Squeaky bum time in £60m survival scrap
AMERE 53 hours to kick-off and all is serene at the training base of Queens Park Rangers. mowers clip along on distant pitches as the sun beats down and the whitewashed pavilion is brightened by pots of forget-me-nots, a flower which could be adopted as the emblem of relegation.
QPR boss Chris Ramsey appears relaxed and untroubled, insisting he had more sleepless nights coaching tottenham last season and joking about the difference between Lidl and Waitrose.
His job is to chase pressure and negativity away at times like this, but beneath the surface fear tightens its grip on those near the drop zone.
It will be the same at Newcastle, aston Villa, Leicester, sunderland and Hull. even at Burnley, where sean Dyche was keen yesterday to stress his club feel no pressure because their financial commitments are so much less than their rivals.
‘We are probably half the wage bill of the next team in the division, let alone all the superpowers, and half the spending of the next team in the division,’ said Dyche.
the financial implications are bigger for others but there still exists a fear of sporting failure, a fear of letting people down, a fear of losing your job, your status, security, your self- esteem. these everyday, human anxieties trouble Premier League footballers, too.
When Cesc Fabregas celebrated Chelsea’s winner in the 88th minute at Loftus Road two weeks ago, Ramsey curled into a ball on the touchline and bottled up his fury until he was well clear of the dressing room.
‘It was old- school,’ he smiled. ‘I was a little bit angry. the cat was running. I was so disappointed, probably the most disappointed I’ve been. It was a very soft goal and it would have given us a massive lift to know we could compete with a team of that calibre.’
Four of the bottom seven did not play in the Barclays Premier League last weekend and watched helplessly as Leicester won again, tightening the pack.
Having reached the point where all seemed lost, perhaps the pressure left Nigel Pearson’s team. they have won three on the bounce. Now, off the bottom at last, it will get tense again as they head for turf moor.
Pearson said: ‘I’m delighted. It’s a very difficult feat to achieve for any side, let alone one on the foot of the table. But we’re not in a position to sit back and enjoy it.
‘my perspective is that we’re still in the bottom three. the danger is there’s an assumption the hard work is done. Far from it.’
sunderland’s Dick advocaat and QPR’s Ramsey have fixed their survival targets at 35 points. Hull’s steve Bruce thinks he might get away with 34. at Newcastle, John Carver has 35 and is still uneasy.
‘You can never tell,’ said Carver. ‘For me, we need four points from five games. the unexpected can happen. Look at sunderland.’
sunderland were last year’s Houdini: bottom with six to play and doomed according to many by virtue of a daunting fixture list.
then they drew at manchester City, won at Chelsea and manchester United and then beat relegation rivals Cardiff and West Brom.
they lost the last game and still finished in 14th, five points clear, helped by Connor Wickham’s burst of five goals in three games.
Wickham has scored only four since — no-one at sunderland has more in the Premier League this season — and these acts of escapology are more difficult without a goal supply. Christian Benteke with eight in seven has boosted aston Villa. ‘For him to be at a club fighting at the bottom is a mismatch,’ said tim sherwood, but Villa still require points as they head to manchester City.
QPR have 17-goal Charlie austin. Will he be enough? Burnley have Danny Ings, almost out of contract and without a goal in more than two months. Hull’s top scorer Nikica Jelavic is injured. the cost of relegation is estimated at £ 60million by football finance expert Professor Rob Wilson of sheffield Hallam University.
‘We normally say promotion is worth £100-120m,’ said Professor Wilson. ‘Relegation is harder to quantify. Clubs won’t get the full TV rights payment which is about £80m but they will get parachute payments. sponsors pay a premium for the Premier League and those deals will end and salaries can quickly eat up this smaller revenue if there are no clauses to reduce wages or allow a quick sale.
‘For a club’s first season in the Championship it’s in the region of a £60m direct cut in revenue.’
Fates unknown, clubs sketch out alternative recruitment strategies.
QPR have a dozen players out of contract and, should they go down, Football League penalties are pending for breaking Financial Fair Play rules last season.
Relegated clubs will receive a parachute payment of £25m next season, followed by £20m in 2016-17 and two more of £10m if they do not go back up, as fewer seem to do.
No team has bounced straight back with automatic promotion from the Championship since Newcastle and West Bromwich albion in 2010. West Ham and QPR rebounded via the play- offs and Norwich are in the race this year.
the Championship is an unforgiving pit to fall into, with 17 managerial sackings this season and an average tenure of less than a year.
‘Football has its own laws,’ said Ramsey. ‘I’d be shopping in Lidl instead of Waitrose. I’ll have a different shopping basket if I look at it from a personal point of view.’
Clubs looked on helplessly as Leicester won again