keep coming in.
But given how highly regarded McKenna, still just 22, is as a player and character, surely bigger fish will move in if Aberdeen were to indicate they would sell. Surely.
The long goodbye
There’s a reason Massimo Luongo hasn’t joined another Championship club – and why QPR nevertheless believe he’ll soon be gone.
Luongo’s wages are the main reason Rangers want to offload him and also why other clubs in the division haven’t exactly been falling over themselves to sign him.
The expectation has long been that English clubs might wait until soon before the window closes, believing QPR will be desperate and willing to do business, or that Luongo will end up moving abroad, where there have been rumblings of interest. The second scenario seems more likely by the day, especially when it wouldn’t be difficult for him to achieve. He could get a quote fast to move all his belongings over, including his collection of cars, and easily make the jump to any country he wanted without any issues.
This means – and the same applies with Toni Leistner – that Rangers don’t necessarily need takers by Thursday. The transfer window in other countries stays open beyond then.
