We are talking about a side who two years before were in League one verus a side just relegated from the prem yeah? Please produce a list of the players in the Bournemouth side who are beyond what we could expect to have in our side next season?
And that team that were in League One two years ago just won the Championship with 90 points and 98 goals playing football that QPR can only dream of. Charlie aside, I would pick every Bournemouth player ahead of our shyte and if it's THAT easy to put a team together to win the division why haven't the other 23 teams? Many of their players came from lower leagues, good scouting, good coaching and good attitude made them what they are, all things QPR haven't had for years and it won't change overnight. If we stay up next season with all the shyte we face this summer we'll have made the first step to stopping the rot but there's a long way to go...
I put up a poll before the season asking folk where we'd finish but try as I might I can't find it. As far as I can remember there was only one guy (and one joker from another Board) who predicted we'd go down because he just didn't like the look of us. That guy was Nines. The rest of us were living in cloud cuckoo land. Fair play Ninesy. You had your finger on the pulse.
Did he really say that? Outrageous! I will support him at the start of the season but I have such strong reservations about him. How do we know that the new players will play for him. This lot clearly had no respect for him.
Of course it matters. We may not have won but we also may not have let in 5 and been a complete embarrassment. 4-4-2 with Fer out of position was Harry's line up too. Ramsey is looking every bit as clueless but I just hope things will change when he has his own team.
Holt wanted more money after his 15 goal season (I believe he wanted to break their 30-35k wage limit). He also wanted to move back up North but my point I about the wage structure holds. Since you speculate on wages though, I'll say there is a difference between Hoilett and Hooper. A google search has 3 sites (newspapers etc) with him on 50k a week. A similar search shows Hooper on 30k. My point about cutting loose the high earners (anyone that doesn't allow for a break even Championship season) still holds.You say good season, I say revival - yes it's down to a good manager but that's part of the formula isn't it? Either way, I'd choose to pay the wages of whichever is sustainable to us in the level we're at (ie the Championship). I have no problem admitting that I want another Austin but bear in mind that most of us didn't know he'd step up to the next level before this season began. If we don't go up, we don't get that level of return. If we buy a duff one, we make a loss too. If we need 5-7 first team players, then 5 x 4mill gives a 20 million outlay - a huge gamble if we don't go up and another FFP issue on the horizon. If you call a move towards sustainability a fire sale then that's what I'd choose. You'll choose another series of gambles with the only success being promotion and we've tried that and aren't very good at it and the cost of another failure is disastrous. To use your words - I'm sure you won't admit it but hopefully the penny's dropping.
Here's the thread you referred to Swords ... http://www.not606.com/threads/where-will-rangers-finish-this-season.273517/ I take no pleasure in my prediction, I really wished I'd be proven wrong. For the record ( see Swords's summary post #24 ) there were four posters who predicted relegation. Myself, Tramore, Flummox and Oslo ... who wins as he predicted that we'd finish rock bottom! Which is quite uncanny. I herefore declare that Ossie is the font of all knowledge on our board.
Nice one Stan. Quite bizarrely, I enjoyed my trip up to the east midlands. It was probably the company more than anything else. It certainly wasn't the game which was comically played out before our very own eyes. The rest I shall try and post tomorrow as I'm up far too late as it is. I have some info on the squad and Ramsey's plans which I surreptitiously garnered from my inadvertent stay at the team hotel and my very own, own goal which I think you're alluding to.
Too exciting cannot wait.... Dying to find out how you took the picture of CR, Sir Les and Bond....were you behind a Palm tree wearing an inspector Cousteau disguise
I must of been in a positive mood that day. I'll make up for it right now and tip us for promotion again next season, 2nd place this time
Must say having just seen yesterday's 'lowlights' that McCarthy appears to have succumbed to the QPR 'anti-Midas' syndrome, a totally shyte display that doesn't augur well for next season. Can our 'couldn't care less' malaise get any worse? I really feel sorry for our travelling fans...
Did my ears deceive me last night or did Shearer really say "Harry must take some of the blame...." before mumbling something that I couldn't hear then Lineker talked over him......? Goal of the season was a farce as well, Phillips not even on the short list.......and all the Arsenal twitter users getting Little Jacks decent half volley chosen but nowhere near as good as some of the others including OBZ's......
... made the local papers ... police still looking for an unlicensed photographer in a diving suit ... disturbed a lot of the hotel guests with all that heavy breathing and flipper slapping ...
That, I suspect is where you miss the point. Watching the team come out at the start said it all. They couldn't care less. Look at the body language. Look at the eyes. Most of them played like men who knew they would not be there next season and did not give a toss. They looked beaten before they'd even kicked a ball. People talk about being professional and playing for pride. It's performances like that which shows that in the modern big buck world, the word 'professionalism' has been completely devalued when it comes to football players. To them it means only where do I have to turn up to earn my next fast buck. Don't get me wrong, tactics and formations clearly do matter but of greater importance is attitude. You may find it hard to believe but I also have my doubts as to whether Ramsey will succeed. I hope it will work out for him and for us. However, what was clear to me 4 years ago when we first went up was that the total lack of principle and financial prudence was a recipe for disaster. The goons had it right in that respect. The sad thing is that the Mittals were outmanoeuvred or rather never lost their heads in the price they were prepared to pay for us. Hence we end up with an owner who earned millions by being in the right place at the right time and now seems intent on blowing his wealth all away on his hobbies because he thinks he has the Midas touch. I'm afraid I'm in the clear out camp. The ones we can get money for great - the rest can all go to the knackers yard as far as I'm concerned. Forget about building a team around a core group of players who have been tried and found wanting. They aint got it. Ability or attitude.
Lets see how many of the mercenaries will chose to stay around with our kids. I would only suspect one.....and more than half of the people on here wouldn't want him. If he chose to stay by taking a significant pay cut...I would keep him All the others I would let leave. But actually how to make up the numbers next year.....because take who is left in contract, plus the kids...there are not enough players on our books. I am sure we will pick up a few Spurs loanees too...but we will be struggling for numbers I am afraid
Didn't Blackpool only have eight players going into the opening game, and look what happened to them!
