Reflecting on yesterday's turgid performance, my mind wandered from the players, managers, owners, etc, to very our own expectations as supporters. I then wound this back to our wilderness years - post Ian Holloway. We all respected the work done to drag the club out of the doldrums and longed for positive change. We got it! New owners. Rich ones at that. Coming in and washing away the debt, painting up the stadium and installing the big screen. A new manager with a vision - great! And positive change on the pitch. Firstly a steel core. We stayed up. Then amazingly we seemed to click and held on to the roller coaster for as long as possible achieving promotion in spite of legal challenges! But we wanted more change. The owners were suffocating and stifling ambition. We got it - they sold up to another wealthy owner. In came the marque signings to inspire us. Proven experienced players. Been there, done it. And on to the next round of change. Each time appearing to be the right choice at the right time. Each welcomed with ambition and anticipation. Mark Hughes appointment and departure, similarly Harry Redknapp and latterly Chris Ramsey - all seemed like the right changes - both incoming and outgoing - at the right time (though the timings of exits always seems too protracted). And it concludes with where we are now. We wanted to keep our most talented players. We chanted as much in May. We wanted 'no more mercenaries'. We held up a bed sheet spelling it out. Both goals were achieved. The sum total. We still desire change! So I end rather confused.... We want to see a change in fortunes on the pitch. With players that work hard and play with freedom and skill to entertain. But to achieve that we all know deep down that we need to go through a whole new round of change! Either that, or a change in our expectations. And maybe, just maybe, that might be the true root cause of the problem.
Our expectations have been moulded by those of our owners - nothing will change, except the soundbites, until Fernandes goes.
But our expectations are merely the same as Tony Fernandes'. "I hate losing" he boldly declared at Wembley. Well, we are certainly used to iot now so I guess he must be too. I doubt very much there is just one or even two root causes for our current situation. I also don't doubt that the first couple of wins under JFH will change the outlook considerably. I am prepared to be patient until then and hope that he can bring whatever magic he worked at Burton to QPR as speedily as possible.
People have to be realistic. If you look at all the league clubs most of their supporters have said "If only we had appointed someone else" or "If only we had bought so-and-so and not whats-his-name". It is rare for more than a handful of clubs to get the magic combination of board, manager and players at any one time. When it works they are all heroes and when it doesn't everybody is quick to say what should have been done in the first place. This year the magic is happening at Leicester. Ranieri is a very good manager who has taken over a very settled team and got the very best out of them. (They have been helped by the the likes of the Manchesters, Arsenal and (especially) Chelsea not playing consistent top quality football). When the magic happens it is then the job of all concerned to keep it going. The top clubs have managed this over the years because they can entice the best players/managers/coaches and have the most money to spend but, as we have seen latterly at Chelsea and Man Utd, it doesn't always work out like that. All we can hope for is that one day - whenever that may be - the magic will return to Loftus Road and hopefully we will be able to maintain it. Every supporter of every club wants exactly the same thing.
Very true. We've tried changing the manager, we've tried what feels like hundreds of players in the elusive search for the magic combo. The one constant has been the board. What to try next?
Yes indeed Stan but we changed the manager to (again) NW and we stopped shipping 2 goals a game average, started scoring and won a few. We edged towards the top 6. Then for reasons I suspect are the vanity project of Les Ferdinand who currently has the ear of the easily led Swiss Tony, we appoint a risky manager in the shape of JFH. Personally I would have stuck with the most successful manager we have employed for the past how many years; Neil Warnock. Effective management is the key here, not money, looney owners and Directors of Football. Now I sound like Ted. But with capital letters and full stops. Help.
stop it now BEFORE YOU START A ROW ive said it before TED JUST LOVES JET MORE AND MORE.... It's contagious!
I'm all for patience and getting in the right sorts etc. But for the love of God why do we keep getting such inept managers? Bottlebank was atrocious yesterday.
