To Roller who said: 'This may sound incredibly naive, but we canât allow ourselves to be marginalised. We have to find a way of supporting our team under our terms. We all know that whatever happens we will be at the matches, so we need to find a way of protesting. Maybe something on the lines of Man Utdâs green and gold scarves. Perhaps we should all take Indian flags with us, there must be something we can come up with.' The Goons' ticket prices show that barring obstructed viewing areas of the ground, there is no concession for loyalty discounts. This supports the view that less afluent working class-type fans are very much marginalised in favour of monied outsiders. As some say on here, LR is hardly the Emirates in terms of quality facilities, so loyal fans with some disposable income are more likely to see the Goons' prices as a piss take and are currently considering their options (e.g. QPRangers100's outrage and, if memory serves - Goldhawk's big telly and Sky package alternative). I totally agree Roller that we must protest at being marginalised in this way. I also agree with your suggestions for means of protest being: - turn up to as many home matches as you can afford (STHs apart, the Wigan, Bolton, Blackburn etc. games will be easier to get into and any protest will be more visible); - Man U's green and yellow scarves strategy - the equivalent for us being the green and white of our original colours; and - Indian flags - like it, states our preference in one simple purchase. (Potential earner for sharp flag sellers!)
Northolt. Was waiting for you and Andrew to provide the images to colour what must be a pretty academic and for some, dry discussion around boardroom antics. As Goldhawk says, 'a picture's worth a thousand words'. Keep them coming!
The flags are not expensive - I might go for the £3.99 one myself if we agree that this is the way forwards http://www.mrflag.com/c/661/India.html
To Roller who said: 'Eccles and Bluebottle are not fools, just not football people, but they are businessmen. Their pride will not let the club fail, and they will know that the club may well be and its highest selling price now.' Agree and disagree. They are businessmen BUT can't see sensitivities in the Goon show that would suggest that pride is likely to have much to do with the outcome. Also no evidence that any of the Goons have the best interests of the club at heart. However, in this context, I do think the Goons' short termist vision has a logical, if not a moralistic, under-belly. Eccles is 80 years old and callous in nature. Not for him a medium to long term club development strategy. A short term earner for the Goons is all that matters.
Without doubt they solely have their own best interests at heart, but their pride will not want them associated with a failed business - I failed to make that clear. I would also like to re-state that if they are looking for a profit, now is the logically time to sell, especially if they only have a short term vision
Indeed so, and if we lose the first few matches of the new season, the value of the club will drop as we will be big relegation candidates. Maybe they will re-evaluate after the fixtures have been announced. If we start with matches against Man U, Man C and Chelsea they may be more likely to reach a deal.
From an outsiders perspective................... I support Norwich but I love football in general and try to not not take a biased view of things..............and like to see 'smaller teams' doing well. However, based on what has happened in the last week (ticket prices etc) it has become quite apparant that some of the board members ploughed money in to shares in QPR for 1 reason, and 1 reason only...... To get QPR back in to the top flight of the English League in the belief that they can increase their share value. Lets be honest, they are primarily business men and 1 of them loves fast cars going round in circles because it makes him a lot of cash! and could not give a toss about the fans of the team. I truly believe they have over estimated QPR's value in the Premier League and the 'fast buck' they are hoping for is not going to materialise and when it goes wrong (relagation in 1, 2, 3 years or whatever) they will jump ship having realised that they can not make quick money. They need to realise that they need to invest heavily to compete at the top level. Teams like QPR & Norwich are not likely to compete at the top level but sadly such businessmen with huge egos believe they can defy the odds and succeed where others have not. The outlook for QPR (and I am not happy to say this) is not good. You, the paying supporters are going to suffer and there is sod all you can do about it. I have seen talk about boycotts, why? If the loyal supporters do not buy season tickets then there WILL be others who will buy your tickets just to be able to say 'I watched QPR in the PL' years from now (oh, those were the days). As hard as it is to swallow, take what's coming. Get on with life and supporting Rangers and wait for the inevitable implosion. Hopefully after that things will return to some kind of normallity.
ThaiCanary: we just want a simple life. A good quality meal and a decent affordable game to share with thousands of happy fans afterwards. Tell ya what. Help us out, give us a break from all this off-pitch bollocks we have to put up with. Swap ya the Goons (Ecclestone, Briatore and Paladini) for Delia!!
I think this thread's achieved its purpose in clarifying the issues. The incongruence of the visions in question make clear that boardroom harmony between the Goons and the Indians is impossible. In this context, Saksena's dismissal was inevitable as was Bhatia's resignation. As fans, the Goons approach threatens to dispossess us of our football culture and dreams. I cannot see us taking that laying down. Like Man U loyalists, we need to make visible our contempt - and in the easiest ways possible. Roller's suggestion of attending games (home and/or away) with Indian flags (at £3.99 a go) is both appropriate and entirely achievable for most. Mittal's interest in the club has noticeably increased with on-pitch success and crowd adulation of the family and its vision for the club. We need to escalate this to manic proportions to take advantage of the tv opportunities at matches. To this end, I recommend the additional purchase of green and white scarves (QPR's original colours) to register support for traditional interests. If the elephant fight continues into next season, the Indian flags and green and white scarves will increase in number as Rs fans hitherto out of the loop, become aware of the protest. Provided Mittal hasn't taken his vision elsewhere, this hi-viz protest should help convince him that it could be worth making a offer for a total buy-out: one that cannot be refused - even by the Goons.
Last words from me. On 606 there was a way thread-starters could arbitrarily delete replies that detracted from the issues being discussed. I think it's quite apparent from responses to my efforts to clarify issues that caused so much upset this week, that some of us wanted to get serious for a moment and needed somewhere to discuss our concerns and understandings. Whilst I don't mind the odd (respectful) aside, can't say I'm not just a bit miffed at the frivolity that came through towards the end - disrespecting the thread itself and the posters concerned. If I could have deleted some of the bollocks, take it from me, I most certainly would have. As I've said several times before, whilst I have no problem with wum threads, I'm not personally interested in them myself. If I can't run or contribute to the odd debating thread without the means to control side agendas taking over, then it's time for me to move on. Time will tell.
Do you want the off topic comments deleted mate? Let Brixton have his thread back lads, it's a good one.
That is great for the moment, but would it be possible for Brixton, in this case, to remove them himself? I would hate to lose him as a poster (especially as he sometimes agrees with me!)
Brixton - thanks for a really interesting thread - found all the points covered highly illuminating, and would support Rollers vision for protests next season. Green and White scarfs and Indian flags it is for all of us next season!
Thanks people. Apologies for the hissy fit and hate to be a party pooper BUT it's clear from all the **** we've been through that we need to work out ways of interrupting the rot and getting back to the fun. Got to say, I'm touched by the care shown in this case. Wow... lost for words (now that's a first)!! Thank you.
Well done, Brixton and Rollercoaster. I shall buy an Indian flag to wave when the Mittals aren't at LR, and (hopefully) when they return...
