May be a little premature, but I'd be interested in where you think Warnock stands against QPR managers of the past. As my memory only goes back to the late 60s, can't really include pre Stock era, but for me: - Venables - Stock - Sexton - Jago - Warnock, closely followed by Francis (G, first time as manager) Still have fantasies over where we might be if Venables hadn't been lured to Barca.....
Stock Venables Sexton Francis Jago Warnock Ollie All those above did it at a higher level, and Stock simply was the architect of all that followed...
Don't mention Tommy Docherty or Trevor Francis as I haven't got a piece of paper large enough to get them on.
1. Sexton - can't ignore our best ever season 2. Venables - visionary 3. Stock - kicked off our golden era but don't forget the long years he was at LR before success came 4. Jago - best ever coach 5. Francis - Mr QPR 6. Holloway - promotion in impossible circumstances. A true legend 7. Warnock - promotion in much more achievable circumstances but against a tricky political backdrop
Interesting subject Stan. Don't know if you remember but we looked at this back in the summer (18.07.11). Thought it might of further interest to re-raise the bones of that old thread to inform this new one. Back then our verdict was Neil Warnock joint bronze! Wonder how recent events might have changed our view of NW? Our vote only included managers who'd won silverware or thereabouts. As a consequence of our 'Neil Warnock: Counting Our Blessings' thread yesterday, a number of other great Rangers managers were mentioned. Just thought, with all the doom and gloom around atm and with our current manager being just about the only positive element we've got going for us, it might be a welcome relief to compare and contrast Sir Neil with our other notables. Whilst he's done less time than the other legends, his record compares very well. For me, the only qualifier for legendary manager status is that those considered must have won major honours for the club at one level or another. The full listing (in date order) is as follows. Neil Warnock (March '10 - date) P57 W28 D18 L11 W49.1% 2nd Tier Champions (10/11) Ian Holloway (Feb '01 - Feb '06) P252 W100 D71 L81 W39.7% 3rd Tier Runners-Up 03/04 Jim Smith (June '85 - Dec '88) P167 W67 D38 L62 W40.1% League Cup Runners-Up 85/86 Terry Venables (Oct '80 - May '84) P166 W84 D33 L49 W50.6% FA Cup Runners-Up 81/82 / 2nd Tier Champions 82/83 Dave Sexton (Oct '74 - July '77) P130 W57 D32 L41 W43.8% 1st Tier Runners-Up 75/76 Gordon Jago (Jan '71 - Sept '74) P161 W71 D55 L35 W44.1% 2nd Tier Runners-Up 72/73 Alec Stock (Aug '59 - Aug '68) P439 W206 D104 L129 W46.9% League Cup Winners 66/67 / Third Tier Champions 66/67 Dave Mangnall (Apr â44 â May â52) P280 W112 D74 L94 W40.0% FL3 South Champions 47/48 James Cowan (Aug 1906 - Mar â13) P296 W128 D85 L83 W43.2% FL South Champions 1907/08 & 1911/12 / FA Charity Shield Runners-Up 1908 & 1912 [B]Notes[/B] James Cowan appears to have been our first 'serious' manager (from a records point of view). Don't know much about him (even I wasn't around in those days!) but looking at his figures, he sure set the standard for future Rangers managers winning two major titles, losing just 83 of his 296 games in charge. Dave Mangnall is the first Rs manager in living memory. Our most senior poster, James the One, would have been out there on the terraces when Mangnall was at the helm... I'd love for old Jim Lad (before he hits the rum bottle (ha ha / yo-ho-ho etc.)) to give us some of his memories of this obviously successful era at some point. Neil Warnock v Dave Sexton These two both grabbed major honours within a year or so of their appointments. Other than the states of club ownership, the two main differences was that Sexton got us within a whisker of winning what's now the Premier League title but did so with a team put together by his predecessor, Gordon Jago; and Warnock won promotion to the Prem as champions but with a team he put together from scraps. Terry Venables As both team captain and later manager, Venables is perhaps the man who's made the biggest tactical contribution to a number of successful Rs sides. For me Venables must take much of the credit for Rangers kudos as an attactive small club alternative to the top five or six London teams. Bit of a lad maybe but no doubting his creative genius and certainly vies for the position of both Rangers' and later maybe England's best ever manager. Had he had more time in charge on both occasions, I'm very sure there would have been even more honours... For Gerry Francis Fans I remember both of Francis' stints in charge and felt particularly comfortable with his approach first time round. The reason I can't include him among our legends is simply because he never won major honours as manager. For the record, Francis' figures read as follows. Gerry Francis (2) (Oct '98 - Feb '01) P125 W36 D42 L47 W28.8% Gerry Francis (1) (June '91 - Nov '94) P158 W59 D47 L52 W37.3% Looking at the listing, I'd be interested to read your opinions of which of our legends would get your votes for a not606 QPR Manager gold, silver and bronze achievement award. Answers 1, 2 and 3 please - with any reasons you can give to support your ratings. OUTCOME After twenty responses: Gold: Stock x 8, Sexton x 6, Venables x 4, Holloway x 1, Warnock x 1, Silver: Venables x 7, Jago x 5, Sexton x 4, Warnock x 2, Holloway x 1, Stock x 1, Bronze: Venables x 4, Warnock x 4, Jago x 3, Holloway x 2, Sexton x 2, Smith x 1, Stock x 1, (Francis x 2),
My Top-ten list look like this: 1 ) Dave Sexton 2) Terry Venables 3) Alec Stock 4) Gordon Jago 5) Jim Smith 6) Gerry Francis 7) Neil Warnock 8) Ian Holloway 9) Dave Mangnall 10) Trevor Francis
Cheers Brix, I had it somewhere in the back of my mind that this had been done before, and clearly more thoroughly and scientifically! Can't get past Venables as my favourite, remembering he was coach under Jago as well....
This is an interesting subject. If you take Ollie leading us out of the third tier on a shoestring as an example... do you think a Sir Alex Ferguson or an Arsene Wenger could have pulled off the same trick in similar circumstances? Of course we'll never know, but the point it, are you a better manager 'full stop' because you've had success with better players in a better division? I'm not sure. We see many managers take teams up to higher divisions only for their teams to struggle, lose too many matches and eventually the manager gets the sack. Rarely do we see a successful top-flight manager succeed in a lower division. Sven has won trophies in Italy and led England to last-8 finishes in World Cups and European Championships. But he was sacked as manager of Leicester. As far as QPR is concerned, the heart votes for messr Stock, Sexton and Venables as the all-time greats (in my memory). Stock probably edges it as he is arguably the father of the QPR we have today and without whom we would probably still be a 3rd/4th tier team like Brentford.
