QPR Season Preview: Transfer business has been good but the goal is still survival

If Loic stays then Rangers can dare to dream

QPR booked their ticket to the Premier League in smash-and-grab style, can they find enough to cement their place at English football's top table? Lewis Jones assesses their chances...

Last Season

QPR justified their tag as Championship promotion favourites but came through the back door after missing out on automatic promotion. Another year in the second-tier looked on the cards with 30 minutes remaining in the Playoff final when Gary O'Neil was sent off against Derby. However, heroes can come in unlikely packages and Bobby Zamora, a figure of ridicule for most of the season from the west London terraces, netted a dramatic 90th minute winner for the ten-men.

Ins and Outs

In typical Harry Redknapp style, transfers have been at the top of QPR's to-do list this summer. Almost in every interview, Redknapp has managed to sneak in a line or two about how Rangers are short in most positions.

The QPR board have answered his call, allowing him to bring in Rio Ferdinand on a one-year-deal - very QPR-like you could say - but unlike previous campaigns of Julio Cesar and Yossi Benayoun, that's where the big-name, over the hill, nonsense ends.

Steven Caulker is arguably the best young English centre-half in the country at the minute and QPR have snapped him up for 8m. His pace and leadership should dovetail well with old guards like Ferdinand, Richard Dunne, who has signed an extended deal after an impressive Championship campaign, and the evergreen Clint Hill.

Jordan Mutch has also joined from Cardiff for 6m and rampaging Chilean full-back Mauricio Isla should provide stiff competition to last season's regular right-back Danny Simpson after joining on loan from Juventus.

You get the feeling QPR's most important bit of business this summer is to convince Loic Remy to get his head down and concentrate on life in W12. He guarantees a team a minimum of 10-15 goals a season and would be a perfect foil for Charlie Austin, who carried this team at times last season.

The word out of the club has been positive regarding Remy staying put, but his minimum fee release cause of 8m (to a team in Europe) is dangerously tempting for some of the bigger clubs, especially as the transfer window draws closer.

The Manager

Redknapp has admitted he would have pulled the plug on his managerial career if QPR had lost that Playoff final and although he's not everyone's cup of tea (two sugars please, Sandra) there's no doubting his Premier League pedigree in terms of management and player acquisition. Remember, here we have a man who led Tottenham to two top-four finishes in three seasons, an achievement only further enhanced by his predecessors inability to follow suit.

Expectations

Survival would be the sensible option, but with a dreamer/ultra-positive chairman in charge like Tony Fernandes, the remit may be higher than that. However, QPR need to earn their right to be a Premier League club and any finishing position above 18th would be a fantastic result.

Best Bet

The 3.052/1 for QPR to be relegated looks about right when considering all angles, so we'll have to look elsewhere than the trap-door markets which is unusual for a newly promoted side.

In Remy the boys in hoops have a genuine Premier League hitman with goals in his blood. He bagged 14-goals in a pretty average Newcastle team last season, therefore I see no reason why he can't replicate that at another average Premier League team.

The 8.615/2 for him to finish up in the top-four in the goalscoring charts has plenty of appeal.

Value Bet

The three-way race for the top Championship finisher looks a market with some trading potential. At least one of QPR, Burnley and Leicester will go on a monster run of results during the season, which means the market will fluctuate.

It's a long old season, remember.

The Foxes have a brilliant spine to work with and look very capable of winning this race despite a quiet close season of transfer activity. That makes QPR a lay at 2.85n/a, with the potential to back them at a bigger price during the season.