Hopeless Hoops can't even beat each other at table-tennis, saysBack of the Net's John Foster...
A Queens Park Rangers inter-squad table tennis tournament has ended without a winner, as every single member of the first team somehow managed to lose all their matches, despite playing against one another.
Manager Harry Redknapp admitted that the competition, intended as a morale-booster to lift spirits around Loftus Road, may not have had the desired effect, as 31 QPR players recorded a series of losses to end the tournament in joint-last place.
âÂÂItâÂÂs not what we were hoping for, to be honest,â Redknapp told reporters. âÂÂI thought it would do the lads good to remember what it felt like to win, but I have no idea how it turned out like this.
âÂÂI thought it was strange when nobody won the coin toss. Then when Djibril [Cissé] went 5-0 up against Anton [Ferdinand], I thought he was going to close it out, but a few wayward serves and suddenly heâÂÂs staring defeat in the face.
âÂÂI thought Anton might take advantage, but heâÂÂs switched off completely and the chance is gone.
âÂÂNobody deserved the victory, to be honest, but itâÂÂs still a bit of a surprise that literally no-one actually managed to win the game, or for that matter any of the games.âÂÂ
In a further blow to the Hoops' chances of avoiding the drop, Alejandro FaurlÃÂn aggravated a knee injury while stretching to reach Shaun Wright-Phillipsâ sliced shot, and will be sidelined for up to six weeks. FaurlÃÂn was forced to forfeit the the match, but Wright-Phillips found himself unable to take advantage, and succumbed to a dispiriting defeat.
Redknapp praised the effort of Jamie Mackie and Adel Taraabt, who he said showed a great deal of effort in their series of losses, and singled out Ryan Nelsen for particular praise, calling him âÂÂthe only player who maybe deserved a draw.âÂÂ
The debacle recalls the infamous Derby County poker tournament of 2008, which saw no player draw a ranking hand in over 29 hours of play, and which ended with Steve Howard shooting Robbie Savage at point-blank range, wounding him in the hair.
âÂÂItâÂÂs not the result we wanted, but weâÂÂre not going to dwell on all the defeats,â said club chairman Tony Fernandes. âÂÂMaybe in January we can bring in some new faces who know how to win, or at least who have a decent high score in Angry Birds.
âÂÂStill, on the plus side, the suspension of mathematical logic will give us the motivation to keep going long after weâÂÂre relegated.âÂÂ
Editor's note: this is satire and not a serious accusation - all quotes are fictionalised. But you knew that, because you're not stupid.
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