The QPR first team squad jetted off to Italy earlier this week for a pre-season training camp. It’s not the first time the R’s have been to this part of the world, and they’ll regret it profoundly if they repeat the mistakes of 2006.
Four years ago this week I looked at my brother over a vast sea of Mexican food remains and empty bottles of San Miguel and asked him the time. “It’s coming up to one in the morning,” he said. We were in Joe’s Bar and Grill in Hampton Hill, our hotel room was on Grays Inn Road in Kings Cross and our flight to Naples on the QPR tour left in seven hours time. What followed was messy, and continued that way for the entire week. It seems like it all happened yesterday, while at the same time seeming a world away.
That week in Sorrento on the QPR tour was probably the best holiday I’ve ever had. Paul, Tracy and myself had an absolutely belting time. We slept in every morning, I’d post un update on LFW, then we’d spend all afternoon by the pool, walk down into town for a meal in the early evening and then tour round the various ludicrous live musical acts the place had to offer before risking life and limb walking back to the hotel on the coast road and starting all over again.
There were around 30 QPR fans who joined us, lazing by the pool during the day and fearing the ear splitting cry of our travel rep Rachael who would arrive every now and again wrapped in a QPR England flag, hanging out of the window of the coach and screaming “QUEER POWER RANGER” at us which signalled it was time for a match or an open training session.
It was at this time, with Gianni Paladini in charge having ousted Bill Power, that LFW, on the Rivals network at that time, was, shall we say, flavour of the month with the club. An unwillingness on my part to at least try ad see both sides of the story when enemies of Paladini could have stretched down South Africa Road and most of the way around the North Circular caught the Italian’s eye. As a result I was invited first to Loftus Road for an interview and then out in Italy got a fantastic chance to go to the players’ hotel to conduct interviews, and speak to Paladini several times during the trip as stories about Bill Power attempting to retake control, Dunga opting out to manage Brazil, and yet another cash crisis all did the rounds back home.
The diary off the pitch, the Paladini interviews, the player interviews and reports from the open training session are all available in the LFW archive and still, if I do say so myself, make for interesting reading.
To be honest that week was as happy as I’ve probably ever been in my life. With the sun on my back and filing daily reports back on QPR I was in some sort of weird paradise. But from a football point of view the tour was an unmitigated disaster. Firstly, and call me a cynic, but a large part of the reason I was given a look in at all is because, under great pressure from supporters, Gianni Paladini needed an unofficial outlet to put his side across. Getting a young QPR fan who travels to every game from Sheffield to write balanced (and I still swear to Christ they were balanced) articles was good PR for him and I undoubtedly served a purpose that week and during that whole period.
It was on the pitch though that the problems were clear for all to see. The first match, against Sorrento, (pictured above, with the Northern R’s leaning at the back of the away end) was played on a plastic surface that Gary Waddock didn’t seem to be aware of before the game despite assurances that he had been out there and inspected the facilities himself. Alan McDonald started, Tony Roberts played up front, the R’s were beaten 5-1 by a Unibond League standard opponent. The training facilities turned out to be the home ground of San Antonio, a 90 minute coach drive on a dreadful road from the hotel, that was based in a seriously rough suburb of Naples and had grass that went well past the players’ ankles. Rangers would lose Gallen and Rose to injury on that pitch that week.
Although the R’s beat San Antonio 4-0 on that pitch towards the end of the week the opposition was dire and the damage was done. Back at home the likes of Steve Lomas, Marc Bircham and Ian Evatt played for the reserve team at Bath. Transfer listed at the end of the previous season by Gary Waddock who promised to bring a new style of footballer to the club, and then left behind while the likes of Nick Ward, Eguto Oliseh and Adam Czerkas travelled. One regret I’ll always have is buying a bit of gossip about Bircham from people behind the scenes on the tour and posting it up on Rivals. It wasn’t true, Bircham was angry (justifiably) and tried to contact me in Italy. It was spin to quell the growing tide of concern after Birch had scored a hat trick in one of the home based friendlies while the new look R’s struggled abroad. Come the start of the season Waddock was forced to rely on Birch, Lomas Evatt and others having previously said he had no space for them – the results were predictable and Waddock lost his job by mid-September. He never stood a chance of success.
It’s a different world we live in now, and a different QPR we follow. Post takeover, and some eight permanent managers on from Waddock’s ill fated time in charge, Rangers are again heading for Italy this week with Neil Warnock at the helm. It’s worth pointing out that the opposition appears to be stronger Equipe Romagna is a select side of all the players released at the end of last season yet to find clubs, and Ravenna played in Serie B two seasons ago and made the play offs in the third tier last season. They’re a regular foe for anybody who has managed in the Italian lower leagues on Championship Manager – a bogey tam for my Castle Di Sangro side that went on to conquer Europe.
With more staff, more money, more experience, more connections, a no nonsense manager who knows what he wants and a vastly superior list of summer signings (it says much for the impact people like Czerkas had at Loftus Road when Shaun Derry and Leon Clarke can be classed as vastly superior to anything) it would be fair to anticipate this tour being a tad more successful. Maybe with some proper training facilities in the same time zone as the hotel, and some grass pitches to play on. With injuries already to Kenny, Cook and Clarke this summer we can ill-afford another plastic pitch debacle.
Chances are the players will have much more than the weather to occupy their time out there and they will get a lot out of it. But after the farce of 2006 we must hope lessons have been learnt by those still at the club – i.e. a nice part of the world doesn’t automatically make an ideal destination for a football side. In a pre-season campaign already worrying short of quality opposition to test ourselves against this week will be crucial in preparing us for the new campaign.
The lo-down
The first game, on Wednesday evening, will see the R’s lock horns with Equipe Romagna. Now this is an interesting set up in that it’s not actually a professional Italian team. Equipe Romagna is described on ts own website as a “summer camp” where players released by their clubs in the Italian leagues the previous season and yet to be signed by other sides can do their pre-season training and aim to win a contract elsewhere.
It’s a concept that has been running for 16 years and Rangers will play a select side of those involved on Wednesday evening. The game will be played at the Stadio del Pini in Viareggio – a coastal city in Tuscany, northern Italy. It’s your standard small athletics stadium by the looks of things (think Withdean) and Esperia Viareggio who play in the third teir of Italian football which used to be Serie C1 (north and south) but is now called Liga Pro Prima.
On Friday the R’s face Ravenna, who were in Serie B in 2007/08 but have since been relegated to Serie C1/Liga Pro Prima. Following relegation the side was taken over by rookie manager Gianluca Atzori who led them to the play offs where they were defeated by Padova. Atzori’s achievements were enough to court Serie A attention and he left last summer to take charge of Catania. Having replaced Walter Zenga he only lasted 15 matches before being sacked because of poor results. In his absence Ravenna appointed Vincenzo Esposito, once of Torino and Lazio, as boss.
Walter Novellino and Francesco Guidolin, who were both linked with the QPR job around the time of Luigi De Canio’s reign and departure at Loftus Road, managed here at the start of their careers. Novellino was in charge for the 1996/97 season – incidentally he may be about to become the new head coach of Iran according to that never reliable source Wikipedia. Guidolin was the manager in 1992/93 while QPR finished fifth in the Premiership and a young Christian Vieri cut his striking teeth with Ravenna, bagging 12 goals in 32 appearances before moving on to Venezia. Guidolin led Ravenna to promotion into Serie B and was subsequently poached by Atalanta, but sacked after just ten games in charge. He then went on to make a name for himself at Vicenza who he took to Europe from Serie B and then in four stints with Palermo who he also led through several rounds of the UEFA Cup.
The club had to be reformed in 2001 as Ravenna Calcio, as opposed to simply Ravenna, because of financial problems. They were relegated down three divisions from C1 but quickly gained a double promotion followed by a play off success in 2005 and a title win in 2007 that carried them back to Serie B. Their ground, the Stadio Bruno Benelli, holds just over 12,000 people. The town is linked to the Adriatic Sea by canal and has been an important sea port down the years.
QPR manager Neil Warnock told the club’s official website: "It'll be a key part of our pre-season preparations. The facilities at the training camp are excellent and the weather at that time of year should be great for the lads to train in. It will be a great chance for the new lads to settle in and get to know their new team-mates in a different environment." The travelling party in full is: Kenny, Cerny, Connolly, Ramage, Gorkss, Hall, Leigertwood, Buzsaky, Faurlin, Derry, Hill, Mackie, Clarke, Helguson, Ephraim, Parker, Borrowdale, German.
Links:
Ravenna Calcio Official Website
Equipe Romagna Official Website