Can you name a successful team who had a bad manager? I canât. As for QPR, weâve had our share of some great managers at this club: the most successful having included Alec Stock, Gordon Jago, Dave Sexton, Terry Venables, Jim Smith and our âOllieâ, Ian Holloway. Iâve been around long enough to have watched from afar (terraces, stands and telly) as each of these greats weaved their various forms of magic. A privilege indeed, making for a veritable catalogue of classic moments in time and the essences of a proud history for a small club who might otherwise have been consigned to lower league football. Yet to my mind there have been none greater than our current gaffer, Neil Warnock, a man-manager whose speciality is in forging successful teams on shoestring budgets. Could there be a better man to manage the conflicting interests that is currently QPR? I very much doubt it. Thereâs been a lot of talk lately about him possibly moving on. Dread the thought, as Northolt said the other day, heâs our only asset atm, but before anything goes awry I just thought itâs time to count our blessings. Itâs often said that Warnockâs not everyoneâs cup of tea, a view he readily acknowledges with a smile on his face. Personally, I wonder if this says a bit more about the basic qualifications for the job than it does about the man himself, although he has had his moments in the past hasnât he? Having said that, any manager worth their salts knows that you have to ruffle a few feathers to get peopleâs attention - and our guyâs certainly not averse to that when needs must. I know from admissions made on this board that Warnockâs appointment was not universally popular. After the manager merry-go-round we were in the midst of, there were those for and those against. I was in the âforâ camp on this one. Neil Warnock was in my view the first decent manager weâd looked at since Ollie. From that moment I really believed our club might be going somewhere good and for once I was right - kind of⦠The fact that within a year or so he was able to take a team from a nosedive towards the third tier to promotion as champions into the Premiership says it all, or certainly much of it. The fact that he was able to do so on minimal investment from the board and with a possible 15 point deduction from the FA case hanging over his head, further enhances his achievement. But it isnât those amazing feats of management that has for me made him a living QPR legend, itâs been his performance in the couple or three months since. At first with board, team and fans all riding the crest of the Championship wave as one, the job must have looked fairly straight forward to him. He acknowledged it as having to create two teams: one to get us out of the Championship, the other to keep us in the Premiership. However, in that short time heâs had to deal with all sorts of nonsense going on around him. Things that have led to many of us on here becoming distraught and/or depressed over the irrationality of it all. Itâs all been so well documented that it pains me to have to list the main obstacles Neilâs had and is still having to face: ticket price hikes; the subsequent resignation of boardroom ally Amit Bhatia; fans offside; board changes and speculation about more to come; billionaires who donât want to invest in further success; and having to dig around the bottom of the barrel in search of a few scraps of Premier League potential. All of this and having to work alongside Flavio Briatore, an omnipotent anti-Midas, apparently blissfully unaware that everything he touches turns to ****. Briatoreâs presence alone forces Warnock to ride the line of premier league survival on a pushbike with a buckled front wheel. Quite how much material information the managerâs been made privy to at any one time is not clear. Certainly itâs not everything, a couple of advanced transfer deals going sour for lack of funds immediately springs to mind. Warnock has intimated the left and right hands around LR havenât been clapping too well these days. It must be the most trying of times for an ambitious 62 year old champion, looking over the fence into the promised land and seeing the gate firmly bolted with a QPR tamper tag attached to it. Irony of ironies for the Rangers faithful. Yet for a man caught between a rock and a hard place, Neil Warnock has been the single glimmer of hope for fans emerging from a long, dark tunnel of despair. Throughout all the turmoil, heâs managed to keep his personal disappointments to himself and continues to read and deliver the changing party lines with aplomb. A lesson perhaps to the likes of former rivals Dave Jones and Billy Davies⦠Warnock interviews extremely well for a Brit (the Yanks are so good at this) and unscripted, all the right stuff rolls straight off the tongue, rarely a word out of place and without a hint of decent. How heâs managed to resist the obvious temptation to walk and remain (publicly at least) so optimistic is quite literally beyond me. âColinâ, he certainly ainât! I have no idea what makes a such passionate but highly professional man tick but what I do know is that when Neil Warnock finally closes the door on his way out, weâre gonna feel it like nothing thatâs befallen us in living QPR memory. Hereâs hoping that doesnât happen anytime soon; but when it does, no doubt after a string of premier league defeats, hereâs hoping we all remember and appreciate precisely what Neil was up against in leading the QPR horse to water⦠What I for one will remember most fondly is that quote that finds itâs way into almost everything he says in those quiet Sheffield tones of his: âJUST ENJOY IT!â. Iâm trying Neil, believe me Iâm trying but it takes a man for all seasons to smile through feast and famine. Please raise your glasses whilst we still can, to Neil Warnock, a living QPR legend. So what do you think... is this tribute justified or maybe in your opinion a bit OTT?
"Can you name a successful team who had a bad manager? I can’t. " ==================================================== Avram Grant nearly won the Champions league!
Any of you guys remember the awful match at Ipswich before Warnock took over? Spineless, gutless surrender monkeys. To turn that shyte into a Championship winning team the next season says it all. Yes, we'll enjoy Warnock's management style as long as he's with us , hopefully he'll outlast the Goons and get his just reward.
OTT big time!!! Managers come and go in all walks of life, Warnock is no exception! He's a Championship Manager until he proves himself at the top table, then he will deserve all the accolades, for Warnock this is the Last Chance Saloon, that's why he wont walk the plank, until he's pushed!
Brixton R! got it in one pal! well said and in full agreement. Yes, lets enjoy it? but what?? If he go`s then we are stuffed!!
You know that Northy, Curbs? not good really mate Don't get me wrong Warnock did deliver and as an R's fan of 40yrs I'm over the moon we're back where we belong! now it's time for Warnock to show us his metal and prove himself. Forget about the goons, their businessman not football fans like me and you, and countless others. so let's look forward to the Premiership campaign and keep our fingers crossed we survive, which we will
Brian Robson somehow holds the record as the only manager to keep a team (WBA) up that were bottom at xmas. Half of me honestly wants Warnock to quit, just to show up those crooks destroying the Club. The other half wants him to stay and do the un-doable: Keep Rangers up on a shoestring. I'm with Eddie also. COLIN's spent one relegation year in the Prem in his whole career. Hardly a success amongst top managers?
Brixton im with you all the way on this he is a fantastic manager, who cares what anyone else thinks i think when he leaves & if the 2 muppets are still here we could go backwards god forbid.
It'd be good to have your opinion re. Neil Warnock first Ciarrai... then what about Gerry Francis? At the time I thought we were pretty good with him as manager but his figures didn't compare that well with those mentioned. Was careful to cover my arse with the word 'included' though. Still I've given my opinions and was really looking forward to other people's.
Would you class WBA as a successful team Swords? Agree that Bryan Robson has no pedigree as a manager. Did he take WBA up at any stage? Can't remember. Great player and captain though.
I do remember the season we were relegated when I think Wilkins took over from Francis towards the end. I was near enough to Wilkins at one game which we were losing. He was smiling like a Chelsea cat. Couldn't believe it. That image has endured ingrained in the nether regions of my mind.
Warnock has done an exceptional job turning a team rapidly heading for the bottom three into table-toppers in such a short period of time. Shame that he is not getting the backing that he deserves for our shot at the Premiership. I am a big fan of Gerry Francis as player and manager. I thought he did an excellent job with us during his first spell and the club was in a mess for his second spell and I would not attach any blame to him during this time.
When you look at it we have been blessed. I don’t remember Alec Stock and so can’t really comment, but I have not ever heard anything detrimental about him. Gordon Jago MBE was magnificent. It was basically his team that Dave Sexton nearly won the league with. His team building was unrivalled in my opinion. My understanding is that he benefited from the youth structure put in place by Stock. Sexton, while a great manager, inherited Jago’s team, but was able to push them on to almost achieving the improbable. Venables again built a great team, that played some great football. A cup final, promotion and than a top 5 finish was a tremendous effort. Jim Smith is possibly the most underrated of these managers. He kept us very securely in the top flight. As you know Brixton, I am a massive fan of Ian Holloway. He performed a miracle in arresting our decline on absolutely zero resources, and he gave us back pride in our team when we were on the verge of total collapse. He may have not been the best tactically, but he could spot players that would give there all for the club. As for Mr Warnock, he has access to resources that Ollie could only dream about. We may all complain about the lack of funds etc.. but this time last year he did manage to spend a few quid on both transfers and wages. However he did completely turn around the fortunes of the club, as he was doing at Palace until they slipped into administration. I think that Warnock will get my vote by a short head because he recognised the value of Taarabt in the Championship and developed a style of play to get the best out of him. This style of play would have been completely against his grain, but he was able to envisage the formation and sign players, such as Shaun Derry, Jamie Mackie and Tommy Smith to allow Taarabt the freedom to dominate the league. By the way Brixton, have you ever thought of posting a short message?
