please log in to view this image 01/05/2012 by Richard Langley, former QPR midfielder Itâs approaching the end of the season and the pressure is mounting on QPR, who sit uncomfortably above the drop zone â goal difference being the only thing separating them from Bolton. I was at Rangers when we were close to the bottom of the Championship back in the 1998/99 season and remember what it was like being around the club. I was nursing a knee injury picked up a few months after making my debut in the first team and I felt powerless to help. Having to watch every game and not being able to contribute was painful. Being at the club from the age of 12, I had grown up loving QPR, and to be a part of the squad was a dream for me. Seeing us struggle was terrible. I was travelling to all the away games to show my support to my team-mates. With two games to go we went to Port Vale and lost, which meant we needed to win the last game of the season at home to Crystal Palace. In the last few months of the season there was a nervousness surrounding the training ground. We all knew the importance of staying up. On a few occasions the players arranged a meeting. We would sit and discuss the situation we were in. Gavin Peacock was the captain at the time and he led a few of these talks with the older pros chipping in. We would remind ourselves that we had so much to lose; our status as a professional footballer, playing in the Championship, pride and our salary. And of course no-one wants to have a relegation on their CV. We knew that going down could mean not getting another team. People had responsibilities, mortgages and families, and the wages were not as they are now. It was all about survival and weâre not just talking about football. The pressure was too much for some guys to deal with. I remember players who I once looked up to all of a sudden not looking as great as I had once seen, mostly because of the possibility of us being relegated. They played within themselves. They played scared. Being young and naive was an advantage for me. I was living my dream and didnât let the desperate position we were in affect my displays, which was maybe the reason Iâd managed to impress. What I did learn was that when there is pressure you can confront it or you can hide away. We are seeing signs of that this season and understandably so when the ante has been raised so much. Premier League survival is a must. Looking back at that time, we had a nucleus of players that had a deep rooted loyalty and passion for the club. People like Maddix, Peacock, Ready, Perry, Gallen, myself and Gerry Francis. This was a group of people who loved the club. We genuinely cared. It was our club. Maybe the team wasnât good enough but what we didnât lack was commitment or fight. There was also a sense of responsibility. It was down to us. With the players so united, it ensured that the whole squad maintained the standards of training and discipline. The older pros often kept the young ones in check and made sure the newcomers were buying into the work ethic we had. In the week leading up to that game against Palace I remember Gerry making the training ground environment as relaxed as possible. He changed the training regime on a couple of occasions. We did the general midweek preparation but in between there were fun and games. This helped to take the playersâ minds off the significance of the ultimate fixture of the season. There were a few characters that always helped calm the nerves of the players in the changing room â Kiwomya and Dowie being the loudest and funniest of them all. Gavin Peacock always had a calming voice, putting to bed any worries you ever had about the game. We had an honest team â no prima donnas â and with a combination of great team spirit and a nucleus of players that were QPR through and through, we managed to survive that year. That last game of the season versus Palace. I can see it like it was yesterday. I remember feeling so connected with the club, the players and fans. I had to watch on from the sidelines. I remember the sun was blazing down on Loftus Road and I couldnât keep still. George Kulscar opened the scoring with a volley that the Palace keeper generously let sail past his head without moving as much as a finger. Kiwomaya bagged a hat-trick and there was a memorable goal from Tony Scully too. The Râs finished the season in style to guarantee safety with a 6-0 victory! It was the greatest feeling I had experienced. The pitch invasion after the final whistle was the first I had ever witnessed. The fans and the players had done it â cue celebrations! But a lot of things have changed at QPR. There are so many positives that have come with the takeover. But the identity of the club and players is lacking. This is the problem you get when you acquire a team of highly-paid individuals in an attempt to buy success. In the best teams youâll find a core of players that know what the club represents â whatâs acceptable. An enforcer. Someone who can do the managerâs speaking for him. Manchester United are the best example of this. Throughout the last two decades they have managed to build a team around a loyal group of players that are United âtil they die. Players would be brought in to improve the squad, but they had to adapt quickly to what the club wanted and expected. Although QPR have some experienced players, Iâm not sure how many feel that connected with the club or fans. The squad at QPR is so big now that many players are sitting on two and three-year contracts and may not be in the first team. For a lot of these players if the club go down the consequences are not as brutal financially as they would have been 13 years ago. Iâd like to think that pride will drive them on, but if you have the luxury of knowing that youâll be earning your life-changing money for three years whether you stay up or not, what is there to motivate you? With the lucrative contracts that have been handed out in the attempt to improve the squad, I fear the players will be thinking theyâll stay put until the end of their contract â regardless of whether they play â or theyâll be thinking about jumping ship. Either way itâs an unhealthy place for the club to be. There are two games to go and what all Rangers supporters will be hoping for is that we are safe to celebrate after 90 minutes at Manchester City on the last day of the season. For the future of the club, it is important that they start to keep some players who really understand QPR and want to be there. This revolving door that players seem to be coming in and out of right now leaves too much instability. Letâs consolidate and build a team around those that want to commit to the club as much as the fans do. Thatâs the key to success. Follow Richard Langley on Twitter http://www.westlondonsport.com/features-comment/langley-column-we-really-cared6-do-these-guys12-feel-the-same/
Is this guy for real? He's got to be on the wind up. Karl Ready for fu*k's sake? Its time Langers shut up because hes just lost any amount of credibility he may have had.
Thank you Swords, I'm not the only one bored of this holier than thou crap. And if Gerry Francis is so loyal let's hope he scuppers Stoke somehow for the weekend.
I agree with everything Langley wrote. Did he say Karl Ready was a fantastic footballer? No, he said he had a passion and loyalty to the club, who he served for 10 years. How many of the current squad will be here that long? Who can we rely on to play their heart out and show the desire and passion needed to stay up? I'd say Mackie, Derry and Hill would put themselves on the line for the cause, 3 players who at a guess aren't amongst the top earners a the club. My worry is that the rest of the team won't show that passion. In a way i think Blavkburn are actually in a better position than us, in the fact that their survival is completely in their hands. They have to get at least 4 points to survive, there's no other way. We on the otherhand don't have to do anything to stay up, as long as Bolton and Blackburn don't pick up any points. Maybe if Bolton pick up a point tomorrow it'll make it sink in to a few QPR heads that they have to step up for the last 2 games.
Is this the same Karl Ready who was laughing coming off the pitch having got relegated at Huddersfield? The same Karl Ready who told Crouch to stop crying and that he couldn't give a toss? That squad was rotten to the core and Ready was the foulest of them all.
good article and he may have a point.Its a strange feeling,as on one hand I want our club to stay up and do well,but on the other hand I dont really feel attached to any of the players or the management. I just dont think for a major part of this season the players havnt played as a team. No real togetherness,sense of urgancy or any reall hunger to fight to the end....Apart from a few games at home,Ive really felt detached from the team and for most of the season....
he wasn't really attached to the club when he joined Cardiff the week after they beat us in the playoff final was he?
swords, apart from the result it was a good laugh. cork-a-hoop had joey 1st goal and us to win 1-0 at 250/1! that bet lasted all of 46 seconds!! we're blaming tramore hoop though. he jinxed us by being the newbie!
I'm with you both. Let's wait and see who is prepared to stick with QPR and fight to get us back up, if we are down. There maybe a few who surprise us!
Is Langley having a laugh! He should never have used the word we. My memory is not that bad Richard? I remember walking away from many games furious at your lack of commitment and your lazy ways on a football pitch. I wish these ex players would 'shut up' and stop talking rubbish about our club. muppet
He makes good points; too many itinerant mercenaries turned it in after the Terry header. Say what you like about Chelsea, but they fight for every ball when the chips are down, because they have a strong nucleus there. Look at how they played when they went 2-0 down v Barca compared to the Hoops after the Terry goal.
Honestly, mate, I see what you're trying to do but you've been trying for the best part of week with seemingly the majority of all your posts and it's not working. No-one gives a toss that you were able to get a miracle draw with 10 men camped on the edge of the six yard line. Amazing that they only "fight for every ball" when they like the manager.
That's true. So get a new manager. And keep a nucleus of players as Langley suggests to reap success. United and all the good sides do it
