The rumours gathered pace over the course of Sunday and by
around 6pm it was confirmed – Neil Warnock has been sacked by Queens Park Rangers
after 22 months in charge.
It’s a decision that I am in so many minds about it is
untrue, on one hand I’m a great believer in stability and patience paying
dividends. On the other here’s a team on the slide, heading towards relegation with
no signs of improvement on the horizon.
It’s fairly easy to defend Neil Warnock, a man who came into
a shambles of a club, picked it up off the floor and inside fourteen months
achieved a remarkable promotion against a backdrop of chaos and uncertainty
behind the scenes, not least the fiasco surrounding Alejandro Faurlin’s
transfer.
He gave us the most remarkable day of our lives in May last
year when we returned to the top flight after a fifteen year absence. He will
never be forgotten for that achievement or the raw feeling of jubilation it
created, the likes of which I have never felt in over twenty years of following
this club.
His time to prepare for life in The Premier League was
ruined by the previous regime, already set on selling the club and refusing to
pump anymore money in for new signings Warnock was left to pick up dregs and
scraps to supplement his squad before having to start all over again when Tony
Fernandes finally completed his takeover just a couple of weeks before transfer
deadline day.
That led to a flurry of transfers and some big names
arriving, the signings of Anton Ferdinand, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Joey
Barton did wonders for fanbase morale but perhaps raised expectations beyond
that of a season of struggle. This quick sea change of attitude was fantastic
for the club but may well have done for Warnock in the end.
The criticisms of him in recent weeks have grown steadily,
players played out of position, negative tactics replacing his previous
positive outlook and a real feeling that the team had run out of ideas but were
getting very little in the way of new ones put into them from the bench
The game at MK Dons was case in point, a really poor effort
from a side that looked completely lost at sea and a man of the match shout
from the boss for Tommy Smith who frankly, was appalling on the day. His substitution
of Adel Taarabt against Norwich recently was also bizarre and his insistence of
moving Shaun Wright-Phillips all over the pitch instead of leaving him in his
natural wide right spot where he is a threat equally questionable.
It all had the feel
of a man starting to panic and perhaps the pressure was beginning to tell. Warnock
had begun to look increasingly glum in post match conferences whereas before he
had always appeared upbeat and eager to get on with the job, regardless of the
result, performance or whatever crazy situation was going on behind the scenes.
And God knows he had to deal with some crazy situations!
Some would say Neil Warnock just isn’t a top flight manager
and rumours persist that his relationship with the top players was at breaking
point. It’s a perfectly fair point that making limited players believe they are
better than they are is a totally different job to getting supremely talented
footballers playing at full tilt. Maybe Warnock just wasn’t that type of
manager.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the decision you can’t
argue that it isn’t a brave one from Tony Fernandes. He had been subjected to a
flurry of messages on twitter demanding Warnock’s removal from some impatient
fans of late. Whilst it’s a wonderful tool to communicate with I really hope
his decision is based on something more tangible than his twitter feed as
otherwise I fear he is about to find out that listening to the loudest voices isn’t
always the best way forward. It’s also interesting to note that the biggest
shouts before the announcement were those demanding Warnock be sacked whilst
now the deed is done the shouts for “Warnock In” seem to dominate.
One thing that has proved a welcome change in all this
though is the statement from the club announcing Warnock’s departure. Gone are
the terse statements of the previous owners and in place a well thought out and
respectful piece that actually takes time to explain the decision made and
justify it.
Regardless of whether you agree with the move or not we are,
at least, no longer treated like mushrooms. The key players have been all over
Twitter and Sky Sports News too, ready and willing to discus and justify this
change to the fanbase. What a difference that is from the days of Briatore and Ecclestone.
Even if you can’t agree with Warnock’s removal I’m sure we’d all say this has
been handled with a lot more class than anything the last lot did.
It’s also nice to see Warnock himself quoted on there,
suggesting that perhaps there is still some admiration between both parties. You
can’t help but get down and dirty when you’re in football but it’s nice if you
can come out of all it with respect for all concerned and I think the club have
managed that today.
So what’s next for QPR? It seems likely that a new man will
be in place some time this week. The statement confirms both Keith Curle and
Mick Jones have left with Warnock which means the decks are cleared for a new
broom. It also makes no mention of a caretaker manager which to me implies we’ll
have someone in before the Newcastle game. CEO Philip Beard seemed to confirm
this when talking on Sky Sports News this evening when we said on a new
appointment “we plan to move very, very
quickly.”
That backs up the bookies short odds on Mark Hughes taking
over at Loftus Road and also says quite a lot on the recent rumours linking us
with half of Blackburn’s better players. Hughes is 5/1 on to take over and the
next best price is Gianfranco Zola at 3/1 against. You never see a poor bookie.
So the end of Neil Warnock is a very sad day for him and for
QPR. No one will ever forget his contribution to this club. If this club
continues to grow and move forward as I hope it will he’ll be forever remember
as the man who kicked it all off. I’m sure he’ll bounce back and do a
marvellous job with someone else as he has done throughout his career.
Perhaps in the old days he would have been given a few more
weeks to turn things around, but the cut throat nature of the Premier League only
increased with the introduction of the transfer window. With Fernandes and the
board seemingly willing to back a manager to bring in some good players they
clearly decided they would rather allow a new man to rebuild this squad rather
than gamble on Warnock getting it right. We will never know if he would
have turned it round if he was left in place so all we can judge Fernandes on
is what happens now.
I find it really hard to come down on either side of this
and can see both arguments equally clearly, I will never forget the job Neil did
for this club and will remember his time in charge with great fondness. It's some comfort that we can look back on his tenure with goodwill and warm feelings,
which is not usually case with our departing managers.
The club appears to have changed dramatically over the last
six months and now it is down to the owners to back up their ambitions with the
right appointment and take us forward. Only time will tell if they have made a
good decision, this is the first really big call they have made since taking
over.
The second one is right around the corner.
What do you think of Neil Warnock’s departure and who do you
think should replace him? Leave your comments below or tweet us @qprnet
