Okay I am wondering if what we are seeing at QPR is in fact a direct effect of the pandemic We are a small club, very dependant on gate receipts. We are very aware of FFP as we have no other income but football We have a small squad (23) I think. We have sent a lot of our better youngsters out on loan (experience and a small degree of cost cutting) Our small squad consists of 3 goalies, and 1 pay rebel (BOS), one important player (Amos) out for the season add in Thomas and Wallace with long term injuries and Dickie now suspended. I think we are cutting our cloth to get through this season finacially I am wondering if we can fill our bench on Saturday EDIT We have a squad of 24...2 (Kelman/Alfa) at least are u23 and so do not neccessarily count=22 3 are first team goalies =19 outfield players 3 are injured Thomas/Wallace (bad but coming back) and Amos out for season =16 Dickie suspended =15 Anyone fit and healthy...get your boots ...you are on the bench on Saturday
I wonder if we have been penny wise and pound foolish. We lack depth to the degree that we are now quite demonstrably, relegation fodder.
I think the owners have lost interest overall, throw in COVID times and the downside of business in general and little to no decent signings and we’re smack bang going to be holding out from being relegated. Each year follows the same traits. I said at the start of the season, a mid table finish would do me and to be honest, that would have to be the most we can hope for. It would be nice to have a team we can get excited about but those days seem like a distance memory. On a positive note, if we can hold off relegation, l’d celebrate long & hard.
Every other club is in the same boat, many worse because they haven’t been through the pain of getting their books in order yet. The quality of most of the squads in this league of hell and tedium is roughly similar, the differences will be in coaching and morale. The pandemic in itself is no excuse for the performance of an individual club, but the way it has been handled, which reflects on the competency of the leadership of each club, might be. It’s not a proper season anyway.
You are right.... Forest, Watford, Bournemouth, Norwich and Reading all have enough players to decide who to put into the 25 man squads....and yes in a years time if not promoted it may have a catastrophic effect on the clubs Conversely, Barnsley may have a bigger available squad than us, but probably on paper worse technically....and that is where coaching and tactics come in. So you are right Stan I think the owners/Hoos have told Warburton just to survive this season without spending any money
Covid isn't responsible for defenders that can't defend, midfielders with no guile, strikers that can't score and a manager with shyte tactics...
I said before the only reason Reading are doing so well is they have an advantage. They are used to playing in an empty stadium with no atmosphere
I thought the Owners were funding us with a £ million every month since Covid came, or have they stopped? In addition, having sold Eze we have spent around £8 million this last summer on new signings, low Budget, but not really losing interest I don't think.
I can Imagine that TF quite cash light at present. Where does Reuben G's money come from? No idea if Amit and Co stumping up cash??
Whilst I think squad depth is a problem I see a bigger issue is a lack of experience at Champ level. Over the summer we brought in some promising youngsters who we can hopefully profit on going forward, at the same time we lost a lot of experience from who they could learn from. From last season's squad we've lost Hall, Rangel, Pugh, Wells, Hugil, Leistner, Eze, Manning all with a reasonable level of Champ experience. Last night we had Barbet, Carroll, Ball, Adomah & that's about it, surely we'd be better off if the defence had a Rangel/Hall to learn from, or likewise our wide men with Pugh or attack with Hugil. I'd have a thought a couple of experienced loaners/freebies would have been a real help as currently we look to be putting out U23's against experienced men & wonder why we keep coming off second best.
Sure, we spent a few coins but l don’t think we’ve replaced the talent or experience that we had previously. Each year we seems to lose what’s decent from the previous year. We’ve become purely a selling team, hence, l don’t see or hear the owners wishing to be back in the PL. If truth be known, l think they are quite comfortable sitting exactly where we are. We fans have desires to get excited about our players, our team performances and the possibilities of chasing promotion. l don’t see that in the owners. We seem to take one step forward, then two back.
Well the Owners bailed us out on the FFP fine, and we have had to stay within the new FFP rules for the last 3 seasons. How that will work with the Pandemic I don't think we know yet. Think the Owners have helped where they can the last few years, with the Club wanting to be viable financially, and not rely on the funding from them, all laid waste to now by Covid. Plus we have a new training ground. I want us to be more ambitious too, we seemed to lack the ambition to go for a play off place when we were 10th when the shut down came in March, but I put that cautious approach letting both Pugh and Hall go before the busy last 9 games, as down to the people running things day to day Hoos, Ferdinand, Warburton rather than the Owners.
It’s pretty tough times and I wouldn’t be surprised if the board has decided to just see out the season while getting the new, less experienced Championship players used to the league for next season (as we used to call it: ‘chucking in the deep end’). Usually there are at least three teams worse than us (Barnsley was always one of them ). So it may have been considered a reasonable gamble to take. Not one I’d agree with. Not having a full 25 squad is stupid, you might as well have some new talent in all areas and use them in the season if that’s your ‘plan’. But if you get stuck in a relegation battle that will all go out the window as you will always use your ‘best 11’ every week to try to survive. MW will have to change things or he may not survive. I hope he does, I’m fed up of managers going through the revolving door. Give me style, consistency, entertainment, goals a little success and a bit of fun and I’ll be happy. I’m a man, I like things simple .
Im sure that there may still be some freebies out there that could help the club. Players with a bit of championship know how. Short term deal which would benefit both parties.
We're being linked with another sicknote... https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2020/10/...attacker-wenger-once-likened-to-robert-pires/
