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Comment | QPR’s first ever win at Anfield — history
at 09:18:52
In 1990/91 my brother was working on Merseyside and he got tickets for the game for us and our young sons and a couple of guys he worked with were stewards in the players bar which they got us into after the game. Apart from that my abiding memory of the game was a great team performance (under a manager who was sacked at the end of the season, because he was too old) and that at the end of the game our players were applauded by the Liverpool fans.
I can honestly say that I have never seen such collective generosity of spirit anywhere else. As a Rangers supporter the memory of such scraps will still give me a warm feeling long after Man United fans have forgotten their umpteenth title.
Still, however low our bar of expectation is, this year's players and managers (both of them) have managed to get below it.
I wonder if Don Howe is still coaching? Perhaps he could be persuaded to coach this lot. At least we would be entertained with proper football. |
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Comment | Why did it all go so wrong (again)?
at 12:02:43
I am sorry to say but this club lost its soul when Briatore and Ecclestone came into the club. It became a vanity project for Briatore and an object in making money for Ecclestone.
They sold out to Fernandes who thinks that the way to communicate with the fans is via twitter. I really don't think that he has a clue, Tweet away and throw money at the problem. The club is a laughing stock. I, for one, am really glad that we did not manage to sign Odemwingie. Does anyone apart from Harry think that he was coming here other than for the money.
HR has, in my humble opinion, only one thing on his agenda: Harry. The way in which the chairman got suckered into replacing Hughes with Harry just shows total naivety. He didn't want to go to Blackburn because it was too far from Sandbanks, does anyone, apart from our chairman, really think that he was going to Ukraine.
We have to win games in order to avoid relegation, where in the team are the goals going to come from. We have a half fit hold up player in Zamora, Bothroyd and Remy, who admits that things have to be going his way. Clearly we are going down and the scattergun approach to buying players has not given us a team, so where is plan B, to rebuild to get promoted again. Does anyone really think that HR will get us up again? I cannot see that over the past 7 or 8 years there has been any sensible planning by the board, with the single exception of the appointment of Neil Warnock.
Look around at other clubs who signed players in the last window, they, with the notable exception of Nottingham Forest, had a plan. Leicester City signed Wood from West Brom at the start of the window and by the end of the month he had shown his true value. OK that is the Championship, but in my view we should be buying in players from the lower leagues and giving them a chance.
I can only hope that the expensively learned lessons that the board will have to face, if they are not already facing them, will persuade them that they need a plan, like Swansea's or West Brom's and the next time they will make a sensible appointment. Please come back Luigi Di Canio, maybe even his namesake! |
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Comment | Mackie’s best efforts in vain as Villa game slips away — full match report
at 09:07:40
If you really want to apportion blame for the loss of team spirit, you have to start with Ecclestone and Briatore refusing to allow Warnock to spend any money strengthening the squad, in a sensible way. This led to Warnock's late spree which brought in the odious Barton, who singlehandedly speeded the downward spiral. Warnock mistakenly thought that he could manage Barton and that was his fatal mistake. I still remember him giving Traore a public dressing down when he got stupidly sent off and yet he defended Barton when he, even more stupidly, got sent off against Norwich. To be fair to Hughes, he did recognise the lousy effect that Barton had on the team, particularly Taraabt, because Taraabt became a better player after Hughes took over.
Getting rid of Barton and reducing his influence on the team is, I think, the only thing which is to Hughes' credit. Clearly the resignation from Fulham, not being followed by a job at a big club, has knocked his self confidence and as a result he has leant on his agent for support, with disastrous consequences for QPR.
QPRfish is right, the board must take responsibility for the appointment of Hughes and allowing him a latitude that in a "proper" business a manager would not have been given. I have to say that rather than appointing Harry Redknapp, Harry Potter might have been a better choice, given that they had allowed the situation to deteriorate to where we were 8 points away from safety. Is HR the man to rebuild the club if we are relegated? My view, for what it is worth is that we should have gone for a manager with recent, lower division experience who will bring in young players who are happy to play for the club. A long-term project, such as Paul Lambert did at Norwich and is now doing at Villa, and which is financially viable.
And to think that I left the ground on Saturday feeling fairly positive. |
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Comment | Memories of Penrice and March 1990 as Villa come to town — history
at 09:03:31
Absolutely agree that Penrice was under-rated. I have two memories of him:
Away at Coventry, when he came on as sub, with the Coventry crowd yelling "Villa reject". He certianly scored one goal and perhaps even two. A great way to silence the crowd.
After Ferdinand was sold (why was it so easy to sell a Ferdinand in those days?)and we brought in Devon White, he seemed to have a great partnership with him linking up and bringing out the best in Devon (it was burried quite deep).
I also remember speaking to him at a pre-season friendly at Luton, he seemed a really nice guy. |
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Comment | Hung by his own players, Hughes now in untenable position — full match report
at 10:57:50
Great report as ever, if a little harsh on some of the players.
Clueless management seems to be the problem and if Hughes' agent is at the back of this then TF needs to clean out the stables. I can see no benefit in appointing Harry, it will clearly be a short term "solution". I think TF needs to appoint a young-ish manager who, if he doesn't keep us up will hit the ground running next year. This club needs to be rebuilt from the bottom up. A manager who will keep those players that want to play for the club and bring in others, who will have no truck with sulkers and superstars.
Look for a manager with a reasonable track record and experience, not necessarily in the premiership, such experience can be bought in with coaches. We might even be able to bring in a scouting system that enables our manager to know what his meticulously prepared players can expect to face each week.
Personally, I would like to see someone like Kenny Jackett appointed and bring back Ainsworth to explain what it means to play for the hoops. I do not want the word ambition to be voiced at any time during the recruitment process. If a prospective manager is not ambitious then why is he looking for a job.
A manager with experience of the lower divisions is more likely to bring in younger hungrier players, and we will get the pleasure of seeing them develop, even if they are only passing through. No more superstars looking for a final payday. I have nothing against signing older players, but not those that have been "sold" the vision. I do feel sorry for TF and the Mittals, they have been royally ripped off. |
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Comment | Gorkss haunts lifeless QPR again as winless run goes on — full match report
at 08:59:03
I think it is clear the club needs two things: a coach and leadership. I don't expect Hughes to be a coach, but if he isn't one then he should have one or two in his team who can put right the same errors being made week after week. As for leadership, look at his body language during the game and the same pathetic excuses after every game. The team is not unlucky, it is poorly coached and poorly led.
I really cannot understand why Ferdinand was selected ahead of Clint Hill, who may not have the pace to play full back, but he has more commitment in his little finger than Ferdinand has in his whole body, just look at his body language. Boswinga seems to be here for the money, he was awful on Sunday. Zamora's body language speaks volumes, which seems to have been confirmed by his newspaper interview, why is the club paying his wages. Clearly there is a problem with Granero, otherwise why all these rumours about Real Betis, perhaps he realises what a mistake he has made.
I have an uneasy feeling that the person who is pulling many of the strings behind Fernandes is Hughes' agent. Is he also the agent for Granero and Cesar or any of the rest of the team? I think we should be told.
I am still not sure that replacing Hughes is the right answer and I think that replacing him with Harry is not in the Club's long term interests. The Club needs to be rebuilt from the bottom up, as Alex Ferguson did at Old Trafford and some of the steps are in place.
Fernandes should be telling Hughes that he can bring in no new players, he has to work with what he has got, but, for god's sake bring in a decent team of coaches and kick some of the overpaid lardarses into showing some interest on the pitch and if they don't, bring in the youngsters.
Tony, don't show your support with votes of confidence, sit Hughes down and ask how he is going to address the weaknesses that are evident to all the supporters and give him the tools he needs (not more players). If Hughes can't see the problem, then he is the problem and needs to be replaced. |
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Comment | Everton prolong QPR’s winless run — full match report
at 09:13:45
I left the game disappointed and thinking back wistfully to an earlier time when we seemed to lack any direction and were heading for potential relegation. The board then appointed a proper coach, who worked on the teams weaknesses, and with basically the same buch of underacheivers, suddenly started winning games. Di Canio even made Damion Stewart look a good player.
Surely, even if Mark Hughes is not a coach he must have someone within his backroom team who can work on the weaknesses. I am simply amazed at his apparent unwillingness to change things when they are not working and I do wonder if he is watching the same game that we are. I felt that we needed Jamie Mackie in place of Zamora, if only because he will get the crowd going and his directness causes the opposition problems and his enthusiasm and confidence might even get through to the rest of the team.
Much as I do not want to see yet another change, I think that the Chairman should be asking the same questions of his potential managers that Napoleon asked of his generals: Not are they good, but "Are they lucky?".
I cannot be the only fan who is depressed at a great display by the team (which Sunday was not), but not the points that reflect what the manager thinks they deserve. |
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Comment | Baggies boing back leaving QPR counting costly misses — full match report
at 09:40:30
My disppointment was that I thought both Traore and to a greater extent Wright-Philips, when in dangerous positions with the ball looked to pass it to Faurlin. Almost as if they didn't know what to do with it, when there seemed to be better options, even taking players on.
As the game wore on we badly needed inspiration and I do wonder if Taraabt had come on instead of Buzacky he might have been the difference. After all whether he goes or stays he has a lot to prove.
That is the third home draw that we should have comfortably won, 6 points lost, which may make all the difference next May. Regardless of that and the frustration, Bolton result apart, this has been a great season so far and long may it continue. |
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Comment | Match with history of legendary players, and amazing games — fixture history
at 08:54:55
Interesting read as always and brings back great memories of Les Ferdinand.
My memory seems to be fading with age but I recall a game at Newcastle which we won 2-1, after newcastle were awarded what seemed like a dodgy penalty which was saved by our keeper, Stejskal, I think, although it could have been Tony Roberts.
After the game Beardsley said that Ferdinand's performance was the most complete English centre forward's performance that he had seen. I also seem to recall that Keegan suggested to Andy Cole that he should look and learn.
I always felt that at QPR Les did not have the (over-) confidence that the really great players have and that he would benefit from a manager like Keegan, who would give him that confidence. I was glad that he went to Newcastle and played for Keegan. He certainly went to Spurs a better player. |
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