Hello everyone. I've been a keen reader of the forum for a while and thought it's about time I got myself involved, and shared my thoughts with you all. It's no secret that the 2012-13 season, and the majority of the 2011-12 season was embarrassing for QPR fans. Couple this with the intriguing documentary 'The 4 year plan' and you realise how terrible our position was as a football club. This season we've won 4 games and accumulated the 6th lowest points total in Premier League History. We scored 30 goals in 38 games and failed to score any from open play in our final 6 matches. We deserved our rock bottom league position. Our signings represented players who were (in hindsight) either past their sell by date, settling for the final 'lucrative' contract of their careers, or genuinely disinterested in an affiliation with the club. This policy was clearly catastrophic and in a word 'lazy'. Lazy because these players were a short term fix. Successful football clubs aren't sustainable with short term fixes, they're built on foundations and long term planning. Mark Hughes will always be viewed as the villain, and rightly so in a lot of areas, and this was the biggest example of TF's self admitted naivety. Harry Redknapp is far from blameless. He had sufficient time to make an impact, but when the results weren't going our way we witnessed the negative body language and the endless list of excuses. How many people are sick of the 'We just don't have the quality' line? Oh, and apparently our pitch was a factor in our defeat to Man Utd. Nonsense. Let's not kid ourselves. QPR are in need of rebuilding. Redknapp would do everyone and himself a favour by walking away. Unfortunately it's a young man's game now (Jupp Heynckes is wise enough to realise this). The rebuild will require years, not months, to be completed. Judging by Redknapp's attitude does he have the stomach or more important the time in his career to take on this task? Simple answer, no he doesn't. If you were to meet Tony Fernandes it would seem impossible to dislike him, and it's a great quality in a Chairman who does care about our club. HOWEVER, we need someone who will be there day to day. Not venturing to Kuala Lumpur every week. He needs help from an experienced football businessman who knows the game. This person is not Phillip Beard. TF and PB are well equipped and have been very successful with the off field progressions with our club. No-one can argue with that. Ambition is a must, but let's keep it realistic. We don't want a 40,000+ seater stadium hosting league football. This brings me to the club's academy. This has to be action point number 1. Our coaches need to be producing players, and doing so ASAP. It helps us financially and on the pitch. How they've been allowed to mess around day to day and provide us with nothing is a mystery to me. Steve Gallen needs to be driving this immediately. These young players need to realise that if they're not knocking on the door when they're 17 or 18 then it's bye bye immediately. Perhaps an affiliation with a League Two/Blue Square team whereby we loan our players to them and get a guarantee of game time by doing so. Final point on signing players. Brendan Rogers' interestingly held extensive interviews with Daniel Sturridge before signing him. He wanted to know just how hungry he was, and whether he would fit into the system. We all know how that experiment faired for a January signing. There's lies a clear difference between a club with a vision and our panic buying system. Implement this strategy immediately. Here's hoping TF begins to fix the mess while he can. New division and a new ethos.
Welcome EscapeGoat. Your writing style seems familiar, do I know you..?! Very good read/first post and valid points made throughout.
Welcome Escapegoat. Excellent first post. I agree with you very much regarding Fernandez and Beard. Likeable blokes (particularly TF) but their inexperience in running football clubs in there for all to see.
Welcome Escape Goat, good OP. I'm not in the Harry-out brigade, but you have plenty of (vociferous) company on here, as you've probably seen!
Welcome to the board. Plenty of points there for our members to get their teeth into. My single biggest fear right now is that Harry will continue moaning and bit••hing all summer and then leave before the season starts. Not specifically looking for him to go, just have this feeling in my gut that he wont be here next season.
Welcome EscapeGoat. A very thorough and, sadly, agreeable first post highlighting our recent plight. I think TF now has some experience of owning a club and needs to assert how he wants things to be on the pitch. That comes from the manager (and the manager after that and so forth) sharing his views and not vice versa and then leaving the appointed man to build up an on field brand to complement and enhance the off field one. It should be a pivotal time and doing nothing is not the answer IMO.
Welcome "goatee" great first post and agree with everything you've said. The past is done now, lets look and move forward. like your ideas ps..whats your view of Adel.....
Hello, Goat. I've posted a few times saying Harry is probably the best man to get us straight back up but he's not a long term fix. Maybe it's reading so many posters calling for Harry's head, I don't know. But I'm coming round to your way of thinking Goat. We can't pin our hopes on bouncing back. The Championship is too tight. Well over half the sides there will have realistic hopes of promotion. And last time we tried in we ended up in administration and the third tier. Good op mate. But annoying. You've got me worrying about QPR again when I'm supposed to be enjoying me cricket!
We've got the lions tour in 10 days mate.....gonna be carnage. i'll get back to the footy at a later date. Plenty over for it and I guess most games will be sold out. 50k at Brisbane 80K at Sydney & Melbourne. Should be fun!! enjoy your cricket
Agree about Beard. The whole 'project' hinges on having a new stadium that can allow growth on the footballing side and provide alternative revenue streams outside of that. After two years that's still not off the drawing board however. A complex project no doubt particularly in central London but that's why Beard was brought in surely?
Don't want to hijack Goatboys first thread (I loved Bill Hicks) just to let you know Queens - can't wait for the Lions tour either! Have a feeling we may be discussing this issue in a couple of weeks!
