Bircham Acknowledges Probably Leaving QPR...and Club Prepared to Sell Cook & Shittu

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BIRCHAM
Kilburn Times

AS things stand, I'm coming to terms with the fact that I probably won't play for QPR again.The club have told me that they've set asking prices for myself, Danny Shittu and Lee Cook and, if someone meets those prices, we'll be leaving Loftus Road.To hear that is desperately disappointing - most of all because I read it in the press before anything official was said to me.
I don't know how that information leaked out, but I had a meeting with Gianni Paladini and Gary Waddock the day before the Watford game and they explained the situation.I was meant to be on the bench on Saturday, but after that news I just wasn't in the right frame of mind to play.I know Sheffield United made an inquiry about me earlier in the season and the club turned it down, saying that our finances were stable.
Suddenly they're saying we have to sell players and I don't know how things could have changed so much in a few months' time. If they'd said to me 'we need money, the club's desperate to sell', then I'd have understood it was for the good of QPR. I knew that would have been a possibility at the end of my last contract, but we beat Swindon and Sheffield Wednesday to go up and the club offered me a new deal.I've still got another year on my current contract, but I know I'm on borrowed time and the likelihood is that, if the asking price is met, I'll be going. Maybe a QPR fan could win the lottery and invest in the club, then things might be different. Assuming that doesn't happen, I expect I'll be playing somewhere else next season.And I really fear for QPR next season - we could really struggle. But I hope the fans really get behind Waddo's team and the board and I'll be proved wrong.To read Marc Bircham's exclusive column in full, buy the Times every Wednesday
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