Take yourself back to the beginning of our 2011/2012 campaign, the first in the top flight since the 90s. So much excitement having been promoted, with a good team who completely dominated the championship. Things getting nervous because Warnock isn't getting a whiff of transfer money. No famous, proven players, a manager who previously hadn't had the best times in the league but whom we all feel has been a great man manager for us, gelling the team together. Plastered by Bolton on the opening day but a cheeky away win in our second game against Everton (with a great bit of teamwork between our championship heroes Buz and Smith), with the team looking like they're willing to try and learn and battle in every game. Joey Barton, Luke Young, Armand Traoré, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Anton Ferdinand not signed yet. How could things have gone if we didn't make any signings from this point on (bearing in mind we'd signed Gabbidon, Dyer, Bothroyd and DJ) and from here on kept Warnock. I know there's not much use in looking back but I really do believe we would eventually have found our feet/momentum had things stayed that way. I'm not saying we would definitely have maintained our status in the EPL that season but I think we would have enjoyed that season a lot more than we did. Our team would have been a bunch of good players who made us proud because they felt as though they were QPR. The point of this thread is to try and express that feeling of battling, knuckling down, working against the odds. This is the feeling we had at that time. We had no idea what was going to happen with transfer funds. At that time we thought "well, this is it. We make do." And I think at that time we were behind our team more than ever and the players and manager were ready for the fight. We all felt the glory of supporting a team we all love, through thick and thin. We even had the feeling that we had to do all this even against our own owners (the Italians)! To me, this is worth it's weight in gold. This is where things come together. Instead, we had the change of hands, purchase of some bigger name players, loss of balance, eventual firing of Warnock to decrease balance further, too much arrogance, too much confusion, championship players being instantly replaced in the starting 11, and much more. This was our turning point, in my opinion. Who knows how things would have panned out with the two Italians staying or if Fernandes came in but withheld funds. How would you have felt if relegation came after that season of pure battling with our beloved team in comparison to how we felt as our team of strangers were relegated with a whimper this season? This is exactly what we need to find again and I hope I've expressed it well.
Just to clarify, I know the timings around sale of club are a bit muddled there but the point is about looking at the different possibilities.
Its why we needed relegation, it would have never happened under Hughes and I dont believe it will ever happen under Redknapp. Im also certain it will never happen if Cotterill gets appointed.
I'm moving towards someone totally unconnected with the club coming in and putting down a long-term strategy to build the club from youth team upwards, it'll take the best part of a decade to bear fruit but if we continue with quick expensive 'fixes' we'll be forever playing catch-up...
This time last year, although we had missed a bullet staying up, I thought we would build on that experience, strengthening our squad, going upwards & onwards under Mark "never again" Hughes - so much anticipation throughout last summer, all that pre-season Far East hoopla, then the total deflation of that inept 0-5 display against Swansea in our home opener. Last season was a totally depressing affair, and in hindsight I wish Bolton had won that fixture against Stoke, and we were relegated, starting the necessary rebuilding process from the bottom up, without signing our current crop of highly paid wasters.
Hard to disagree with that. The only good thing is that TF is sticking to the promise that he is here for the long haul. It's interesting that even TF has now said it will be a while before we get back to the PL.
It makes you wonder how useful it is having pre-season friendlies against teams that are too easy. Isn't it better to have tough opposition to get us ready? I say we should try and get one or two friendlies against EPL teams or a couple of decent Scottish and Championship teams.
I doubt there'll be any games against Championship teams, you don't normally compete against regular opposition pre-season. It's all about fitness preparation so I guess we'll start against non-league and work our way up to League One or Two opponents, they'll be up for it against an ex-PL team...
This is an interesting question and one I’ve been mulling on for a while. If Tony Fernandes hadn’t bought the club I’m sure that we would have gone straight back down. Would Warnock have survived the season, probably not. How would I feel? Angry, with my anger aimed at the Goons. How do I feel now? Angry, with my anger aimed at Hughes and his parasites. The major difference, as you allude to, is how I feel about the team. The only players I feel any connection with are Warnock’s old soldiers, Onouha possibly being the only exception to this. A battling relegation would have still hurt, but this just feels like the biggest waste of a golden opportunity of all time.
I agree although I'm not sure we would have all liked the result. With Mittal's backing it was possible - not to say likely - that a new force in English football was about to be created in West London. A City without the Shieks. All it needed was a couple of decent seasons to lay the ground work and build the owners belief. Instead, after the embarrassing debacle of last season and the sting of agents and players, I doubt either Mittal or Fernadez will ever have the naive enthusiasm needed for such a project again. Is it what we wanted anyway? I for one would have liked to see us try.
