Harry Redknapp has looked to distance himself from QPR's Financial Fair Play fine, which the club are appealing and the former boss described himself as 'shocked and devastated' at the ruling.
Rangers could be fined £58million, something he described as 'crazy' although the club are set to argue that the fine is disproportionate to other breaches.
Redknapp was in charge during the infamous 2013/14 season and has insisted that he was trying to cut costs, although Rangers had a wage budget north of £70m in the second tier.
The 70-year-old, who is out of work after being sacked by Birmingham City last month, was quick to defend his transfer record during his time at Loftus Road.
"Why they would pick on QPR, of all the clubs, that have overstepped the rules, I just find that amazing,” he told ESPN.
"I didn't sign [those] players. Julio Cesar and others were all there when I arrived at the club.
"The team I got promoted with, people like Bobby Zamora, Joey Barton, [Armand] Traore, Clint Hill, Rob Green in goal, Nedham Onuoha, they were there already.
"They weren't players that I brought in. They got promoted with a team of players that were already there. It was only one or two signings [that I made]. When we got back to the Premier League, we took loans. We certainly didn't overspend for a Premier League club. Definitely not.
"I don't want to criticise anyone who bought Julio Cesar and others. That's not fair. What I had to do was to try and get them off the wage bill.
“It was a cutting-back process when I was there and taking people on free transfers and, in lots of cases, having to pay a percentage of their wages to get them off the wage bill."
QPR's squad for the play-off final consisted of 39 players against a Derby side whose wage budget was five times less than theirs.
That season, Redknapp oversaw the signings of Danny Simpson (free), Richard Dunne (free), Karl Henry (undisclosed), Charlie Austin (undisclosed), Gary O'Neil (free), Matt Phillips (undisclosed), Javier Chevanton (free), Oguchi Onyewu (free), Yossi Benayoun (free), Coll Donaldson (undisclosed) and Aaron Hughes (free). While the transfer fees weren't excessive, it increased the wage budget.
QPR also loaned in Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Tom Carroll, Niko Kranjcar, Dellatorre, Kevin Doyle, Will Keane, Modibo Maiga and Ravel Morrison during that time with Rangers making a contribution, to a greater or lesser degree, to their wages, lifting them to over £70m.
Redknapp also believes that FFP is behind bigger teams pulling away at the top of the Premier League.
"That's why you've got six teams on a different level to the rest in the Premier League," he said. "The top six teams have got the biggest budgets, the best players and the strongest squads. That's why every year -- apart from one year when Leicester won [the Premier League title in 2016] -- every other year it's the same six teams [in contention].
"I don't know what the solution would be. I don't know how it all works out and what the guidelines to fair play are. That's up to people who run the football club. Managers have very little say in transfer dealings and transfers these days.
"QPR is a great club with great support. I'm sure this will drag on and I don't know the jurisdiction of it all. I don't know how it happened and how it was allowed to happen."
