Having seen some of the posts on here over the last few days I feel absolutely compelled to highlight a few key points that I believe have been conveniently forgotten in recent weeks and months. I remind people that I am not a pessimist but my work life requires me to be a realist. And that’s the key point that I think has been missing among many of you in recent weeks….REALISM. I watched the optimism that had been flowing on this board through the summer with the consistent thought that some of you had simply lost the run of yourselves. To put things in proper and clear perspective, we have to consistently remind ourselves of who we are and where we have come from. We are a small club. Yes, it’s our beloved club and it consumes our everyday life, but we are a small club. We have not been in top flight football for the guts of two decades. In that time we have completely fallen behind almost every club in the first two divisions of English football. For those of you that need it, let’s look at some facts. Only a few years ago we were in administration. We have the smallest ground in the Prem. Our current attendances will not support Prem football in the short/medium/long term. By any decent standards our training facilities are piss poor. We had no reserve or youth setup worth mentioning. We had no scouting structure. We had more managers in the last ten years than almost all of the Prem teams put together. We had owners who knew loads about racing cars but knew absolutely nothing about football. QPR fans have basically seen it all in the last two decades. We fell off the unlucky tree and hit every branch on the way down. But this is what worries me at the moment. Many QPR fans seem to have conveniently forgotten all of the above and now think that we have a divine right to Prem football and that top ten Prem finishes are now achievable. Please wake up and smell the coffee guys. We are still light years behind developed and established teams like Sunderland, Fulham, Wigan etc etc. We have no divine right to expect a handy three points anywhere. I will bet that almost every other team in the Prem will have targeted us for a handy 6 Points. I accept that we should not be beaten so easily by another recently promoted side but this happens in football. We have come such a long way in the last twelve months that sometimes we need to stop and catch our breath. All of the above points either have been addressed or are in the process of been addressed. We now have structures/owners/management in place that will deliver success in the future. But football and sport in general has a habit of kicking you firmly in the teeth when you least expect it. We are NOT the finished article yet. We are NOT an established Prem team yet. We will have inconsistencies and poor results along the way. We ARE however, a work in progress. We will improve game by game and season by season. While I too dream of QPR establishing mid-table mediocrity or playing European football at Loftus Rd, I am realistic enough to know that this may be 3/4/5 years away. In the mean time, while we may dream of success, survival MUSTL be our primary target. Anything above 17/16 position has to be seen as success. We may want higher. We may even think we are capable of higher. But realistically we are not. Manage your expectations guys, based on our recent history. We will climb the ladder. We will improve. Let’s keep our targets realistic and achievable and our responses to disappointments measured. We are QPR. We don’t do simple. Remember that.
I think, pray and hope we will finish 6th and nothing is going to change that until it's mathematically impossible. nothing I will never think we are going to finish 17th and just survive ... its not good enough for me and i have complete faith we will play good football that makes us all happy. A good dose of realism is not needed to these people ... its football we just need to enjoy it and sadly many are infected on here. The season starts afresh each year and what has happened has happened ... its past.. its gone. I do not believe in shades of grey, I do not believe in calling people guys and those who do are lost. I am a winner I am a surviver ... when **** happens i deal with it because i can and because I have learnt what Monkey Mind is. I get disappointed I get overjoyed and have learnt that there is no answer in worrying about **** that hasn't happened yet.
good post nuts, i think a lot of us got carried away including myself with the signings coming in we would be a force this season, but again its only one game & like the the rest of us stunned & shocked at result & performance, i hope we don't see many repeats of that again but given time i'm sure we can turn it around & finish respecatable.
DT, nothing I have seen so far gives me any confidence, so will take 17th if possible Thing worries me is that I can not see us getting any points away from home, so we are going to have to rely on home form
Nuts you are on the money ... we may play a lot of **** but we are here in the premier league ... the biggest football stage in the world and I firmly believe we are here to stay
I prefer to remember the mid 70's Nuts, not the last 2 decades. We are a HUGE Club, and must aim to be back where we were then, no less. It will no doubt take a few years, and my forecast of 15th this season is I still think realistic.
A journey Doug!... its just a journey... How can you say that ... we haven't played away yet?. We know what the task is and its one step at a time ... take 17th if you wish that's your opinion ... what will you hope for next season and then the next? 16th, 15th ... it will be whatever it is so stick on 17th and therefore you have nothing to worry about in fact you will become overjoyed when we do better than that ... in effect you have everything to look forward to
Fair enough OSLO. We can agree to disagree on this one. We won't get into the argument of defining what's a big club and what's not. We have a proud history that's for sure. But as I said above when you look at our club now in 2012 we are anything but a huge club. I have no doubt however by the time that TF and gang are finished with us we will be restored as an established Prem club with a really bright future
Great post Nuts. We do it every year! Either bigging ourselves up or believing other people bigging us up. Realism is good but I suspect I'll still be doing the same thing next year (and maybe getting disappointed again). We are (the) QPR (way)!!
I have to add that TF and the board are trying to build this club into a force. This has resulted in plenty of money being thrown at the cause, new manager new players new training ground new stadium. Not being funny mate, but that sounds like a pretty big club to me. With all of these things going on, how can a fan of the club not get excited and not be optimistic. Big let down against Swansea, although I am hoping that things are set right over the coming weeks and months.
Jammers, fair points but your not getting my points mate. The new stadium, training facilities etc will all come in the coming years. TF and the current board will bring us back into the 21st century. Most of what we have now and have had for the last number of years was sub standard and we were left behind by other clubs big time. I am really excited about where we are now and in particular where I think we can be in the future. As for now, I think I am realistic enough to know that we are still at the bottom of the ladder and building slowly. It will take several years to establish ourselves as a Prem club. During this period we will have many many ups and downs. I am just asking people to look at the bigger picture, keep expectations realistic and understand that there is no need for ridiculous overreaction every time we loose a game.
I sometimes think there are quite a few on here who just won't accept that we are still such a long way from establishing ourselves. I posted the 'Reality Check' thread a few weeks ago and a lot on here came up with their illogical conclusions that we were going to be flying high. I had hoped that the signings we'd made and will make in this window would transform us from 'relegation candidates' to 'a top half of the bottom half team', small but significant progress, but until our defence is sorted out and we have quality through the spine of the team I fear we will be only slightly better than last season and another bottom six finish may be the best we can hope for...
Personally, I have quite enough "REALISM" in my life to want to bring it into the football arena. The fact is as fans of football and a particular club, you need to see it as less like normal everyday things such as work, and more like love!! It will make you feel happy, sad, furious, excited, depressed, irrational, ecstatic, beautiful, ugly etc. I could go on and on with that list, but one thing it makes us more than anything else is a dreamer. At the start of every season we float off into a utopia of thoughts about where our club is going to take us. And the least I expect is for people to let me live that dream at least for 3/4 of the season when our title winning hopes are dashed because we still happen to be bottom. What I don't expect is fellow fans to try and burst my bubble after one game with their realism. I am and always will dream of bigger and better things, and hope that all those boring realists trying to break my heart get on a boat to the smallest island they can find and realistically see how long they can survive without food or water!! You'll soon be dreaming of better times then.............
There's only Sooper Mackie ... white will defeat black good prevails ... I will add if I was told we are safe if we take 17th now ... Sorry Mr Banker NO DEAL
Each to their own sooper. I am excited by the fact that I think we will do better than last season.I am excited by the fact that we have better players than last season. I am excited by the fact that soon we will have training facilities and a stadium befitting a Prem club. I am well excited and also know how to dream. Think I am gone beyond wet dreams now though.
Outstanding perspective, which, along with Soopermack, pretty much nails it for me. Realism not required, and actually a hindrance, to my enjoyment of QPR. It's about entertainment, dreams and natter on here and in the pub. But it's fine if others want to take a different stance. What gets up my nose is this urge to get everyone to agree, being wound up by people with a subjective view which is different to your own. None are definitively right, none totally wrong, all opinions not facts. Share your views, don't preach and evangelise. This is QPR, we don't do simple or boring.
A good dose well amen brother marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinoids, methylene, dioxymeth, amphetamine, benztropine and benzhexol ... a bucket with two holes cut into the side ... its my actual reality helmet
