• Premier League

Redknapp slaps down Championship threat

Harry Redknapp guided QPR to the Premier League from the Championship last season © Getty Images

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Harry Redknapp has branded threats QPR could be thrown out of the Championship if relegated from the Premier League this season as "unrealistic."

Football League chief executive Shaun Harvey has warned that QPR must pay their impending fine for expected losses of £60 million from last season - when they won promotion from the Championship - or be punished in another way, which could include being refused entry to the league.

QPR have vowed to fight any sanctions, but must submit last year's accounts or pay their fine by December 1 - and Redknapp criticised the financial fair play (FFP) rules that could land the Loftus Road club with a £40m fine.

"There would have to be quite a few kicked out if that were to happen, wouldn't there?" said Redknapp ahead of QPR's Premier League visit to Old Trafford on Sunday.

"I think it's unrealistic, and I don't see it happening. To make it fair play we should be able to spend as much as Man United before we play them on Sunday shouldn't we?

"What is fair play? I don't know. One team can spend £200m on a team, another team might spend £8m on a team, and that's not fair play is it.?"

Harvey is adamant the Football League has the power to impose sanctions on QPR, despite their summer promotion, saying at Manchester's Soccerex conference on Tuesday: "Theoretically that is the position, but I would hope there would be resolution long before that option even had to be considered.

"We are satisfied we still have the ability under our regulations to charge them for a breach of our rules whilst they were in membership. The one thing for certain is that most clubs [in the Premier League] will become a Football League club again.''

Redknapp believes QPR can avoid the situation entirely if they secure their Premier League status this term, saying: "I've blocked it out of my own mind. That's up to the owners, I'm sure they know what they're doing and I'll leave it to them.

"If we can [avoid relegation] yes, but it's a difficult one: if teams invest then get relegated, what do you do? You lose all your players.

"If you buy a few players to try to stay up then go down, you can't suddenly have a fire-sale, it's tough to unload players on Premier League wages into the Championship.

"It's a chicken and egg situation: do you just come up and go down again, and not spend any money, or do you spend the money, go down again and struggle to release the players, and get punished by the fair play rule?

"I don't know, it's a strange one."

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