It's Round and It's White
Last season, Q.P.R were crowned champions of the nPower championship seeing them return to the top flight after being out of it for 15 years. Many people say that the main influence on winning the title, was the one of Adel Taarabt. The Moroccan joined the Rs for an undisclosed fee after failing to break into the Tottenham Hotspur first team. Last season we saw Taarabt in the media week in week out talking about his superb skill and fantastic solo efforts which helped Q.P.R to numerous wins in the early stages of the nPower championship campaign. People were already starting to tout that Adel was going to be ‘the next big thing’ and was going to help take Q.P.R to league glory and the premier leage.
Q.P.R’s incredible start to the season saw the R’s winning 8 of their first 10 games and people were already starting to talk about premier league football at Loftus Road. However the next 9 games were to see them win only 3 games while drawing the other 6. However, Q.P.R’s unbeaten record was still in tact even if it did see promotion rivals such as Cardiff city on their backs, at the end of the day, the table showed the Q.P.R were still at the top of the league.
The unbeaten record was ended when Malky Mackay brought his Watford team to Loftus Road on the 10th December. Q.P.R were beaten 3-1 on their home turf. This fixture was closely followed by an away visit to on form Leeds United, where Neil Warnock saw his team beaten again by an outstanding performance from the Whites. After watching both of the games, I seemed to draw a conclusion from them. ‘If you can stop Adel Taarabt, then you can stop Q.P.R.’
Q.P.R continued the season, and were hardly moved from the top spot. However, many people I talked to were saying that when they played Q.P.R, they saw a very moody and temperamental player in Adel Taarabt. People began to think of Taarabt as a ‘spoilt brat’ instead of a footballing magician after he began to throw massive strops over things like team mates shooting instead of passing to him. Adel Taarabt was beginning to be a controversial character in the second tier of English football.
After allegations of transfer misdealing and a possible points deduction, Queen’s Park Rangers were finally announced the official champions of the nPower championship on 7th May 2011 despite defeat against Leeds. Captain, Taarabt lifted the trophy after, what I would say, magnificent season at the club.
Queens Park Rangers are now a premier league club, and Adel Taarabt is a premier league player. This leaves me intrigued on how Adel Taarabt will cope with being a key player for Q.P.R against Premiership clubs. As we know, the Premier league is an unforgiven league for many players, it has the potential to make or break players. Adel Taarabt has the potential to make it in this division. Many other clubs who are more established in this divison also believe so. Clubs such as Arsenal and Chelsea. According to SkySports sources, Taarabt has revealed that both Arsenal and Chelsea have offered deals to take the Moroccan to the respected clubs. However, if the deals are not done and Taarabt finds himself at Loftus Road next year, we will have to see the end of his temperamental attitude which was frowned upon by fans of the Championship. If we do see the end of them, be prepared to see a fantastic playmaker next player next season.
