The scale of QPR’s re-branding as a ’boutique’ club was underlined when they announced jaw-dropping price rises for next season.

Rangers fans will be charged up to a whopping �72 to watch their team when the Premier League gets under way in August.

Owners Flavio Briatore, Bernie Ecclestone and Lakshmi Mittal are cashing in on the promotion to the top flight that has turned their vision of Rangers as an exclusive club for wealthy fans into a reality.

The cheapest tickets will be �47, while season tickets are up by almost 40 per cent from last term – although the increase is around 67 per cent in real terms given that there are fewer home fixtures in the Premier League.

Massive increases were inevitable given the owners’ intention to change the face of QPR – and the fact that only intervention by the Football League prevented them from further increasing the already sky-high prices for Championship football at Loftus Road.

But confirmation of the news has still been greeted with shock and dismay by many Rangers fans.

“It’s an absolute disgrace and, yet again, underlines the total contempt the owners of QPR have for the fans,” said Paul Finney of the Independent Rs website.

“You have Fulham, just down the road, who have worked hard to foster local support and made no bones about doing so on QPR’s patch.

“Fulham are able to do that because Rangers aren’t interested in generating that kind of support. The clientele QPR are looking to attract is totally different.

“Flavio Briatore’s dream is a ’boutique’ club, which has an exclusive feel to it and is the place for wealthy people to be seen.

“Not only is that a slap in the face of QPR supporters, it is not in the long-term interests of a club that has two other Premier League clubs (Chelsea and Fulham) on its doorstep.”

Are you a loyal QPR fan who can’t afford the new ticket prices? Email your views to us at nwl.sport@archant.co.uk or go to www.twitter.com/davidmcintyre76