Angry Harry Redknapp slams ‘culture of decay’ which sent QPR down

 
Harry Redknapp may find life at QPR tough after relegation
PA
Andy Hodgson9 October 2013

Harry Redknapp today revealed the extent of the meltdown at Queens Park Rangers last season as he launched an attack on the players who got the club relegated.

The manager claimed with so many of the squad on huge wages there was a “culture of decay in the dressing room” and that some of the players were happy to pay fines rather than toe the line.

His most scathing criticism was reserved for Jose Bosingwa, who flopped after his free transfer from Chelsea last summer.

In the latest serialisation of his autobiography, Always Managing, in The Daily Mail, Redknapp said: “The club had players on astronomical wages, being watched by crowds of 18,000 at Loftus Road. It wasn’t sustainable; it wasn’t right.

“Rangers had players like Jose Bosingwa, who just six months earlier had won the Champions League Final, but he wasn’t going to give his all. I found out the extent of the problem after we beat Fulham and Bosingwa refused to sit on the subs’ bench. I’d had problem players in the past but I thought his attitude was disgraceful.

“I fined him two weeks’ wages — and that was when I got the shock of my life when I found out how much he was on. Bosingwa’s salary was ridiculous. The problem was, he wasn’t the only one. It was scary. I tried to install discipline, with fines for lateness and poor behaviour, but the culture of decay was too ingrained.

“Part of the problem was that the owners hadn’t actually spent serious money on transfers. They didn’t buy players at the top of the tree, but they did pay big wages. So what they had was a squad full of very average footballers earning more money than they deserved.

“It made them very arrogant and contemptuous. They would rather come in late every day and just pay the fine than behave in a professional manner. Getting them in was daily aggravation.

“I felt truly sorry for the guys like Clint Hill. Clint was not the greatest player but he would run through a brick wall for QPR. You could tell he was disgusted with some of the attitudes he encountered.”

Redknapp was appointed after Mark Hughes was sacked but he could not stop Rangers finishing bottom of the table.

He added: “Jose Mourinho would not have kept QPR up last season. The squad I inherited in November last year were poorly balanced, undisciplined and short of confidence.”

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