Why it's become harder to like the not-so-Super Hoops June 28, 2011 UNLESS you are a Chelsea fan, it is hard not to have a soft spot for Queens Park Rangers. Or at least, it was. In what should be a summer of celebration as they return to the top flight, something is not right at Loftus Road. Quite a few things, actually. Up and down... Manager Neil Warnock (left) and player Alejandro Faurlin (right) Up and down... Manager Neil Warnock (left) and player Alejandro Faurlin (right) When I was growing up, QPR went from plucky FA Cup Finalists to Premier League respectability. They were part of the landscape. Sure, they annoyed everyone with their plastic pitch, but they had decent players, an attractive style and a certain, slightly down-at-heel, West London charm. I can remember watching them demolished by Manchester United's Andrei Kanchelskis and later snatching a deserved draw with Chelsea. Invited by a Super Hoops-supporting mate both times, the atmosphere standing in the West Paddock at pitch level was great. It felt like proper football. That was the first season of the Premier League and a lot has changed since then, only some of it for the better. When I first started working as a football reporter in 2000, there was still something homely and decent about a trip to Twyford Avenue in West Acton to chat to Gerry Francis or Kevin Gallen. The ongoing uncertainty about the future of Neil Warnock tells you everything you need to know about the current regime Tony the Tailor, who was there every week with his rail of clothes for the players to try on, ended up making suits for my wedding. But as Rangers gear up for their first season in the Premier League since 1996, they seem to epitomise a lot of what is wrong with the game - only without the trophies to go with it. A poor man's - or should that be an even richer men's? - Manchester City. Billionaires with little understanding of football squabbling over who is going to own the club? Check (or cheque). Bizarre off-the-field shenanigans? Buenos dias, Alejandro Faurlin. Massive ticket price hikes? Welcome to the recession-proof industry of football. The ongoing uncertainty about the future of Neil Warnock tells you everything you need to know about the current regime. We don't just make these stories up, you know. Despite bringing QPR back to the promised land, Warnock's job is far from safe. He is not everyone's cup of tea. But you cannot argue with his record of getting teams promoted and the least he deserves is a chance to keep them up. Can Flavio Briatore honestly say that another manager could do a better job with the players Warnock is likely to have at the start of the season? QPR's chances of attracting better footballers have hardly been enhanced by the row over promotion bonuses which has only just been resolved. The billionaires' blueprint for Rangers - "boutique football" is the irritating phrase Briatore once used - seems to be to squeeze everyone for every penny they possibly can while clinging on to Premier League status. That's business, you may say. And no one wants another Portsmouth, a club loaded with decent players they could not afford to pay. But no one wants a club that has lost its soul and dignity either. http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/notw/nol....uper-Hoops.html
I didn't know you could give your own thread 5stars( surely a design fault?) But I agree with all of that, at the mo we support a tawdry little club.
"...lost its soul and dignity..." - the fans are the soul of the club and that's not lost but - dignity, yes, for as long as the Goons hang on...
Agree with Goldhawk - The fans still have their souls and dignity intact. There is no soul or dignity with the unholy trinity.
Football will eat itself Northy you know that. Anyway its 'our' club and always will be. It is defined by us the fanbase and not Flav's ego. I don't see it as tawdry its just part of being blessed / cursed by being born a Rangers fan. On reflection I prefer the term 'shambolic'...there is a certain self induced chaos that I actually quite like. Support the Arsenal? Boring.
Taw·dry/ˈtôdrē/ Adjective: Showy but cheap and of poor quality: =============================== I'll let everyone decide for themselves, seems to fit ok for me, sad to say.
I think this guy is definitely a brick short of a full load, biggest load of dribble I've ever read, in fact Bollocks comes to mind... I love QPR its in the blood, cut my veins and blue 'n white hoops will pour from the wound!!!!! there will never be a day that I fall out of love with the R's Never!!
newsoftheworld.co.uk? sister paper of the Sun no less!! Only surprised that twat Custis didn't write it.
Why do you, the ultra-realist conscience of our board, say this Swords? As I read it, this article is the view of a self-confessed outsider (i.e. non-Rs fan) who says that outsiders tend to have a soft spot for the superhoops, as he calls us, but that the know-nothing billionaires are ripping the soul and dignity out of an otherwise charismatic little club. The author's saying that reduces the appeal for people like him. Most of us on here spend day after day deploring these cynical, tight-arsed billionaires who dare to treat our club like a financial play-thing. The author's not talking about the fans nor questioning our soul and dignity - just the effect on the club's image.
That is exactly my point, all this crap written about my hoops is just that, Crap! we have had many owners over the years and still the R's remain! Chris Wright loved QPR and lost £100,000 every week out his own pocket funding his love of the club! when the guy lost Millions he was forced to call it a day, and it broke his heart...Can you see the Monkeys doing that, not a chance in hell!.......I rest my case Northolt...
your up late Northolt, I've just been watching the dogs at oxford on sky! what point have I missed mate? don't like silly reporters slagging of my club or even trying to make out there's a bigger problem than there is...yes I agree over the years we have been some what of a laughing stock to all and sundry, but what the heck we're Qpr...so forgive me mate if I've not given you what you require, maybe I can't? all I know is my heart is with the R's and when my R's are slagged, I get defensive. At the end of the day Northolt we all should be batting off the same wicket, agreed?
