I was part of Premier League's most awful dressing room – big spending was a disaster

Chris Samba slammed his time at during the 2012/13 season as the worst dressing room experience he's ever had.

Following promotion from the Championship in 2011, QPR owner Tony Fernandes splashed the cash on a series of high-profile signings. Despite the influx of talent, the Rs barely escaped relegation, prompting Fernandes to double down on his investment.

The subsequent season saw the club's transfer expenditure exceed £40million, with star players such as Loic Remy, Junior Hoilett, Ji-sung Park, Jermaine Jenas and Champions League-winning goalkeeper Julio Cesar all making their way to Loftus Road. However, the spending spree failed to yield the desired results.

QPR finished at the bottom of the league that season and were subsequently relegated. Samba, who featured in 10 games that year, confessed that the team dynamics were as dismal as their performance on the pitch. "Let me put it this way that [QPR's] is the worst dressing room I've been in in football," Samba revealed on the podcast, via .

He added: " was the manager. I don't think he lost the dressing room; I think the way the wages were being structured was not really good. You had a player on £10k playing with a player on £50k, and you'll have someone on £20k that plays with someone who is on £100k.

"So, there's a lot of resentment. Or, if that player played better than the one who is on more money on that day, he feels some type of way." Samba's stint at Loftus Road was brief and not particularly fruitful.

READ MORE:

READ MORE:

After transferring from Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala in January 2013, the defender confessed to being unfit, leading to underwhelming performances and an injury that kept him out for the season's end before a quick return to Russia in July.

"I wasn't fit. Absolutely unfit," Samba elaborated when asked about his unsuccessful spell at QPR. "When you finish in Russia, you finish around the 10th of December, and normally, you come back for pre-season around the end of February or March. So, at the time when I came on the last day of the [January] transfer window, I'm on holiday.

"A big unit needs a lot of time to prepare, and that's where my regrets lie a little bit. I feel like if I came in the summer and had a proper pre-season, I could have shown who I really am.

"When I arrived, I remember a simple drill in the week, 20 seconds end of the pitch, 20 seconds rest, 20 seconds back I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it. But at the weekend, I played, and we didn't lose, by the way! We drew.

"So, I've been asked, 'Where do you think you are physically,' and I responded, '15-20 per cent.' I've been told, 'That's good enough'. At that moment, I was like, 'I will play, I will play', and obviously, over a couple of games, you feel your body just quitting on you, and it is not who I was.

"It was difficult because I was still an individual with pride and work so hard to have a certain level. People knew me as Chris Samba, not as that half-player that you see, so it was difficult, it was difficult."