QPR blogger Roller returns to LFW, concerned about the shifting dynamics of the club he loves and its support base.

One short, simple sentence I read during the pre-season has left me feeling very uneasy ever since.

I was watching our friendly match against Wycombe Wanderers on a website which also featured a comment stream enabling all those on-line to chat with each other. At the end of the match Gareth Ainsworth grabbed Hogan Ephraim’s shirt, stretched it across his chest and advanced towards the QPR supporters thumping his heart and the Rangers’ faithful roared their appreciation of the gesture from a much loved ex-player. A comment appeared in the stream asking: “Who is Wycombe’s number seven?” I was too stunned to comment at the time and am still trying to come to terms with the ramifications of it. Am I overreacting? Probably, but it does highlight my concerns regarding the changing fan base at my club.

I’ve supported QPR since 197whenever and so proudly bear the scars of many galling disappointments alongside a few cherished memories of magnificent days. I love QPR, I have placed certain former idols on ridiculously high pedestals and I completely understand the heritage of the club. I was on the pitch at Loftus Road protesting against David Bulstrode’s proposed Fulham Park Rangers and when Ecclestone and Briatore were strangling the club I started a futile online petition to restore Bhatia and Saksena. When John Gregory decided that there wasn’t a player at the club who was skilful enough to wear the number 10 shirt I applauded him and when Gerry Francis resigned because Richard Thompson was looking to appoint Rodney Marsh as director of football I shook my head in disbelief.

However, throughout these and countless other events, far too many to even attempt to catalogue, I felt secure in the knowledge that it was just another day at QPR, the rollercoaster would race on unchecked and we all understood this, indeed many of us revelling in it. We, the QPR supporters, were members of an exclusive fellowship. Not many wanted to join, only the fully paid up members actually had any idea of what being a QPR supporter was really about, and, like the Eagles’ Hotel California, no one ever checked out. Because of the constant trials and tribulations we all suffered our bond to each other and with the club was rock solid.

As much as I love the buzz emanating from Loftus Road, the calm assurance exhibited by both the current board and management and the new professional outlook, I am concerned; I fear that my vision of QPR, my ideal, is slowly but surely getting dismantled. In my mind, QPR is a friendly, family club. We have strong roots in West London but universal appeal, the uniqueness of the club’s name and the famous hooped shirts never fail to grab attention. We can boast of a succession of outlandishly talented players who have thrilled in the number ten shirt, and constantly admire the passion and solidarity of the diehard supporters who, undaunted by the disappointment which constantly ambushes their hopes of success, continue to belt out Pigbag in a ramshackle but strangely glorious stadium, a stadium that screams of amateurism and chaos. We are definitely not an anodyne club with an identikit stadium and greedy supporters demanding success at any cost.

Of these, the tightness of the supporters is the most laudable. For a small club in London that has seen precious little success at any time in its existence to maintain such a loyal and fervent support is incredible. Generation after generation of parents have taken their children to Loftus Road from an early age and got them hooked on the atmosphere and the passion. These children have resisted the teasing and tormenting in their school playgrounds from their friends who “support” Chelsea or Arsenal or Spurs or Manchester United even though they have never, and will never, go to see them play. We all understand the exquisite pain of supporting QPR, we all have tasted the same defeats, suffered the same torment, we all understand.

QPR’s “going global” plan is a determined effort to increase our fan base, an attempt to bust wide open our exclusive members only fellowship. I fully understand that this is of the utmost importance, that a new generation of supporters is essential, that the merchandise sales this will generate will generate vital revenue and that when we finally have our new stadium it will need filling. However unless the new fans emotionally buy-in to QPR in the way that we all have those bonds will be weakened. I fear that soon we won’t be stopping to talk to complete strangers just because they are sporting a blue and white hooped top, worried that their knowledge of QPR only encompasses the Fernandes years.

Loftus Road will remain a bastion for my QPR ideal. Our faithful, long suffering season ticket holders, ably backed up by the members, will ensure this; their unremitting desire to back the team will ensure that very few tickets are available for general sale. The warm welcome that Kaspars Gorkss received on his return to our ground with his Reading team mates and the muted, but genuine, applause for his headed goal was just the latest example of our understanding of the club’s history and appreciation of those who have played a major role in it. Would the guy who didn’t know who Wild Thing was be any the wiser regarding Gorkss? These supporters are the heart and soul of the club and must not be ignored nor taken for granted while the drive for global awareness powers forwards. Every effort must be made to ensure that not a single one of these supporters is disenfranchised as the club forge their relentless path forwards.

As soon as we leave Loftus Road this situation will inevitably change, the increased capacity of the new stadium will make it imperative that we have another 20,000 supporters passing through the turnstiles and this is where my worries are centred. Do we have another 20,000 supporters desperate to go to the every home match or will this void be filled by temporary supporters curious to see Ji-Sung Park, Julio Cesar or whoever the latest marquee signing is? Will there start to be quieter areas in the ground, or heaven forbid a “neutrals” stand?

The internet, on the other hand, has an infinite capacity and could give us a clear indication of what the future holds. Forums and social media welcome the whole world and grant everyone the freedom to express their views in relative anonymity and it is this fertile breeding ground that will initially bear the brunt of the unwanted side effects of “going global”. While we all love to argue about events and dissect them down to the nth degree, we all do so from a common standpoint, our shared passion is unquestionable. As more and more new supporters join it is likely that the levels of understanding and insight will decrease, banality will increase and the more knowledgeable posters will quietly slip into the background. Even among current QPR supporters the level of ignorance surrounding John Terry’s racial abuse of Anton Ferdinand was staggering. Going forwards I can see this getting worse, but regardless of how informed or uninformed anyone is everyone will have the same level of access to many platforms from which to assert their views. Twitter, Tony Fernandes’ and Amit Bhatia’s preferred method of communicating with the fans, will be swamped, the amount of trivia and misinformation potentially soaring to pandemic proportions.

I stated on my introduction page of my blog that I regard myself as remarkably lucky to have stumbled across a club whose glory is encapsulated by the passionate characters associated with it not simply recorded by trophies won. How many of our new supporters will share this view or even understand it? New supporters attracted because of certain players or any ill-advised glory hunters will only be interested results and trophies. I don’t want QPR to become a soulless club like Chelsea. I asked a few Chelsea supporters I know if they ever had any equivalent qualms when Abramovich took over, none did, nor did they even begin to comprehend my fears. Maybe because Chelsea was always a bigger club with many, many more supporters they didn’t ever have that feeling of kinship with their fellow supporters or any feeling of ownership of their club. As we seek to expand our fan base around the world, possible with people who have never heard of Queens Park Rangers, I fear that things that I hold dear about QPR will get trampled underfoot.

I keep coming back to the conclusion that the problem here is me; I’m probably just overly sentimental, viewing our history through rose tinted glasses. I’m undoubtedly over reacting to necessary change, but I’m not one to idly sit by and watch. Maybe I need to expand my horizons to keep pace with the club, maybe I need to forget my ideal and the past and just look towards the future? We were of course all new supporters once, maybe these new fans will ultimately become just as passionate, they just won’t have the same scars. It is up to us to ensure that our fellowship does not get diluted, our forums do not get swamped and our stadium stays passionate. Am I just apprehensive of change? I don’t think so, I think just part of me will miss what we all are moving on from. The French poet and novelist Anatole France summed it up perfectly many years ago:

“All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.”

Visit the RollercoasterRanger blog by clicking on the banner above for more of Roller's thoughts on all things QPR.

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Kaos_Agent added 23:03 - Oct 13 As a long-distance newcomer (Canada) with no prior linkage to QPR before they got promoted last year, I can say that what attracted me to the club was being pointed to this website by a west London friend. The passion is addictive, as are all the shades of humour. I am still learning the game, and benefiting from the forum comments as well as of course Clive's and Neil's pieces. I won't soon forget the final day at Man City, nor the crucial home wins leading up to it. I suppose that's the first chapter of R's history for me. Cisse's stunner, and Mackie's miracle. I watched the Bolton-Stoke match as well, and oddly enough what really sticks with me from that entire day was when the TV camera panned the crowd and stopped on a Bolton family when the final whistle blew. There on display were all the emotions of loss and relegation: younger bro was heartbroken and crying, older bro was angry and shouting, Dad was resigned and doing a slow shrug, and Mum was already stoically packing up their things for the ride home. And to think that the R's were a whisker away from that. I well understand disappointment; my hometown Winnipeg Blue Bombers have not won the Grey Cup in 21 years - in an eight team league! I haven't lived there for 25 years but old loyalties die hard. This year we've had player overhaul, no away wins, and inconsistency leading to our coach being fired mid-season, whereupon things actually got worse. Sound familiar? But it's the ten times that we did win it from 1930-1990 that we cling to. Having a team history is great because you can remember the good times and know that eventually they'll come again. They had better FFS because it's not a lot of fun at the moment. I don't imagine I'll ever see a game at Loftus Road and that's a pity because I can feel the energy coming from the TV screen. I hope that when they do build a new stadium, they go to great pains to keep the fans close to the pitch. That has been the trend in the newer baseball and ice-hockey stadiums in North America, and it makes a big difference. Well that was a rambling discourse but in any case this is one new fan who is in it for the long haul for the R's. Unlike some Koreans fixated on Park, I'm not watching the game solely to see my countryman Junior Hoilett, although I wish MH would play him more because I think he's good. And I wish he'd declare to play for Canada in the World Cup run-up (he's also Jamaican but he hasn't said what he'll do) because we need a talent like that! And I hope that every year isn't going to be a relegation dogfight, as exciting as those situations can be! Come on you RRRRs!

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highleverhoopL added 23:14 - Oct 13 We have a core support of 10,000 which is hugely overweight in forty and fifty somethings because of 15 years in the wilderness. If we don't replenish that we will slowly morph into Brentford. New supporters by definition won't know the history of the club. My mates 12 year old started supporting Rangers last season. No, he hasn't heard of Ainsworth but that doesn't mean he won't be a lifelong Ranger.

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newgolddream added 00:31 - Oct 14 Excellent article Roller. Congratulations to ex-R's full back Ian Baraclough who has managed Sligo Rovers to the league title in the Republic of Ireland. We last won the championship in 1977 when another ex-Ranger Paul McGee was on the main man.
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Myke added 05:44 - Oct 14 Notwithstanding your admirable and palpable passion for the all things QPR, in my view this as a short-sighted, narrow-minded and ultimately insulting piece. I take great exception at your inplication that you have to be season ticket holder or member ( I'm happy to admit I don't really no what the latter entails) to be a die-hard Rangers fan. The reality is that success brings a larger support base, I began following QPR in 1976 ( the day they lost to Norwich actually) mesmerised by the skills of Bowles, Francis, Mason, Thomas et al, as a 13 yr old and a couple of weeks later I cried (probably as distraught as that Bolton lad) as Liverpool scored 3 times in the last 15 minutes against Wolves to snatch the title. Where was I when this happened - At Anfield ? No. In London ? Certainly Not. Watching on TV? Your kidding - in the seventies? I was sitting in a cow byre in Sligo in the West of Ireland, milking cows ( by hand) listening to BBC (not 5-Live - waaaay before that) radio. Now as I approach my 50th birthday I still frequent same cow-byre (Nowadays called a parlour with all mod -cons thankfully!) and I STILL SUPPORT QUEENS PARK RANGERS-PASSIONATELY! How many times have I been to Loftus Road? Once -back in 2004 when we played out a dire 1-1 draw against Oldham in the third tier. How many times have I seen them 'in the 'flesh' altogether? 3. At Ashton gate a few seasons ago when Dowie was in charge (another 1-1 draw) and once in a pre-season game back in '82 (or maybe '81) in Athlone, when I had the dubious distinction of being told to 'F**K OFF' by Tony Currie after clapping him on the back when the game was over. How much revenue have I generated for the club? - well Fernandes would need to keep putting his hand in his pocket, if they were depending on me to survive financially. Apart from above mentioned match tickets, I currently own a trackie and two t-shirts, ordered a scarf on-line wwhen we got promoted 2 years ago and ditto after beating Sheffield Wed - oh and my auntie (who lives in Finchley) bought me a mug when I was 15 (still have it) - that's it. So am I less of a fan than all those who attend every match home and away - I would argue strongly that I'm not. And I would defy anyone to have a more knowledgeable debate (apart from Clive, who's level of knowledge is staggering) than me about my club. My son supports Sligo Rovers (Champions!) Barcelona, Chelsea/Man City/Liverpool/Whoevers winning at half-time (he's only 7 in fairness) and has invested a great deal more in merchandise in all of these clubs than I have in the thick end of 40 years on QPR. So for me being a fan, isn't about attendance, isn't about generating income, it's about passion and love. To bring this meandering ramble full circle - success increases fan base, and that new fan-base has the potential to become as passionate about the club as all the current die-hards - I'm living proof of that.

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QPRski added 07:05 - Oct 14 As a fellow exile from LR (like Myke) I fully agree that the core pre-requisite of any supporter is PASSION. In todays global multimedia world this definition applies and can be universal. it can easily seperate real fans from the "tourist" or "fashion" fans. I feel and am a 100% QPR fan following every QPR on tv or webfeeds, and savouring the atmosphere by being on this forum. Compared to regular season ticket holders of course I have a lesser experience. However, I am pleased that with globalisation and media technology that I have acesss to this to live sound and vision, as it much better following by text or radio.

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Roller added 08:48 - Oct 14 Well Myke, this sort of article was never going to be to everyone’s taste. Short sighted and narrow minded I can understand, but there was no way I’d ever imply that supporters that cannot get to matches, whether it be for physical, geographical or financial reasons, are lesser supporters, I include all of them in my “fellowship”. I’ve re-read my article to try to see where you took this inference and maybe it is a little W12 centric, that was not what I intended. For the record I am not, and never have been, a season ticket holder; I am full of admiration for them. I am also full of admiration for the Overseas Hoops (I’m now in danger of alienating QPR supporters outside on the home counties!), I wrote a very lengthy article about a number of them while I was posting on Not606. If you didn’t see it at the time it is on this link http://rollercoasterranger.wordpress.com/2012/06/07/this-world-of-rs/ There are very few people I set out to insult, I’m sorry you took it that way. You and I don’t sound that dissimilar, from what you’ve written we are the same age and have cried at the same times (and they would have been no point being at Anfield in ’76 the match was at Molineux). I completely agree that support is about passion, really that it was my article is about, do you think that the club necessarily views it that way?

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Waithere added 10:42 - Oct 14 Having supported QPR since 1960, I have no doubt that these are good days with better to come. Mis-quoting the late Eric Morecombe, QPR have all the right players but not necessarily in the right positions. We just need to give the management and team a little time to sort it out. As for an influx of new fans. Why not? We were all new fans at once and I was when we were beaten to promotion from the old division three by Bury and Wallsall. I think that puts things into perspective.

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woodman added 17:24 - Oct 14 For the club to be successful and compete nowadays then it will need to grow its fan base. Its up to the club and its stalwarts to welcome the next generation of R's fans and educate them in all things QPR....." We all gotta start somewhere " Like Irish Hoop , i too was of East End origin (west ham doorstep), yet found my self drawn to the R's by some local lads who shared the same loathing for all things claret and blue .... Although not W12 born and bred, the passion and pride always ran deep & having followed the R's around the country in the eighties and early ninety's, a never to be broken bond was formed with the club. It was as if we had been welcomed into a vast extended family....And so it should continue !!!!! Even now, although exiled in Ireland myself ( several years ), a week never goes by without that need to know all things QPR ... and like Myke in Sligo , Still regard myself as an extremely passionate follower of the R's, although unable to attend regular match days. That said, i'm home ward bound for Loftus Rd next Sunday to hopefully see them turn over Everton... Leaving at home 3 other rather jealous followers from the next generation of r's fan's....

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jo_qpr63 added 22:09 - Oct 14 Nobody has to justify a reason why and how they support QPR. I love the fact that loads are coming back out of the woodwork and coming out as being rangers. To see loads more QPR car stickers or kits being worn is great. Its not as if they are glory hunters like Man u or Chelsea, because we havnt won anything yet! But we are a famous club in England and i think most supporters know what we are about. My QPR ideal is to be the top London club, and to have a whole season with the same management and the same squad of players,playing in their positions they are best at, in a formation that works. To be honest i enjoyed supporting QPR more when i wasnt going on forums and finding out what every tom,dick and harry supporter thought of Rangers and fellow supporters but its hard to ignore, unlike some of my posts! A good read though Roller,cheers.

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GetMeRangers added 05:03 - Oct 15 A great read, but despite the concerns over the JCLs, it shouldnt be forgotten that the rest of the population that has been brought up on a diet of football not existing before the Premiership, others outside LR know who we are. Even when we returned to the top flight in the 80s with El Tel, after a much shorter excile, it still felt then that we were an unknown entity. Who were we and the joy of very very rarely stumbling across someone who had passion for the club was a joy indeed. Yet there were as many JCLs in those days, too. Whether they ever became lifelong fans, I doubt, but they were many at my school whose allegiances were for other teams, yet enthusiastically packed the terraces on a Saturday afternoon, attending as much for the experience of live footy and atmosphere as to see the 'Supahoopsa' When we leave LR, as we surely will, it is the hope that a new stadium can generate the cauldron of passion LR is capable of. I dont begrudge anyone coming to experience and take part in that and with luck contributing to it. I am enjoying the fact that in the modern day of wall to wall coverage my team are known of country wide and I no longer have to explain that I support a little team in London that no-one has heard of. The rapid cycling of personnel will slow if we can become established in the top flight and a new generation of fans will discover their Bobby Hazell (Yes... LOL), Furlongs etc etc. I can well believe there were similar sentiments of older fans (and a great point made above of the lost generation and our stands being packed with 40 + 50 somethings) when I became a regular at HQ... I knew of our 70s history but only in briefness... I managed to see a few appearances of fabled players of that time at the end of their careers. Yet my passion for the club and that has passed since started with the relegation season of 78-79 and I care little for what happened previously, as I did not experience it Watching the next generation of my three sons have passion for a team that they can now rarely get to see, as we have relocated to the west country, reassures me that there will always be a hard core mixed with the tourists. It always has been so and always will be. Even in the promotion season I regularly found myself sat in R block next to 'tourists' who had come to watch Tarbs. My only criticism of recent times is perhaps of older life long supporters whom, with our rise to the Prem, seem to think that we have become ever so much more important and demanding that we too have success and that this should be our time (esp since arrival of TF). Like jo_qpr63, enjoying the Rs was easier without forums, yet I find it addictive to hear what every TD +H has to say, although more often than not I scratch my head and wonder whether they support the same club... cant bide the negativity

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JB007007 added 08:41 - Oct 15 Really enjoyed that read Roller. Loads of great posts too. My brother made a comment a few weeks back (maybe a slight dig, but arguably true), that we are in fact west London's third largest club. To build a 35-40,000 seater we just dont have the local fanbase. This means trying to build a new fanbase from surrounding areas as well as pinching back some of the Fulham JCL's! Personally, I've always thrived on the fact that I supported a less fashionable club. Its the underdog spirit in me. I'd like to think that I've recruited a few R's fans when we have been shit along the way with my passion. It means so much to me when we win a game. Unhealthily, it makes or breaks a week in some cases and I've rarely met a top four/five club supporter with this. Things move on, football and particularly the Premier League has changed and to sustain our ambitions we need to build that fanbase. Only success, remaining a premier league club will build our fanbase and that has to happen.

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QPunkR added 12:29 - Oct 15 Gotta agree 100% with the piece Roller, a great read. I'm of a later vintage than yourself (started going early 90s - showing my age there!) but still feel exactly the same mate. I enjoyed the match-day experience far more a division or two lower, even if we were watching the likes of Georges Santos and Brett Angel but it seemed a lot more enjoyable. And I don't just mean the fact that we're getting beaten every week now, its just people don't all seem to be in it together any more. Loftus Rd seemed to make a load more noise in Division 2 with 13,000 there max than it does on most matchdays now, nearly sold out playing world-renowned teams. It's a strange situation as you can't have your cake and eat it - there's no way of being successful with the Club staying as it was. More's the pity :'(

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TacticalR added 14:36 - Oct 15 An article from the heart! I think we are all worried that the club might lose its soul. Here's my take. All around me I see walls between people, so I don't really want to see walls between QPR supporters. I do wonder if your flabber was so ghasted at the Ainsworth incident, that you might have missed a trick. Instead of wondering 'What are they teaching the youngsters these days?', wasn't that the ideal opportunity to pass on a bit of history to this particular untutored youth?

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Rangersw12 added 14:40 - Oct 15 The ironic thing is that some Rangers fans in there 30's/40's probably only support Rangers because of the 75/76 season and by today's standards would be considered "gloryhunters" the difference is of course they actually stuck with the side and continued to support them to this day. Now if these "new" fans continue to support us then I don't see it as a bad thing and as some people have said you have to start somewhere As for me I'm unfortunately 4th generation Rangers and my kids wil be 5th so me and them have a life time of misery with few highs would I

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Rangersw12 added 14:42 - Oct 15 .. pressed wrong button continued from above but would I change this of course not because like everyone else the highs mean so much more for us than other teams
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Myke added 20:15 - Oct 15 Hi Roller, accepted I probably over reacted to the season ticket membership Loftus Road centred aspects of your report. I too am in awe of these people who not only attend every home match but also scale the (apparant) 'everest' of St James Park and all other points across England. And of course every club has to have a heart and Loftus Road is that, and a soul, and the fans inside are that - without them it simply wouldn't exist. So apology accepted and one returned for OTT reaction

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spokeR added 21:42 - Oct 18 New fans always need influencing from older ones regardless of age, race or background. If the older ones are going to be sentimental unwelcoming knobs, the club philosophy will die with them. It's up to us not to make this happen collectively. Been born in the 80s, I've never seen Stan Bowles & co play, but the passion and the principles of the club is addictive for sure. Keeping that alive thru transition of the club is more important than misplaced pride about having stuck thru relegations & peno defeat to Vauxhall Motors etc. I have so far taken a Finish, a Japanese, a Malaysian, a German & a Mexican to QPR games in various leagues. They all loved coming & commented on how good the fans were. The latter 3 nationalities now come to LR regularly. They don't know Ainsworth, but that doesn't matter because they love the club. It's not an issue you even need to raise mate, and the article could have been written more positively if you had a properly open attitude. The persistence of misplaced sentiments like that will always leave the door open for the oldies to moan about the newbies, and make them feel unwelcome. We should be proud of the club & be confident about bringing the new ones into what this is all about. Otherwise, the club will really turn into another Chelski.

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