Looking To Next Season

[QPR999]

Considering that we're not contesting promotion or relegation I was just having a ponder about next season. At the moment performances and results have improved and the general feeling among the fanbase is that we've got our Rangers back. We have a team who look like they're in it together and will fight and battle hard regardless whether we win lose or draw. As well as this there's been some good attacking football with some nice passages of play. We have got something about us now that wasn't there during JFH's lacklustre tenure.

In a relatively short period of time Holloway has turned our club around and we now find ourselves looking upwards rather than down. So looking at next season I think we should be challenging in the top half of the table and hopefully looking at competing for a playoff spot.

Next seasons championship will be weaker than this season's. Barring a miracle we should lose two of the best teams that this division has ever seen in Newcastle and Brighton. We'll also lose one of the chasing teams which are Huddersfield, Leeds, Reading, Sheff Weds and Fulham. Coming the other way looks to be any three from Sunderland, Hull, Boro, Palace, Swansea or Leicester. I think it will be the North East clubs that will come down and they look weaker than the three they'll be replacing.

Coming the other way from League One could be Sheffield United and two others out of Fleetwood, Bolton, Scunthorpe and Bradford who I can't see posing any significant threat. The clubs that will possibly be leaving the championship will be Rotherham who are already gone and two from Wigan, Bristol City, Blackburn, Forest, Burton and Wolves. So again the three replacement clubs will be weaker than the three that are relegated making this division more competitive from our perspective next season.

Our current squad looks relatively settled compared to the recent few seasons. It will be quite a novelty to not see wholesale changes to the playing personnel, with hopefully just two or three additions. With the exception of Caulker the rest of the squad look like they want to be here and fight for their place in the team and develop their careers. We've secured some of our better players on good contacts and have the makings of a good core of younger players and now have a semblance of a spine to the team.

Although we won't win every game it's great to see that we've got a great team in the making. I think that next season will be exciting and will see our team and fans all together creating a great atmosphere at Loftus Road once again.

Come On You Rsss!

 

[Hoops Eternal]

Good thought provoking post nines.
I totally agree that we have a squad of players who are without doubt putting in the effort on the pitch, and generally look as though they want to be at LR. When does Caulker's contract expire?
I'm happy with the way we are playing and it is good to see that people's opinions of Conor Washington are beginning to become more positive, I really do believe he will come good. And the likes of Ryan Manning have been a real bonus.
All in all we now have a decent squad, which next season is capable of challenging for a play-off place (transfer window dealings aside) but I don't see sufficient quality in the current group of players to actually achieve promotion.
Should we find ourselves back in the Premier league, how would we want to approach it this time around? I can't see TF crowbarring open the petty cash tin and throwing huge amounts of cash at it again, so would we become fully paid up members of the yo-yo club?
Anyway, whatever happens it will be fun!

 

[QPR Oslo]

9 points off a relegation place with 9 games left to play doesn't mean we are safely in next seasons Championship yet, and so it"s way too soon to think about next season for me, and I hope and trust the Club.

 

[QPR999]

Good thought provoking post nines.
I totally agree that we have a squad of players who are without doubt putting in the effort on the pitch, and generally look as though they want to be at LR. When does Caulker's contract expire?
I'm happy with the way we are playing and it is good to see that people's opinions of Conor Washington are beginning to become more positive, I really do believe he will come good. And the likes of Ryan Manning have been a real bonus.
All in all we now have a decent squad, which next season is capable of challenging for a play-off place (transfer window dealings aside) but I don't see sufficient quality in the current group of players to actually achieve promotion.
Should we find ourselves back in the Premier league, how would we want to approach it this time around? I can't see TF crowbarring open the petty cash tin and throwing huge amounts of cash at it again, so would we become fully paid up members of the yo-yo club?
Anyway, whatever happens it will be fun!

Caulker's contract expires on the 30th June 2018. He'll steal another £2,640,000 from the club until then.

If we somehow did get promoted I don't think Holloway will try and flash the cash. He doesn't believe in spending loads of money on players.

 

[QPR999]

9 points off a relegation place with 9 games left to play doesn't mean we are safely in next seasons Championship yet, and so it"s way too soon to think about next season for me, and I hope and trust the Club.

None of the bottom three will win five of those nine games to put us in jeopardy should we not get any more points. Which is also pretty unlikely as well. Take a look at this ...

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[Hoops Eternal]

Caulker's contract expires on the 30th June 2018. He'll steal another £2,640,000 from the club until then.

If we somehow did get promoted I don't think Holloway will try and flash the cash. He doesn't believe in spending loads of money on players.

You are probably right, with all the stories flying around about Caulker no other club will take the risk.
I don't think Holloway would be given the cash even if he wanted it.

 

[MelburnIAN]

Caulker's contract expires on the 30th June 2018. He'll steal another £2,640,000 from the club until then.

If we somehow did get promoted I don't think Holloway will try and flash the cash. He doesn't believe in spending loads of money on players.

That would save us buying previously relegated PL players looking to maintain their wages.

How many Caulkers, Fers are out there ripping off promoted clubs?

 

[MelburnIAN]

None of the bottom three will win five of those nine games to put us in jeopardy should we not get any more points. Which is also pretty unlikely as well. Take a look at this ...

You must log in or register to see images

So Saturday is a top v bottom clash... I don't like it one bit. I recall the year we gifted Swindon the only double of their rotten season.

 

[QPR Oslo]

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[QPR999]

So Saturday is a top v bottom clash... I don't like it one bit. I recall the year we gifted Swindon the only double of their rotten season.

I doubt anything like that will happen Ian. Rotherham are a twitching corpse. Any chance of them staying up went when Izzy Brown left them for Huddersfield in the last transfer window. I hope we can get hold of him next season.

 

[QPR Oslo]

None of the bottom three will win five of those nine games to put us in jeopardy should we not get any more points. Which is also pretty unlikely as well. Take a look at this ...

You must log in or register to see images

You lost me there Nines. If we got no more points Bristol City (3rd bottom)would need just 3 wins to go above us on GD, not 5. As for the table you could put one up with us bottom of it from not long ago. We're not done yet.

 

[Ciarrai_Abu]

Caulker's contract expires on the 30th June 2018. He'll steal another £2,640,000 from the club until then.

If we somehow did get promoted I don't think Holloway will try and flash the cash. He doesn't believe in spending loads of money on players.

How sickening that we are wasting so much cash on that waster.

 

[QPRski]

It will be interesting to see where or how we need to strengthen in the summer.

I think that we will need at least another proven centre back. We will lose Caulker, but I don't know if that really changes anything in reality. We have Onuoha, Lynch and Hall, plus the youngsters whom I cannot name. I think we probably need four good and proven centre backs.

If we wish to play Hall in front of the back two, then we have no real back up and we look well short and potentially exposed. An alternative scenario, is to get a player who can play in front of the central pair as a sweeper and keep Hall as a CB with an option to alternate as the sweeper.

Other than this I cannot see any real gaps. However, I would not say no to a genuine "playmaker" of the Gerry Francis mould. But there is always room for improvement.

 

[QPR999]

You lost me there Nines. If we got no more points Bristol City (3rd bottom)would need just 3 wins to go above us on GD, not 5. As for the table you could put one up with us bottom of it from not long ago. We're not done yet.

Sorry I meant to state that Wigan need five wins and Bristol need four. Anyway it's not going to happen. We'll have 50 points by 5 o'clock on Saturday. I think only one or two teams have been relegated with that many in the last decade or so.

 

[MelburnIAN]

I doubt anything like that will happen Ian. Rotherham are a twitching corpse. Any chance of them staying up went when Izzy Brown left them for Huddersfield in the last transfer window. I hope we can get hold of him next season.

I doubt it too, but until recently we were the Club that everyone wanted to play to break long running sequences.

I genuinely like what I'm seeing at the moment and believe we are not that far off being a play off contending squad

 

[Steelmonkey]

Nice write up 999s, with good reasoning about the strength if the division next season. However, we are nowhere near the finished article, but Ollie is doing a great job of polishing up the old turd that JFH left behind.

A few astute signings in the summer should see us truly competetive in this league, but I feel we are still another season away from being able to challenge for the top slots or play-offs. Ollie seems to have finally found a formula to get all the team playing to his plans, and is also able to change these plans when situations dictate making substitutions that actually make a difference in games.

The players are also now showing some pride in playing for our club, and are getting the support from the fans that their efforts deserve, so Ollie and Birch deserve credit for that too. If he does stumble across the stars needed for a promotion push, then the squad will need a major overhaul before heading into the firing line of the Premier League, as none of us would want a repeat of our previous excursions, but therein lies the big issue - we've finally got our club identity back, but will probably have to sacrifice it again to maintain PL survival, and so the cycle starts again.

 

[QPR Oslo]

Sorry I meant to state that Wigan need five wins and Bristol need four. Anyway it's not going to happen. We'll have 50 points by 5 o'clock on Saturday. I think only one or two teams have been relegated with that many in the last decade or so.

Not 4 wins either. In all probability just 3 as Bristol's GD would be better if we lost them all, otherwise 3 Wins and a Draw would be enough for them.

 

[Didley Squat]

Considering that we're not contesting promotion or relegation I was just having a ponder about next season. At the moment performances and results have improved and the general feeling among the fanbase is that we've got our Rangers back. We have a team who look like they're in it together and will fight and battle hard regardless whether we win lose or draw. As well as this there's been some good attacking football with some nice passages of play. We have got something about us now that wasn't there during JFH's lacklustre tenure.

In a relatively short period of time Holloway has turned our club around and we now find ourselves looking upwards rather than down. So looking at next season I think we should be challenging in the top half of the table and hopefully looking at competing for a playoff spot.

Next seasons championship will be weaker than this season's. Barring a miracle we should lose two of the best teams that this division has ever seen in Newcastle and Brighton. We'll also lose one of the chasing teams which are Huddersfield, Leeds, Reading, Sheff Weds and Fulham. Coming the other way looks to be any three from Sunderland, Hull, Boro, Palace, Swansea or Leicester. I think it will be the North East clubs that will come down and they look weaker than the three they'll be replacing.

Coming the other way from League One could be Sheffield United and two others out of Fleetwood, Bolton, Scunthorpe and Bradford who I can't see posing any significant threat. The clubs that will possibly be leaving the championship will be Rotherham who are already gone and two from Wigan, Bristol City, Blackburn, Forest, Burton and Wolves. So again the three replacement clubs will be weaker than the three that are relegated making this division more competitive from our perspective next season.

Our current squad looks relatively settled compared to the recent few seasons. It will be quite a novelty to not see wholesale changes to the playing personnel, with hopefully just two or three additions. With the exception of Caulker the rest of the squad look like they want to be here and fight for their place in the team and develop their careers. We've secured some of our better players on good contacts and have the makings of a good core of younger players and now have a semblance of a spine to the team.

Although we won't win every game it's great to see that we've got a great team in the making. I think that next season will be exciting and will see our team and fans all together creating a great atmosphere at Loftus Road once again.

Come On You Rsss!

We have a manager who wants to be here.
We have a team ( mostly ) who want to be here.
We certainly have fans who would love to have a 'settled' off season ........... so why not!
Hopefully, we as a team, as a club, can finally have a decent off season and hit the ground running at seasons start, 2017-18.
Until then, hoping our team can continue to build something great.
Funny, I'm not used to speaking with such enthusiasm but could this be the start of something big?

 

[SW Ranger]

Good overview nines. Credit has to be given to the way things have slowly begun to turn around. But I agree with steelmonkey, we have a way to go yet. Another season of consolidation and bedding in this necessary culture of playing for the team and the club is required. We need this squad to be together longer, stabilize and add where we know we can/need to improve when the right player is available - no more of this waving our 'wad' around and demanding to spend our money like some spoilt rich kid. Look at what we need where, and see what 'right sort' is available. Hopefully our new scouting set-up will be working hard on that front.

We do need a playmaker in the centre, we lack that creativity and spice in the middle (we have good work rate, but not that spark to make something extraordinary happen; someone to draw in a couple of players or unsettle defences and make them nervous). We also need another reliable centre back - Caulker is a write-off - so we need to replace him and strengthen (he weakens our squad). We have developers in Furlong, Manning and Goss. Possibilities in the Washington and Smith partnership. Possibilities in Sylla and N'Gbakato. Opportunities with Freeman and Wszolek. But there are players we could replace with better, should the opportunity arise.

So still a way to go, in my opinion, but far more optimistic than when JFH departed and Holloway came in (I wasn't a fan of him when he came, but I do give him some credit for beginning the turnaround; however I still need to see more from him to become a true believer- he has, however, made me much more positive about our club... but then we are QPR, and we know absolutely anything can happen - and it usually does).

 

[QPAAAAAGH]

While the squad does indeed look settled and well organised against most opposition I honestly can't see the core of a promotion chasing side. Most clubs that succeed in the Championship - probably the most competitive league on Earth - have one or two key players that provide the spark to lift them above the pack. I think Manning has the potential to grow into such a player but otherwise we are hard working but ordinary. If anyone mentions Morrison at this stage I'm going to scream...