This Saturday Queen’s Park Rangers travel to Southampton in the Premier League.
When the final whistle blows on that game QPR could be languished at the bottom of the table and, in some people’s view, a good bet to go down. What a difference almost 40 years make. This week in 1975, QPR were riding high in the old First Division.
By the end of the 75/76 season the Hoops would claim second spot (just two points off being crowned champions) behind Liverpool and above Manchester United. How Rangers manager Harry Redknapp must wish he could turn back the clock.
That season the likes of Derby County, Ipswich Town, Birmingham City and Sheffield United (relegated to Division Two for the 76/77 season) were all plying their trade in the top flight.
The ways things are in game today’s game, where only a handful of moneyed clubs can guarantee remaining at the apex of English football, it’s probable that the likes of Derby and Co. would face a battle to stay in the Premier League; always assuming they have the financial wherewithal to reach that pinnacle in the first place.
Which is exactly the point Harry was making recently when he said: “Fair play would be everyone having £30m a year to spend.”
The sentiment behind that comment was; hasn’t football got too big, financially speaking, for its boots..? Not according to all those top clubs who are doing very nicely thank you very much, from this cash cow.
And I’m sure fans of those teams with big backers, with even bigger wallets, would not wish their club’s to forsake the chance of glory by reigning in their spending. Just ask the followers of Manchester’s Reds.
In the QPR squad who were runners up in the mid-70s were the likes of goalkeeper Phil Parkes, midfielder Gerry Francis and flamboyant forward Stan Bowles.
In those days this small, unfashionable club took English football by storm and is still remembered fondly by Hoops fans of a certain age.
Would the club have been able to hang on to such mercurial talent today or would they have been sold to balance the books? How much would they fetch in todays over inflated market?
English football is a global business with lucrative markets spread across the world – one reason why the Premier League was set up in the first place.
But in all this what damage is being done to those clubs further down the football pyramid?
And before fans of those elite clubs say “we are here to stay” I would simply say; Leeds United.
In all of this we should be careful for what we wish for, or there could be tears before the final whistle.
@RichardBowdery
Richard Bowdery writes for BobbyFC, the football website with a retro twist. www.BobbyFC.com
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