Josh Denk looks at the virtues of having two teams to hate
When I first started turning this post over in my mind, I was watching my notifications as Cardiff City were losing their second consecutive game in the Championship (at home against Middlesborough). I do enjoy watching the Bluebirds flounder - not with the same glee as a Swansea resident or native, but with a glee borne of the way they conduct themselves.
It’s been an incredible mess over the past couple of years between Vincent Tan’s odd management style and Malky Mackay’s inappropriate behaviour, and it does my heart good to see a club exposed when it seems incapable of fostering a professional environment. We’re all adults here, and front offices in the Premier League and even the top tiers of the Football League need to act like it.
With that in mind, I want to propose a couple of things. First is an addition to the idea of a second team, the team you root for when you’re not rooting for the Swans. It’s an especially appealing concept to those of us who root for the underdog. My second-team loyalty tends to change from season to season, with Leicester City currently in that spot after the 5-3 pasting at home against United. Last year, I ended up rooting for Sunderland to pull themselves off the bottom of the table — which they did, but certainly not with our help.
That’s the awkward part: if you have a second team, you have to suspend that relationship twice a year. I do want Leicester to stay up, but I certainly hope we put them in their place when they visit the Liberty on 25 October, as do we all. So what to do?
If you’re me, you add a second hated rival. It is my burden to root against Cardiff, as a Swans fan, and it always will be so. But as they toil away in the second tier (and look to continue there), I am a little disappointed that the Swans won’t likely give them a direct pummeling. I need more. I want to see our talents pitted directly against those of our rivals. Win or lose, it is the only true way to earn bragging rights. So I spent this offseason thinking about who would be our polar opposite, our hated rival, if Cardiff were out of the picture (which, in some ways, they are, sitting in the bottom half of the Championship. And don’t believe for a second that I”m not thoroughly enjoying that.).
Turns out I didn’t have to consider that for very long. When I think about how Swansea built from the ground up, how we stayed within budget, steered clear of drama, made our way slowly but surely up the tiers, and how we have maintained stability and pushed on year after year, the clearest polar opposite of the Swansea Way emerges with little difficulty. I’ve seen the enemy. And it’s Queens Park Rangers.
Like Swansea City, QPR hit the skids around 2001. Unlike the Swans, though, the community didn’t exactly rally around QPR. Leadership of the club got a big fat loan from some mystery Panamanian outfit to yank itself out of administration, a loan that it turns out their leadership weren’t really able to pay off. This followed poor investment by record label executives and others. Though rumors of board members being held at gunpoint eventually resulted in no charges, QPR’s front office has a well-cultivated reputation as a shady, shady place, and they seem likely to face Financial Fair Play sanctions unless something changes soon.
I mean, is there anything less attractive than millionaires and billionaires like Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone arguing over who’s in charge and how much money they deserve to get out of their investments in a club? Football’s a business, no doubt, but it’s only a truly great business when a club benefits the community and other stakeholders and isn’t treated as a high-profile ATM. Compare the dedicated community members and the Swansea City Supporters Trust with Tony Fernandes and the other foreign owners at QPR - many clubs have rich foreign owners, but the constant infighting and outright cartoon villainry present in the executive suites at Loftus Road require a special cynicism.
But let's leave investment for a moment and talk expenditures and debt. The most recent figures indicate that QPR as a club is a mere £177 million in debt. The club made £61 million in 2012-2013 and paid staff £78 million (including, presumably, players and coaching staff and administrative staff and the people paid to fan Tony Fernandes with giant leaves as he sits in the stands). That's just payroll we're talking here. I'm not certain that even covers the cost to acquire players (or the fanners).
Financial Fair Play rules can place fines or other penalties on those teams that hit £8 million in debt; after a certain threshold, that fine becomes a strict pound-for-pound total. QPR, under that scheme, face a likely fine of around £60 million.
By itself, this is shocking and bothersome, but it's the summer that made me put QPR on my most-hated list. I remember a time in July and August when the transfer rumours were flying fast and furious. I remember when I was hoping for the Jack Army to open the wallet a little but not too much. And I remember when we'd be linked to a player and when those links seemed strong or tenuous and how much the asking price seemed to matter to us.
By contrast, you could barely count the number of players linked with QPR. A team nearly £200 million in debt and hemorrhaging money year upon year was sitting out there wheeling and dealing, saying "yeah, maybe we'll buy him" or "we need another defender and price is no object." It was especially galling when QPR were clearly in for someone the Swans were pursuing. Whatever you think of FFP (and not all clubs like it or think it's fair), I think we can all agree that a team like QPR, this far in the hole, shouldn't be out front in the transfer market throwing price tags on almost every available player. But there they were, Tony and 'arry, spending money they didn't have on players they only vaguely seemed to want. I can understand when it's Sevilla or Spurs coming in for someone we fancy, but QPR's free spending is the antithesis of a careful, sustainable, Swans-like approach.
If QPR get relegated and yet refuse to pay the fine they will no doubt be levied later this year, it's possible that they'll be denied re-entry into the Football League. At any level. I personally let out an insane cackle every time I think about Charlotte Green reading out the classifieds on a Saturday in 2015, saying "Vanarama Conference: FC Halifax Town 3, Queens Park Rangers 1." Don't you like the sound of that?
So if you're like me and you're looking not so much for another team to love but more for a rival in the Premier League that makes you want to spit nails, mark Tuesday 2 December as well as New Year's Day 2015 on your calendar. And let's work toward relegating the hell out of Sir Harry Redknapp and his merry band of freespenders. Lord knows the QPR board could use a season or two of looking up at Scunthorpe United to gain perspective. Who's with me?
Strong stuff from Josh there! Agree? Disagree? Do you have a team you love to hate in the Premiership? Get in touch in the comment section below. You can follow Josh on Twitter @TheJoshDenk