West Ham had the last laugh after double QPR transfer deal | OneFootball

Kieron Dyer and Danny Gabbidon were never able to hit their previous heights while at QPR

QPR needed to bolster their squad in the summer of 2011 ahead of their first Premier League season since the 1995/96 campaign.

The Hoops had been comfortably mid-table for three years before their surge to the top of the Championship in the 2010/11 term, and the focus now was to ensure that they remained in the top flight for more than a singular campaign.

Under Neil Warnock, QPR used their budget to bring in a mixture of exciting youngsters, such as Armand Traore and Federico Macheda on loan and players entering their traditional primes who could hit the ground running, such as Shaun Wright-Phillips, Anton Ferdinand and Joey Barton.

But QPR also brought in a couple of veteran heads on free transfers from West Ham United, as 32-year-old midfielder Kieron Dyer and 31-year-old defender Danny Gabbidon both signed one-year deals at Loftus Road ahead of the campaign.

Neither had experienced the best of years at the old Boleyn Ground, with various injuries stunting either player's ability to make an impact, and they'd succumbed to relegation with the Hammers in the 2010/11 campaign, finishing rock bottom.

But previously, when fit, both players had exhibited pure class on the field, with Dyer at Newcastle United and Gabbidon at Cardiff City. Unfortunately, neither was able to rediscover that at QPR.

Kieron Dyer and Danny Gabbidon never got going at QPR

Both Dyer and Gabbidon started QPR's first Premier League game for 15 years against Bolton Wanderers. Dyer would last just seven minutes before being stretchered off with a foot injury, and Gabbidon would play the entirety of the heavy 4-0 defeat.

In his recovery from the foot injury, the midfielder would suffer a setback, which would rule him out for the rest of the season.

Meanwhile, Gabbidon would remain in the side throughout the first half of the campaign, but when Neil Warnock was sacked in January 2012 and replaced with Mark Hughes, the then-32-year-old was left by the wayside. He'd start Hughes' first game in charge, a 1-0 defeat away at Newcastle, and would play just one more minute of Premier League action after that.

Gabbidon would be a regular in matchday squads, but wouldn't get off the bench. QPR would miraculously stay up, and be the beaten side in one of the most famous games in top-flight history on the final day away at Manchester City, but the centre-back, nor Dyer, featured that day.

Surprisingly enough, while Gabbidon wasn't offered a new deal and left to join Crystal Palace, Dyer was, signing a one-year extension in the summer of 2012.

The 33-year-old never really recovered from the foot injury, which kept him out for the entirety of the 2011/12 campaign, though, and would play a part in just seven games in all competitions in the first half of the 2012/13 season before being released in January by new manager Harry Redknapp.

Dyer would land on his feet in the Championship with Middlesbrough, playing nine times in the second half of the campaign, before leaving at the end of the season and subsequently retiring.

QPR could've struck transfer gold with veteran duo, but it wasn't to be — West Ham were proven right

There have been many instances of newly promoted sides in the Premier League taking a chance on players who have been out of the limelight and hoping that they can rediscover their form of old at a new club.

If Dyer didn't get injured in his first game, he may have found some of that quality he had shown previously at Newcastle. Additionally, if Gabbidon wasn't unfavoured towards the end of his sole season, he'd have easily slotted into a solid defence in the run-in towards staying up.

If that ended up being the case, they may have been lauded as shrewd signings and complete steals. In the end, West Ham were proven right in their decision to release them at the end of the 2010/11 campaign.

The fact that the Hammers immediately bounced back from the second tier the year after and would go on to establish themselves in the top flight once more, while QPR would spend the majority of years after that in the Championship, means that they got the last laugh in this situation.