Staggering cost of QPR's £10m lifeline

Queens Park Rangers are flying at the top of the Second Division but there is a real danger they lack the resources for real lift-off.

The club have failed to find new investment since a controversial £10million loan enabled them to come out of administration 19 months ago.

The euphoria surrounding Ian Holloway's energetic and enterprising young team has helped mask their financial problems but, make no mistake, Rangers are in real peril.

On the surface things could scarcely be better. Rangers have lost just five league games all year and are on course to emulate Rodney Marsh's team of 1967 by winning their division and a cup in the same season - even if the LDV Vans Trophy is not quite the League Cup.

Holloway said: "We've made a decent start but need to keep it going. We're only halfway through the marathon and you don't win anything after 13 miles."

He is expected to name an unchanged side for tomorrow's trip to Oldham.

Success on the pitch has got the crowds roaring back, and this season's average attendance of 14,000 is higher than when they were in the First Division. The club have changed since the indulgent days of former owner Chris Wright, and Holloway's gospel of hard work runs through Loftus Road.

Rangers are undoubtedly better for having trimmed the excess fat. The first-team squad has been reduced from a high of 61 to 24, the wage bill cut from £6.7million to £2.3m and losses are down from £5.5m to £2m. With the increase in gate receipts and television revenue that promotion would bring the club hope to break even if they reach the First Division - but therein lies the rub. Rangers are banking on promotion, a risk they cannot afford. Chairman Nick Blackburn said: "The worst case is that we survive, but we want to push on. This team can win promotion.

"If we don't get promoted we'll find it difficult to keep our best players. The manager will stay as he loves it here and is committed, but players are different."

Rangers may not even get that far. Money promised by the Winton brothers to support the wages of Marc Bircham and Dan Shittu has not materialised and Fulham's return to Craven Cottage will cost them £300,000-a-year.

To complicate matters further, 14 players and the manager are out of contract at the end of the season and the club are in no position to plan for the future. Bircham and Martin Rowlands have attracted attention and Rangers may have to sell one of them as the season reaches its climax.

Chief executive David Davies admitted: "The situation is pretty bad. We're in good shape overall but need the investment otherwise we may have to do things that are unpalatable." At the root of the problem is that rather large loan. To pay off outstanding debts to Wright the club borrowed £10m from the ABC Corporation registered in Panama City at a rate that is crippling them. Repayments on the interest alone total £1m a year, not to mention the £10m that must be paid back at the end of the term.

The mysterious identity of the company has also angered supporters but Davies is adamant that the club had no choice.

He said: "ABC were the only game in town. The only other option was to sell the ground and lease it back but we didn't feel that was in the best interests of the club. We realise the terms of the loan were unfavourable but had no choice. We have good relations with them and they're like any other mortgage company."

But QPR need some help paying off the rest of the mortgage. Blackburn shook hands on a £1.8m deal with Australian David Thorne in July but the money never materialised, an unnamed English businessman offered £2m in October before disappearingy.

As well as a general reluctance to invest in football, the club are also hampered by their plc status. Stock Exchange rules state that anyone buying more than 30 per cent of a company's shares must make the same offer to all shareholders, so taking overall control is an expensive business. Unless someone is willing to back Ranger's potential soon, a lot of hard work could be wasted.

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