"Was an absolute disgrace of a signing" - QPR transfer regret expressed over disastrous 8-figure deal | OneFootball

Despite receiving shock resale value, QPR saw little reward from club-record signing Chris Samba in 2013

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

QPR's lavish, yet misguided Premier League spending spree between 2011 and 2013 produced some notable transfer blunders - of which Chris Samba was one of the worst.

The R's gained their first Premier League promotion in 2011 and promptly embarked upon a two-year transfer splurge under the ownership of Tony Fernandes, bringing a clutch of big-name players to Loftus Road on astronomical salaries and failing to see any tangible return on their investment.

From Shaun Wright-Phillips and Samba to Jose Bosignwa and Julio Cesar, QPR lacked a coherent and sustainable strategy which proved to be their undoing and has left them in the Championship since 2013, having been forced to undertake significant cost-cutting exercises over the years.

QPR's accounts from the 2012-13 Premier League season - where they were relegated in 20th-place - showed a wage bill of £78 million, which was 128% of the club's entire turnover. For context, Atletico Madrid's reported £54 million that year was 30% less, and Diego Simeone's side went on to win LaLiga and reach the UEFA Champions League final in the following campaign.

Those accounts also displayed losses of £65 million, leaving QPR entrenched in debt of £177 million while in the Championship and representing almost double the increase on their £91 million debt in 2012.

QPR club-record signing of Christopher Samba branded a disgraceful deal

Christopher Samba - Queens Park Rangers

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QPR struck many duds across that period of time, although ex-Blackburn Rovers defender Samba arrived as the club's record arrival for a fee of £12.5 million and on a reported £100,000 weekly salary from fellow-big spenders Anzhi Makhachkala, who have since been dissolved, despite signing the likes of Roberto Carlos, Samuel Eto'o and Willian just over a decade ago.

It is rather telling that then-Anzhi director German Tkachenko said at the time that QPR had "lost their minds" by committing such expenditure towards bringing Samba back to English football. Samba did, however, return to Dagestan only six months later for £12 million, with QPR gaining shock resale value.

But that did very little to extinguish the ill feeling among supporters, and Football League World's resident R's fan pundit Louis Moir labelled the signing as a "disgrace".

"Looking at some of our record signings doesn't bring back good memories and our club record signing is Chris Samba for a whopping £12.5 million," Louis explained to Football League World.

"I don't even think he played many games but in those appearances he did make, for a club-record signing, it was shockingly bad. Those were the banter years of QPR in that Premier League season.

"It was like someone had picked a bloke out of the crowd and stuck him at centre-half. He was so slow, so sluggish, I remember one game at Fulham we got battered and every goal was his fault.

"He was an awful signing. I suppose the only positive was we spent £12.5 million on him and that Russian club (Anzhi) bought him back for £12 million, so we didn't make that much of a loss on him somehow.

"What an absolute letdown, he was one of many signings during those years who was just totally awful.

"But yeah, in terms of value for money it was the complete opposite and the wages as well, £100,000 a week was shocking.

"One of the worst centre-halves I've seen at the club."

QPR supporters will be happy with transfer strategy change

The financial ramifications of the club's top-flight implosion have considerably tightened the purse-strings for many years, although they have given way to a more tangible and sustainable strategy in recent times under the stewardship of Marti Cifuentes.

Cifuentes, a young and progressive manager, is implementing long-term foundations at Loftus Road.

His style of play is accommodating and exciting at its best, and eight of QPR's 10 summer signings were aged 24 or under. They have signed young, upcoming and low-cost talent from various untapped foreign divisions, recruiting from Belgium, Australia and Spain's second-tier.

QPR still have some way to go before potentially threatening to return to the Premier League but the long-term vision is certainly one which supporters can buy into after seeing such catastrophic and reckless spending in the past.