Premier League Preview 2011-12: QPR

Best title odds: 5000/1 - Coral
Best odds to finish top 10: 7/1 - Coral
Last season: 1st (Championship) Promoted
Manager: Neil Warnock

Good news:

Adel Taarabt and Neil Warnock are both still there. The two men who received the most plaudits for gaining promotion look set to have a crack at the Premier League. Warnock has, of course, seen it all before and he has some unfinished business after his Sheff Utd side were relegated in 2007. He wasn’t happy; think Carlos Tevez and under-strength team sheets. Look up maverick in the dictionary and you’ll see Taarabt staring back at you, if he can be bothered to show up. The Championship’s player of the year could light up the Premier League.

Bad news:

Warnock only has Steve Kean for company at the top of the ‘next manager out’ market. He is already the longest serving boss at the club since Ian Holloway left in 2006; nobody since has had more than 50 games in charge. Part Hart was given 5 matches. Will the 62-year-old get more than 5 Premier League games if he doesn’t win any of them? The suggestion should be ludicrous, but with Briatore and Ecclestone’s track record, it isn’t. They want a ‘boutique club,’ whatever that is, it doesn’t sound very Yorkshire.

Remember when:

QPR fans were happy? Blink and you would have missed it. There was a brief window of joy on May 7 when promotion was confirmed, via a tribunal naturally. That pleasure was short-lived once news of extortionate ticket prices and a limited transfer budget emerged.

Verdict:

If the owners can keep their itchy fingers off the trigger then the Hoops may be alright. DJ Campbell looks like an excelllent aquisition after he excelled with Blackpool last season. On the other hand, Jay Bothroyd may have an England cap but he is totally unproven at this level. Kieron Dyer will be a good addition if this turns out to be 1999. But while there’s Taarabt and Warnock, there’s hope.

Prediction: 15th