QPR - the Polar Opposite of Norwich City http://www.norwich.vitalfootball.co.uk/sitepage.asp?a=275048 Usually the end of Match of the Day 2 means it`s time to hit the sack in readiness for another fun-filled Monday at the office. However the QPR-based documentary 'Four Year Plan` was scheduled in directly afterwards this week, no doubt hoping to tempt fans of all things football (like me) into staying up for another 90 minutes. It wasn`t immediately apparent why the film was aired so late, but after a couple of minutes of owner Flavio Briatore`s colourful language, all became clear. This was a warts and all look, and not a film caught up in its own vanity. If Flavio was the leading man, then Chairman Gianni Paladini was brilliant in his supporting role as the brainless yet snappy puppy dog obediently and blindly following his owners` demands. This film showed all that is wrong with foreign takeovers, and all that is right with Norwich City. My favourite part was where Flavio states that he wants to find everyone in the ground who was booing him and ban them from the club for life. It`s always a wonder how characters such as this have ever been successful in any industry A couple of other examples, of which there are many:- 1) Flavio and Paladini picking Iain Dowie`s team and even calling him mid-game to send Gavin Mahon on from the bench (who subsequently got the winner) 2) The board choosing to loan top-scorer Dexter Blackstock to rivals Nottingham Forrest when manager Paulo Sousa was on holiday 3) Frequently talking about managers by openly calling them an 'idiot`, 'prick` or 'crazy` 4) Threatening to sack Neil Warnock just for not winning one game, with the team clear at the top of the Championship For those with long enough memories, there are echoes of the Robert Chase era here. Chase sold Ashley Ward and Jon Newsome without the blessing of then manager Martin O`Neil and then refused to purchase Dean Windass. O`Neil duly resigned and instantly took over at Leicester, getting them promoted too. Whether Chase actually picked the team or whether he was so derogatory in his references to coaching staff we don`t know, but such tyrannical micro-management is as abhorrent in football then as it is now. It is only when Briatore takes a back seat (in view of chants of 'Four year plan, you`re having a laugh`) and the articulate and engaging Amit Bhatia takes a leading role, immediately appointing Neil Warnock, that the club starts to work effectively. For Amit Bhatia, read David McNally. Bhatia revelled in removing budget for excess flowers for the executive box and cutting the budget for meals by £1 per meal. It all adds up was the mantra, and it does, just ask our very own spendthrift. So, what did we learn? Nothing new if I`m honest. Success on the pitch comes from a strong manager that has clear defined responsibilities and goals, and who is allowed to just get on with it. To do so, the manager needs the unequivocal backing and total trust of the clubs` hierarchy. OK, we lost to Stoke by the old goal in a drab affair on Saturday. However, let`s all be grateful that our club is actually our club and operates in the stable, successful way it does. Writer:*Savvy_Monkey* Date:Monday March 5 2012 Time: 1:34PM
I always quite liked QPR,definitely my favourite London club.Norwich have always seemed to be a bit of a bogey team for you though.I think it was a mistake to have ditched Warnock.OK he was a gobs***e motormouth and he always had a moan about us and Holt in particular,which is strange because I would have thought he was Warnock's type of player.Do you think Hughes has done better than he would have done? I think your opportunities may have gone now though.Horrendous run in,love to see you win at Citeh though.
Typical patronising twaddle from "the best and most homely, welcoming, colourful, friendly and lovely" club in the whole, wide world!! Have I mentioned that I ****ing hate Norwich!!!!
i think you may have, but it doesn't hurt to say it again. most post with an annoying condescending tone because they've somehow managed to punch above their weight all season.
i've read and re-read the original post and there is nothing at all patronising about it. your dislike of norwich is apparent but why make something up about a perfectly rational post? it was clearly meant for norwich eyes only as it was posted on the norwich forum and highlights parallels with a past owner of ours. don't go nuts at norwich fans because of it. my take was that the film was very insightful and well worth the viewing. it reminded me of another film: the good (amit bhatia) the bad (flavio briatore) and the ugly (bernie ecclestone) the guy bhatia looks like a great businessman and exactly the kind you need at a football club. i felt so sorry for you all during the formua one days and it seems with good reason. at least you are shot of them... well, fernandes is formula one but you know what i mean!
I think that the reference to it being patronising was the line "This film showed all that is wrong with foreign takeovers, and all that is right with Norwich City." The film didn't mention any other club - certainly didn't hold up Norwich as paragons of virtue that we need to emulate. So to turn was is a very revealing documentary on the problems we, as QPR Fans, have had to work through and endure into an "aren't Norwich wonderful, look at us" statement is actually quite patronising, even if the writer didn't mean it.
sorry but that is total bollocks. you are reading it purely from a qpr fans basis. you don't know anything about how norwich are run - we now know exactly how qpr were run! it isn't a post about how 'wonderful' norwich are - just that we are being run in the right way and not in the same haphazard way that rangers were under briatore etc. we've had our own owner in the past who ran the club like they did so we can actually empathise with you guys. quite why qpr fans have to throw this rubbish at norwich fans i just don't know.
Take a look back to last year when even Cardiff fans (who hate us) were saying we won the title on the pitch and deserved to lift the trophy. Contrast that with Norwich who were the only team who had loads of fans desperately pleading for a points deduction so they could take the title by default. While Norwich will never be a rival. It doesnt mean a large percentage of their fanbase arent total tools. Ken Bates is a British owner, as was Chris Wright. Would any QPR fan take them over Fernandes and Mittal?
i can't dispute that there were probably a few city fans who came on to annoy you. however, we ourselves had a number of qpr fans on our board for the entire season last year slagging us off and being all 'high and mighty' - i suspect that it would have been down to that rather than anything else over the points deduction farce. i remember myself saying that a point deduction would have been an absolute disgrace and i know for a fact the majority of city fans on our board said the same thing. why would it affect us anyway? we still went up - we were more than happy with that. nobody in their right mind would want to win a trophy in a courtroom and we are no different. every fan base has tools and qpr have as many as we do if not more. i think you've taken to heart the cries of four or five people and tarnished all of us with the same brush. now that is ridiculous
i didnt even read this forum, it was very widespread on thepinkun, you can check for yourself. The vast majority, if not all were desperate for a deduction. Plus theres that fat, diving cheat holt. Ill hate any team hes on. Then theres that other cheat who faked contact to get Barton sent off. Norwich used to be a likeable side, not any more.
each to their own i suppose. i used to like qpr but having read this thread i'm not so sure i do anymore! a number of very arrogant fans...
A) your fan started the whole "your film shows how crap you are, you should be like us" thing. B) of course we're looking at it from a QPR fan's perpective - that's who we are and what the film was about! Honestly, if all you're doing is cming on here to pick fights, you may as well bugger off, because your argument doesn't have any credibility with me now because of your rant over my perfectly reasonable post.
Arrogant? No. Realistic? yes - we've had to be. Patronising? Never - we don't have the history to be that. Tired of other arrogant, patronising fans coming on here with a pot-kettle attitude? Certainly that feeling is growing every time you reply.
what are you talking about???? where does the original post state that you are crap and we are how it should be done? it says you were run poorly and we are pleased to be run differently. why take things to heart? you couldn't have thrown your toys out of the pram any harder. i'm afraid its the rangers fans that come across as arrogant with posts such as yours showing a complete lack of understanding of what the original post was about - there are other teams you know. the film highlighted what a complete shambles you were behind the scenes - thank god that appears to have changed now. but how is it describing your club as 'crap'? it describes the owners as being poor, not the club. and i think thats totally correct! our owners are nothing like briatore et al and that is what is being pointed out - not that somehow we are amazing and everyone should bow down to us. really, really, really don't understand the vitriol towards norwich fans from qpr fans. it is totally stupid. this post was clearly never written for qpr fans to read anyway, hence it was on our board, so if you are offended by it then tough - other fans are allowed opinions.
just out of interest, does amit bhatia own more than the 33% he originally owned when briatore etc were in charge now that fernandes is there? he seems an extremely potent businessman and should be praised for the way he turned the mess around
I've tried to stay out of this, I know I'll get slated by many QPR fans, but this whole business about the possible deduction of points last year is really starting to annoy me now! I, and many, many other Norwich fans posted good luck messages on the QPR board, both on here, and on BBC606, saying it would be a travesty if you were deducted points, because you had been the best team on the pitch! The only poster I can remember saying any different was Whole_lot_of_Holt, and I think we all know what to think about that! Good luck with your horrible run-in! I hope all 3 of us live to fight another year!
good post dave. its getting on my wick too - i've wished them nothing but good luck yet we all get tarnished because of one or two posters a year ago.
I also remember a fair few Norwich fans wishing us all the best over the points deduction. The post title is "A Norwich fans Take on the four year plan" so i would guess he would naturally compare the film to Norwich. Thanks for the good luck message for the run in Dave
Is it possible to get ACAS or perhaps The United Nations to sort out this irritation between QPR and Norwich fans?!
