So what for the Npower Championship winners 2011, Queens Park Rangers? This time last year, hardly any pundits were tipping the R’s for promotion, highlighting the competitive nature of the football league. The team came out of the traps flying, winning 9 of their first 11 games to claim 1st place, scoring a hatful of goals in the process. After this point, they were never out of the automatic promotion places. Only for two weeks of the season did they lose top spot. They finished on a total of 88 points, 8 points above 3rd placed Cardiff City. Matters on the field went just about as well as they could, with highly experienced manager Neil Warnock turning the team into a well oiled machine, packed with attacking flair but equally as strong at the back. The team lost only 6 games all season. Off the field however, problems surrounding the signing of Alejandro Faurlin threatened to blow their season apart. A points deduction was a real possibility, and only on the final weekend of the season was their promotion confirmed. The club were fined £875,000 and warned as to their future conduct after being found guilty of two of the seven charges they faced over the transfer. Rangers star man last season was without doubt, Moroccan international Adel Tarrabt. Tarrabt, 22, who first came to English football as a teenager at Tottenham Hotspur had a simply sensational season. He was the club’s top scorer in the league with 19 goals, and his all round skill proving a class above in the Championship.
