An interesting article and well worth a read from QPRnet.com Rangers must rebuild and ditch the egos Published on Wednesday, 16 May 2012 21:14 Written by Chris King In football, as in life, you reap what you sow. The misguided Summer â11 transfer policy saw Queens Park Rangers Football Club inherit Shaun Wright-Phillips, Joey Barton and Jay Bothroyd. All of whom have failed to live up to reasonable expectations. Barton, despite being named Rangers captain, has proved inept on the pitch and nothing short of a liability. His sending off against Manchester City underlined the case for the soulful Twitter addict never to play for the club again. Many have called his actions on Sunday âcommon assaultâ, saying âif heâd done [that] in the streets he would have been arrested.â As a layman when it comes to British criminal law, I can neither verify nor deny this statement. However, he unequivocally let the supporters down and dragged the clubâs name through the mud, on a day which otherwise exemplified all that is good, and all that is great about QPR. This season Rangers have had an average away attendance of more than 2,000 per game. To make a comparison with a side the Râs will hope to emulate next season, Fulham took around 200 people to their matches away from Craven Cottage. The support is there, and finally it appears as though the structure is too. The successful acquisition of Warren Farm heralds a new dawn for QPR: a professional, first-class training facility and a team guaranteed at least another year in the top flight. An owner who appears to have that magical combination of being both passionate about the clubâs fortunes and financially committed to improving things on and off the pitch. And finally a manager who claims the club will never be threatened with relegation again while he is in charge, supported by a solid base of backroom staff. Given what club weâre talking about, this all sounds too good to be true, doesnât it? Possibly, but the times they are a-changinâ. In terms of personnel, despite the lowly league finish, the first eleven at least is bordering on a decent selection of players. With the papers announcing that Taye Taiwo, currently on loan from AC Milan, would definitely stay if Rangers survived, the acquisitions of him and Samba Diakité must be high on Mark Hughesâ list of priorities. There needs to be a wholesale clear out at Loftus Road: far too many players are simply living off the mistakes of past regimes, and this cannot be allowed to continue. The hunger and desire of Jamie Mackie, Alejandro Faurlin, Shaun Derry, Anton Ferdinand, Clint Hill, Paddy Kenny and Heidar Helguson must be translated to whoever comes in over the summer. Barton has already shown the true value of loyalty and respect, and with the club now moving onwards and upwards, mistakes such as him cannot be made again.
Always good articles from QPRNET. Clive Whittingham could do with taking a leaf out of their book and cut his long-winded ramblings down to roughly this size. (Otherwise, Clive is a bloody good writer)
Can't argue with any of that! It will be interesting to hear the Manager's and the Board's policy regarding improving the team this year. It should give us a guide as to where this team is going under MH, TF & Amit/Lakshmi (and the impact Riggs will have on developmental acquisitions). Interesting times ahead.
I agree SW, very exciting times ahead. I particularly liked Sparky's interview after the game when he said...'' We will never be in this position again. Not while I'm in charge. ''
I don't believe it. He's gone to the dark side! Luckily Simon and Ron don't let him allow his mind run away with itself. Proper order too. Nobody likes a Jimmy loud bollocks. That's why no-one likes me!
Jimmy Loud Bollocks! Brilliant! Is that Dublin patois or an original Swordsism? If the latter Jimmy Joyce is amongst us!
If we can break the 50 point mark and have a decent cup run in either competition next season I'll be more than happy...
Yes, we must rebuild. I too would like to see us climb into mid-table but IMHO i would take 17th again next season. Anything that guarantees Prem football for another season will do me just fine.
I would take 17th again next year.......................as long as we secured it by mid March! My ticker will not take another final day like last Sunday!!!
In order to do that, we're going to have to win the odd away game; we still haven't cracked that nut yet!
Our season will be defined by the signings made in the next couple of months. I think we need a keeper, centre-back, attacking midfielder and a striker. We also need to develop a style of play in which we keep possession, I'm really getting pissed off with our inability to string more than three passes together without losing the ball...
While you may take that it's pretty clear that Hughes will not. If we only have the resources to achieve survival expect him to be heading for the exit. Personally I think he will set Europa League qualification as a target - not saying that it will be achieved just that this will be the kind of 'next step' Hughes is after.
Agreed, Would also love to see us climb the table over the coming years but i'm afraid to think/hope for any more than 17th. We need a good start and as said above we need to start picking up points away from home.
