QPR owner Tony Fernandes says the club could cope financially with relegation. The club's wage bill doubled to £56m in its first year back in the Premier League and it reported a loss of £22.6m as debts jumped 57% to nearly £90m.

"No fear at all," Fernandes told BBC World Service's Sportsworld show.

The club, who have spent millions of pounds rebuilding their squad following promotion to the top flight in 2011-12, lie bottom of the Premier League with eight games to go and are seven points from safety.

But asked whether relegation would cripple the club, Fernandes replied: "No, I don't think so.

"If we went down, we would just have to come back up. I've been in the airline business where we have had [to deal with] Sars, bird flu, earthquakes, and an oil crisis - so relegation is just another thing that would have happened. And we learned. We know what we need to do and we've put the right foundations in place."

Fernandes says he is committed to the club and will remain at Loftus Road even if they do find themselves back in the Championship next season. And he insists the extent of their transfer spending, as well as the wages they are supposed to be paying, has been exaggerated.

But he conceded that the difficulties in making the club profitable had surprised him.

"It's hard - much harder than I thought," he said.

"It is tough but hopefully next year there is a lot of TV money, hopefully we are still in the Premier League and that will give us a good chance.

"The press have blown it out of proportion. We are not that far away from FFP anyway.

"Our wage bill is a lot lower than being quoted. I mean the salary of Samba and stuff is just ludicrous when I read what they've reported.

"We are no different to any other club. We had to build a whole new team. None of the players who left QPR are in the Premier League anymore. These things happen."