QPRnet Blogs

It’s the summer and normally, around this time, my attention turns to The Oval, planning the odd trip to Cornwall where my parents live and trying not to get too hot on the tube going to work.

This year, however, my attention is firmly on the goings on at Loftus Road.  Journalists bandy around superlatives far too much, but unless I’m mistaken, this summer will be a defining one for the next 5 years at Loftus Road.  Never in all my 30 plus years of supporting QPR has there been so much expectation and interest in the off season.

Maybe I’ve fallen for those superlatives, but expectation is high.  Am I wrong to anticipate 4 or 5 more signings (and by that I mean players who actually cost money)? 

Should I temper my expectations when it comes to the new kit we’ve been tantalisingly shown in the season ticket brochure (no I’m not going to comment on that!), whilst waiting for some mage-brand sponsor with 1 million times more kudos that Binatone or Car Giant? 

And then there is the new catering to sample in August – by Cipriani if the Flav interview on the BBC is to be believed.   Do I go for the scallops or roast truffles with my pizza?  Do they cook chips and burgers in Italy?

Ill admit to checking the Offish two or three times a day right now.  I’m excited to be a QPR fan – just broke after renewing my season ticket (damn I said I wouldn’t comment!).  I hope that doesn’t collapse under a Dowie inspired stupor as we start the season with worse results than our last two! (Is that possible?).  At the end of the day, all that I have written about here wont mean a thing unless we get off to a good start next year.

No its not too bloddy early!  Just hang with me for a minute…

We now know the 21 of the 23 teams we will face next year.  Unfortunately Fulham wont be one of them.  I will admit to wanting either Donny or Carlise to come up automatically from the 1st as well, as that would mean one of the ‘big’ clubs in Forest and Leeds definately missing out.  I would put money on Leeds winning the playoffs, just to compund the whole thing.

In some people’s eyes, we are already fovourites, but this seems to be based upon fiscal opportunity rather than anything else, so lets look (or preview) the evidence… (see where Im going now?).

 I want to compare thios season to the potential next season, and Ill do it in a number of categories:

 1 - Our team.

At the momnet we have a decent startign XI, when all are fit.  ON its day this team can beat anyone.  But as was shown at the arse end of this season a couple of injuries and we start to struggle.  This is one area where our new found wealth will come in handy.  I expect at least half a dozen championship standard players to come in over the summer - a huge improvement on what we have had to scrape together in previous season and one which should improve our squad and provide compeition for places - which isnt usually a bad thing.

Verdict: Improvement

2 - The tactics.

We had three managers last year - and our tactics varied quite considerably from the sublime (mostly under De canio) to the ridiculous (the Hawthorns).  Even under the De Canio, however, there were issues, such as our inabilioty to hold onto a lead going into injury time.  We dont have a manager right now, and IMO the key thing is to get a decent tacticain - someone who understands how to play Blackpool away on a cold, wet and windy tuesday night in novemeber as well as at home in August when its 100degrees on the pitch and Blackpool have decided to turn up in black.

Verdict: Expect to be more consistant and probably imrpovement.

3 - Stability.

After the rollercoasters of the last few seasons, the one things i really crave is some stability on and off the pitch.  those people who say that off field shenannigans dont come onto the pitch with the players are talking crap.  In this respect we should surley see a massive improvement.  but then this is QPR…

Verdict: Improvement

4 - Opposition

I hoenstly beleive Derby will struggle big time - a team with no money, no decent players and no confidence will struggle next year - but I beleive that Birmingham and reading will be better teams than Stoke and whoever wins the playoffs.  Forest have the ability to spend a few quid, Swansea less so, but come up as champions and we saw what Brizzle did.  Certainly that coming up is better than Colchester and Scunny.  Add oonto that the strange years that teams like Preston and Cardiff have had.  This league will be tougher.

Verdict: Tougher next year.

We can all add more categories, but all I am trying to say is that its not a foregone conclusion we will go up next year - I think you should see a significant concl;usion, and I will be dissappinted if we are not in the shake up for the play offs as a minimum come the end of the season.

Whoever becomes manager will have huge (all be it unrealistic) expectations behind them, and that will create pressure; pressure they could probably do without.  I just hope they can cope with it, juggling 20 players who all want to be in the first team and Flav’s media profile.  Good luck mate.  Ill be there to roar you on.

Earlier in the season I worte we should give JG a chance.  he was fired in a week.  2 days ago I worte how De Canio should get the recognition for the seasons (relative) sucess, hes gone already.

 I will no longer comment on managers (unless we want him out).

 Yours Sincereley

 Chris Tonto Cole

“Life is a roller coaster” sang the girlie looking one from Boyzone. It certainly was for QPR this year. We very nearly hit the ultimate low - extinction, instead we’ve been given 3 rich sugardadies and the largest dose of optimism for 20 years.

The end of season reviews will, of course, be all about Flav, Bernie and Mr Mittal. Their spending power will make us a favourite for promotion next year. I have already written how much we should be thankful for GP for sorting the mess out, and finally the majority are realising just that.

Really the end of season reviews should concentrate on the achievements of De Canio. It is he who has taken a team which was at its lowest ebb and transformed it one that can compete. I suspect, however, that his achievements will be lost in the journalist’s rhetoric about Flav and co. I find it annoying that his achievements have essentially been under reported.

Maybe I should move on? Start thinking about the new season to come - and one of the most exciting off seasons (for the right reasons) that we have faced in a long time? Maybe I should be thinking which players we need to turn our decent team into a promotion chasing squad (yes there is a difference). My championship manager tactic for this year consisted of basically selling the lot and starting again, using the money raised in selling Camp and Dex to fund an entirely new XI (I did manage to buy Buzz for a pittance! I doubt I will be doing the same with the 2009 edition.

I am glad the season is over, its been emotional (should I be saying those words considering who said them?). I missed more games this season than the last 5 combined due to work commitments. Thats something I dont want to repeat next year, and I suspect Firebrace may have been shitting himself after our start to the season and 53 points looked a mile off (you still owe us all a pint BTW)

All I am saying is that it is one roller coaster I dont fancy riding again. Yeah sure, the highs were great, the lows were horrible, but its time to start new ride, maybe a bigger better ride, with different thrills and spills, and resign the old one to the been there done that column.

Im confused. Those that know me will probably say “that’s not too difficult”, but this time, Im really confused. The team I love is in danger of becoming what I despise “a money orientated, dont give a toss about the fans, marketing machine akin to Chel$ki and Manure.

Now I am prepared to give the new guys a chance and see what happens, rather than lynch them before they’ve even got their feet under the desk (Ill leave that to the Ingham and Finney types of this world). But there has to be a concern that prawn sandwiches will soon be outselling thr Balti Pies and hotdogs, whilst multi-millionaire mercenaries strut their fancy dan stuff over a manicured pitch. Exactly the sort of thing I detest (see my money money money rant for more details).

So I am in a paradox. Do I continue to support the team I have loved for 30 plus years, or stick with my principles. I never expected us to become billionaires, particularly so close to being in administration, and I will continue to applaud GP for his efforts but have we become a “if you cant beat em join em club” chasing the premiership gravy train and once there doing everything possible to stop others joining us?

Time will tell, but if you ever see me eating a prawn sandwich at LR please slap me in the face and call me a sell out (but thats the ONLY circumstance you can do that for).

So we finally have a new manager. Welcome Mr de Canio, even if I had never heard of you until now, Im sure that this is my error, not one on the part of Gianni. I wish you well, like I do with every other manger. I have also learnt from my mistakes and wont praise you in a blog as this will lead to a dreadful run of form and your sacking.

I wonder, however, what you will make of our squad. Its an odd squad, mostly built for free or nearly free. Our forth most expensive player broke his leg and our second most expensive player has just had an op, but at least the top costing bloke looks good and the other one that cost money is a damn good keeper in the making.

So if you have a shed load of Bernie and Flav’s, where should you spend it? Wisely is my advise. Generally speaking I think it would be better to bring in 4 or 5 £1 million players than splash it all on one. But not an entirely new team. That would be a waste of time as new players will need to gel. You could start with a couple of our loanees, Rowan Vine and Craine have changed our team immeasurably, but I suspect you may face a problem with Crainie as Pompey like him. Its not worth breaking the bank for either of them. Of the rest – take em or leave em, if the price is right (i.e. not very much), then fine, otherwise I wonder if there are some Italians you know who want to give the Championship a go.

There are of course a few blokes who need to go. The previous manager got rid of most of them, but there are a couple lingering around. Im sure you will figure out who quickly enough, or failing that just listen to the boos from the Loftus Road faithful for clues.

Anyway have fun.

So the club isnt for sale then… confused? you bet.

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 mates”, 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.

QPR: Hello God.  Got a bit of a crisis, can you help?
God: yeah sure, I’m God; should be no problem, what can I do for you?
QPR: We have this loan… its costing us an arm and a leg, but we don’t know how we can pay it off.
God: Hokey dokey, who’s it with?
QPR: ABC
God: Good luck with that – see you later…

I should point out I made up this conversation.  I also know that no similar conversations involving any other sporting team are also made up.  How do I know?  Because God doesn’t like sports.  FACT.

It never ceases to amaze me how many sportsmen and women thank god for their abilities by crossing themselves before then enter their chosen arena.  How many times do you see team mates looking to the skies as a penalty shootout takes place as if the big guy is gonna help them.  Have they not notices that the other folk are doing it as well?  If it worked, Italy would be world champions at everything (including snooker which they don’t play).

God obviously hates cricket, otherwise he would have waited 5 minutes before letting it rain at the end of the first test match and he would have let England win the toss for the second (he surely supports England out of the two teams, after all the other lot don’t believe he exists).

I say this because I’m beginning to fear that we will need some sort of divine intervention at Loftus Road.  Just when the optimism was rising, more and more rumours of more and more crises get published in the media.  Since God doesn’t care, who should we turn to?  Can we make a pact with the bad boy downstairs?  If so does anyone have a spare soul hanging about the place.  We might attract an American Evangelicalist or a Russian Orthodox representative, but these are still on earth spokespersons for the one we know doesn’t give a rat’s arse.

All I want is a sign…

I post on two boards – this one and Rivals.  I post on this one because you usually get some considered opinion (yes even with Gripper) on more serious issues and the vast majority of posts relate to QPR (with the obvious exception of the film thread, which I bloody started!)

You can but help laugh at some of the actions over on Rivals.  Yesterday was a classic case in point.  The Beeb says Cook is on his way for £1.5M.  Immediately there are posts calling for GP’s head, preferably on a plate with a side salad.  This morning, GP states on the radio that he rejected the bid for Cook (in fact he laughed at it).  So that’s OK then – GP isn’t an idiot after all, and yet no apologies over on Rivals.  I would hate to see what was written on IndyR’s or the LSA sites, but I suspect that the Rivals threads were tame in comparison.

There is no doubt that GP gets a bloody hard time form most fans.  The reasons are unclear to me.  At the beginning there were rumours he was going to sell the ground, that he was only interested in sell off our prize assets and that he was going to run the club into the ground.  All of these have been unproven to date, and his actions of yesterday suggest that this will continue whilst he is at the helm.  I wonder where the continued venom comes from?  I have asked some folk to explain it to me, and the best they can come up with is “he’s just dodgy isn’t he”.

I have spoken to GP twice.  Once at the players sponsor’s do (where he was more interested in my female companion!) and once when he phoned me – yes he phoned me!  I had sent him an e-mail about my thoughts on the Sponsor’s do and how I thought it could be improved.  Within half an hour he had phoned me back and thanked me for my constructive comments and he said he would take them on board.  He then went into lots of stuff about the club and proved to me one thing – he DOES care about the club.  I don’t agree with everything he’s ever done, and I don’t expect to in the future, but I genuinely believe he has the clubs best interests at heart.

One thing that is for sure is that he has divided opinion amongst QPR supporters more than any other person associated with the club (even George Santos!).  That’s not a good thing, because the best way forward is for everyone to pull together.  I think that’s what Gallen was trying to say last week, but he’s a footballer, therefore, wont be very eloquent, plus I suspect the journos twisted things a bit.  In these troubled times, working together for a change might make the club more attractive to a richer chairman, to whom £20M is nothing and our debts can be written off.  But this is one reason why I stick to only two message boards.  The more I see and hear about what is happening on the other ones the more I realise how far we are from working together.