Boss issues Taarabt challenge

Reports suggest playmaker Taarabt is agitating after a new deal at the Premier League side, despite coming close to leaving Loftus Road for Paris St Germain this summer.

The 22-year-old, who reportedly earns £25,000 per week and was the star of QPR's Championship-winning side, has since watched a swathe of highly-paid stars arrive, such as Joey Barton, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Anton Ferdinand.

Manager Warnock revealed on Thursday that Taarabt was well down the pecking order to get a new deal and warned that nobody would be improving their lot before Christmas.

"There are plenty before him (to get a better contract) - me included," Warnock said.

"There are a lot of people behind the scenes who have things to say and the only way to answer things is to play on the field of play. That's what I told him to do."
Neil Warnock Quotes of the week

"There are a lot of people behind the scenes who have things to say and the only way to answer things is to play on the field of play. That's what I told him to do.

No excuse

"He's got no excuse now. He's got a team that are capable of giving him the ball in dangerous areas and he's got to perform."

He added: "I don't see any new contracts for anybody before Christmas.

"We've all got things to prove and we've got to do it consistently.

"When you've had a good game for an hour, you don't start spouting.

"You start spouting when you've got eight, nine, 10 goals coming up to Christmas.

"I remember last year, similar situation, I had Jamie Mackie's agent knocking on my door about November-December time.

"He'd scored eight goals and after the day that he knocked on the door, I don't think he scored again."