Iconic Premier League defender Chris Samba opens up on the ‘worst’ dressing room with ‘resentment’ rife in squad

Chris Samba has revealed which Premier League club had the ‘worst’ dressing room of his career.

The former centre-back first played in the English top-flight with Blackburn Rovers, for whom he made 161 appearances in the league from 2007-2012.

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After a brief spell in Russia with Anzhi Makhachkala, Samba returned to the Premier League by signing for Queens Park Rangers.

His reported £12.5million move in January 2013 saw him join a squad full of talent including Julio Cesar, Adel Taarabt and Bobby Zamora.

However, despite the quality that then-manager Harry Redknapp had at his disposal, QPR were relegated from the Premier League.

Samba featured just ten times for the clubs, but has revealed that the dressing room at Loftus Road sits bottom of the pile in his career.

Speaking on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, he said: “Let me put it this way, that’s the worst dressing room I’ve been in, in football.”

Sam Allardyce then asked if Redknapp had lost the dressing room, but Samba replied: “I don’t think he lost the dressing room.

“I think the wages being structured was not really good. You know, you have a player on £10,000 [per week] playing with one who is on £50,000 [per week], you have a player on £20,000 [per week] playing with someone who’s on £100,000 [per week].

“So, it’s a lot of resentment a little bit, you know, if that player plays better than the one who is on more money on that day, he feels some type of way.

“I think the way the squad had been constructed was just our downfall really.”

QPR started the 2012/13 season with Mark Hughes in charge, but he was sacked after failing to pick up a win in their opening 12 league matches.

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Redknapp replaced him and sealed their first victory on December 15 as they beat west London rivals Fulham 2-1 at home.

However, just three more wins would follow and QPR finished bottom of the Premier League on 25 points, losing 21 of their 38 fixtures.

Luckily for the Hoops, they sealed an instant return to the top-flight by winning the Championship play-offs, although they went down again the next season and haven’t been promoted back since.

Samba left the club after their first relegation in 2013 and returned to Anzhi Makhachkala before spells at Dynamo Moscow and Panathinaikos.

The defender came back to England in 2017 when he signed for Aston Villa in the Championship, making 14 appearances for the club.