After 48 years of supporting the Rs I'm well used to disappointment and I'm not one of those people who blindly go to extremes of either being positive or negative, I tend to say what I see. On this board we have plenty of various viewpoints, some at the extreme ends and everything in between. Everyone is entitled to air their views which is the whole point of us being on this forum in the first place and we should encourage everyone to give their honest view preferably without condescending and withering remarks aimed at anyone who isn't singing the team's praises from the rooftops. We are in the play-offs with home advantage in the 2nd leg, offered this at the start of the season based on what we had seen last season and over the summer most of us would have snapped your hand off and thought we'd made progress. However, based on our unbeaten run at the start of the season expectations were raised to new heights even though what we were seeing on the pitch wasn't pretty, in fact it was awful. We were extremely lucky in many of the matches which we ground out narrow wins and although there seemed to be slight improvements (Bournemouth & Derby) it was a false dawn and from mid-season we really took a dip in form. The January window presented an opportunity to bring in some players to address our weaknesses but all we got were has-beens or never-will-bes plus one maverick in Ravel Morrison. It just hasn't worked. Injuries, yes they've hurt us, but many of those who actually play look disinterested or, frankly, look like they don't have a clue what their roles are. The bottom line is we aren't a team, we're a collection of individuals who play together and we're flying by the seat of our pants. Today was just another example of everything that has been wrong this season and, but for that fortunate start, we'd be on the beach already. I can't fathom Redknapp's tactics or logic to his selections, they don't make sense on paper and certainly don't make sense on the pitch. Let's just put this into perspective - We have the most expensive squad in the history of the Championship managed by the highest paid manager in the history of the Championship. Those two combined should, if both are earning their money result in automatic promotion as a minimum. Burnley, who have fairly romped home this season were 80/1 at the start of the season having sold their top striker to us. Yet they've played tremendous football scoring freely and making us look second-rate in comparison. Their highest paid player is on £8k a week, in fact their entire starting XI in total earn less than one of our squad who doesn't play. I think it's fair to say those are the reasons so many of us are unhappy with things and are seen as 'negative' on here, it's what I see with my own eyes that says things just aren't right and it's awfully difficult to show any positivity when the gut instinct is this team isn't right. I hope I'm wrong and we do storm through at Wembley, after all we are all supporters and want to see our team win but I feel the rollercoaster that is QPR is about to churn our stomachs again...
I largely agree but I would say the table doesn't lie and we had good results for a reason. We weren't necessarily lucky in all those games. I put it down to a very good bunch of players managed quite ineffectively, whose quality brings the results rather than the fact that we're on a good role of form and under good stewardship. I think I'm also more positive than you. I have faith that things have the potential to turn out well, eventually. I tend to think it will. I'm not going to pretend to predict the future, I just want to complain about how things are in this moment!
Would say the majority of this is spot on. My only question mark is on the most expensive squad in the history of the Championship which not sure whether true or not but the fact is the squad was a legacy of some crazy transfer dealings & contracts given over the preceding 2/3 seasons. The squad was largely the remains of those that we couldn't offload (loan/sell) this season so hardly the foundations of a decent team & from day one has never had balance. A play off place is really the best we deserve & would certainly have taken at the start of the season. I do feel if had some betters dealings the transfer window we could have possibly obtained automatic promotion but didn't happen. No matter what happens in the play offs (which I desperately hope we go through) I'm looking forward to next season when a lot of the crap contracts have expired & hopefully a proper team/squad can be put together for the following upcoming seasons.
The cost of the squad, and the wages of the manager, have nothing to do with it. Our play this season has been good, but not great, consistently enough for a play-off place but not enough for automatic promotion. As has been shown, you can have a shoestring budget and a relatively pauper-like manager and get great results. You can also have the same combination and get relegated. Money (either in the transfer pot or in the manager's pocket) is no guarantee of success - if it were, we would be as bad as Chelsea and Man City in simply buying the title. And we never want to be compared that way to our South West London neighbours. Anyone that thinks that finances have any bearing on how we have played, or that our resources mean we 'deserve' a place in the Prem, clearly have forgotten what it's like to be a QPR fan. Fair enough, if you want to act like plastics. Not for me though, and so I'm not interested in what Harry's paid, or our wages bill, or the price we paid for players. I'm only interested in what they do on the pitch. And whilst recent games could - and maybe should - have been better and yielded a greater points return, we'er in the playoffs, which is where we should be based on the season's results. Now we have two matches against fifth - most likely Wigan or Reading - the second of which is at home. Time to get fully behind the team and show them what it means to pull on the hoops and cross that white line.
That's an idiotic post, that's like saying man city, barca, or Celtic fans should be happy to play shocking and finish down the table. All while spending their way out of business. The OP is spot on, fair play to the likes of Burnley, Bournemouth etc who do it right. Money spent affects your expectation on everything in life, food cars houses clothes tech, football is no different.
That's a good post there. I do wonder about the legacy of our previous season though. If you exclude Cesar who was kept at arm's length from the team and Bloody Luke Young who has more or less kept himself that far away, the remnants of last year are Green, Hill, Faurlin, Ned, Zamora, SWP, Hoilett and AJ (from memory) plus the youngsters. No matter what you say about their ability, I don't see any of these as rotten to the core. I also can't imagine the youth team and fringe players have been so tainted that they can't be managed and influenced in a positive way. Pretty much everyone has played well at some stage although admittedly most have had mares too. For me, the emphasis has been put on experienced pros too much - if the wise heads don't show the steadiness in all situations, then we might as well have plumped for the best of the lower leagues - hungry players that are looking upwards rather than ones moving downwards. I do get a sense of Redknapp not feeling this though. Most of his interviews seem to be punctuated by a series of shrugs and sighs rather than any genuine sense of passion that could be used to motivate players. Even with the injuries, I feel that, with any level of inspiration and consistency, we should have been right up there because every matchsay squad has quality. As Willy implies, though, it's been OK and there's still a lot to play for. There has been a lot worse seasons (last year for one) in terms of results and those won't have been all displays of wonderful football with endless hard luck stories, so it's all in in the context of our hopes and dreams (realistic or otherwise).
But that means you expect more from players that you consistently condemn as being worthy of league one? Surely expectation is based on our preconceived ideas about the eleven on the pitch rather than the accountancy behind it?
The difference in the early part of the season was McClaren. I went to the game today and it was so bad. There is no plan, the players are not in a set position, we do not know who to pass to, who should be where what the formation is - esp when we have possession. It was woeful. Harry has no tactical plan - this is clear. His assistants have no tactical ability. We might play well in the playoffs and even wembley - I believe this will be due to moments of individual effort and skill or mishaps (such as the millwall handball today) vs a planned a anything from the management. However we do in the next 4 games - I hope that this management team move on.
I must agree with this. It's been hard to understand Harry's approach through the season. He has been less than the inspirational leader I was expecting. There was a point in the season where he was continually derogatory about the squad, it was only an intervention from TF that curbed it. There has to be a place for dealing with poor performance, but repeatedly telling a team they are not good enough does not inspire. I don't get why Harry has taken this path. Nor do I get his repeated changes of team line-ups. Rotation is great, handled well. But we have seen players have a great game one week and benched the next. No matter how much you're paid, that will demoralise you and question your own value to the club and manager. Harry doesn't seem to be the manager he once was. Sad to say. He hasn't got the best out of this team (IMO), he has got an above average outcome this season from a squad of very good players for this league. He should have achieved much more. I can only think that the tax case, England manager rejection and possibly age/desire has all taken its toll. It's a great shame. It's not all bad though, we have made the play-offs. Our season condensed down to three matches (hopefully). It could still come off. Will it be because of Harry, or despite him? We have to see out the final play-offs now, I just hope Harry does something different to inspire the team. I also hope the calibre of players we have see this as a 'trophy' day - a chance to be someone/something special and have all the desire need to win the accolades that always follow from winning the play-offs (and for some, no doubt, new contracts/opportunities). We're back to that ever present characteristics of a 'hoops' fan - Hope, desire and expectation!
It was never going to be easy this season coming off the back of last years debacle. We were forced to change the whole squad, again, the very thing that got us in this mess in the first place under Hughes. The difference this time was that we were doing it from a massively weakened position, having been relegated and having rolled the dice last year meant we needed to get rid of the high earners. It also meant we couldn't sign some of rednapp's targets as they didn't want to play in the championship, then add to this that all the young and exciting players that we might want from the championship or lower division and their parent clubs don't want to sell to the competition. Frankly I'm surprised we got Austin and Phillips, but unfortunately we couldn't bring in a partner for Austin in the august transfer window and this hurt us. Aj started the season well as did the results, but once Aj got injured, along with Zamora and having bought Austin while he was injured meant another round of loans. Harry and the board naive said there would be no loans, but reality bit hard and the realisation that no amount of money was going to make this season am easy one. I'm not a lover of rednapp's, but I also am not one to blindly criticise the whole time. Rednapp has certainly been below par and despite the injuries and other issue that have hit us, I just think we've got Harry at a time he'd rather be somewhere else. I think his knee problems mean he just isn't at 100% and struggling. He brought mclaren in to help while he had his op and he was a great choice, it was a shame he had to leave when he did, similar in fashion and disappointment to when Nelsen left us last season. But rednapp's operation failed to fix the problem and he faces another op to fix it. I'm know some won't give a damn about Harry's problem, but as someone who is living with chronic pain, it really does leave you flat and it's hard to concentrate and feel motivated. Rednapp has hardly seemed the same manager that used to spend the march screaming orders from the touch line, and he does look very disinterested at times, not easy to take as a fan watching a poor performance, but I do have sympathy for the man. I certainly don't remember any manager who had just got their team to the play offs receive such abuse before, quiet sad really. But with the squad we have, let's be honest, should have played far better than they have. Is that rednapp's fault entirely? I think every player this season has had periods of great form only to then have games where they looked like they were on holiday. Pro footballers need to bring consistency to the game, otherwise no manager can do their job, so I feel they have let us down to a degree. Now I know some like flyer are going to blindly pic apart my points, but from my point of view, while we may have had a frustrating season, we are still going in to the playoffs with an equal chance of promotion. Does that not deserve any credit to the club? But regardless of your view of the season, what we do have to do now is support the team, rednapp and the club without reservation. I'm not scared of losing in the final, what I am scared of is embarrassing support, so can't we all forget the gripes and just try and make some noise and just maybe make a difference?
We are all supporters and Loftus Road will be rocking provided we don't get hammered out of sight in the 1st Leg, we're all entitled to moan or praise on here and the mixed views shown on this and other threads show there's a fair spectrum of opinions. Whatever my personal feelings about the team/manager/individuals will be put aside to cheer us on, hopefully, to a Wembley win. It doesn't alter my foreboding of what that will bring us next season win or lose...
of course, its not unreasonable to expect more from zamora/aj than hitchock/petrasso. not that wed ever see them with the clown in charge. Do you really think burnley and man city are going into next season with the same expectations? Its also a reason why Man U sack their manager in 7th place while Dyche would win manager of the season if he got there next year.
Mclaren got us into the playoffs, we are a mid table team under redknapp, perhaps even bottom half which is a disgrace.
Why go straight for the throwaway comeback instead of the reasoned debate? I'm getting worried about you, Flyer - you don't seem on your usual form recently. Has it anything to do with how much you are paid? We get you hate Harry. We THOUGHT it was because you think he's a crap manager. I didn't realise it was because of his wages. Are you seriously saying that you'd be more forgiving if he was being paid less? Because if you are, then I'm sorry to be so blunt but I suspect you would be lying. It's ALL about the performances (or lack thereof). And are you saying that you're OK with a player we spent £50k on giving away a crucial penalty that means we don't get ptomoted, but if a £5million player did it you'd be angry? Again - not true. For every Burnley and Bournemouth (clubs that actually prove MY point more than yours) I can give you many more Yeovils, Doncasters etc. so your point is utterly invalid, and as usual, tainted by your dismal moaning minnie persona.
Are yeovil or doncaster fans campaigning for their manager to go? No of course not because they are exactly where they expected to be. That's proves my point even more. Redknapp a crap manager, one of the worst we've ever had, his wages just make it even worse. Same goes for clowns like green getting 40k a week only to palm balls into his own net. Give me a yes no answer, do man city fans expect more from their team next season than Burnley fans?
I think we can pretty much all agree that Harry, his coaching staff and the players have underperformed this season. Aside from a few games its been ugly to watch and we rode our luck, especially during our early run. However, we are now in the playoffs and promotion is not out of the question. Harry's sole job was to get us promoted. He still could achieve that goal. Until then we cannot say he has succeeded or failed. It is the only measure we can judge him on. So despite my own personal opinion that its been a season to forget in pure enjoyment terms i still have to believe we can get promoted. We have the players, we have the backing of the Club and; potentially, 3 games that our season hinges on. I'm no happy clapper but until promotion is ruled out we cannot say this season is a failure. I ask us all to park our cynicism; however justifiable and hope, pray and support OUR club until this is over. The search for the guilty can commence later not now.
