Excuses stack up as Wednesday expose some home truths — report Wednesday, 19th Mar 2014 21:08 by Clive Whittingham Queens Park Rangers suffered a 3-0 defeat at sixteenth placed Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday night after effectively giving up following a controversial first half penalty award.
QPR have a lot of players out injured at the moment. You might have heard this mentioned a time or two.
Robert Green, Danny Simpson, Armand Traore, Jermaine Jenas, Charlie Austin, Alejandro Faurlin, Andy Johnson, Matt Phillips, Kevin Doyle and Benoit Assou Ekotto were all unfit to take to the field at Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday night and Clint Hill and Ravel Morrison did so only after late checks on their health. Some good players, some young players, some international players. Any team will struggle when so many of its first team players are ruled out, however colossal their playing budget is compared to the rest of the division.
QPR also had good cause to feel aggrieved with referee Paul Tierney's decision, after a long pause and look across to his assistant, to not only award a penalty to Sheff Wed in the thirty fifth minute of Tuesday night's match, but also show a red card to Richard Dunne for apparently upending Leon Best as he cut across in front of him on his way through on goal. Replays suggested Best made a hell of a lot of minimal contact. On another day the Wednesday player may have been booked for diving, or a penalty been awarded with no red card. Tierney, you may remember, the referee who suffered a brain melt and allowed Rangers' fixture with Leicester before Christmas to drift into a chaotic farce because he didn't know how to get the match started again once a squirrel had come onto the field.
Rangers had held their own in a dreary game to that point with neither team threatening the other greatly save for Clint Hill’s header from a Joey Barton free kick that drifted annoyingly between the bottom corner and Bobby Zamora when a goal looked likely. But they collapsed to a 3-0 defeat thereafter with Wednesday skilfully utilising their extra man by getting the ball wide, early, and stretching their visitors right across the expanse of the Hillsborough pitch. If you wanted a textbook example of how to play with an extra man then this was it — the improvements made in S6 since Dave Jones' sour face was kicked into touch and Stuart Gray took on what has, in recent times, been one of the division's most difficult managerial tasks continue apace.
But to blame absentees, or referees, for this latest collapse merely panders to an excuses culture that starts at the very top of QPR and has permeated right the way down through to the starting 11. QPR have deliberately, for several seasons now, gone out and spent large amounts of money on players coming to the end of their careers, many of whom have had poor injury records in the past. Charlie Austin, one of the better, younger, more forward thinking signings who the team came to rely on so heavily before his shoulder fell apart, had previous issues with that part of his body, and a knee injury that scuppered a summer move to Hull City. You cannot pursue this policy and then throw your hands in the air and talk about how unfair it is when a lot of them get injured all at once. Take responsibility and think more carefully about the type of player you want at your club.
Even with all those missing bodies, the team QPR were able to field last night looked, on paper at least, plenty good enough to compete with Sheffield Wednesday. Rarely has there been a defence as experienced as Nedum Onuoha, Clint Hill, Richard Dunne and Aaron Hughes fielded at this level, with Joey Barton and Karl Henry in front of them into the bargain. Junior Hoilett, the mercurial Ravel Morrison and Gary O’Neil backed lone striker Bobby Zamora. Experienced players, expensive players, players a lot better than a 3-0 defeat against the Owls suggests. Players sadly rather too prone to running a white flag up the pole.
And you could see it coming a mile away once Tierney had pointed to the spot and fished the red card out of his top pocket. QPR, en masse, chased the referee across the penalty area, surrounding him, to protest the decision, prolonging the wait for Chris Maguire who nevertheless sent keeper Brian Murphy, making his league debut for QPR three years after signing from Ipswich, the wrong way with a low shot.
The incident didn’t end there though. Joey Barton pursued the official again, chasing him down the pitch to deliver a further volley of verbal abuse. Eventually Tierney showed Barton a yellow card, his twelfth of the season, but still he continued chivying the official, despite Clint Hill’s intervention, and for one moment, when Tierney summoned him back for a second talking to, it looked like he might have talked himself into a red card. The referee showed leniency.
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And that rather summed up QPR’s attitude for the rest of the game - a victim’s mentality. Excuses already prepared. Woe is us. Isn’t life so unfair? Isn’t this so unjust? What’s the point in even trying anymore?
Maguire should have scored a second soon after, heading wide from close range when he was brilliantly picked out at the back post by a deep cross. Lavery sent an awkward cross past Murphy into the heart of the area but saw it hacked away, then immediately hit a long range strike straight at the keeper. A combination of Murphy and O’Neil on the line, or possibly slightly behind it, then kept out Nuhiu’s header from a corner.
If Rangers were pulled up for their appalling attitude to the situation at half time it certainly didn’t show in their performance during the second half. Harry Redknapp removed Junior Hoilett and Karl Henry at the break to send on Niko Kranjcar and Yun Suk-Young but the South Korean was one of three players to half-heartedly try and prevent Wednesday’s first meaningful attack of the second period and fail miserably. With Bobby Zamora chasing back the wrong side of Oguchi Onyewu, and Young’s powder puff effort at a tackle easily ignored by the big American, Wednesday were able to work Leon Best into the penalty area where Nedum Onuoha stood off, allowed him to turn , and could then only watch as he slammed the ball into the far bottom corner. Best's third goal for a third different club in five appearances against the team he spent time with on loan as a youngster.
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And Onuoha’s efforts must have looked like jolly japes to the rest of his team mates because they then all started to follow suit. The R’s stood off Nuhiu in the area and allowed him all the space and time he needed to bring the ball down but on that occasion the Austrian Albanian striker volleyed wide. Warning not heeded, Barton then made a shambolic attempt to stop Lewis Buxton setting himself up for a volley in the penalty area and this time the home player made no mistake with a sweet finish into the far corner. Barton, randomly, wandered around up front for a few minutes after that, and later by himself on the right wing, to no positive effect whatsoever. It was difficult to fathom exactly what he and his team mates were doing, and Wednesday still had 20 minutes at this point to inflict further damage.
Murphy made a comfortable low save from Lavery, then looked less sure with a 25 yard speculator from substitute Jermaine Johnson but turned the ball aside in unorthodox fashion all the same. Wednesday did their job well. They got the ball wide, they played with an attacking purpose, they even tried a few shots on goal — basic Championship stuff executed well, but an absolute revelation compared to what QPR and their mindblowing obsession with a pointless square pass are serving up at the moment. It seemed a total surprise to QPR on the night. They’re easily confused these days. Shots on goal? What is this sorcery?
The stats suggested QPR had two shots of their own, but it was hard to remember either of them. Nedum Onuoha headed a Joey Barton free kick well wide in the second half but that was as close as they came. Niko Kranjcar’s dribbled effort into the arms of goalkeeper Damian Martinez in injury time was cheered ironically by the few QPR fans who remained huddled together behind the goal. The apathy displayed by the team is quickly seeping into the support base — this was as small and quiet as a QPR travelling support has been for years and it’s not hard to understand why.
We could ask why these QPR players clearly and obviously gave up the ghost early last night. The Sheffield Wednesday fans around the table at the post match LFW curry night couldn’t believe how obvious the Rangers players made it that they were done for the evening as soon as Dunne disappeared own the tunnel.
We could also look back to a match at Reading in the 2010/11 promotion season when Hogan Ephraim was sent off in the first half of the game, against a far better side than this Sheff Wed outfit, but Rangers still had it within them to dominate the game and win 1-0 regardless. How have we gone from that to a point where one goal and a red card is a reason to clock off for the night?
We could ask why so many of those players who played that night at the Madejski Stadium are no longer with the club? Only Clint Hill played last night from that team. Why have we purged so many fantastic players and good servants from our club and replaced them with this spineless shower? Why has so much of that been done with so little opposition. The Rangers faithful should be up in bloody arms that people like Shaun Derry, Marc Bircham, Jamie Mackie, Adel Taarabt, Kaspars Gorkss, Matt Connolly and probably soon Ale Faurlin and Hill are just being allowed to leave our club but instead they sing the name of Joey Barton, who responds by representing out club in the manner he did on Tuesday. People talk about Karl Henry and Gary O’Neil being the right sort, but we’ve been ridding ourselves of the right sorts since Tony Fernandes arrived at the club. O’Neil, incidentally, had one of his nights where he wouldn’t have been able to complete a pass to a player in the same colours as him even if Wednesday had left the field and let him have a free crack at it.
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We could ask why we passed the ball straight to Sheffield Wednesday before the penalty in the first place - another aimless, sideways pass, that would have accomplished nothing even it had been completed correctly. Why are we playing this way? Why so negative? Why so hesitant to go forward? Why so reluctant to shoot? Why so obsessed with aimless possession in our own half? Seeing a team like Sheffield Wednesday play with three forwards and going to win the game was like watching another sport from a different planet.
We could ask why Bobby Zamora, after all his years in the game, still insists on grazing in the wide open spaces behind the opposition defence known by the rules of the game and everybody else in the sport as ‘bloody miles offside’.
We could ask why the second half was played out with Stuart Gray standing right on the touchline, making occasional adjustments to his already well-performing team and encouraging his players while Harry Redknapp, whose team was clearly in big trouble, spent almost the entire second 45 minutes sitting with his hands pressed into his jacket pockets on the bench.
We could ask why Tony Fernandes’ post match Twitter ramble included the line “when I’m back in April”. Should he not be here now, running this club? Are we suffering from having an absentee chairman? Are Philip Beard and Mark Donnelly, who officially run the club in his absence, doing their jobs well enough?
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Or we could make a load of excuses. Let's chase the referee across the pitch before the penalty kick has been taken, and then chase him back up the pitch and nearly reduce ourselves to nine men. Let's excuse our vastly overpaid professional players for literally giving up with an hour of football left to play and say "well we've got a lot of injuries." Let's excuse Tony Fernandes for the way he is running this club because he seems like a nice fella.
Because, at the end of the day, QPR are still fourth in the league and right in the thick of a promotion battle, so they must be doing something right however horrendous they look when they play like this. A difficult 2013/14 could yet finish with promotion into the Premier League. This game could be the arse kicking that sparked the final, crucial run of form. The injured players could all return just at the right time, refreshed and ready to carry the R’s forward.
Does this look like a squad with the character to win through the play offs though? I’ll leave that one with you, and them.
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Sheff Wed: Martinez N/A; Buxton 7, Helan 6, Loovens 7, Onyewu 7; Palmer 6, Lavery 7 (Prutton 84, -), Lee 6; Best 7 (Johnson 74, 6), Nuhiu 6, Maguire 7 (Afobe 84, -)
Subs not used: Davies, Coke, Mattock, Llera
Goals: Maguire 35 (penalty won Best), Best 51 (assisted Onyewu), Buxton 71 (unassisted)
Bookings: Buxton 28 (foul)
QPR: Murphy 5; Onuoha 4, Dunne 4, Hill 4, Hughes 3; Henry 4 (Kranjcar 45, 5), Barton 3; Hoilett 5 (Suk-Young 45, 4), Morrison 4, O’Neil 2 (Carroll 83, -); Zamora 2
Subs not used: Keane, Benayoun, Lennox, Maiga
Red Cards: Dunne 35 (professional foul, one match ban)
QPR Star Man — N/A
Referee — Paul Tierney (Lancashire) 7 Having poured over the penalty replays it’s clear Leon best knows exactly what he’s doing — waiting for the contract against his thigh from Dunne as he runs across the defender’s line and then sprawling to the floor as soon as it came. I still think it looks like a penalty, I think he would have reached the ball ha he not gone down hence a goalscoring chance and a red card, so the referee has the decision right. Even if you don’t agree though, remember that the official only gets one look, and that incident, at our end of the ground, looked like a penalty the moment it happened. In the end I actually think the referee was quite generous with QPR, leaving Joey Barton on when he was trying to talk himself down the tunnel with Dunne after that first goal.
Attendance: 18,029 (250 QPR approximately) I cannot recall sitting among such a tiny, and quiet, QPR away following in many a long year, and given the disaffection with the team and the club, the amount of games in March, the short notice of this fixture, the distance to travel on a midweek night, and the way the side is playing at the moment, it’s not hard to see why that was. At one point in the second half somebody near the front had a bit of an episode — standing up, red of face and flouncy of gesture, to make huge sweeping statements to everybody sitting behind him about how the club was screwed and being dreadfully run and we were all idiots for coming to see the team every week. Two stewards moved in but rather than throw him out, as would have happened 99 times out of 100, they took him to a row of empty seats further up the stand, sta him down and put an arm around his shoulders. It was that sort of night.
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RangerKIK added 22:05 - Mar 19
I haven't posted on this website all season but have still enjoyed reading all the match reports. However thought is was time to throw this into the mix. We certainly are not a good team now BUT let's not kid ourselves we haven't been a good team all season. The games we have won have been a complete and utter grind with Mr Austin getting a vital touch at some point during the game to take the points. Now we have Mr Morrison to take on that role. Even the games we have scored 3 have had a massive element of good fortune about them, they were never convincing. But in a league of shockingly average teams at least we do have the goals in the team to at least keep us in the hunt. So grit your teeth everyone, keep positive, accept it is the play offs at best, accept the football we will watch until then will make you want to stab yourself in the eye with a blunt pencil to relieve the bordem BUT please support this average bunch of misfits until the bitter end. It won't be pretty or entertaining but we still have a chance of grinding our way back to the promised land. Hang in there boys, this is when we need to sing louder and with more passion. Then whatever happens from now to the end of the season we will know we gave all we could. Hopefully the players will follow our lead. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | |
TacticalR added 22:36 - Mar 19
Had to watch this on a very poor stream, so I can't really pass definitive judgement, but from what I could see it looked terrible. It's not just that we didn't have attempts on goal, it's that we seemed to have problems getting anywhere near the goal. It's not that surprising that the penalty and sending off did for us, as we looked chronically short of ideas even with eleven players. Barton. People keep talking about desire and passion, but isn't Barton's problem that he can't control his emotions? O’Neil. Glad you mentioned him. He looked truly awful. Zamora. Although he looked OK against Yeovil, in that match he came on with 25 minutes left to go. It looks like he can't play a whole match, so there is no point in starting with him. It certainly doesn't feel like we're in the middle of promotion battle, because every time we've come up against a half-decent team we've been beaten. | ![](/images/avatars/7026.gif) | |
Northernr added 22:50 - Mar 19
As sure as night follows day, a positive Bobby Zamora cameo is followed by a fcking abysmal load of steamy sht over 90 minutes the game after. I'm almost at the stage now where I don't want him to come on and play well because it condemns us to several weeks of this sort of nonsense after it. | ![](/images/avatars/1005.gif) | |
JAPRANGERS added 23:00 - Mar 19
Thanks Clive, excellent article as usual! Can't see Rangers getting anything at Boro can you?? Away up North again? Another 2-0 or 3-0 surrender on the cards. Feel sorry for you hardy (crazy?) guys who travel all these distances. | ![](/images/avatars/1304.gif) | |
connell10 added 23:08 - Mar 19
great report clive and the bit at the end about the fan and stewards made me laugh! loved the bit about the arm round the shoulder, god ive needed that all season! | ![](/images/avatars/7025.gif) | |
Antti_Heinola added 23:13 - Mar 19
Apathy is right. I was making the point of how Redknapp wasted little time in stripping away the last few vestiges of Warnock's squad that Hughes hadn't already got rid of, how he seemed averse to playing any of that side with the exception of Green, but was shouted down on this board continually. I remember several of us railing against the Benayoun signing, only to be shouted down again, because he 'might be the player that gets us over the line.' Ha ha. Or when many of us knew what a joke signing Karl Henry was for £1m. And when that happens, and keeps happening, apathy sets in. Didn't go last night, forgot we were even playing until 10.10pm, looked at the score, shrugged, watched Barton's latest bout of fckwittery, shrugged again. Apathy. The only players that make me want to support this team are Austin, Hill and Faurlin, with possibly Onuoha and M Phillips somewhere behind. What an utter shambles. For all the nonsense about losing key players and strikers, let's look at a manager with a bit of integrity and a bit of nous, shall we? Kenny Jackett. Forced to let Leigh Griffiths and Kevin Doyle go late in January. OK, 2 poor results in the last week or so, but before that 9 straight wins, 25 goals scored, 2 conceded. Jackett's spent the last 3 months demanding more style and more goals. You are spot on Clive, what we've heard is excuses - injuries, we don;t know why we're not scoring, we're not that kind of team. What an utter load of spineless tosh. | ![](/images/avatars/5743.gif) | |
Antti_Heinola added 23:13 - Mar 19
Sorry, re: above, i meant 'with the exception of Clint' not Green, obvs. | ![](/images/avatars/5743.gif) | |
RangersAreBack added 23:38 - Mar 19
Depressing reading but hard to argue with. The only consolation is that many of them will be out of contract in the summer. Unfortunately they do not possess the integrity or pride to go out with a bang. | ![](/images/avatars/1928.gif) | |
Doughnut added 00:03 - Mar 20
I don't know how long it's gonna take (time left on various contracts...etc), but this lot have got to go! The whole team isn't fit for purpose, to coin a phrase. I look forward to the day a year or two down the road when, Jenas, Barton, O'neil, Green, Zamora, Ekotto, Benoyoun, little tom thumb, Johnson, Keane, Hoilett, Krankjar, Morrison, Honest Arry and uncle Tom Cobbly, are all just a bad memory; even if that means a lower league! TF....you've got to do something...sack somebody...cos we can't stand this rubbish anymore. | ![](/images/avatars/3560.gif) | |
schatfield added 00:59 - Mar 20
so, first things first, I am not a QPR fan, I am a Saints fan, but I do tend to read your site for a couple of reasons, firstly the writer of these articles does an amazing job (I wish the saints fans site was written this good). And I mean an amazing job, you sir truly are an excellent web writer. Secondly, I have been following QPR a little because of the vast fortune you spent on accumulating players (by the way, I think the financial fair play fines you will get at end of season will be astronomical) and because of a certain Harry Rednapp, our dear ex-leader. Most Saints fans saw a long time ago how Harry manages, first off shrug the shoulders and say how you had the bad end of luck and next when the going gets really tough, is to blame the injuries. Nice to see after all this time he hasnt changed a bit, despite the fortune he has spent on your team. I do wish you guys all the best in the future, and honestly, it would probably be better for you if u didnt get promoted. At least another season in the champo, and then Harry will resign, and you may get rid of some of these woeful players. You will likely be all the better for it. Good luck chaps. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | |
JAPRANGERS added 02:18 - Mar 20
Thanks schatfield for the kind sentiments! And yes Clive just has to be the best football writer around. | ![](/images/avatars/1304.gif) | |
francisbowles added 09:27 - Mar 20
Well done Clive, we may have to put up with crap football but at least we get entertained between matches. Long may it continue! Err the second bit! | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | |
francisbowles added 09:36 - Mar 20
A couple of thoughts. I know Will Keane hasn't been very good BUT WHY start Zamora? It is obvious to me he can't play more than 35 mins, he had a very good run on Saturday, scored a goal and hopefully improved his confidence. Now it's back to zero! Barton, he has done pretty well this season both with his form and his temper (by his standards). Let's hope that he realises (can be persuaded)he was fortunate not to talk himself into a red and cab get back to doing a good job for us. How the hell do we get anything at Middlesborough and stop this turning into another run of losses? | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | |
shooters47 added 09:43 - Mar 20
Cheers Clive. There was a time, and not that long ago, that I would have gone to this game but how anybody can watch this pile of dross every week is beyond me. What a wonderful gesture from Beard giving away shirts that they cannot get rid of to supporters who already have one!! Have an idea they would rather have had their fare back!! Bloody genius!! Hear through the grapevine that the after match party went on a bit too late though Clive..you deserve it mate!! | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | |
ActonOccident added 10:08 - Mar 20
Oguchi Onyewu, working his socks off, has won over the Sheff Wed fans and was recently profiled by the BBC for his aspirations for making the US squad in Brazil. Obviously not the right sort, though. Fitting that he got the assist. I wonder if it's scripted that Mackie will land a similar blow against us in the playoffs? | ![](/images/avatars/12529.gif) | |
Jeff added 10:11 - Mar 20
Shooters47 - i wouldnt say it went on too late - Simmo and I having a rap off to Coolio's Gangster's Paradise in The Harley at 3am seemed perfectly reasonable to me :D | ![](/images/avatars/1257.gif) | |
toboboly added 10:24 - Mar 20
"The Rangers faithful should be up in bloody arms that people like Shaun Derry, Marc Bircham, Jamie Mackie, Adel Taarabt, Kaspars Gorkss, Matt Connolly and probably soon Ale Faurlin and Hill are just being allowed to leave our club" Some of us have been but have then been told we are not loyal/fans/supporters etc. Glad I didn't go in the end. Redknapp is a clueless pr!ck and if TF goes on Tw@tter once more I will do something I regret. | ![](/images/avatars/1828.gif) | |
dixiedean added 11:52 - Mar 20
Shooters took the words out of my mouth . The photo of a smug Philip Beard handing out end of range shirts to people who more than likely already own one ( and might have been wearing it !) was not a good one. If they were planning a gesture of this sort, why not give them a £50 club shop voucher , which would be vaguely meaningful, as opposed to an empty gesture bordering on an insult and quite patronising . A PR own goal I think. Sorry to brown-nose Clive, but LFW if something we can all be proud of and the quality of writing is exceptional. Clive, I hope your day-job doesn't one day take you where you have to sacrifice LFW. The telling thing is that fans of other clubs often contribute and it is great to engage with the more cerebral ones who invariably praise the objectivity of your reports. Whilst we all have different players we have a liking/loathing for, it's amazing how much of what you write strikes a chord with my thoughts and those of many of us. I hope I'm wrong, but my prediction is that we get into play-offs and lose when Barton gets red-carded because he can't control himself in pressure situations ( remember Langers at Oldham ? ) Despite his occasional good on-field contributions I can't stand the bloke and rue the day he joined the club. Maybe my idea of " the right sort" and Harry's are very different. Let's start afresh at the end of the season with a new, young manager who is hungry - not sure if he's the right one, but Robinson from MK springs to mind or someone of that ilk. Pity we didn't get Rosler. I think he'll take Wigan up through play-offs :( | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | |
Hunterhoop added 13:28 - Mar 20
So many comments I want to support on here. It gets repeated, but deservedly so, Clive is a genuinely funny and excellent writer. The comment above that strikes a real chord with me is Antti's. Completely spot on as far as I'm concerned. We have a club filled with people I do not care for, probably because they don't care for the club. It's ridiculous to look back and see the change in personnel successive managers have delivered and what results it's brought. I also want to pick up on this "right sort" piece. It gets parodied all the time and rightly so, but you cannot underestimated the relevance of it. We do need "right sorts". They are crucial to a successful team and strong teamwork. You can accommodate the odd exception especially if they are driven to succeed as an individual too. What you cannot accommodate is people who don't care, who don't try, who don't appear to be fussed if we win or lose or even if they play well and contribute. You cannot accommodate players simply seeing out their last contract to top up their pension, players seemingly keen to come off injured and spend some time on the phyisio's table and players who seem intent of talking themselves into suspensions. I can only presume Redknapp's "right sorts" are those that he's worked with before, have "experience", play golf and have Willie McKay as an agent. The bloke is a spiv, conman and fraud. He is not a "manager". | ![](/images/avatars/2027.gif) | |
stainrodnee added 14:39 - Mar 20
Thanks Clive, especially liked the "bloody miles offside" comment about BZ and the "arm around the shoulder" re the steward. There is so much wrong, not just with the team, but with the whole club that I'd accept several/many years in this league if it meant getting back to a team with the spirit that Ollie built. A team with proper QPR players and one where youngsters are brought through and given the chance. One of Warnock's moves was to clear out the vast number of loan players he inherited. As you said Clive, HR hasn't just completed the dismantling of our last great team but unbelievably he's got it into his head that you can succeed with almost an entire team of loan players. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | |
themodfather added 17:19 - Mar 20
there was enough on the pitch v sheff weds to have got the draw, we over passed lost the ball and failed to stop them breaking....a weak pen and a red killed us....many teams dig deep after an injustice, we rarely do. 2-0 i switched the stream off and to bed, with the hump. i expected little in all honesty but hoped the draw would be achievable given the hugely paid team we had out. 1) i can't associate with one player any more, none are "qpr" and none are from the ranks 2) the unanswered questions of massive debts worries me to hell 3) we all feared , "what if austin got injured" , we all posted it....we had no back up in august and have none now, zamora and johnson were never going to do it....doyle is ok 4) reliance on loanees, shrugs shoulders and returns to home club as if nothing happened...cheers 5) mr beard can give a free shirt to those on the offy, he never paid for em, they are soon out of date anyway...a cheap stunt that upset others who went.....i read of a tyne tees fan, does he have to come to london to go to sheffield, and somehow get home for a freeby? | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | |
SimonJames added 23:55 - Mar 20
Excellent article again Clive. So we're hoping for a play off place, and then we're hoping that Wigan or Derby don't bother to turn up? Hmmm. But supposing we do miraculously get promoted, what then? Are we to be subjected to watching this shambolic, no style, no cohesion mess get put to the Premiership sword every week before coming straight back down to the Championship? Or would it be less painful to not get promoted (almost a certainty now), find a manager that can give us an effective, attractive style of playing, and build up a youthful team of hungry grafters? The sort of team that you enjoy watching, even when they get beat, because you know they gave it everything. Or are we (as is my fear) going to get no promotion, and be stuck with the majority of this lacklustre bunch of journeymen, putting even less motivated performances in next year than this? | ![](/images/avatars/11425.gif) | |
062259 added 03:42 - Mar 21
Hunterhoop, you forgot something. Dinosaur. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | |
tsbains64 added 16:35 - Mar 21
its when we are down and out that the real supporters come to the fore...COYRs | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | |
Burnleyhoop added 19:47 - Mar 21
We are all real supporters..........just hugely frustrated ones. Where's the effort, desire and belief? If we went down fighting having given our all we could all accept that, but to throw the towel in as we did against SW cannot be considered acceptable at any level. It simply beggars belief. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | |
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Blogs 31 bloggersKnees-up Mother Brown #19 by wessex_exile February, and the U’s enter the most pivotal month of the season. Six games in just four weeks, with four of them against sides also in the bottom six. By March we should be either well clear of danger, or even deeper in the sh*t. With Danny Cowley’s U’s still unbeaten, and looking stronger game on game, I’m sure it’ll be the former, but first we have to do our bit to consign Steve ‘Sour Grapes’ Cotterill’s FGR back to non-league. After our shambolic 5-0 defeat at New Lawn, nothing would give me greater pleasure, even if it meant losing one of my closest awaydays in the process. What’s the excuse going to be today Steve – shocking pitch, faking head injuries, Mexican banditry or some other bit of sour-grapery bullsh*t? Huddersfield Town Polls |