QPR boss Hughes wants pre-match handshakes to be scrapped

QPR boss Mark Hughes feels the Premier League should do away with pre-match handshakes.

QPR, Chelsea and the FA collectively decided to abandon it at Loftus Road yesterday.

And Hughes said: “Why give handshakes if they’re not done with integrity. I have a history with handshakes myself. If they are not right, why do them at all? They’re an irritation.”

The decision was taken yesterday to avoid inflaming the controversial return of Chelsea and England captain John Terry, who appears in court in three days time charged with racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand following the league clash between the two clubs back in October.

QPR players met on Friday night and decided to support Ferdinand by refusing the shake hands with Terry. And that sparked the collective decision to abandon the pre-match pleasantries.

Hughes continued: “I don’t know who dreamed it up, or why people think it’s vitally important that people do this. Why not do it like in the good old days when you just went out and played football without this nonsense?”