please log in to view this image Ian Cooper Wednesday, March 7, 2012 11:55 AM Hoops legend says Mark Hughesâs side must conquer the âfearâ of playing in front of their own fans, if they are to avoid relegation. Les Ferdinand has more reason than most to know that no team is ever âtoo good to go downâ. It is a phrase reeled out at just about this stage of every season, usually by a manager, fan or pundit who is adamant that their club, deep in the relegation mire, has the right calibre of player to drag itself out of trouble. It is an act of defiance when the reality of results suggests that the team is indeed hurtling south at an alarming rate â yet there have been plenty of examples to disprove the theory. In 2009, Newcastle Unitedâs 16-year Premier League stay ended when they were relegated â a team containing such talent as Michael Owen, Damien Duff and Nicky Butt lost 1-0 to Aston Villa to make the drop into the Championship. Six years previously, a West Ham team parading the likes of Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, David James and Jermain Defoe approached the final weeks of the 2002-03 season locked in a struggle for survival with Bolton Wanderers. Despite not winning a home game until mid-January, the consensus was that the Hammersâ quality would ultimately be enough to keep them up. In January of that year, boss Glenn Roeder turned to former Rangers hero Ferdinand â alongside Leeds United midfielder Lee Bowyer â to boost his teamâs chances. It didnât work. Roeder was taken ill with a brain tumour, and West Hamâs season fell apart. Trevor Brooking took over, but a 2-2 draw at Birmingham City on the final day of the season sent the Hammers down. Ferdinand knows that no team has a divine right to stay up â least of all his old side QPR, whose team of internationals sits just two places above the drop zone. Mark Hughes has stopped just short of uttering those dreaded words, insisting instead: âI have every confidence in the quality of players that I have in the club now that we can [stay up].â But big names count for nothing, says Ferdinand, if they are gripped by the fear of failure. âWhen I went to West Ham everything was fine during training, but the first game I played in it was apparent that there was a real lack of confidence on the pitch,â Ferdinand tells London24.com. âIt wasnât a problem in training, it was only during the game. No-one wanted to make a mistake in front of their own supporters. There was fear in their play. âMost of those players went on to have successful careers. If you had mentioned those names at the start of the season, you wouldnât have put them in the relegation category. It was a great side. âI donât believe any team is too good to go down. If you donât apply yourself correctly in each and every game, you arenât going to win games. Names on paper donât win games. If you donât apply yourself correctly, you run the risk of being relegated, it doesnât matter who you are.â Terror clearly choked West Ham in 2003, and Ferdinand can see similar symptoms at Loftus Road this season. To beat that fear, Ferdinand says, a team needs character â and the former Rangers front-man believes that the Rs do at least have a manager with character in abundance. Ferdinand believes Hughes is the perfect man to keep them up â but only if he can get his players to perform in front of their own fans. âItâs just about having the belief to get out on the pitch and play the football that you know you can play. Home form is imperative for staying up, and QPRâs hasnât been quite right this season,â adds Ferdinand. âThe good thing is that they have brought in a number of players in January, and they might not feel the same fear as the players who have been there for most of the season. âThey are players who have come from teams who are winning games, and their job is to swing round the rest of the players who are struggling. âI know Mark Hughes, his teams, what heâs done and how heâs achieved it. Heâs got a coaching staff who will work tirelessly until the end of the season to make sure that the team donât get relegated. âItâs going to be tough. I said at the start of the season that if they finish one place above the relegation zone, that will be a good season for them. Thatâs still the case.â http://www.london24.com/sport/championship/qpr_2_5433/qpr_exclusive_ferdinand_warns_rangers_must_learn_from_west_ham_mistakes_1_1229816? Sound familiar?
