If he had been fit, not suffering the after-effects of Covid or getting into niggly scraps with defenders which would eventually have led to him being suspended. Not to mention we would have needed to provide service to him for the 45 minutes a game he was ever fit for. No club would have given him another season. Be grateful for what he has done but look forward not back.
Not much to look forward to, it's like staring into a barren landscape looking for our goalscorer and seeing Dykes coming over the horizon, that's what worries many of us.
We spunked a whole load of cash getting the four loanees in on permanent deals, Charlie, Johannsen, Field and De Wijs, plus Andre Gray on loan - everyone seemed very happy with that. Our form at the beginning of the season showed that it had been a successful window, pushing hard at the automatic spots. As far as I can remember, we didn't have the dosh to spend any more on strengthening the squad in the Jan window, when we most needed it, and the board hung Warburton out to dry by expecting him to continue that form through the rest of the season with the meagre squad we had - and injuries took their toll. Hence we are where we are now....skint, and struggling. We have to hope that Beale and his staff can get the squad on board with their ideas, especially once all the sicknotes are back fit. However it turns out, it'll be a journey on the QPR Rollercoaster as always. This was always going to be a transitional year anyway, so I'm prepared to give Beale some slack. Mid-table.is where we'll be come the end of the season I'd think, hopefully not too close to the bottom slots....
Being cash-strapped is bad enough but the last two home games against not the most glamorous opposition produced gates just over 12,000. In a division where several clubs are banking parachute payments and quite a few others get double our gates we're pissing into the wind. If you think League One will be easier 7 of the Top 8 easily top that on average and some will be double or more. Even Wrexham in the National League are pushing 10,000. Our recruitment needs to be a lot better than picking up potential sicknotes but if we can't compete on salaries that will be the gamble we have to take. The optimism of 2011 seems a lifetime ago...
I thought WLS did a good write up on the divisions from last season? On the go so can't find the article. In short, and from memory, there were two camps in the club. SLF and CR et al who thought the youth deserved more of a chance. MW and his coaches who didn't believe they were ready quite yet. I think that had a role in MWs departure as when he then spent £ to give it a go with the likes of Dykes & Dinner but still fell short, his camp weren't fully vindicated.
Only seen the highlights from yesterday. Seems to me like MB had the team playing in a way that created a good amount of chances and didn't concede too many chances. Not sure what else he can do as he can't score the chances himself or magic up a decent finisher. However, I didn't see the full thing so look forward to reading the write ups on here.
It was as you suggest, a decent performance let down by poor finishing. Bad misses by Dykes, Chair, Armstrong and Shodipo and two good penalty claims turned down. If one of those chances goes in, everyone's happy. Well, most anyway.
Yes, it was well publicised that Warburton wouldn't use anyone from the academy. He wasn't even willing to give them matchday experience by putting them in the squad. Les et al didn't like this and it became a big rift. Not sure what that's got to do with this season though, which I thought was what Clive was talking about, hinting at all the things I mentioned above?
You sound surprised ? £36 for a ticket including the away end, the board are utterly clueless. We are never gonna fill the stadium at those prices. If they had the brains they'd reduce them to between £26-£28, then get 17000 or more in and still make marginally more on gates and improve the support in the ground no end. It's just another thing the board has got catastrophically wrong so far this season. Anyone hoping that Dykes will find his shooting boots quickly is deluded, he doesn't own a pair. We have 2 league 1 strikers at best and a raw kid, without a minimum 1 decent striker we're gonna struggle no matter how many good chances we create. I feel sorry for Beale cos he's been hamstrung , I really had hoped the board would give him something to have a go with. Also, when we made those permanent signings at the start of last season, weren't they made using the money from Eze's sale ? We have to be asking ourselves why haven't we tried to get Grabban for this season as a free agent ? They keep telling us that decent strikers at this level aren't given away, yet here is a proven striker in this league who we can get for no fee !
Quite hard to know which way to read it on second reading but I interpreted as a bit of a continuation of those divisions. Presume some still in the MW school of thought. Not sure who tbf.
You do realise when a player is a free agent they often demand large sign on ££ as they know the club isn't having to pay a transfer fee? It's really not as simple as you like to make it sound. That's also a 34 year old first team player taking away minutes from the likes of your beloved Armstrong and stopping us developing any player that actually has a future in the game.
All good points and I agree. However, we really need to discover a goal scorer or else I fear that this will be a long, frustrating season.
Agree. I suppose some of it might come back to Sb's favourite topic of objectives. If the objective is bumble along and finish 16th but develop the squad and try and get the likes of Sinclair ready for another year - fine, I guess. Signing Grabban and taking us from 16th to 8th makes no sense. If we're going for it, however, we do need someone up top desperately, and ideally someone who isn't 34 with a 1 in 3 goal average...
I do know that yes, but at 34 and desperate to play he won't be asking the earth. He shouldn't be taking minutes away from Armstrong either as I'd have Armstrong coming on in games after 55 or 60 mins, Dykes would be behind both of them. I simply can't understand why anyone would want to see Dykes continue to miss chance after chance instead of a proven goalscorer in this league !
