Below the stand that bears his name, those remembering Stan Bowles were holding mosaic tiles above red, damp cheeks, grateful for the anonymity their tribute provided.
On the pitch, QPR’s current No 10 was doing his best to live up to the attacker’s legacy, drifting infield from the Stanley Bowles Stand in search of the ball. Promotion-chasing West Bromwich Albion were the visitors on Wednesday night, with QPR looking to move clear of the Championship’s wide-open relegation battle.
Bowles was the superior player, but there are traces of his game in Ilias Chair. The Morocco international is QPR’s maverick, the creative spark in the machine. Both are diminutive, in their own way — Chair is about 5ft5in (165cm), while Bowles had will-o’-the-wisp skinniness — and relish showmanship. At times, given their talent, they could be infuriating.
Back in the 1970s, Bowles’ off-field antics were the stuff of lore. Some were innocent japes, such as forgetting a flight, and hiding to escape the consequences for so long that he was reported to the police as a missing person. Others are more serious; now, he would be considered a victim of gambling addiction. There were multiple minor run-ins with the law.
With eight minutes gone against West Brom, Chair cuts infield, dropping a shoulder to move past opposition right-back Darnell Furlong, and hitting a low drive towards the near post. Watching Chair is to watch freedom in head coach Marti Cifuentes’ highly demanding system. There is no clue from his performance that QPR’s modern No 10 is embroiled in his own legal issues, which are far more serious than any accusation Bowles ever faced.
Last month, a court in Belgium found Chair guilty of assault and imposed a two-year prison sentence, with the second year suspended. But he continues to play in one of the world’s most-watched football leagues.
Chair joined QPR in January 2017 as a 19-year-old, brought in initially on trial from now-defunct Belgian second-division club Lierse by then-manager Ian Holloway. Via a 2019 loan spell in League Two, English football’s fourth tier, with Stevenage Town — he is still spoken of as one of the most talented players to ever appear for the club — Chair began to make his mark in west London.
Though QPR have been stuck in the second tier since relegation from the Premier League in 2015, Chair has always been considered one of the players capable of taking them back to the top division.
Twelve caps for Morocco have followed — he was born in Antwerp, Belgium’s second biggest city, to a Moroccan father and a Polish mother — and he was in their squad in 2022 as they became the first African nation to ever reach the World Cup semi-finals.
A tiny but talented playmaker wearing No 10 who has defied the belief that the role is slowly drifting out of fashion in the game, Chair, now 26, has scored 33 goals and contributed 37 assists over 226 appearances for QPR. Since the summer of 2020, no player has had more goal involvements (scoring and assisting combined) for the club.
But that is also the summer when an incident occurred which, almost four years on, is clouding his career.
These are the basic facts of the case, which Chair and the public prosecutor agree on.
While Chair, then 22, was on his holidays between seasons with QPR, he was part of a small group on a kayaking trip in southern Belgium’s Ardennes Forest. The excursion finished in the French village of Bazeilles, right on the border between the two countries.
Afterwards, participants were meant to be catching a bus back to their start point in Belgium.
The alleged victim, identified only as Niels T, was waiting for the same bus, with his sister and another friend.
When it pulled up, a member of Chair’s party, named as Nora H, pushed in front of Niels T’s group, claiming that because they had just missed an earlier departure, they should be at the front of the line this time.
An argument ensued — and quickly escalated. According to Belgium’s public prosecutor, there was “hitting, scratching, and biting”.
At the end of it, Niels T lay on the ground — with a serious skull fracture measuring 2cm (three-quarters of an inch). He was immediately taken to hospital in critical condition, and claims he is still living with the consequences of the incident, having been forced to give up his job as a truck driver.
The Belgian public prosecutor claims that Chair inflicted the blow, hitting Niels T over the head with a stone.
Chair maintains his innocence and denied, through his lawyer, he was the one who lashed out, injuring Niels T.
Chair, right, playing for QPR in midweek (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
The incident was investigated by the Belgian police over the intervening years, with their French counterparts initially just taking down the names of those involved — and has developed from a civil case into a criminal one, where the Belgian state was attempting to prosecute the QPR player.
In court this January, the public prosecutor argued Chair had failed to properly engage with the investigation.
“Ilias Chair has been invited for questioning several times, but his lawyers have always stated that he was not able to come to Belgium,” the prosecutor said in court. “His activities as a professional footballer would make it impossible to be interrogated. A year after, he sent a written statement.”
They also added that numerous witnesses had identified Chair as the individual who struck the relevant blow.
In response, Chair’s then-lawyer Alen Cilic argued that there was not enough evidence to identify him as the attacker. He also said that the victim’s group sought the confrontation, and that the victims, with their claim, were aware of Chair’s wealth as a footballer. This was denied by Niels T’s lawyer.
On February 22, the court handed down a verdict. Chair was found guilty, and sentenced to two years in prison, half of it suspended. He was also to pay the victim €15,000 (£12,800; $16,400) in compensation. The player’s brother, Jaber, was also sentenced to six months in prison for his role in the fracas.
Despite the sentence, Chair, who was in Belgium for the closing proceedings, was allowed to return to England later that day (he had been due to attend an event that evening in London). He then trained with QPR on the Friday, before being named in the squad to play fellow relegation candidates Rotherham United the following afternoon.
His impact on the game was crucial, assisting QPR’s 75th-minute winner by cutting inside off the left wing and finding scorer Chris Willock in a pocket of space.
For many, his presence on the pitch brought confusion. Why and how was he free to play after being found guilty and sentenced to jail?
In Belgian law, those convicted of a crime have the right to appeal — though under the country’s justice system, this is better understood as the case being escalated to a higher court, made after what is known as a ‘first-instance decision’. If that is done promptly, straight after the initial sentence, in the majority of cases the alleged perpetrator is free to continue their ordinary lives until the legal process is exhausted.
In Chair’s case, that process is expected to continue for around another 12 months, during which he is free to play football. His brother is also contesting the decision against him.
A similar law exists in Spain, where then Celta Vigo striker Santi Mina was allowed to continue playing in La Liga even after being found guilty in May 2022 of sexual assault and being sentenced to four years in prison. Mina’s legal case continues almost two years on, with the player, who maintains his innocence, appealing to the Spanish Supreme Court. The 28-year-old was released by Celta in August and is currently without a club.
Sources close to Chair, speaking on condition of anonymity to protect relationships, say he is confident of success at the higher court. The player has changed lawyers since the initial trial, with the verdict seen as a worst-case scenario — though if the appeal fails, they expect the most likely situation to be for Chair to have to serve three to four months.
They also acknowledge the player and his legal team could have dealt with matters better in the initial proceedings, with a perceived lack of contrition named by the court as an aggravating factor.
Chair has not spoken publicly about his situation since details first emerged in January.
QPR have had five different managers since the incident occurred, with the coaching staff of at least one of them unaware of any legal case involving the player. However, since last month’s sentencing, attention has squarely turned to their longtime playmaker.
The day after Chair was found guilty, and with the sentence reported by the international press, QPR released a statement in an attempt to clarify the situation.
“The club are, and have been, in regular contact with Ilias Chair’s legal team regarding a charge of assault which has been made against him,” it read. “The legal proceeding is yet to reach its conclusion. As such, the club will be making no further comment at this stage.”
As it stands, QPR’s position is that Chair cannot be deemed to have committed a crime until the legal process ends, and as such, remains available for selection. However, if he is found guilty in a higher court — being convicted, in the English sense — it is understood they will revisit that view.
In the first two matches since news of his initial sentence broke, Chair contributed that assist in the 2-1 home win against Rotherham and scored the opening goal as Championship leaders Leicester City were beaten away by the same score last Saturday. Add in his winner in the game immediately before the court’s decision — a 1-0 victory against Bristol City — and the Moroccan is in his best form of the season.
Chair is hugged by Cifuentes, QPR’s manager, during a game in February (Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images)
Picking Chair is dependent on legal and moral questions — but it is undeniable that QPR are also in a position where they need him on the pitch. This has been a difficult season for the west London side, who sacked Gareth Ainsworth, a fan favourite following seven years as a player there from 2003, as manager in October. Though they have won three and drawn one of their past four games under successor Cifuentes, they are 19th in the 24-team table, one point above the third and final relegation position.
Without Chair’s goals and assists in their past four games, QPR would be six points worse off — and five adrift of safety. Chair is averaging almost a goal or an assist every two games under Cifuentes (nine in 20). QPR need him to avoid relegation to the third tier, a level they haven’t played at since 2003-04.
It is understood QPR have never seriously entertained the notion of not picking Chair since this story emerged — and rejected offers from clubs including fellow Championship side Birmingham City and Trabzonspor of the Turkish top flight in the January window, seeing him as part of their long-term plans.
Against West Brom on Wednesday, his influence was again clear.
QPR had 20 shots in the match and won a mammoth 19 corners — many forced from Chair’s 15 crosses. With 17 minutes gone, his dipping shot was spilt by goalkeeper Alex Palmer and the rebound eventually found its way to Sam Field, who opened the scoring for the hosts.
West Brom hit back with two rapid goals to lead at half-time, and QPR turned to Chair to get them back into the game. Centre-back Steve Cook and striker Michael Frey should both have scored headed chances from his crosses before QPR were awarded a penalty after another Chair shot was deflected into the path of Lucas Andersen, whose cross hit the arm of a West Brom player.
Frey’s penalty was saved, but Field scored his second (and QPR’s point-securing equaliser) minutes later. Chair moved to the right for the closing minutes, getting on the ball early from deep. In the final minutes, there was one final cross towards the far post. Overhit. He sank to his haunches.
One point clear of the bottom three before their home match today (Saturday) against 12th-placed Middlesbrough, QPR remain living in stasis.
So, for the moment, does Chair.
(Top photo: John Cripps/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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