QPR boss Harry Redknapp faced an angry backlash from players after bungling Sheffield Wednesday travel plan Redknapp is facing growing opposition from inside QPR amid criticism of the team’s preparations for last Tuesday’s 3-0 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday, according to sources. Club insiders say the Rangers boss suffered a player backlash after making the unusual decision to allow his men the option of either travelling to Sheffield by team bus on Monday or of heading up by train on the morning of the match. Richard Dunne and Bobby Zamora are understood to be among players who travelled separately from the rest of the team The issue is believed to have come to a head in the dressing room at Hillsborough when players reacted to Redknapp’s post-match criticism by voicing anger at what they saw as poor travel arrangements and preparation for the game. Redknapp’s grip on power has become increasingly tenuous since Sunday Mirror Sport revealed a fortnight ago that he will leave Loftus Road by mutual consent this summer if the club fail to win promotion to the Premier League. The 67-year-old travelled to Sheffield by train on the morning of the match with the majority of his team – although around six of them, including Richard Dunne and Bobby Zamora, had gone by up coach the previous day. The rest of the players met either at the club’s Harlington training ground on Tuesday morning or at St Pancras station for the train journey. Club insiders say that when Redknapp ripped into them after the defeat, he received an angry response from some players. Owner Tony Fernandes is determined not to sack Redknapp before the end of the season, despite a sharp slump in form which has seen their automatic promotion hopes vanish. But other directors are believed to have advised him to remove Redknapp sooner rather than later. QPR recently announced losses of £64.5million for last season’s Premier League relegation campaign. Under fair-play rules, they could face a huge fine if promoted back to the top flight or a transfer embargo should they remain in the Football League. Many Rangers players are believed to be unimpressed by training sessions since the departure of first-team coach Steve McClaren. Joey Barton and Clint Hill had a heated exchange after Richard Dunne’s sending-off, although the two players insist there is no ill-feeling. QPR chief executive Phil Beard admitted on Twitter that the performanace at Wednesday had been ‘simply not good enough’ and apologised to the club’s travelling fans. “The players were given the option of travelling up the night before or on the morning of the game,” said Redknapp after yesterday’s 3-1 win at Middlesbrough. “The club doctor and physio said it was important that some of them who have had injury problems, such as Junior Hoilett, Bobby Zamora and Richard Dunne, travel up the night before. “They were keen to do that anyway, and the team coach was laid on to take them up.”
I don't know Nines but if it is true, it mightn't be a bad thing a'tall. A bit of a row sometimes can liven things up in squads and it'd show there's still a bit of passion about the place. Storm in a teacup really.
A hint of truth for me. The likes of Hill and Barton must be totally pissed off by Redknapp's mismanagement.
I hope it brings the players together, quite often teams don't like their managers so it may not effect this season. TF should tell the players he can afford to sack Redknapp if we go up, that should sort out the motivation! I'm pretty sure my mate travelled on the team bus today so I'll ask him about this.
We've played like a team devoid of any spirit all season, things like this would go a long way to explaining it.
last year they were not eating together now they are not travelling together as long as they play together does it all really matter they would all be on the bus or train or plane with headphones on listening to music anyway
Sounds like bollocks. They're really "reaching" by mentioning the joey/clint thing, that was clearly the captain stopping his player moaning at the ref (joey said as much on twitter).
The moment he said this I smelled bullsh*t: "Many Rangers players are believed to be unimpressed by training sessions since the departure of first-team coach Steve McClaren" They along with Flyer, Stroller etc can try and derail our season all they want but they won't do it. We're in the promotion hunt and we can still do it.
There's clearly something not right. Yesterday's result is just papering over the cracks, we could have conceded just before we scored in injury time and there would have been a very different complexion on things. Regardless of what happens between now and the end of the season there will need to be wholesale changes made to both players and management before we can move forward. If by chance this lot actually got us up I dread to think what our fate would be next season especially if Harry stays...
Noticeable that those who are dead against Redknapp believe the story (or desperately want to believe the story) whilst a lot say "Bullshit". Thoughts about all this **** in the papers (and most, not all, of it is ****) depends more what you want to believe than what is actually true.
The season has already been derailed, Swords. We should have won this league, but we are going to scrape into the play-offs instead. Of course we can still do it, and with Austin and Simpson coming back we might just get the lift that we need, but I would be surprised if there was not dissatisfaction with Redknapp among the senior players.
Of course they're dissatisfied. They are pushing uphill now to the 'Mecca' of football, the EPL. The road to weekly stardom on TV and in the press, ego building to a ridiculous level and frantic tweeting and selfies that top footballers need to promote themselves.
I'm afraid I disagree there. If we do go up it will have been a fantastic season, doing what only around a quarter of teams manage to do - bounce right back up following relegation. There will be wholesale changes of players regardless because their contracts will be up but if we do manage to go up, I can't think of a better man to be in charge back in the Prem than our 'Arry. That's just madcap stuff mate. How many relegated teams win the Championship the following season? I'd say its between 10 and 15%, yet you're telling me we should have won the league? Why should we have won it? Leicester were perfectly set up to win it, having been able to build in this division for a number of seasons. Can you not remember the state of our squad at the end of last season? It was rotten to the core mate. Far from walking this league, I genuinely thought we might go down again like Wolves last season. The amount of overpaid charlatans at this Club was incredible and I think Redknapp did a good job in getting rid of a lot of them. I don't mean no offence by this, Stroller mate, but I know exactly the type of supporter I'm dealing with when it comes to you. You're one of those guys that just wants to be entertained and to hell with winning. As long as we're stroking the ball about nicely and doing some nice moves, it would matter not if we were as soft as putty everywhere else. I watched with amazement when some fellas were waxing lyrical about Luigi De Canio a couple of weeks back. He was so great, we managed to lose 4-3 and 3-2 instead of getting nil-nils and 1-0 wins. Ah but so what, he played nice football right? Sorry for laying it on a bit strong there Strolls but I had to get that off my chest.
I think most of us feared we would be also-rans this season, however, that was confounded by our great start but, as anyone who had to sit through 90 minutes at a time of that dross, we were exceptionally lucky to have 26 points from our first ten games. There has been no exceptional improvement since and our form is distinctly mid-table. What annoys most who see us week-in week-out is the lack of creativity and a toothless strike-force that just seem to go through the motions. Results elsewhere have gone our way recently and it looks like we'll make the play-offs but nothing I've seen from our games against others in the top eight gives me any confidence we'll make it. We need more of the early-season luck to go up but the opposition is much stronger. If Harry is so great why have we been so totally awful for so many games this season? He'll just spend silly money again and we'll be back to square one...
It doesn't matter what kind of dross is on show in this league. Its not about entertainment in our current situation IMO. This is the Championsh*t we've dropped into and its about getting back out of it at all costs. To hell with the football on show. Its results that count and we're still very much in this race. I also don't agree with the "lucky" argument. You can't be lucky over a whole season. We're joint 3rd in the league because we deserve to be. We were relying on Austin up until he and others got injured and that's why our form has gone down since. But our current form is still not bad. Just take our last 5 games for example. If we were looking to win at home and draw away, we'd have been very happy with 7 points. Instead we got 9. Hopefully we'll keep ticking over nicely until the 46 are up and Austin and one or two others are back in and give the team some zest so we can make one final push. Redkapp's experience will be invaluable in the Playoffs. We'll be a right handful. Joint 3rd in the league mate. Joint 3rd in the league. That ain't awful in my book. In fact its pretty damn good. The way we've gotten there is immaterial. In a way the shi*tier the performances the better. That's what this league is all about. Wearing teams down with sh*t football. If we get up this year, then we can look to playing a more expansive style but until then we're doing it the correct way. Think about it. Everyone was slating Redknapp early doors because we was grinding out 1-nil's every week. But why were we getting those results? Because he knew how to get them. Pack the midfield and put all the work on Austin. People were crying out for 4-4-2's and all sorts every week but when Redknapp was forced to play that system, they quickly realised that our midfield couldn't cope and Harry had been right all along. Starting the season with only one half-fit striker was a criminal oversight, I'll give you that. But that aside I think he's done alright, the Manager. He won't be allowed spend silly money if we go up. I'm sure Fernandes has learned his lesson at this stage and if he hasn't then he should just pack it in. What's the alternative? Bring in a young Manager and give him two and a half months to build a squad capable of competing in the Premier League from scratch? That's suicide mate. No Sir, if we do go up then Harry'll have earned the right to keep us there.
