Queens Park Rangers (QPR) manager Harry Redknapp has rejected allegations that several players from his Premier League bottom side often stayed out until 5am drinking alcohol at a training camp in Dubai last month.
Britain’s Daily Mirror newspaper quoted three unnamed players as saying the training camp descended into farce with one saying it was more like a “stag party.”
Redknapp, whose side are seven points adrift at the bottom of the English top flight and looking on the verge of relegation, confirmed he had stayed in a different hotel to the squad, but was incredulous about the allegations.
“If it happened they must have done something I didn’t see. I don’t believe what you’re saying. I can’t see it,” former Tottenham Hotspur boss Redknapp told the newspaper.
QPR, owned by Malaysian entrepreneur Tony Fernandes, had a terrible start to the season under Mark Hughes, but results have failed to pick up significantly since Redknapp replaced him in November last year.
They have won twice in 27 league games, despite spending big on transfers.
“Dubai was a week when we had the chance to sort out the problems. Everybody wanted to do that, but we ended up going there for a holiday. It would have been better if we’d stayed here in London,” one unnamed player was quoted as saying by the Mirror.
“In the evening some players were out, until 3am, 4am, 5am — and then went to training at 8am. It was like a stag party,” he added.
Another unnamed player was equally scathing.
“Some of the bar bills were enormous, huge, in the tens of thousands of pounds for one night. Two or three players couldn’t train the next day. It was that bad,” he was quoted as saying.
“We have to take the blame for what we did. We know that. But some of us think that if the manager had been in the same hotel he could have controlled what was going on,” he added.
“What sort of club allows a team with 17 points and only two wins all season go and do this? It’s impossible to survive like that and so this club isn’t going to survive,” the player said.
The club was unavailable for comment when contacted.
Brazil has four teams, more than any other country, in the expanded Club World Cup that kicked off yesterday in the US, but for SE Palmeiras, the competition holds a special meaning: winning it would provide some redemption. Under coach Abel Ferreira since 2020, Palmeiras lifted two Copa Libertadores titles, plus Brazilian league, cup and state championships. Even before Ferreira, it boasted another South American crown and 11 league titles. The only major trophy missing is a world champions’ title. Other Brazilian clubs like Fluminense FC and Botafogo FR, also in the tournament, have never won it either, but the problem for Palmeiras
Manchester City on Monday completed the signing of left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a reported ￡31 million (US$41.8 million). The 24-year-old Algeria international has signed a five-year contract and will be available for the FIFA Club World Cup, which begins later this week. Ait-Nouri is expected to be just one of a trio of new City faces for that tournament with deals close to completion for AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders and Olympique Lyonnais playmaker Rayan Cherki. After missing out on a major trophy in the recently completed season for the first time since 2016-2017, City are hoping
Paris Saint-Germain’s Lee Kang-in has pleaded with South Korea fans to get behind the team at the 2026 FIFA World Cup after more boos were aimed at coach Hong Myung-bo despite leading them to qualification. South Korea reached next year’s finals in North America without losing a game, but that does not tell the whole story. The country’s soccer association has been in the firing line, having scrambled about to find a successor after sacking the unpopular Jurgen Klinsmann in February last year. They eventually settled on Hong, the decorated former skipper who had an unsuccessful stint as coach in 2013-2014, during which
Lionel Messi drew vast crowds and showed flashes of his brilliance when his Inter Miami side were held to a goalless draw by African giants Al-Ahly as the revamped FIFA Club World Cup got off to a festive start on Saturday. Fans showed up en masse for the Group A clash at the Hard Rock Stadium, home to the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, but Messi could not fully deliver, his best chance coming through a last-second attempt that was deflected onto the crossbar. Inter Miami next face FC Porto on Thursday in Atlanta, while Al-Ahly, who benefited from raucous, massive support, are to
RSS