Post by qprfc on Jun 11, 2011 22:37:39 GMT
The Queens Park Rangers manager Neil Warnock, left, and Alejandro Faurlín hold the Championship trophy during celebrations at Loftus Road. Photograph: Peter Cziborra/Action Images
In the end, the Football Association could hardly have timed it any better. After a week in which it has been criticised for the scheduling of the hearing into the Alejandro Faurlín case and then for the delay in a decision, the news less than an hour before kick-off that QPR faced no points deduction either this season or next, confirming promotion to the Premier League and their status as Championship champions, turned the Tube trains heading to Shepherds Bush into cacophonous congas.
Last weekend promotion had been provisionally secured with victory over Watford. The FA's announcement, word of which rippled through the crowds making their way to the ground in a trail of Chinese whispers and jubilant phonecalls, provided a second round of celebrations, this time untainted by uncertainty. Though QPR were found guilty of two of the seven charges brought against them, the FA opted to impose an £875,000 fine rather than a points penalty.
"At an Independent Regulatory Commission today two charges were found proven against Queens Park Rangers, who were fined £875,000," said the FA in a statement released after the final whistle. "In total seven charges were heard in relation to Alejandro Faurlín concerning the existence of an agreement between the club and a third party in respect of the player's economic rights, and the failure by the club to notify the FA of that agreement before the player was registered to play in England in July 2009.
"The club were found to have been in breach of FA Rule E3, and to have also been in breach of FA Football Agents Regulations, A1. The commission found that in respect of the breach of FA Rule E3 the club be fined £800,000. In respect of the breach of FA Football Agents Regulations, A1, the club be fined a further £75,000. In addition the club was warned as to its future conduct with particular regard as to regulatory compliance."
Five other charges against the club were dropped. The delay in the FA's decision and the shadow cast by a potential points deduction meant that Rangers approached Saturday's fixture with Leeds not knowing whether it was a meaningless final-day dead rubber or a crucial game that could prove the difference between promotion, the play-offs or worse. With the sword of Damocles clattering harmlessly to the floor before kick-off, the home side could enjoy their day without worry.
"It gave everyone a lift," said the QPR midfielder Shaun Derry of the moment the news filtered through to the dressing room. "I think it was more relief than anything else. We were worried. We were given assurances that we didn't really have an awful lot to worry about. But when it's in the back of your mind it's awful. I'm just so, so happy."
Rangers finish eight points clear of third-placed Swansea, who could have opted to challenge the decision not to dock points from the champions, but are not going to follow the path trodden by Sheffield United over the Carlos Tevez affair. The Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins said he will not take any action and the Swans have already begun selling tickets for their play-off semi-finals against Nottingham Forest. "Whatever news came our way we would take and accept and move on," Jenkins told BBC Radio Wales. "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."
Leeds's slim play-off hopes were extinguished by Forest's win at Crystal Palace, meaning their victory here was as irrelevant for the visiting fans as defeat was for those on the home terraces. Max Gradel and Ross McCormack scored to cancel out Heidur Helguson's opener after 27 seconds for Rangers.
"The lads have been through agony for weeks – how they've coped has been amazing," said Neil Warnock. "Ali [Faurlín] has been so strong and kept producing one performance after another. To do what they've done this season is remarkable. The result wasn't what we wanted today, but it wasn't about that."
Indeed, for those in blue and white hoops the result was the most minor of dampeners. "There's only one Faurlín," sang the QPR fans as the Championship trophy was brought out for the presentation. Good job – one has been enough trouble.