Manager Neil Warnock, having brought Sheffield United into the big time and then seen them relegated, knows what it takes to survive at the top level. And one of the ingredients is investment in a successful team to bolster their hopes of survival.
Most of the problems the club is experiencing at present revolve around the boardroom battle, as Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One billionaires, look to offload the team onto someone else’s hands. Lakshmi Mittal, the steel tycoon, is the prime candidate for the post, though whether or not he is able to take full control of the club is questionable, having had one bid already rejected.
Instability has dogged the club for some time, with a succession of managers before Warnock’s arrival. Since then, his uninterrupted spell at the helm has helped the club achieve the promotion they so yearned for, but to date their only significant signing of the summer is perennial crock Kieran Dyer.
Yet Adel Taraabt, the star who did perhaps more than anyone to take them into the Premier League, now seems set to leave for newly cash rich Qatari owned French outfit Paris St. Germain, whose £13.5 million offer for the player has been accepted according to reports.
Taraabt has been left out of the club’s pre season tour and seems set to cross the channel, weakening QPR when they need it least.
Yet before serious signings can be made, one deal seems more important than any other; the position on the front of the club’s shirt. Sponsorship. Having failed to find a new sponsor since Gulf Air’s deal ran out last season, the club are currently without a sponsor and therefore a shirt for the new season.
It is a situation causing the club immense difficulty, and will hamstring them in their attempt to stay in the Premier League this season. To survive at the top level requires a number of elements; attacking flair, determination and will, and organisation. Warnock has the last two in abundance, but with Taraabt on his way and deals for the likes of Peter Crouch or Jay Bothroyd held back by the wrangling, their hopes of survival will be limited. Yet they should be the team most likely to survive after having romped to the Championship title last year, but in football, it is crucial to improve a successful squad, and that is what they have been unable to do thus far.
New owners, and new sponsors will change that, but whether that happens before the start of the season will be crucial to the club’s chances in the next 12 months.
