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QPR report a loss of £9.8m, despite cutting expenditure by £22m

QPR have reported a loss of 9.8 million pounds for the year ending May 2014.

The club said they had cut expenditure by 22 million pounds and that they would continue to drive down player costs in future years.

A statement from QPR read: "Expenditure was reduced by 22 million pounds, mainly driven by lower player costs and this trend will continue in future years as the club will continue to bring losses down.

"In addition, the club's shareholders reiterated their long-term support for the club by strengthening the club's balance sheet by writing off 60 million pounds of shareholder loans.

"The club's shareholders and directors are of the opinion that the club is moving in the right direction and on track with its mid-term and long-term business plans.

"The impact of relegation and promotion inevitably has a material impact on the short-term financial results of clubs but the shareholders are comfortable that the medium-term outlook is positive with Premier League revenues growing and the club's costs continuing to fall.''

The Football League will continue discussions with QPR over the club's position in relation to financial fair play (FFP) regulations following the announcement.

Under the new system voted in, Championship clubs were permitted losses of eight million pounds with five million pounds funded by shareholders in 2013-14. Teams promoted back to the Premier League who exceeded those losses are set to be subject to a fine.

The next 10 million pounds of losses are remitted on a sliding scale, with a maximum fine of 6.681 million pounds. However, once losses exceed 18 million pounds, the fine is then imposed on a strict pound-for-pound basis.

In the previous season when QPR were relegated back down to the Championship, the club reported losses of 65 million pounds.

In that period their wage bill to all staff, including players, was 78 million pounds. The losses then appeared to suggest they would be in line for a heavy sanction if this latest set of financial results showed a similar trend.

QPR chairman Tony Fernandes has indicated he would appeal against any fine from the Football League, which is yet to confirm the FFP status of the three clubs who were promoted with all accounts filed to them by the Dec. 1 deadline last year.

No specific timescale has yet been established for confirmation of whether any sanctions will be imposed.

A statement from the Football League released on Monday afternoon read: "The Football League notes the statement made earlier today by Queens Park Rangers regarding its annual accounts for the year ending May 31, 2014.

"The club has previously filed accounts with the Football League in accordance with the requirements of the League's FFP rules.

"The treatment of certain items in those accounts, and how the League's FFP rules should be applied to them, remains a matter of ongoing discussion between QPR and the Football League. It would therefore be inappropriate to comment further at this time."