I don't know lads and lasses, maybe it's an age thing but I'm really struggling to work up any enthusiasm for the start of the season. It could be due to location, not being able to get to many games, although I am looking forward to getting over for the Stoke game. It could be that the league is just so over-hyped by the media and is soley concerntrated on the top 6/7 clubs......lets face it nobody apart from the teams supporters is interested in matches not involving those 6 or 7 clubs, all the trailors are highlighting games between the top tier of the division, the rest of us, well we can trundle along and any interest is confined to the last few weeks when relegation is sorted. Looking at the "experts" season predictions the top 6/7 are sorted, the other 13 sides are fighting relegation......24 games to achieve something approching 40 points and survival, a tall order in anyones book....... I know the Prem is where the money is (that's the problem) and the rich get richer while the rest spend beyond their resources in the un-realistic hope of gate crashing the elite of the division, I'll be surprised if the R's ever reach such giddy heights. Some sensible clubs keep a tight rein on finances but that eventually results in relegation (Norwich, Fulham spring to mind).....The question is what do you want the R's to be? A club that spends money in the hope of achieving a top 4 finish in say 10 years time but meanwhile meanders in mid table or a club that is sensible and becomes the latest boing! boing! team? In hindsight the Championship wasn't so bad, some of the football was garbage but at least it was competative and we had a chance of winning the league, plus we got to have OBZ day.......This season and the coming seasons if we survive will be nothing but struggle..... Apologies for the rambling......
Well if the club grows and we become part of the top four I wont say no. Whether its top 4 or the conference while Im on this earth I'll be at QPr whether loftus Rd or old oak
Well, this is a tough one. One one hand I want us to win trophies, but that brings with it new 'glory' fans and the club becoming less unique (if you know what I mean). I quite like the fact that we are little QPR, a smaller fan base who have more of a family club type feel. I also enjoyed our two promotions, winning something not often makes it feel even better. If we were to one day become one of the elite clubs we would attract all these plastic fans (as we saw when Park signed). It felt like our club wasn't the same when that happened. So on one hand I want success, but on the other I want to remain little QPR. But unfortunately that doesn't work.
Bring on the plastic fans as you describe,we all became QPR fans at one point and no doubt possibly would not, if in the 3rd tier and had not had QPr passed through the family! If people want to support us in my opinion you are very welcome indeed!!!!
This is what I was getting at in my roundabout way......we are in a league that we have zero chance of winning, I saw an article yesterday that our odds on winning the league are 5000/1, why are we bothering to be in this division? To me it didn't matter that last season we played crap but won 1-0, we won and it made the weekend, this coming season we will lose far more often than we will win, is it worth it?
Tramore, I understand where your coming from mate. For me I'm looking forward to being back in the prem but with caution. I do agree that money has and is ripping the soul out of our game but I don't totally blame the top flight on my fellings about the game. Our last two recent seasons in the top flight had a few moments of euphoria but just that, very few. Also OK we came back up at 1st attempt by the skin of our teeth but we got the reward of that historic day at Wembley. Lets face it the long suffering QPR masses have not been entertained with the football on show and that's a big factor. Like many this campaign will most likely be a nervy one but if we can win our first game this Saturday and win it by a few goals then I'm sure we will be more upbeat. Who knows but I'm not getting carried away like the last time.
Up until recently it has clearly been more than possible to break into the 'elite' by spending enough money. The scum were a second rate outfit until Abramovitch decided he needed a new toy with no expense spared and we all know the story of Man City. But now the corrupt football authorities are busy closing off that avenue with the so-called financial fair play rules which in reality are of course only fair to the very biggest clubs who will henceforth have a self-perpetuating monopoly of the highest echelons of the game. QPRs investment has come a few years too late to do anything more than allow the club to join the emerging second tier of football. That may be good or bad depending on your viewpoint (bad IMO as it takes away the hopes and dreams of the fans of smaller clubs however tenuous they might be). I think the best that QPR and similar clubs can hope for is that the long-anticipated European super league is formed taking the big money clubs permanently and leaving more competitive national leagues.
Sorry, what I was trying to say is if we can stay up and morph into a mid table team with some convincing wins and a few giant killings then that will certainly do me for the time being. A cup run or two would also be nice, I love little old QPR but we need to grow to survive in the long term in my opinion.
In a nutshell AAAAAGH.......The real shame is that we came out of the Prem in the '90's just as the money began to flood into the game from Murdoch's empire, had we managed to stay up a few more years we would have been fairly well positioned to benefit and could quiet conceivably have become a top 7 club even hampered by LR and the small capacity.... The day that the European Super League starts can not come quick enough and the monied elite go and play each other 4 times a season.....
Have to admit, I'm greatly looking forward to the match on Saturday. It will be fascinating to see this season how our players both established and new, 3-5-2 system and new first team coach cope with competition at the highest level. And I'll be interested to read the posts of the football experts on this board (with that in mind, where's Col? Hope he's just on holiday and not done a Flyer). I realise we're going to be in a division within a division - but there'll be some great clashes with the bottom half of the table teams and the chance to take a scalp or two from the top 6. Are we ready? Not as ready as I would have liked but if Harry is getting the basics right, the ship can stabilise over the autumn. If we start badly, remember what Palace and Sunderland achieved last year. As for third party interest, I think they'll be plenty as the season pans out. Last season, I watched the bottom of the Prem as avidly as the top - perhaps more so. The Championship is a great division and hugely competitive. I wouldn't complain if we were still in that mix. But truthfully, I'm relishing another go at the big boys.
I hate the hype Tramore (Sky and mini-Sky BT Sport) and sympathise - for me its all about the live experience when that stuff is irrelevant (I can't even see the 'big' screen for replays at LR, it feels just like the 70s still, except the seats have shrunk). I rarely watch a live stream all the way through anyway, my attention span isn't long enough. It doesn't bother me that we haven't got a hope of winning the league though - it's a fake competition because of the money. I'd love the Sky house of cards to collapse to level the playing field, but I think that will happen only in the context of a much bigger economic disaster, which nobody wants. What we do have is a fresh start every week and the chance (however slim) to annoy and upset some of the richest clubs in the world. So we have 38 cup finals, the team's job is to play with enough spirit to keep the crowd on their side all the way through - which we have failed to do for the last 2 seasons. My expectations results wise are pretty low, it's the spinelessness and seeming apathy that have wound me up recently. Isla bombing down the wing after dispossessing Hazard, to cross for Austin to head in with Terry on his arse....that's what I'm looking forward to.
Cheers Stan......I'd over-looked the joy of getting under the skin of the elite clubs......a modicum of enthusiasm regained......and that final scenario above.....
Thats a good point. I am excited about the season for that reason. So we can test ourselves, and hopefully beat the best sides in the country.
No Rambling Tramore you are on the money ... it what i have referred to as brain washing on here in the past ... green screen walk ups and the pundits all add to a ball of crap MY top three before the kick off QPR win the premier league by 15 points followed by Chelsea and Arsenal ... Swansea pip Burnley for the other CL spot QPR who beat United in the Carling cup final made it a treble by beating Chelsea 3-0 in the FA cup final watched by 65 million worldwide Up your arse Sky
We won't replicate the play off final atmosphere every week, but we can have a stab at the great atmosphere for the Wigan game - if the players give us the incentive. We don't have to win every week (though that would be nice), just try to play good football with spirit - no kamikaze stuff (the most depressing thing I've seen in recent years was Chris Samba lumbering forward when we were chasing the game). Controlled aggression please, make all opposition, no matter how brilliant, spend some time on the back foot before we are 2 down. Whoever our oldest player is on the day should feel justified in standing in the centre circle at the end of every game, whatever the result, and bellowing "Were you not entertained!" More mushrooms please.
I thought it was great in the PL last time because we had the players to surprise other teams on occasion - Cisse, Adel, Remy in particular. Without players with this capability I suspect the only surprises we will manage will be boring games where we park the busses and manage a lucky 1-0. Great but not exciting.I'm not excited yet anyway by our new signings ( have some hopes from Much) or players we are even linked with. Townsend is good but there isn't much more end product from him than we get from SWP or Hoillet. Get Adel and Remy on board, not føkkin side shows, and build attacking formations around them, then for me making a big effort to get to games will be worthwhile. Hoddle may help.
So many teams and their fans start their season not with hope of doing well, but in hope of escaping relegation and the potential despair that could bring to their club. That isn't the foundation that our sport, and our forefathers sport, was brought up on; it was the thought you could challenge everyone in the league for a title. The excitement of the opportunity of making a great cup run that you could talk to your kids about. That doesn't exist in this sport any more. Money drives a stake through football with immoral wages, leeches sucking money away from the game when it should be the fans gaining benefit with affordable tickets and stadia that the masses can flock to regardless of their wage packet. But it doesn't stop me following my club, living with the hope that we can one day challenge the elite and surprise everyone. I prefer the structure of our club this time around to the disgrace of the Mark Hughes era. Here's to a new season of hope and to playing good quality football that can win us games in a style we can all applaud and enjoy.
I support QPR where ever they play. Preferbly in the premier league because it is (maybe) the best league in the world and it is surely the most followed league in the world. There is a very minimal chance for the little clubs (not ManU, ManC, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs) to break in the top-6. It does not matter because it will happen someday and hopefully it will be our beloved QPR to be it. Not during this season im sure of it because its all about targetting that 40 points and safety but hopefully in the future with new stadium, proper player academy and training facilities. That is all about the future but now im waiting that new season to start and hopefully that will be a better start than than the previous season.....
Good post Tramore, I'm sure everyone is feeling apprehensive - particularly after our last premiership season. And yes, the doubts are growing about our bloated football 'industry'. I heard Richard Scudamore on the radio today defending the premier league TV rights as some sort of socialist utopia compared to the big two negotiating their own TV deals in Spain. Who is he kidding? Everyone knows where the money goes in our game - and it ain't to the grassroots, the lower leagues or the national structure. But that's also the point of winning at Wembley. We're in the big league, even at 5000 to 1! When my son said that the play off final was the best day of his life, he meant - amongst other things - that he can support QPR at school and not get the piss taken by Arsenal and Spurs fans because they're playing Liverpool and we're playing Blackpool. The Premier league is football for the next generation. Lets try and enjoy it!
