As the contender for one of the most forgettable seasons ever approaches, I think it is time for us to eat a large slice of humble pie. I remember when Flav and Bernie took over, chatting to two of my neighbours – one Arsenal and one Man U – deliriously happy and chanting, ‘we’ve been bought by billionaires’. We had lengthy chats on the old BBC forum, and subsequently on here, about the bright future for our club now that we had proper financial backing. It seemed rosy and the horizon had a blue and white hooped tinge. I remember posts suggesting we could aim for a top half PL finish and even one or two sincere folk suggesting Europe beckoned. Forest had done it, why not little old QPR?! There were, of course, alternative views. The usual derisive posts from the likes of Chelsea fans but others with more measured tones also joined in with warnings that once we’d stopped being the play thing of very rich men, they would discard us and move on with potentially disastrous consequences. I remember thinking that the green eyed monster of jealousy was responsible for their attitudes and confidently, perhaps smugly, sat back to watch our success unfold. For a time it did. Who can forget the impact of the Moroccan Magician on QPR and its fans? So many ‘Ooh ahh’ moments and wonder goals to wet the appetite for even more. Promotion celebrations at Watford tempered by the Faurlin Fiasco. There followed a trouncing in our first game of the PL (Bolton or Swans??) but a decent win at Everton and I thought the green shoots of a might oak was sprouting. Survival at Man City still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth simply because we had a chance to go down in history as the minnows that thwarted the £500m team! ‘Never again on my watch’. Famous last words. Relegation but then who can forget OBZ day, possibly the pinnacle of joy in recent QPR history. FFP - let's not even go there! After OBZ day, I met a Derby fan in a professional context. He confidently sneered that we’d be guaranteed for relegation. Once again I was equally confident, maybe even smugly still, that we would not be daft enough to make the same mistake twice! The rest is just too painful to put in writing. The only regret I will allow myself to wallow in is to consider what might have happened if Amit and Co had been sold the club as was planned (according to The Four Year Plan). The reaction of opposition fans when we were up there was mixed but perhaps weighted to the negative. We went from being many fans’ favourite lower league club – playing football the right way – to being seen as upstarts who had grown too big for our boots. There were a few exceptions – thank you Fulham Traveller! Most fans don’t bother with us now. I’ve been thinking of an analogy to describe out current situation. Most of you will have seen, ‘An Officer and a Gentleman’ starring Richard Gere and Debra Winger. We’re now like the woman who rejected her fella, stuck in the factory with little hope of any redemption while her friend is swept away to a proper life (Watford and Leicester – both teams that came up at similar times to us). So, time to eat humble pie. Those detractors who warned us about rich owners in the early days. You were right. The Derby fan I met after OBZ day. You were right. The pundits and bookies that had us as relegation fodder in that season after OBZ day. You were right. I just thought if we eat some humble pie and appear contrite then perhaps our fortunes might change next season away from the rather dreary one I think most of us anticipate. Onwards and upwards. Maybe. COYRss!
I just think that a lot of the problems with the club are those right at the top. All good and great ideas, from the new owners, but with Flav and Bernie surely it should have been a case of put your money where your mouth is. Get in a manager (the right one and not a knee jerk reaction..think hughes, redknapp etc etc), give him the funds and time to build a team. We are where we are because of catastrophic failures in not being able to identify a manager that can take the club forward, a manager that the board can trust. Colin should have been given funds and time when flav and bernie took over but it was last minute shopping he did. I would like to think, that the next manager can mould a team. Think of when Venables came in. Hucker, Warren Neill, Ian Dawes, Alan McDonald all home grown. We had Micklewhite a freebie from Manure Waddock (home grown).....you can probably guess where I am going. Any freebie we get in this year need time - Eze is not the finished article by any stretch but he is at a club that can give him a platform to perform and we all need to get behind him and others. The mess of dodgy knees and hughes has caused far more problems than anyone could ever anticipate, and the failure of flav and Bernie to invest in Colin also hasn't helped Hopefully we have learnt our lessons and can look forward to becoming everybody else's fav second team....and maybe next year, aim for a top half finish
Got hooked by the thread title I'm afraid - Steve Marriott was the greatest, and they were up there with Led Zep. Just that Zeppelin had a manager who did ok. with them as opposed to a rip off artist. Then I realized the thread was about football. Modern football has become something of a lottery these days - where the fans of most of the so called big clubs could just as easily change their songs to 'Our sugar daddy is richer than yours', because nothing else appears to have any relevance to them. We are now in the Prem. because a millionaire family took a liking to us and hooked us up with an international football family of clubs - no other reason. And for that reason we have the 'honour' to visit global entertainment companies (still calling themselves football clubs), in plastic stadiums which all look the same and often resemble shopping malls more than football stadiums. Take the story back a few years and we had a crook called Bassini at the helm, and were all but bankrupt - now Bolton have to endure him. These things can change for the better and I hope they do for your club.
A good OP until the bit about most of us seeing ‘An Officer and a Gentleman’....... Please god tell me most on here HAVEN'T seen it......
I wasn't suggesting that they are Stroller - sorry if it came over that way. We have had crooks running us, and owners who were simply not very good at the job, but the end result was the same.
Agree about the top brass. But, in the spirit of eating humble pie, can't see us finishing top half next season sadly.
FFS fellas, cheer up! Get hold of another Pukki and a couple more CD's and we could be in the leading pack again. Don't forget we were 2 points off top 6 as this year came in. It didn't take much for us to be looking at relegation in April, same players same Management, and equally it doesn't have to take much for us to be back in 8th position when the 2020's begin. We have got some promising younguns on the way, look on the BOS side of life....
I will eat humble pie by the bucket load if it means we can do better next season! Can I have it with ice cream? And yes I know it's only Thursday, but **** day at work and I have had a drink or two!
Nice post, mate but at the moment, l don't think we can afford the humble pie. We have a top heavy management team that has trying to be something were not. We are a small club with few funds and will need a thrifty board & manager only, to correct our stance and move in the right direction.
