Peering into next season.

I've spent some of my morning archiving old QPR highlights and watching some as I go.

There was a season of despair in the PL 2012/13 when Loic Remy was our top scorer with just 6 goals!!

The amazing wins of our last promotion season of 2013/14 when Charlie was our top scorer with 18 goals and the incredible elation of the Wigan semi's and the unimaginable ecstasy of Wembley in May 2014. 'Oh Bobby Zamora' - QPR legend!!

Having started the season with mutterings fluctuating from consolidation to promotion push, we've finished comfortably and boringly mid-table.

The signs are that our Board have indeed learnt the lessons of extravagant wastefulness but I just wonder how many chances QPR will get? Are we going to do a West Brom and yo-yo for a bit and then consolidate as a PL team or have we blown our chances?

One thing is for certain. Any promotion push has to be supported by a 20+ goal striker which I don't think we have at present.

Remember the Superman movie when he gives away his powers to be with Lois then finds the green crystal that restores them? Do we still have a crystal to find or did we squander it in 2014/15?

 

Will never forget that day at Wembley, saw a car for sale recently with my initials and OBZ as the number plate- I was tempted to buy it but wife wouldn't have it!
I think we will have average season again next year, flirting with playoffs but no where near the bottom.
You never know with QPR though!

 

I think it will be interesting with promotion challenge.
Reason for this is JFH. Brought in at probably the right time, and has had an opportunity to see exactly what personal he has, and has worked out who can fit into his methods and ideas. There will be a few coming in and a few going out, and I think that his knowledge in the lower leagues with players will be a huge benefit. Buy cheaper players, hungrier players and those that want the opportunity to have a football career rather than pick the journeyman out for his last pay check. It may not always work out, the young striker who left recently had a year to prove himself - I was hoping he would turn into a new SLF but he didn't and that's life. We have purchased Matt Ingram from Wycombe, and with him and Smithies competing for goalkeeper things could look bright. Grant Hall and Robinson, not exactly household names - but if we can give these youngsters a chance to prove themselves then surely we could have a team of hungry opportunists who know that by performing well for us, and helping QPR return to the premiership, they can also further their own ambitions whether that be playing for a Man U / Arsenal etc or their own country.
Always the optimist and top 6 for next year
coyrs

 

Probably blown it, and deservedly so. Glimmer of hope is JFH who can build a gritty, determined team for the championship. But we will never have the quality to survive in the PL in the unlikely event we scrape through. Mid table, for years to come most likely.

Sorry.

 

Hard to not see the three coming down challenging for the top 6, going to be tougher to go up next year! Long term if we want to stay as a top flight team I can't see it unless we build our fan base which won't happen until we get a new bigger and better stadium!

 

I believe we will be stuck in this league for the foreseeable future I'm afraid. There is no way we will be challenging the play off spots. We have diluted the quality of our squad by selling or loaning out our best players. Unless we produce a great set of youngsters, we will not have the finances to buy in the quality required to go up. The chances of us producing some quality youngsters is very slim based on what we have produced in the last 20 years.

 

Team
Agree with most comments in that i cannot see us challenging unless we import some real quality. Work rate/commitment will only get you so far (Mackie is a good example). We need to get rid of the dead wood and also the players that are not up to it. I must say what really surprised me is lack of game time Washington is getting. £3M for no goals = Mike Sheron with one leg. It's okay saying he will be good but for a striker not to score for this long is a concern.
I don't want Ned as captain because he is not a leader. Why he gets called 'Chief' is a mystery. I would call him 'Chump'. He has the concentration of a goldfish. Sorry, i am not being nasty but he switches off more than my TV! We need to get rid and have a Clint Hill type (God i wish Clint was 5 years younger).
Stadium
We need to sort out the stadium, however, i cannot see this happening for some time. Once again i am afraid we are being left behind when we should be moving forward. Since TF has been here he promised a new training ground and Stadium and to date no confirmation has materialized.
Even Liverpool and ManCity have managed to expand and other clubs are building (Brentford/Spurs), all we get is that it 'takes time'.
TF has been with us 5 years in August and i remember back then him saying we need a new stadium within 5 years! Well guess what? Lee Hoos has basically just said the same that it 'takes time', so don't expect a new stadium within 10 years, however, to appease the fans a new badge will be launched soon and if anyone asks questions about a new stadium? The shirts will change back to hoops and if that fails the lower loft will revert back to how it used to be. Remember they still have the fence between Q & R block if they run out of excuses?

So basically after all that i reckon 8-10th position.

 

Very difficult to know what sort of squad we will have for next season now. But if we can keep our best players, JFH's core of the curtent team, and bring in a 20 goal a season striker as the OP says, a good solid CB, a decent RB, and a young version of Ale, we'd have as good a shout for promotion as any. 3 bigish Club's are coming down, but then 3 will have gone the other way.

 

We are where we are realistically for a club of our size and fanbase..maybe even above where we should be.... 15000 homes fans and average 800-1000 away... I see the championship our home for next ten years or so!

 

I think Bournemouth have proved that is less relevant now. I think we will be play off contenders next season. All the ones saying no chance have not been watching the same level of opponent as me. Very average this league.

 

Surely all teams that are promoted to the premier league don't have "the quality to survive"?
When teams get promoted they have to strengthen and we'd be the same.
Obviously our current side isn't good enough to get promoted but who knows what will happen with the squad before the start of next season?
Imo it's impossible to predict anything till then.

 

I don't think you can really class Bournemouth as an established premier league team yet!

 

That isn't the point I'm making. The main revenue stream is TV money these days. In a way that levels the playing field a bit.

 

I think it's pretty easy to predict that any strengthening in the summer will be financed by sales and I honestly don't see where the value is in the players we want to sell - honestly how much would you pay for Phillips, Sandro, Fer, Caulker? So we will hopefully unearth a couple of stars from lower leagues here and in Europe, and build a competitive championship team. Then if we we are somehow promoted I simply cannot see Fernandes et al gambling again by spending a lot to strengthen, so we would be using largely the same squad. The best we could hope for is a Burnley situation, perform with dignity, bank the PL riches and bounce back up. Not so bad, but there is a long way to go before we become serious promotion challengers in my opinion.

 

Bournemouth brought in 19 players in the last 2 windows, spending over £40m. Of course they are utterly dependent on surviving in the PL, they can't make any money with their facilities outside of TV. Good luck to them, they gambled and, at least this year, have won. We tried the same, and lost catastrophically.

Agree the Championship I'd poor quality, but it is very competitive and goes on for ****ing ever. And we have been just as average as the most average team in it this season, all down to Jimmy and the pre season to see if we can change enough to make a difference over 46 games. Plenty of other clubs in exactly the same boat.

 

I disagree with your point about the owners not spending if we were promoted.
With the amount of TV money in the premier league they would spend alright.

 

Next season will depend on how well we buy. I think JFH will work out but needs some support from the board. I agree with the OP that we need another striker, with Polter and Washington as support. Defensively we are showing promise, creatively we have a distance to go.

 

The amount of TV money available is enormous, but still a fraction of what they have wasted on this club already, with no hope of getting it back. But you might be right, all the evidence is that are are none too bright when it comes to football.

 

If promoted...I think we would spend, but not in the same waay as before. Younger hungrier players who want to make their name in the premiership, not old ones looking for a last cheque.
I would be optimistic