Dear Tony, I think its fairly safe to say that the season (and probably most of your tenure at the club) hasn't gone as planned. Let's start at the beginning and see where it all went wrong. You bought a newly promoted team, just beginning their first season in the premier league in over 10 years. With the popular Neil Warnock as manager and pretty much the same squad from the Championship, you saw early success with the team picking up wins against Everton and Wolves to prompt many to believe that the squad was good enough to stay up. However, with the beginning of your reign coinciding with the end of the transfer window, Warnock was finally given some cash to start adding some quality to the team. Unfortunately, Warnock's opinion widely differed to the fans, so we saw the likes of SWP, Barton, Traore and Ferdinand enter the club and immediately destroy the wage structure. Left out amongst those is Luke Young, a rare bright spot for us (IMO) who actually backed up his transfer fee and wages with solid performances. The rest however have been nothing short of catastrophic, with Traore being the closest amongst the others to resemble a Premier League footballer. However by December, things had taken a turn for the worse. On the back of losses to Liverpool, Man Utd and Arsenal, Warnock was sacked despite the club being outside the relegation zone. A tad harsh some felt, but you assured us that stability was what you wanted and sacking Warnock was the best way to achieve it. Within a matter of days, you had found your man. Mark Leslie Hughes. A man sacked by City for failing to achieve top 4 when given unlimited resources and who left Fulham because ''they lacked the same ambition as him''. He crawled like a parasite into W12 and unfortunately instead of stamping him out, he was allowed to fester and grow in the underbelly of the club, causing near total destruction in a brief 10 months. Surely it should have been a sign when in his own words, he interviewed you for the managers job. The fact that he interviewed you shows a naivety, something you have since admitted. However you would think that if you were naive in running a club, you would appoint an experienced CEO, someone with vast experience in running football clubs to help you learn. Unfortunately to both the club and your own cost, you chose Phil Beard, a respected and well known brand manager, who had as much experience as you in running a football club. We'll come back to him later. With the January transfer window approaching, Hughes and his sidekick Kia Jaroobchian were given a nice big transfer budget to line their pockets. Onuoha, Cisse and Zamora joined. Now whilst none of the 3 have turned out in the long term, in the short term they were at least good signings, bar Zamora. Onuoha could line up at any position in defence and despite a complete lack of first touch or passing ability, he at least added some decent depth to the team. Cisse scored many vital goals for the club last year and whilst he couldn't repeat it this year, he certainly paid back his transfer fee by keeping us the premier league. Zamora appeared to peak around 2007/2008 and since then has failed to show a lethal goalscoring touch, spending more time on the sidelines with various injuries. Meanwhile the man who Zamora had been brought in to replace was having the season of his life. Without a doubt the most natural header of the ball to have played at QPR in my lifetime, Heidar Helguson was cruising towards double figures for the season when he was forced to sit a few games out after having his jaw broken by Huth whilst playing at Stoke a month and a half earlier. With Zamora and Cisse, there was no room for Helguson despite him being the clubs top goalscorer. As the transfer window ended, the club continued falling down the table finally entering the bottom 3 away at Bolton, for the first time since the opening day. With only 10 games to go, the chances of survival were not looking great, especially with Hughes managing to piss off both the fans and players with his dire team selections and tactics. Discipline became a massive issue, with the club actually ending the season with a new Premier League Record for red cards. 2-0 down at home to Liverpool, Hughes finally gave in to pressure from the stands and brought on Shaun Derry and Jamie Mackie (who had nearly grabbed us a point a few weeks previously at Blackburn), removing the ineffectual Joey Barton and the ****ing useless SWP, who was making Stewart Downing look like a signing of the season. With something resembling team spirit now on the pitch, we witnessed arguably one of the best comebacks in QPR history. Of course this was followed up by another dreadful performance at Sunderland. However the following week the club beat Arsenal, comfortably, with Hughes fielding the eleven the fans wanted. By the end of the season, the club had continued these jekyll and hyde performances, home and away leaving us needing a win at the Etihad on the final day to be sure of survival. The first half we were utter crap. I struggle to remember us having a shot on goal with Hughes choosing to put out an ultra defensive team with the hope of Stoke doing us a favour at Bolton. Adel Taarabt who had been our best player since his recall to the team was left on the bench in favour of Barton and SWP, whose removal from the side had coincided with our change in performance. Going in 1-0 down at half time, the club came out for the second half and sat back waiting for the counter attack. Cisse and Mackie both scored on the counter, leaving us 2-1 up entering injury time. Of course you know what happened next, but thanks to R's old boy Peter Crouch putting on an Oscar winning performance in the penalty area at Bolton and an incredibly blind ref, we stayed up, albeit by the skin of our teeth. So in your first year, we'd seen 1 manager go, 8 players come into the club permanently, whilst huge numbers left the club including Connolly, who some thought actually had the ability to become a decent premier league CB, but we'll find out whether or not that's true next year, when he plays in the Prem for Cardiff. However the summer was only just beginning. We now enter the period of your tenure that can only really be described as the Premier League's worst ever off-season. Hughes was once again given a huge budget, but now he had some new friends to help spend it. Mike Rigg joined from City and immediately set about being a general ****. Some players were told to train with the U18s or forced to turn up for an hours training, twice a day. Talk about a hostile work environment. However you were blind to it. With Phil Beard trying to make us the new Manchester United in Malaysia, plans for a new stadium and training ground being drawn up, things on the outside at least must have seemed rosy to you. The players began flooding in. ''Top quality'' experienced players like Green, Cesar, Bosingwa, Nelsen, Fabio, Diakite, Park, Granero, Mbia and Johnson all arrived. Meanwhile internally, Rigg was 'revolutionising' (your words) the club, focusing on the scouting and coaching departments. To be honest, I have to question if a single scout was actually appointed. Based on the players who have come in and the fact that the majority are represented by Hughes right hand man, Jaroobchian, shouldnt it have been obvious that you were being taken for a ride. Given that there was supposedly one scout at the cub when Hughes arrived, and the fact that he found Mackie, Taarabt and Faurlin amongst others as well as approving Kenny, Derry and Hill, I'd say he was a far better scout than anyone who has since joined the club. Perhaps most shamefully though was the treatment of Kevin Gallen. He was essentially fired for no apparent reason, so that Rigg could hire some more his and Hughes mates. The man is a club legend and still awaiting an apology. Of the players brought in during the summer, Nelsen was the only bright spot with the rest all coming in only for the money. An added side effect of this 'revolutionising' of the squad was the creation of huge fractions between the low earners (ex-champ players who had stepped up the prem) and the high earners (pretty much all new comers who looked sub-premier league standard). Meanwhile the previous seasons top scorer was dumped by the club along with other team players with decent attitudes.
The season began once again with a battering, this time by Swansea, who have shown all promoted clubs how to correctly run a football club. You have to supplement the squad you have. The squad that gets you promoted, deserves at least a chance in the premier league. Building a squad is a gradual process, something you, Phil Beard and Mark Hughes fail to understand. By the WBA game, something should have surely twigged that Hughes might not be the man after all. If not by WBA, then Stoke surely when Hughes greeted the boos from the travelling away fans with a nonchalant shrug of the shoulders. Following this, Mark Bowen appeared on the Open All Rs Podcast and confirmed what many of us believed. He didnt have a ****ing clue. If you ever have to ask fans for advice on what team to play, you should not be a manager. You might notice a pattern here between Hughes not knowing what team to put out and instead relying on his ProFootball stats. But if not after Stoke, then what about Southampton. Finally after watching our worst performance of the season, you fired Mark Hughes. His contract and his legacy will however continue to be felt by the club for a long period of time. Harry was brought in to save us from this Hughes mess that we found ourselves in and finally against Fulham, we won a game. The January transfer window resulted in the purchases of Samba, Remy and Jenas with Townsend bought in on loan. A fractured squad was fractured even further. Sambas massive fee and wages were not backed up by performances. Remy whilst being a great signing will be off in the summer no matter what you may try and tell the fans. Jenas, a surprisingly good signing will be good next year in the Champ. And Townsend has been an absolute revelation and were there a POTY this year, then he would get my vote inspite of only playing in 10 games. Whilst too good for the Champioship, serious effort should be made to try and convince to spend the year on loan with us and to tear up the Championship much like Taarabt did 2 years ago. Away at Reading the inevitable happened and we were relegated. Since then we've been treated to people from all sides including yourself, airing their dirty laundry in public and turning us into an even bigger laughing stock than before, something I didn't think possible. So what can you do this off-season. Lets begin at the top and appoint an actual CEO. I'm sure Phil Beard is very good at his job but he is not cut out at this moment in time to be the CEO of a football club. His lack of experience has resulted in the **** contracts we have handed out and lack of wage structure that has followed. Appointing some like David Dean who experience in running a club or even Ishan Sakshena, another individual treated poorly by this club would be a good first step. How Paladini ever managed to persuade the board that it was Sakshena who was responsible for Faurlin-gate despite him not even being at the club at the time is beyond me. However don't fire Beard as commercially, he has the ability to be very important for the club. Much like Ayre at Liverpool, he is not a good CEO but a very good Managing Director. Allowing him to continue his work on building the brand as well as handling commercial contracts would be a good move, given this is what he actually has experience in. Encourage Amit Bhatia to return to running the club. He is not only popular with the fans but has also been successful. The Brand. Any chance we can hold off on it? I dont know if anyone has told you this but only 3 games a week are available to air live from the Championship. People in the far East will not get to see the games as they are simply not available. As it is, the whole building of the brand was good idea but far too soon. Running before you can walk springs to mind. Clubs with large foreign fanbases are successful, long-standing premier league clubs. We are a small-market Championship club. If you want to go Malaysia once again on pre-season, thats fine, but only go for a game. There is nothing to be gained from playing 3 matches against non-league standard sides. Next off the wage bill needs to be dramatically reduced and transfer-listing the majority of players who came in over the last 2 years should be the bare minimum. Additionally if you have players such as SWP who are probably not even good enough for the Championship, an effort should at least be made to re-negotiate their contracts. As far as Monsieur Bartón goes, either offer him a termination or sell him on the cheap. He is not wanted/doesnt want to be here. The legacy of Warnocks squad, if used correctly and supplemented by hungry, young players has the ability to not only gain promotion, but to form a stable basis to built around in the prem. The stadium plans need to be put on hold. We are now a 2nd division club, in a crowded part of West London. Building a 40000 or even a 25000 seater is the fastest way to bankrupting yourself and the club. Ticket prices need to be slashed across the board. £50 was extortionate in the prem and even a drop to £35 is expensive for the Championship. This needs to be done more as a good faith gesture towards the fans. The average season ticket holder has paid around £300 per win this season. You were wrong to compare your prices this year to Chelsea and Fulham. The only thing we share with them is location. In terms of history or recent success, you would have been better placed setting your prices in comparison to Sunderland or Norwich. The reintroduction of a dad for a fiver, kids for a quid for cup games will certainly be good for not only bringing in more younger fans that we need, but also for encouraging more local fans to come to games. Finally no more talk of Mark Hughes possibly returning or being the right man for the job somewhere down the line. I dont think there is a single fan out there who doesnt despise him. You run the risk of making yourself incredibly unpopular if you keep on talking about him in admiration, instead of branding him the useless, scum of the earth, sack of **** that he really is. So Tony, we've reached the end and although you might not think it, this is actually your biggest chance to rebrand QPR. You've got a reasonably talented squad with a very good Championship manager at your disposal. You have the chance to build a sustainable, well run, well supported club with the potential to branch out if they become a Premier League side. If you want a role model, look at WBA. They went up and down for 3 years, gradually building and are now an established club. Alternatively look at Newcastle. They took relegation as the chance to shed their huge wage bill and came back with a better cheaper squad. This is also your chance to rehabilitate your image as a Chairmen. Make the right choices this offseason and by this time next year, you could have once again have a Premier League club. In the meantime never be afraid to ask for help and be distrustful of agents turning up with Champions League winners or World Cup Superstars. Yours sincerely, Superdoopahoopsa
Supers hoopsa You just couldn't make it up, could you? I've blamed this group of players all year long. I just can't bring myself to call them a team. No hunger, no desire, no motivation. The fans aren't blind. Massive mistakes made on and off the pitch. I won't blame TF for being naive. His heart is obviously in the right place. If he corrects some of these awful mistakes this summer,we can come back much stronger. It will be an interesting summer at HQ. Then again we just don't seem to do easy both on and off the pitch
An interesting read. I think you are a little harsh on Mr Fernandez. You criticise him for allowing players to be bought who haven't pulled their weight, which has clearly happened, no refuting that. However, if reports had come in that Fernandez had told the manager who to sign (as was reportedly the case under our previous owners), then all hell would break loose and Fernandez would be strongly criticized for sticking his nose into footballing matters, where he is not welcome. He's poured huge sums of money into the club, and has given managers the freedom to spend as they see fit, which is how it should be, because the managers 'should' be the experts who know how to spend the money. It's not Fernandez's fault that an experienced manager came in, and spent huge sums on players who have let the team down. It's the job of the manager to sort those players out. We were let down by managers. Also, if I were Mr Fernandez and I received a letter like the one above, my honest reaction would be, 'fine...you spend your millions then...I'm off.' He's an experienced businessman, who has set up world brands, and made A LOT of money doing what he does. I suspect he doesn't need advice on running a business from us. You do, however, make a valid point about bringing someone in who can advise him on running a football team, that he might benefit from, but in terms of the global marketing, I would trust him, mainly because astute businessmen don't throw money down the drain...they invest because they can realistically see a return on their investment. So, I would be interested to see what reply, if any, you get.
I think Fernandes deserves the blame as far as the people he has appointed goes but nobody could have really foreseen what has happened over the last year. As for signing players, whilst Fernandes isnt responsible for the actual players themselves, he negotiated a large amount of the contracts himself so the utter lack of wage structure is in part down to him. I do actually trust him and his instincts and as you say he has been very successful in his other businesses. Whilst his first 18 months or so have been anything but smooth sailing, I trust his long term judgment and I think he has been unfortunate and naive in the people he has placed his trust in. His heart is most definetly in the right place and I think he genuinely does care about the club. He will learn from these past 18 months and hopefully become a better judge of character certainly when it comes to dealing with players and agents. Also this is just my take on where we've gone wrong over the last 2 years, put in the context of a letter to Fernandes.
True, he has been let down by others big time. His lack of wage structure when negotiating transfers is irresponsible, but surely it also shows the passion of the man. Instead of getting recommendations from managers and coming back with concerns over money...he's got excited, gone out and got the players his managers have asked for...as a chairman should do. Let's just hope Harry and other future managers give better recommendations!
Painful read! There is also that aspect of the rub of the green. As well as being crap, we have been a little unlucky starting with Clint's not given goal against Bolton last season and culminating in the saved penalty against Norwich and Guzman making saves he shouldn't have been able to away at Villa. Some bad luck but then more skilled teams also get better luck from more shots on goals, corners etc.
Ummm, what about the time at Carrow Road when you got an iffy penalty, missed it and then scored the rebound after encroaching in the area? Swings and roundabouts!
Maybe. It would need a game by game analysis to determine whether we are just poor or poor and unlucky. I guess it probably evens out though perhaps that extra bit of luck can contribute to the winning mentality that we've seldom, if ever, had this season. I'm guessing you are pretty happy that Wigan lost!
We get less than our share mate although the example you quote is sound. Looks like Wigans luck is running out though!
Great read, however the bit about the middle east not being able to view our games isn't true. Cardiff City have had every single one of their games shown in Malaysia this year.
No worries As for OP's letter regarding TF the ongoing very noticeable absence of Amit Bhattia doesn't ring true somehow. "Something's rotten in the state of Denmark" as the saying goes. Alternatively "The fish rots from the head". I don't blame Harry or Colin for where we are nor the likes of Bosingwa, Cisse or Barton. Neither manager has afaik previous of the complete dressing room breakdown that has allegedly happened nor have those three players managed to completely destabilise their previous clubs despite their somewhat dodgy reputations. At the end of the day what evidence we have points in a specific direction. Caterham. Edit: This is a good interview: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/may/03/tony-fernandes-qpr-relegation Welcome to the Air Asia Arena?
