The Class of 2010/11

Adel Taarabt and Shaun Derry leaving Loftus Road on loan deals recently set me thinking about the breakup of Neil Warnock’s promotion winning team. Hard as it is to believe, only 3 years have passed since that team embarked on their astonishing run of nineteen unbeaten matches at the start of the 2010/11 season, a run which laid a very solid foundation for our promotion to the Premier League. A team made up of journeymen professionals and hard working enthusiasts built around the brilliance of Adel Taarabt and Alejandro Faurlin, a team whose sum was very much greater than the total of its components.

Warnock always said that he saw the need to build two teams at Q.P.R., the first to win promotion and a second to compete at the higher level, but, in the opinion of many, this team was broken up with indecent haste after achieving their sole objective. We will never know how this team would have fared in the Premier League, whether their team spirit would have helped them bridge the gulf in class between the two divisions or whether we would have been consigned to watching defeat after defeat, but one this is for certain, we would not be accusing them of a lack of effort.

The fate of these players gives a good indication as to the perceived acceptance of their ability.

The first team:

Paddy Kenny – Goalkeeper- 44 games in the 2010/11 season: After a mixed season in the Premier League where he was clearly hampered by injury he returned to the Championship reuniting with Neil Warnock at Leeds United.

Bradley Orr – Right Back – 29 matches, plus 4 as sub, 1 goal: Barely figured in the Premier League, sold to Blackburn Rovers in January 2012, in turn loaned to Ipswich in November that year. Now on loan at Blackpool

Clint Hill – Left Back – 44 matches, 2 goals: Initially sent on Loan to Nottingham Forest but returned to play a prominent role at Q.P.R. in the centre of defence. Has so far fought of all comers to retain a place in the team but now faces yet another battle.

Kaspars Gorkss – Centre Back – 42 matches, 3 goals; Sold to Reading in August 2011 where he won the Championship again. Loaned to Wolves in February 2013 where he suffered the ignominy of relegation to League 1. Currently not in the starting 11 for Reading.

Matt Connolly – Centre Back – 33 matches, plus 3 as sub. Loaned to Reading in January 2012 where he won the Championship, then sold to Cardiff in August 2012 where he won the Championship for the third successive season. He is in their 25 man squad for this Premier League season.

Shaun Derry – Holding Midfielder – 45 matches: He has been in and out of the Q.P.R. team ever since and has just extended his original month long loan spell at Millwall until January. I doubt he will be back.

Alejandro Faurlin – Holding Midfielder – 40 matches, 3 goals: Featured prominently in Q.P.R.’s first season in the Premier League before suffering a serious injury in the F.A. Cup. Rushed back into the team by Mark Hughes only to struggle under the ridiculous work load expected of him. Loaned to Palermo by Redknapp in January 2013 but would now seem to be backup to the preferred first team.

Tommy Smith – Attacking Midfielder – 23 matches plus 10 as sub, 6 goals: Rarely played in the Premier league although had the distinction of scoring our first goal back in the top flight, sold to Cardiff in August 2012 where he won the Championship again, and has been included in their 25 man Premier League squad for this season

Jamie Mackie – Attacking Midfielder – 25 matches, 9 goals: Suffered a broken leg in the F.A. Cup during the 2010/11 season, constantly fought his way back into the team in the Premier League until being overlooked in favour of players without his work ethic finally became too much, sold to Nottingham Forest in July 2013 where he is a first team regular.

Adel Taarabt – Attacking midfielder – 43 matches plus 1 as sub, 19 goals: In and out the team in the Premier League, showed enough of the brilliance we all know his is capable of to entice Fulham to sign him on loan for the 2013/14 season.

Heider Helguson – Striker – 32 matches plus 2 as sub, 13 goals: Showed he was easily good enough for the Premier league until he got injured. Sold to Cardiff in August 2012 where he won the Championship again before retiring to his native Iceland.

Replacements:

Fitz Hall – Central Defender – 19 matches plus 9 as sub, 1 goal: Despite starting the 2010/11 season as captain he generally only played when either Gorkss or Connolly was injured. Rarely played in the Premier League, sold to Watford in July 2012.

Kyle Walker – Right Back – 20 matches: Signed when Orr was injured, spent the second half of that season on loan at Aston Villa, now a regular starter to Spurs and an England International.

Hogan Ephraim – Attacking Midfielder – 19 matches plus 9 as sub, 3 goals – Kept Tommy Smith out of the team at the beginning of the season, rarely played in the Premier League, has had loans spells at Charlton (November 2011), Bristol city (March 2012) and Toronto (February 2013)

Wayne Routledge – Attacking midfielder – 20 matches, 5 goals: signed on loan from Newcastle to replace the injured Mackie. Signed permanently for Swansea in August 2011.

Akos Buszaky – Attacking Midfielder – 9 matches plus 10 as sub: Occasionally played in the Premier League but failed to agree a new contract at the end of the 2011/12 season. Signed for Portsmouth in October 2012, loaned out to Barnsley before leaving Portsmouth in January 2013. Now back in Hungary.

Rob Hulse – Striker- 12 matches plus 9 as sub, 2 goals – Somehow managed to start 1 Premier League match before going on loan to Charlton in October 2012 and Millwall in January 2013. Currently unattached.

Even a quick glance down that list of players, and excluding loanees Routledge and Walker, shows that only Taarabt, Connolly and Smith are now in the Premier League, while the rest have, at best, returned to The Championship. This strongly indicates that this is their correct level, but there are still many among us who would argue that this team could have survived in The Premier League, that their team spirit would have more than made up for any lack of quality, that their character would have overcome technical deficiencies. They would also remind us that these players, with only the addition of the very unexceptional Danny Gabbidon, won at Goodison Park at the start of the 2011/12 season.

Personally I don’t think so. I think that the overall lack of quality would have resulted in an immediate return to the Championship, that their team spirit, graft and determination would not have been sufficient to compete at the higher level and would have been cruelly exposed as being a division too high. Furthermore I think it shows what a fantastic job Neil Warnock did in winning promotion with this inexpensively assembled team of Championship specialists especially considering the circumstances he was working under.

While I will remember this team with a great deal more affection than any of the parasites that replaced them, can anyone convince me that they actually could have survived in the Premier League?

 

Good write Roller!

I don't know whether that team would have survived a season in the PL, with a bit of luck they may have done. But I think that team with Colin staying as Manager, and augmented by just the few decent signings Warnock wanted to make the summer after the promotion, but was prevented from buying by the old Board, would probably have stayed up. Same if he hadn't been sacked but been able to bring in a few more in January of that first PL season. I think Colin would have changed the team more gradually than Hughes did so drastiacally and unsuccessfully the next summer, given a better opportunity than he got the week before the PL season started, basically to maintain the core and spirit of the Promotion team, and gently supplement it to meet PL standards - the way to go I think. Hopefully Harry will have the chance to do just this next summer!

 

That team would of been relegated, no doubt but they would of been more exciting to watch then that shower of **** we had to watch last year!

 

Im a great believer in Neil Warnock, if he had been given the funds in the summer he would have added some quality and experience to the championship winning squad, given that i feel they would have stayed up and built on that success but we will never know.

 

Good read Roller, I kept on expecting to run up against the link to your blog.

The 'where are they now' file is a strong indicator that we had a team strong on spirit, low on class and with precious little youth, Adel and at a stretch Faurlin being it. Promotion was a magnificent achievement with this lot, and certainly not expected at the time by me. Almost the opposite this year, which does not augur well!

 

Needed a rebuild. Those players will always be fondly remembered for the characters as much as their ability, GM pros next you'll see.

 

Only just had a chance to read this. Great article!

As Norwich and Swansea have proved, we needed a gradual evolution of the promotion squad not the desperate revolution that was forced upon us by the antics of Briatori and Ecclestone. Warnock needs to take his share of responsibility for the panic buys that were eventually made but there are many who would have done the same. That set the tone for the convulsions of unthinking transfer market activity that followed, each digging the hole a little deeper.

The fact that Derry and Hill were probably our most consistent players during our two disastrous years in the PL tells you all you need to know about where it went wrong.

 

I think the first mistake we made with that team was not signing Routledge on a permanent deal.

I thought he was brilliant for us the second half of that season.

He has proven since with Swansea what a brilliant player he is.

How I wish we had kept him.

 

top read again chief. shame about buzz. I didnt know he'd gone back to Hungary. he was never the same after his incident with magilton.

 

Wherever they might be now, the players that won promotion actually contributed to our survival in the first PL season.

Without the goals of Smith, HH, Mackie, and Buzz (also Faurlin and DJ) we would have been relegated - the same can't be said of their replacements.

The fact is that it wasn't NW's side that got us relegated but the so-called better class of players brought in under MH. Just illustrates that the wholesale replacement of that team was mistake, despite the fact that most of those players ended back up in Ch.