The QPR fans finally turned on their own team in earnest on Sunday as a disastrous season limped towards its conclusion with a 2-1 home defeat by Newcastle.
On a grey day in West London, the luminous blues, yellows and pinks of the most ghastly set of football boots ever warn by one of the worst QPR teams in living memory pierced the gloom. Clown shoes for a circus act.
For Rangers, 2012/13 finished many weeks ago but for their visitors on Sunday, Newcastle United, this was a crucial last chance for easy points to secure their survival and prevent them needing a result from a final day fixture against Arsenal.
QPR were lethargic and careless when there were things at stake this season and have melted into a sloppy dysfunctional mess since the inevitable demotion was confirmed. The Magpies meanwhile have suffered a collapse at just the wrong time with confidence sapping home thrashings by Liverpool and local neighbours Sunderland leaving them spent and devoid of ideas here.
The result of throwing these two rabbles together was a comedic farce. There have been four-hour, 23-a-side, shirts v skins games played in parks on summer days with more shape and quality than this. It was the footballing equivalent of two morbidly obese drunks trying to wrestle.
Jose Bosingwa filled the role of pantomime villain. A laid back approach to his football and recent history with Chelsea was never going to endear him to the Loftus Road faithful but attitude problems, refusal to sit on the substitutes bench in a game with Fulham, and then finally the unfortunate timing of a belly laugh in front of the Sky cameras seconds after Rangers' relegation had been officially confirmed at Reading has made him a pariah. His every touch was booed by a sizeable portion of the home support - almost playfully at first but with increasing venom as his performance deteriorated. By half time Harry Redknapp was in a position where he couldn't send the player out for the second half. He should never have been selected in the first place.
Bosingwa actually started the game reasonably well. A 60 yard pass to play Bobby Zamora into space down the right flank back spun perfectly like a fine golf shot but Zamora did nothing with that, or any other service he was given all afternoon - his role in the team seemed to be, essentially, little more than ballast. Later Yohan Cabaye wheeled away to celebrate after striking a firm shot from close range only to see it rebound away to safety thanks to a fine late lunge from the much maligned Portuguese full back. Within seconds of that though Bosingwa had blotted his copy book once more, foolishly grasping hold of Hatem Ben Arfa’s lively slime green away shirt and twisting it in his fist in the heart of the QPR penalty box in full view of referee Lee Probert. Ben Arfa – one of few Newcastle players with anything about them - lashed the resulting spot kick into the roof of the net.
Probert's decision was technically correct, Bosingwa's actions those of a man so thick it's a miracle he manages to breath in and out in his sleep, but it also fell into that category that wizened old pros like to claim shouldn't be given as penalties for fear of every game finishing with a rugby league score. Some suggested Probert was merely trying to even things up as he'd earlier had a hand in Rangers miraculously taking the lead with their first goal in five matches. Junior Hoilett, who spent another afternoon doing a good impression of somebody who has eaten the real Junior Hoilett and assumed his identity and place in the team, managed to get the ball under control for the first and only time in the game and execute a fine one two with Loic Remy before collapsing on the very edge of the penalty area under meagre contact from Mathieu Debuchy. QPR had missed all three penalties they'd been awarded this season prior to this but Loic Remy – who fluffed the most recent of those in an away game at Fulham – calmly rolled the ball home against the club he spurned to join QPR in January.
The equaliser intensified the crowd's persecution of Bosingwa and the player subsequently fell apart. Played into trouble by a poorly judged and executed pass from goalkeeper Robert Green he returned the favour with a bone idle back pass that never even came close to making it back to the keeper and Guttierez was able to swoop in and tee up Gouffran who rolled the ball into an unguarded goal.
Bosingwa cut an isolated figure by this point. Notably blanked by his team mates to the point where several Newcastle players felt the need to console him during breaks in play soon he was swinging wildly at a loose ball and hacking it accidentally back over his head and into the danger area. The crowd grew louder still, chanting that he wasn't wanted here and imploring Harry Redknapp to remove him from the fray.
The manager did just that at half time, sending on Fabio Da Silva in his place. Stephane Mbia went too, another who'd been jeered by his own fans following last week's bizarre Twitter incident where he railed against the club and asked to return to Marseille before claiming his account had been hacked. Mbia had gone head to head with another knuckle dragger Cheick Tiote in what at times felt like competition to be named the Premier League's least adept midfield player. Fortunately for Newcastle, Tiote had the classy Cabaye for company with Ben Arfa playing wide; sadly for Rangers they had Jermaine the Friendly Ghost floating around very tidily doing nothing very much at all and Hoilett on the wing pisballing around in what seem to be ill-fitting boots. Shaun Derry was a good deal better than both when he came on and Andros Townsend's hard running brought some relief, although Redknapp's insistence on picking him wide right when he's left footed and the subsequent inevitable cutting infield is starting to make him predictable.
The question is, why did Harry Redknapp start either Bosingwa or Mbia? Unless he, like any other person of sound mind, had recognised the potential for a combustible situation to turn properly nasty in the remaining games and sent the pair of them out there as sacrificial lambs to punish them for their respective dreadful campaigns it's hard to see what the manager hoped to achieve by fielding them. They're not enhancing the team or helping its chances of winning by being there, they're not going to be in the team next season, and there's hardly going to be a queue of suitors wanting to take them on in the transfer window on the basis of this performance – if Redknapp was hoping to put them in the shop window then this was more Aldi than Harrods.
Redknapp talks about getting "the right sort" into the club for next season and yet is ignoring exactly that sort of player during this run in. A back four of Harriman, Hill, Onuoha, Traore behind a midfield of Mackie, Derry , Faurlin and Townsend with Taarabt and Remy up front surely would not have done any worse over recent games than the team that has been picked instead and would have started putting the foundations in place for a Championship 11 for next season. Redknapp said in his press conference on Friday that he hasn't been picking his team with one eye on next season – the obvious follow up question to that is surely why not?
After falling behind QPR reverted to type. Papiss Cisse headed into the roof of the net immediately hinting a total capitulation may be in the offing but the two teams decided to stumble their way through a total nonsense of a game for the next hour or so instead.
A corner forced by a deflected Hoilett shot turned round the post by keeper Rob Elliott went untaken for an age while the home players tried to remember whose job it actually was to punt set pieces onto the head of the defender at the near post. A young ball boy stood over the ball awaiting the arrival of a QPR player and at one stage looked like might be tempted to take it himself - he could scarcely have done any worse. When Newcastle swung one of their own over in the second half Zamora contrived to hit his own post with no Newcastle player within five feet.
More wonderful communication and decision making between the hapless Rob Green and another of his full backs, Armand Traore this time, resulted in the keeper picking up a pass back and conceding an indirect free kick which Ben Arfa smashed into the wall. Green inspires confidence for the forthcoming Championship campaign almost as little as Redknapp does. His mistake was so basic it confused referee Lee Probert – another whose mind seemed elsewhere for much of this game – who took an age to award anything when the offence was clear and obvious.
Faced with a chance for a late equaliser Zamora smashed a window at the now sadly abandoned BBC Television Centre.
And yet QPR could not only easily have drawn the match, but arguably should have won it as well. Newcastle were every bit as atrocious as their hosts – using every piece of open play possession to look long for an isolated Papiss Cisse, and every dead ball situation to smack it up towards Championship-standard defender Mike Williamson. Clint Hill and Nedum Onuoha welcomed the approach with open arms. Surely the wisdom of scouting for gems from French and Dutch football and then forcing a style of play unfashionable even in this country since somebody was last foolish enough to employ Peter 'Reidy' Reid will be questioned long and hard by Mike Ashley and the Newcastle board this summer.
Jenas suddenly sprang to life with an energetic run to the byline and cut back that Zamora looked set to convert before being muscled out of the chance. Hoilett, never once with the ball under control, bumbled past three men on the edge of the area and dragged a shot wide.
Newcastle were seemingly desperate to make life hard for themselves. Williamson was booked for going over the ball on Mbia and keeper Elliott also saw yellow for kicking the ball away after a free kick had been awarded – although it looked very much like that was a result of his wildly inconsistent kicking than a deliberate attempt to run the clock down. Twenty minutes later the keeper surpassed even the incompetence of the QPR players by running two yards outside his area and catching the ball. Lee Probert seemed stunned and linesman Ceri Richards (known to QPR fans for his shameful part in the Ashley Young controversy at Old Trafford last season) also remained motionless – perhaps the fact that Elliott was protesting his innocence while still standing outside the box with the ball in his hands confused them. Eventually the free kick was awarded, Elliott was dismissed, and Steve Harper clambered from the bench for the last of his rare outings at the very end of a 20 year Newcastle career.
Redknapp finally introduced Adel Taarabt in search of an equaliser and during a fraught three minutes of stoppage time he was involved in an incident that saw Remy's fierce goal bound shot blocked away and Townsend dip a well struck effort a foot over the bar. The visiting fans pleaded for a final whistle.
Children, and one or two people old enough to know better, ran onto the pitch at the end of the game. Armand Traore left wearing just his y-fronts. A surreal end to a strange match. Newcastle , Stoke, Reading and Wigan have all gone up against this Rangers team recently and on every occasion the poor quality of the match has been the abiding memory. QPR though will now deservedly finish last, below all of them.
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QPR: Green 5, Bosingwa 3 (Fabio 46, 6), Onuoha 6, Hill 6, Traore 5, Townsend 6, Jenas 5, Mbia 4 (Derry 46, 6), Hoilett 4 (Taarabt 84, -), Zamora 5, Remy 6
Subs not used: Murphy, Park, Granero, Mackie
Goals: Remy 11 (penalty, won Hoilett)
Bookings: Mbia 36 (foul)
Newcastle: Elliott 5, Debuchy 5, Coloccini 6, Williamson 5, Yanga-M’Biwa 5, Cabaye 6, Tiote 4 (Perch 52, 6), Guttierez 6, Goufran 6 (Obertan 77, 5), Ben Arfa 7 (Harper 82, -), Cisse 5
Subs not used: Simpson, Marveaux, Anita, Campbell
Goals: Ben Arfa 18 (penalty, won Ben Arfa), Gouffran 35 (assisted Bosingwa/Guttierez)
Yellows: Cabaye 10 (dissent), Williamson 29 (foul), Elliott 67 (time wasting), Elliott 80 (handball)
Reds: Elliott 80 (two yellows)
QPR Star Man – Andros Townsend 6 A loan spell that has ended with him being named the club’s Young Player of the Year tells you this wasn’t the first time he was the best of a fairly lousy bunch. Attitude, effort and application are all where it should be which draws attention in this team, even when things don’t quite go his way.
Referee – Lee Probert (Wiltshire) 6 Plenty of big calls in this game and on the whole he got most of them right. Both penalties were the correct decisions as were the pass back and sending off decisions against the two goalkeepers. But there was a lot of guesswork and going off crowd reaction here, particularly with the Elliott dismissal, and he carried himself with the air of somebody whose mind was elsewhere – much like the players.
Attendance 17,278 (1,800 Newcastle approx) A bizarre atmosphere in keeping with the game. Harry Redknapp came out afterwards and said nobody could be expected to play in the atmosphere that blew up around Jose Bosingwa in the first half, but given that he won’t be here next season and isn’t helping now it’s hard to see what Redknapp is getting from selecting him. The manager needs to take some responsibility for what happened on Sunday. The supporters have had their fill this season and it was always going to turn nasty in uncompetitive games if the likes of Bosingwa continued to be pick and perform as they have been doing. Unless he was looking for a deliberate opportunity to humiliate Mbia and Bosingwa here then selecting them from the start was brain dead stuff from Redknapp and he and his players got everything they deserved from the long suffering supporters.
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