£875,000 might sound like a lot of money for a fine, but it’s nothing compared to the potential of not being in the Premier League this season, so Queens Park Rangers will be delighted that that’s the extent of their punishment by the FA for the illegal acquisition of striker Alejandro Faurlin in 2009. It was revealed earlier that QPR would face no points deduction over the transfer, which appears to have violated the Football League’s third-party ownership rights. Any deduction in points would almost certainly have seen the Championship title handed to Norwich City, and a particularly severe punishment might have seen QPR drop into the playoff spots.
Queens Park Rangers Fined £875,000 By FA
Whether or not this is a fair punishment is an open question. Promotion rivals Swansea City are the hardest hit - if Rangers had been deducted nine points or more the Swans would have been automatically promoted to the Premier League. Instead, they have to battle against Cardiff, Reading, and Nottingham Forest in the playoffs. However, chairman Huw Jenkins has said he’s perfectly fine with the decision to fine the London-based club rather than issue a points deduction:
At least this puts an end to it. We can all move forward. Nobody knows what the ins and outs were. They’ve obviously gone through that process and we’ve got to accept what’s come our way...
I suppose it’s good to get something finalised and we can all move on and get on with what we need to do over the next few games and concentrate and focus on the play-offs.
It’s a healthy attitude to take, but one wonders if he’ll be signing the same tune should Swansea exit said playoffs early. Still, the FA have made up their minds, and it’s not going to do anybody much good whining about it.
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