Les Ferdinand felt a number of emotions when QPR were handed a record fine by the Football League last week and, perhaps surprisingly, relief was among them.

The punishment has been hanging over the club since Ferdinand was appointed director of football in 2015.

To suggest it has made his life difficult as he has overseen one of the biggest-ever overhauls of the first-team squad while attempting to get QPR’s finances under control, is an understatement.

“It has felt like I have been constantly climbing uphill, actually more like a mountain,” the former QPR striker said. “Since I returned, all that’s ever been talked about is FFP. What the situation is, where are we going and what’s going to happen? We had players on loads of money that meant we couldn’t bring anyone else in because you’d break FFP rules again. Guys were sitting on these contracts and didn’t want to play.

“What supporters didn’t understand was that we couldn’t bring in more players on top of that, earning good money, because we’d breach FFP [again]. We now have the conclusion and we just get on with dealing with the consequences.”

QPR were ordered to pay £42m last year but that has been reduced to £17m plus £22m of outstanding loans owed to shareholders must be converted into equity. QPR must also pay the EFL’s legal costs. Some in the industry think QPR got off lightly and that by renegotiating the construction of the fine, they are in a position to invest heavily again.

Ferdinand insists that is not the case and QPR will have to sell their talent to make ends meet — keeper Alex Smithies was sold to Cardiff for around £3.5m this summer. Speaking ahead of Saturday’s opening game at Preston, Ferdinand added: “The fine doesn’t change things too much. We are pretty much in the same predicament. We are not a club that brings in 30,000-40,000 supporters.

“Does that mean the fans have to get used to the best players being sold? Yes, exactly. It is not what they will want to hear, but it is important everyone knows the reality and understands it. That is not to say we are looking to sell our best players on the cheap or going out of our way to get rid of them.

“We are still trying to get back in the Premier League if we can, but we have to do it in a different way, because of the rules and regulations. Loftus Road doesn’t generate revenue. For example, if you have a box at a stadium, a lot of clubs make that available for businesses to hold meetings during the week. We can’t do that because there is no parking out the front. People don’t take advantage of the facilities. Our ground basically only gets used on matchdays. We are missing out on a lot of money from that alone.”

It would be wrong to mistake the 51-year-old’s reality check as pessimism. The ramifications of breaching FFP rules in 2013-14 are now clear, plus all the well-paid and experienced members of the side relegated from the Premier League in 2015 have gone.

Steve McClaren has replaced Ian Holloway as coach and, naturally, cynics will suggest his career, like QPR, is in decline. Ferdinand begs to differ. “Is there ever a perfect marriage in football? I don’t know,’ he said. “But both parties are hungry for success. Steve has a point to prove and we have been going through a difficult time.

“A young player is going to look up to Steve. He has been an England manager, his CV has a glow about it. Training is probably a bit more structured, more organised. That’s the biggest compliment I can give without being disrespectful to anything Ian did.”

Ferdinand is hoping to add two more signings to the free acquisition of Toni Leistner from Union Berlin. They could be loans — the window runs until the end of the month compared to next Thursday for permanent transfers.

What is possible in 2018-19? Ferdinand points to how Cardiff and Fulham caused a stir winning promotion as a source of encouragement, as well as the challenges made by Millwall and Brentford.

“Is survival more realistic? Yes. But we strive to be better year in, year out. The year before we were fighting just above the relegation spots, last season we were 15 points clear. We want to be competitive, we want to be up there, we want to be the next one people talk about saying they’re punching above their weight.”