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 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!
