QPR MANAGER HARRY Redknapp has lashed reports of ‘all-night benders’ during his club’s mid-season training camp in Dubai.
A report in the press on Saturday morning claimed numerous members of the team had told of huge bar bills in nightclubs as the squad drank every night and barely trained, with some players missing sessions altogether.
But, speaking at his post-match press conference after QPR’s 2-1 win at Southampton on Saturday, Redknapp hit out at the claims, describing them as nonsense and an attempt to disrupt the club from a disgruntled agent.
“There was six or seven teams out (in Dubai) and we were the only one that trained every day,” he told reporters.
“We did not have one day off. We trained on the Tuesday and the sport scientist came to me and said ‘we shouldn’t train tomorrow, you worked them so hard this morning’. I said ‘no, we’re going to train every day’. I had them on their knees they worked that hard.
“I let them go out one night. When they went out they told me there was five other teams in the same place.“Why has no-one wrote about the other teams going having a night out? You know why? This story has come from somebody who is trying to disrupt the football club.
“I know exactly who he is and I know his reasons for doing it. We all know, the chairman knows. It’s not come from players, it’s come from a football agent.
“Every day at half-past eight, there wasn’t one player ever late for the coach. We worked absolutely to the maximum.”
Redknapp said the players were also outraged by the story and hopes that Saturday’s long-overdue victory over Southampton will make the ‘fabricated’ story blow over quickly.
“They were disgusted with it,” he said. “They had a meeting last night. I called them in and they couldn’t believe it.
“Today’s performance and result has shut everyone up after such a fabricated story in the press this morning.
“We’ve let our football do the talking. The article in the paper was a total non-story. Write us off at your peril. It will be fish and chip paper tomorrow.”
Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino said he withdrew captain Adam Lallana late in the first half due to a knock to his neck, while conceding QPR custodian Julio Cesar was a match-winner for the cellar-dwellers.
“Adam Lallana had a knock after coming together with another player on the neck and that is why he couldn’t continue,” he said.“Danny Fox had a knock on (his) quadriceps, which led to him being substituted as well. We do not know how serious it is. In the next couple of days we will do the necessary analysis.
“We have to accept that because we made some mistakes.
“We’ve tried very hard. We’ve put in a great effort to try and get a different kind of result.
“But because of some mistakes we have made and their goalkeeper’s intervention a couple of times we didn’t get a positive result.”
