da fezbet： With QPR heading for the Premier League next season, we caught up with manager Neil Warnock to hear his thoughts on the Championship (for now) club’s progress…
da bet sport： Q.P.R are in pole position to return to the Premier League for the first time in 15 years, just how big a moment will that be for the club?
We are still not there yet. It’s been a long haul but it has been a massive turnaround really considering that I have only been here for just over a year. Everybody’s intentions are to try and get back into the Premier League. We think it’s the best league in the world and Q.P.R is a fantastic club and we are trying to get there as quickly as possible.
You managed in the top flight before in your times at Sheffield United. Do you think you have some unfinished business as a top flight manager?
Yeah obviously you look back and are disappointed if it doesn’t work out. The circumstances at Sheffield United weren’t very good at the time so I was disappointed but it drove me on to try and get another club up into the Premier League so I canfinish my career on a high.
What lessons have you learnt from that season you had before with Sheffield United?
I just think its experience all the way along the line really as you never know it all. Even Sir Alex will be learning at this time of his career. It’s a wonderful game for managers and you just have to learn by your experiences. I think I have changed a lot myself since that time even though it was only four or five years ago and I obviously don’t want to just go up for one year, so its a matter of looking at the mistakes you made and rectifying them. At the end of the day it’s all about how good your players are, if you are good enough you will stay up.
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The club is known for having rich owners. How do you go about managing expectations for a perceived huge budget?
It is a perceived huge budget. If you look at our team that played last week, the team was worth under 3 million which is not a lot at all. Some clubs in the Championship have spent that on one player. I think it is a bit of a myth about my owners. At the moment we are very thrifty and look after the money. Obviously they understand the situation at the next level but we will cross that bridge when we come to it. I am sure they will support whatever it needs to sustain QPR in the Premier League, hopefully when that happens.
So you do have hopes that you will be able to invest significantly if you do go up?
I think every club knows that you need to invest now. You can’t go up now and stick with what you’ve got. Blackpool are the exception although they are in the bottom three as we talk. You have to invest in a lot players to add to the squad. You need your 25 players. One thing I did learn is that the Premier League is a very cruel league. In the space of a week you could lose three centre halves and your squad might not be big enough to cope as you are not used to it. Last time we went up it has always been through the play-offs and you have only had three weeks to prepare and it’s a nightmare to prepare. That’s why we are desperately trying to get up automatically this year to give us a few extra weeks.
There is already a lot of quality in the squad with the likes of Akos Buzsaky, Jamie Mackie and the mercurial Adel Taarabt. How do you go about managing prestigious talent like that?
We haven’t got enough time on your camera to talk about Adel Taarabt! It would probably take about a year to talk about Adel. It’s a challenge but I have enjoyed it. He is our talisman and it is very difficult for a 21 year old to play 46 games when sometimes he doesn’t get protection from certain referees. I think he has had about 2 or 3 blemishes in nearly 40 games so far which isn’t bad really. I think he has had a great season, but we really do look up to him. We have other good players like Wayne Routledge, Jamie Mackie, who unfortunately is injured until the next season, Tommy Smith, Hogan Ephraim, Akos [Buzsaky] and Ali Faurlin. We have some good players in the squad, but also the bread and butter players like Shaun Derry, Clint Hill, Paddy Kenny and Heider Helgusson. They have all contributed the same amount as the stars and that’s why it has been a good team performance this year.
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