QPR's Chris Ramsey: ''I don't want my destiny to be decided on someone missing a sitter on the final

QPR's Chris Ramsey: ''I don't want my destiny to be decided on someone missing a sitter on the final day''

• 22:30, 18 April 2015
• By Tom Hopkinson

Ramsey has been told the job is his to lose and impressive displays in their last three outings have given the former Brighton defender room for optimism

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• QPR caretaker boss is desperately hoping that it isn’t a cruel twist in the plot that seals his fate when the curtain comes down on the current season.
  Ramsey said: “What I don’t really want is for my destiny to be based on losing on the last day, or someone missing a sitter, or a 30-yarder that has clipped the bar and gone in or gone over.’’
  Tony Fernandes made a bold appointment when he turned to Ramsey in the wake of Harry Redknapp’s departure from Loftus Road in February.
  Now Ramsey, 52, is hoping the backing he has received from the big names and big egos in Rangers’ squad, as well as the
  upturn in performances, has been enough to convince the Loftus Road supremo he deserves the job on a permanent basis.
  Rangers’ caretaker boss knows only too well that the threat of relegation still looms large.
  But he has seen team spirit renewed, and the 4-1 victory over West Brom, 3-3 draw with Aston Villa, and display in last
  weekend’s 1-0 defeat by Chelsea means there is an optimism the club can beat the drop.
  Ramsey wants to be part of QPR’s long-term plans in whatever capacity he can and whatever division they are in, but his hope is he has done enough to convince Fernandes he should stay in the hotseat.
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  Cruel: QPR conceded late on against Chelsea to deny them a point
  Ramsey said: “Either you’re the right person for the job in the long term or you’re not.
  “If I am the man for the long term then let’s start putting things into place now so people know, the players and the staff, which way we’re going so that we’re singing off the same hymn sheet.
  “It is important that we still maintain focus on the short-term plan, which is to keep the club in the Premier League.
  “But if we are looking long term then, while still focusing on the short term, we have to start building now for what is going to happen next season.”
  Paul Clement and Mark Warburton have also been linked with the job.
  But Ramsey added: “I’ve been told the job is there and is mine to lose.
  “The word lose is the one that sticks out but it’s my job at the moment and I’m acting as if I’m going to be here in the long term.”
  Former Brighton, Swindon and Southend defender Ramsey remains something of an unknown quantity as a manager, but during his days as a youth coach with the FA, and in 10 years at Tottenham with the academy and first team, he earned a stellar reputation within the game.
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  Coach: Ramsey helped oversee the development of Harry Kane at Spurs
  He helped oversee the development of Harry Kane and Co at Spurs with his close friends Tim Sherwood and Les Ferdinand, the latter of whom has been a huge help at Loftus Road in his role of director of football.
  With a £50million financial fair play fine looming over QPR, it would be easy to see why his track record of working with young players appeals to Fernandes as he tries to make Rangers sustainable again.
  Ramsey said: “Just before taking the job I started to put in an infrastructure below that meant we would start to bring in some good players to develop, because a club like QPR needs to have an amount who are homegrown.
  “The financial gulf with the top teams is going to grow wider and, even their average players, teams like us probably won’t be able to afford.
  “We have to subsidise that and it takes time, the fans have to realise that doesn’t happen overnight, but as long as it happens the club will have a good foundation.”
  Ramsey has already turned to the club’s young players because of a succession of crippling injuries to senior pros at the worst possible time.
  Rio Ferdinand, Richard Dunne, Leroy Fer, Adel Taraabt, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Eduardo Vargas have all been missing while on-loan Mauro Zarate has gone back to parent club West Ham.
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  Dramatic: Charlie Austin secured a 3-3 draw with Aston Villa
  Ramsey added: “Against Villa we had Michael Doughty, Reece Grego-Cox and Aaron Mitchell on the bench and it’s too soon for them but we haven’t got anybody else.
  “Reece is a scholar, he has never even been on loan, and at the beginning of the season he was wondering if he was going to get a professional contract, let alone come on against Tottenham and Crystal Palace.
  Not that Ramsey is complaining, as he knows what a great opportunity he has been given.
  He added: “You have to take it in your stride.
  “You’re not splitting the atom, you’re running a football team, and if we had everybody fit there’s a chance we might still have been where we are.
  “But I honestly do believe we can stay up and that I’m the right man to help take the club forward.”

 

I feel that maybe he'll end up being an excellent manager somewhere else if we let him go. I think we should start. Next season with him whatever league we're in.

 

I do not want our destiny to be decided on Charlie Austin missing a penalty on the first day of the season either

 

I think he has a point.

If we're abandoning the short term approach of the last 8 years then picking the right man and backing him is the way forward.

CR's notion of backing isn't even a wad of money, but the chance to run the club the right way from top to bottom.

Sign him up.

 

Still not sure about this one. A few games ago i said we needed a manager and put CR as No2. I believed we needed a 'name', a person that would attract players but then i thought of all these not so good players we attracted and thought what do we actually need. The answer lies in what division we are in.

 

Right now I'd be happy with Ramsey wherever we are. But the Board have no real need to make a decision before end May, and rushing it is pointless.

 

Therein lies the problem. Owners and fans tend to rely on names and reputations instead of backing their own judgment. I have come to the view as a result of the last 4 years that we most certainly do not need any more names. We need to develop a youth squad and back a manager who is keen to look at players himself, talk to them and decide how and where they fit into his vision for the future. Ramsey looks like that manager. Fernandes should sign him up now. The only matter which he should leave for the summer should be the contract terms and salary package. That can be conditional upon the League we play in. Can we have a summer transfer window which is shaped by a manager picking who he wants and not the fans, the owners and the players agents? It would be fantastic if we could pick sure fire winners who appeal for example to the Far eastern market but we've learned to our cost that this is not the way in which to build a successful squad.

 

Sign him up

 

This

 

Too early to sign him up imo. Relegation, FFP and Ramsey's competence (he's had a reasonable start) have yet to be determined.

If, as seems likely, we go down, we're almost into a blank canvass scenario once unwanted players go and the Prem vultures have picked our bones. Shouldn't do much before we see how this all pans out.

 

He's brought us back some dignity. Keep.

 

Ramsey has been our best manager I can remember … He has to stay as he knows the game and is very fresh
I believe we may have trouble keeping him in the long run

 

I don't follow your logic. All of those scenarios are relevant of course to our ability to woo someone to take the job. But follow the chain of thought through to its painful conclusions and then tell me who will want to come here. Ramsey wants the job. I want to watch them play again. He's won twice as many games away from home in six games in the Prem than Redknapp managed in the best part of two seasons. And even that was a shameful performance where we put ten men behind the ball but Taarabt played the game of his life and to our amazement Wright Phillips scored the winner. The Gods really smiled on us that day

 

It's simply the balance between the risk of losing Ramsey to another top club, which with due respect to the guy seems slim, as against keeping our powder dry and not jumping for a permanent manager until the season shakes down and CR handles the remaining games - and if we go down, FFP is sorted, although I concede this aspect may be less important, so long as we don't get demoted to lower league as a penalty

 

I don't give a toss about CR's destiny being decided on the last day.

It is not about HIS destiny. It is about OUR destiny as a club.

Sorry Chris but your destiny is not important I'm afraid.

 

I agree, he has changed things for the better, calmed the nerves either way. I do have a sneaky feeling that he doesn't like the media limelight too much and could well decide cut his losses come the end of the season and team up with TNBD at the villa. A return to coaching in the championship seems unlikely now.

By making him manager we've lost him as a coach and the decision to retain him should be based on the boards expectations of next year. They could be anything.

 

We can't decide yet. At the moment his points per game average is worse than Redknapp's (0.70 to 0.83).

The away game hoodoo being lifted is meaningless too considering he's lost every home game. It doesn't matter where the points come from.

Having said all that, his performances have all been good barring Palace. He's been unlucky but its a results business. He'll have to keep us up to get the job.

 

Yes. It is a results business but my point is we need to buck the trend. I actually think it would inspire Ramsey and the players who clearly do want to play for him to make the announcement asap. Going by results we retained Hughes after surviving on the last day. Going by results we retained Redknapp after scraping home in the Play Off final. If we continue to appoint on that basis alone then it's safe to say nobody will be considered unless they already have a proven track record. The same goes for players. Many players currently playing at the top of the Prem. came from lower league clubs. Someone backed their judgment and gave them a chance to prove themselves. I do not want another year to go by chasing yesteday's men at today's prices on the promise of jam tomorrow. It's election time so forgive the multiple clichés.

 

Hughes' results were no better than COLIN's. Redknapp's result in the Championship was good.

I'm not talking about track records, Yorkie, I'm talking about the here and now. And the fact is, Ramsey's results, so far, have been even worse than Redknapp's who was sacked/jumped/pushed/limped because his results were sh*t.

So lets wait until we see whether he keeps us up or not before we anoint him shall we?

 

Proportion my friend. Nobody is getting anointed very soon. I never thought I'd hear you praise someone though for what he did in the Championship. Now that certainly hasn't happened before. I do know however that you most defo are a results man. You wouldn't' have defended Redknapp for so long otherwise. I agree it's early days yet but considering he's had to field a team made up largely of Harry's tried and trusted was dumped in it after the transfer window has lost 3 players due to injury during that time has won 2 out of 5 (in some style) and got them playing football at last I am convinced. Yes we lost at home by the odd goal against the teams between 1st and 8th in the table. But I have to say I don't recall any glorious perfomances against those teams away from home