And now… the end is near (allegedly)
So it looks as though GPs reign is coming to an end. I dare say some will say good riddance, but as Rivals has closed, it will be difficult to find out what Smiffy is saying. IF he does go, and I appreciate it is still an if as I write and may even stay an if for ever, then there are some things we should be grateful for. There are also some things we should be glad never to be seen again. So what did GP do well and what did he do badly? Here is my take on things.
The positives.
1. He managed to keep the club afloat, maybe by the skin of his teeth, but it is a feat nonetheless.
2. He attracted more investment to the club. OK so they never turn up to board meetings (unless they are trying to dump chairmen) and showed little other interest in the playing side of things, but the investment also contributed to keeping the club afloat.
3. He pretty much let the manager get on with it and backed them in the market. The main exception was nick Ward, but despite the claims that he would “bring in his matesâ€, he didn’t.
4. He bought in JG, who has transformed the club.
The negatives.
1. The PR side of the club has been, to put it mildly, appalling. The Court case was embarrassing enough, but the information that come out of the club was often sketchy, damaging and in several cases wrong. The fans were often left in the dark.
2. The way he got rid of Bill was poor. It meant he started with a sour taste in everyone’s mouths.
3. The rumour mongering about the club was also damaging. Ingham’s best attempts to convince all QPR supporters that GP was going to sell Loftus Road were not a good start, but it meant that rumour after rumour followed GP about, most of them inaccurate, but enough to damage relationships with supporters.
As I said in a previous blog, I believe GPs heart was in the right place, if not always his head. If Flav, or any other potential buyer come in then GP should be remembered for being the person who got them here, and well done for insisting that they have to spend money on the team.
Lets hope it is farewell GP as a new money man could take this team far. JG is the right man in charge and the team he has now assembled is the best we’ve had since we got promoted. It shouldn’t take too much to take the team to the next level and challenge for promotion, especially if the supporters actually get behind whoever takes over.
Leave a Reply