| The LFW Confession Box 20:55 - Apr 28 with 9930 views | Superhoops2808 |
So now we are safe and looking forward to being able to enjoy not just the next game but a whole week in the lead up, time for a little fun.
Let’s open up the LFW Confession Box – Its time to admit whether you thought we would be safe, relegated or if you are L-Block thought we would be relegated by Christmas (Just kidding mate) – At what point did your opinions change etc throughout the season. I know there were many that dreaded this season even before it had started, and the first game didn’t nothing to settle that.
I’ll start the ball rolling. As many know, I was quite vocal at the start of the season and confess to jumping all over people who thought we were going to be relegated before the season had even started. Just before Gareth went, I was very nervous that I was going to have to eat my words because we were all over the place – 6 in a row and I decided I was wrong - League 1 was beckoning.
The game that turned my opinion and made me think we could do it, was the away win to Blackburn. We had been shocking in January and I don’t recall us ever winning up there despite supporting the Rrrr’s for almost 50 years. After that, we seemed to stop conceding from set pieces and defending better and apart from having a minor wobble after Easter was relatively sure we would survive.
So come on, cleanse your souls and lets hear your thoughts and emotions over the season and did your opinion on the outcome change.
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| The LFW Confession Box on 06:57 - Apr 29 with 2005 views | ngbqpr |
Pre-season - no chance
End of August - tiny glimmers of possible hope.
Boro away - hey we look half decent
Rest of Sept / Oct - fck me we're completely doomed, please make it stop.
Rotherham away. I like the cut of this man's jib.
Stoke home - we've turned the corner! 4 bloomin' goals!
Hull home - turned the corner and into the straight
Plymouth home - just a blip
Wednesday - from home & hosed to definitely doomed in my worst 10 minutes of the season
Xmas and Jan - gloom. Still impressed by Marti but we've reverted to type and even he can't stop it.
Last day of window - interesting, very interesting.
Feb - this is when belief coursed through my veins (lucky Bristol came just 3 days after Stoke in A Tale of Two Very Different City Performances)
Leicester / WBA - dreamland.
Boro / Mackems - why can't we shake off these pesky other teams? Why does Wednesday's new bloke have to be as good as our new bloke?
March 29 - Jimmy Jimmy- Jimmy Jimmy oooohhhh!
Swansea - tell me that I'm dreaming
Then 1 point from 9 - but genuinely felt that too many other teams needed snookers to catch us
PNE - phew
Leeds - suspect we may be safe |  |
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| The LFW Confession Box on 07:55 - Apr 29 with 1936 views | mart_Goblin |
Loads of moments where I thought we were certainly doomed
- last game of last season
- Wimbledon & Oxford pre season friendlies
- Watford away
Then Coventry and Blackburn at home and it became zero hope even if we made a change .
Then MC came in and the first game, we didn’t win it at Rotherham but you could see the how we might improve . However even up until a week or 2 ago I doubted the squads mentality to get us over the line . The manager and the team deserve so much credit .
Also this time last year I wrote Jimmy Dunne off as a league 1 player at best . He was awful , but since that Bristol City game he had been a revelation and shoved my criticism back down my throat and I couldn’t be happier about it . I was so happy the Junior R’s voted him POTY. Well done Jimmy |  | | |
| The LFW Confession Box on 08:33 - Apr 29 with 1889 views | paulparker |
When Marti took over I said it was to late and I couldn’t see any other teams being dragged into a relegation scrap , I thought us Rotherham and Wednesday were doomed and to far gone
Well I was wrong and never in a million years did I think our lot had the balls for the fight |  |
| And Bowles is onside, Swinburne has come rushing out of his goal , what can Bowles do here , onto the left foot no, on to the right foot
That’s there that’s two, and that’s Bowles
Brian Moore
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| The LFW Confession Box on 08:44 - Apr 29 with 1892 views | saxbend |
When we beat Hull I thought we might have a chance if we made the most of our run of home games in January. We didn't, so I was prepping myself for relegation then, until we beat Millwall and thought maybe we still have a chance.
After the Norwich game I really believed we could do it. Losing at Stoke had me worried again but by that point I felt we were capable of staying up, especially with the form of Birmingham.
When we beat Leicester it became a question of exactly how many points we would need and whether any or them would have to come from Coventry. I was confident we would do it one way or another. |  | | |
| The LFW Confession Box on 09:01 - Apr 29 with 1862 views | Spaceman_P |
I personally was 50/50 the whole season, I only felt okay when we got 3 goals against Leeds. |  | | |
| The LFW Confession Box on 09:01 - Apr 29 with 1862 views | slmrstid |
I thought we were doomed in August, I thought anyone who thought any other manager would keep the squad up were barmy. I loved Ainsworth as a player, still do, but accept he was unfortunately a disaster as manager.
I am so, so, so glad to be wrong. Marti has been fantastic and I hope we get a full year of him next year with a stronger squad.
That said, I think it was still touch and go until the end of January, those four signings transformed the team. I think if Marti still had to be using Dozzell and Kakay we'd be doomed. Even then I worried it was too late, the Stoke game I thought we'd fkd it. Then we won at Bristol City and Leicester and I started to think it could be on. |  | | |
| The LFW Confession Box on 09:16 - Apr 29 with 1796 views | dmm |
For me, it was a season defined by three 4-0 games.
Watford away. 0-4 defeat. I was embarrassed, deflated and knew we were in trouble.
Blackburn home. 0-4 defeat. I was furious, despondent and resigned to relegation.
Leeds home. 4-0 victory. I was amazed, relieved and exhausted by it all.
I am still amazed, relieved and exhausted - also happy the season is almost at an end. It's been, for most part, a long hard slog. But, I feel certain we'll have a very different season under Cifuentes, and I will be champing at the bit for more come our first game of 24/25. |  | | |
| The LFW Confession Box on 09:28 - Apr 29 with 1734 views | Watford_Ranger |
Fancied us from when Paal got that equaliser at home to Hudds but didn’t give us a hope when Cifuentes took over. That Ainsworth team, last season and this, was atrocious. More talented but as bad as the team at the turn of the century.
Whether it’s the skill of the medical guys or luck, for all of Cifuentes’ ability and the signings made, it’s the fitness of the players that has kept us up for me. I don’t dislike Fox or Dunne but if either had had to play many games at CB over Cook/Clark-Salter we’d probably be where Huddersfield are now. Getting Willock vaguely firing has been huge. Even keeping Dykes fit rather than having to play Sinclair for a prolonged spell from the start has made a difference as much as I don’t rate Dykes.
45 points would’ve kept us up last season so we’ve had no choice but to get quite a lot better in what I’d argue is a stronger bottom of the league. |  | | |
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| The LFW Confession Box on 09:32 - Apr 29 with 1725 views | BostonR |
I’ve been around long enough to know that you can never predict what happens in football. In September, I was thinking with Gareth in charge we’ve no chance.
At Xmas with the 1-1 (last minute equaliser) vs Huddersfield ,I thought things might just be turning. From there, I thought we’d stay up, but that it would go the last game.
Crazy to think that if we win on Saturday and Watford lose, we will end up on the same points and who thought that might be the likely season outcome back in August? |  | | |
| The LFW Confession Box on 09:55 - Apr 29 with 1686 views | londonscottish |
Like others I was amazed at what Cifuentes was doing but kept worrying that it was going to be too little too late. And then the Stoke debacle happened and almost felt relieved at the end of any hope.
Then some miracles happened.
I can still barely believe what happened on Friday. I bumped in Clive when I walked into the C&S and tried to string a few words together in some sort of logical sequence but couldn't. My brain was still struggling to make sense of what had just hapened.
UUUUUURRRRRRSsssssssss!!! |  |
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| The LFW Confession Box on 10:01 - Apr 29 with 1677 views | TeddRanger |
I thought Ainsworth would be a success given what he'd achieved with Wycombe.
I was wrong.
I thought we would get relegated until vey recently.
I was wrong.
Confession time over  | | | |
| The LFW Confession Box on 10:16 - Apr 29 with 1649 views | daveB |
I've felt confident we'll stay up ever since the Paal equaliser against Huddersfield but have to say I wobbled a bit after the Hull game as I didn't think we had it in us to win 2 of the last 3, so glad i was wrong
The Blackburn 0-4 game remains the worst home performance of my lifetime, I hope I never see anything as bad as that again
[Post edited 29 Apr 10:16]
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| The LFW Confession Box on 10:23 - Apr 29 with 1616 views | DavieQPR |
Well my maths have improved with the number of times I looked at the table and did different 'what if' calculations. |  | | |
| The LFW Confession Box on 10:40 - Apr 29 with 1582 views | Jimboqpr |
The early season form and style of football was so demoralising I 100% thought we were down by October. Around that time it was a clusterf*ck of poor management (on and off the field), bad refereeing decisions like the Swansea home match where he handled it into the goal and one or two injuries in key positions, I just thought there's just no chance here. Then Marti came in and had the first new manager bounce in QPR history (sort of!), but a large part of me still thought, at least it wont look embarrassing when we go down now, he's installed some fight and something for us to get behind and build on from League One (faint hope 80% thought we were going down). Our dreadful Christmas/New Year period (do we ever do well at Christmas?) pushed me back to 90% going down again. The Millwall win gave me slight hope but the performance against Huddersfield quickly took it away again, I was convinced we'd need to win that, so I still didn't really think it was on. But then the January window closed and we signed three players (Frey, Anderson & Hodge) who I hadn't heard of and Issac Haydn who I thought was a really good player from what I remember of him. After watching a few youtube clips of goals Anderson and Frey had scored in the Danish and Swiss prem and reading a few references on Hodge, a little bit of blind hope crept in. Maybe they'll be amazing?! Maybe we'll go on a run?! Cant be any worse that what we've got! So I think I started to think maybe something could happen after we beat Blackburn away and Hodge scored the winner with the sort of calm finish we'd been lacking for ages (60-70% going down still). Side topic what happened to Joe Hodge?! scored a crucial goal on debut, was part of the Stoke non performance and was never really seen again due to the improving form of others but I'll always remember his goal as one of the turning points for me. Anyway after Blackburn (Stoke aside) we got a lot better and the new players had an impact (Frey against Norwich) Anderson (Norwich & Bristol) and Haydn was just very good consistently around that time. But like many others have said the Leicester win was the one that pretty much tipped the scales to 50/50 for me. Followed by the brilliant WBA performance. It was the Dunne goal that really had me believing though, as Clive said that was 'the moment' we'd been looking for that was one of the best moments id seen in ages at Loftus road and paved the way to survival (with one or two twists along the way!). Confession over. [Post edited 29 Apr 10:59]
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| The LFW Confession Box on 10:42 - Apr 29 with 1575 views | londonscottish |
| The LFW Confession Box on 10:23 - Apr 29 by DavieQPR |
Well my maths have improved with the number of times I looked at the table and did different 'what if' calculations. |
When Clive posted that flow chart I started bricking it. If we hadn't managed that win this week would have been miserable and Saturday terrifying. | |
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| The LFW Confession Box on 11:06 - Apr 29 with 1520 views | BlackAndGoldRanger |
I had a tenner on us to go down at the start of the season.....cashed out for a small profit when Marti took over. I thought the squad had too much to go down but was being completely mis-managed. Saying that I was certain we would go down when Huddersfield took the lead at LR and barely celebrated the equaliser, looks a big goal now.
Similar feeling when Birmingham took the lead at ours. Should probably just wait until the end of the match rather than having wild mood swings. | | | |
| The LFW Confession Box on 11:19 - Apr 29 with 1487 views | BrianMcCarthy |
The only concern at the start of the season was whether we'd hang on to Ainsworth for too long. I think I was worrying that we had. Can't really remember. But from Cifuentes first game in charge I was optimistic we'd be stay up, and never really worried there after. Serious, serious manager. |  |
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| The LFW Confession Box on 13:20 - Apr 29 with 1394 views | ParkRoyalR |
| The LFW Confession Box on 10:16 - Apr 29 by daveB |
I've felt confident we'll stay up ever since the Paal equaliser against Huddersfield but have to say I wobbled a bit after the Hull game as I didn't think we had it in us to win 2 of the last 3, so glad i was wrong
The Blackburn 0-4 game remains the worst home performance of my lifetime, I hope I never see anything as bad as that again
[Post edited 29 Apr 10:16]
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Agree on Blackburn game worst than Arsenal + Newcastle 0-6 defeats, sure that was the game I saw Colback coaching SDM and just thought what gave you been doing all week in training, truly shocking. | | | |
| The LFW Confession Box on 13:32 - Apr 29 with 1373 views | lassel |
During the Xmas period I was resigned to us finishing bottom - we were having to play Kakay which was akin to giving a 1 goal head start and I had heard from people close to Marti that the club was an absolute shitshow behind the scenes. I even PM’d North on here to see if he’d heard similar as I thought it must be hyperbole.
The success of Marti must be measured not only in the onfield results but also in him ruthlessly binning off those nowhere near the standard required and those letting themselves down behind the scenes. | | | |
| The LFW Confession Box on 14:05 - Apr 29 with 1273 views | Juzzie |
Under the start we had with Ainsworth I really thought we'd go down. Never has a fan base wanted a manager to succeed as much as him but he really was out of his depth. 5 wins in 28 games (17% win rate) over end of last season and beginning of this one says it all sadly.
When Marti came in and stopped a 6 game losing streak and lost just one of the next 7 gave renewed hope we'd be OK, just. However, a really bad mid-December to mid-January where we went 7 games without a win and it dragged us back in again and I thought we'd lost the chance.
But with just four defeats (though each one felt like it was double that) since then to now got us out of the schit and into safety.
When did I think we'd be OK? (even though not mathematical at that point)... I'd say Easter. |  | | |
| The LFW Confession Box on 14:06 - Apr 29 with 1263 views | robith |
I was pretty adamant we were going down until I realised the wild Jimmy Dunne shot I was about to give out to my mate about had actually gone in. That's the stuff that happens to teams who stay up |  | | |
| The LFW Confession Box on 14:13 - Apr 29 with 1242 views | loftus77 |
Full Confession: When we went 3-0 up on Friday night and not a second before.
Before that it was either a disastrous but 'resigned to it in the best Millers-style' relegation (Aug to early Jan) or a gut-wrenchingly unlucky 'what-might-have-been-for-20 years' type of relegation (Feb to Fri 26 Apr (9.20pm-ish)). But a relegation nonetheless. Could not see any happy way out of this traumatic season (despite Marti/Xavi) and Sheff Wed Home seemed to confirm it. Too much damage had been done, on any sober assessment. 20+ weeks in the bottom 3? Just Remarkable. [Post edited 29 Apr 14:16]
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| The LFW Confession Box on 15:03 - Apr 29 with 1157 views | Spaghetti_Hoops |
Bet on relegation at 3/1 in late July.
Cashed out at evens in mid February.
After the Bristol City 0-1 away win the bookies odds flipped from odds on relegation to odds against and stayed that way, steadily lengthening.
I was pretty confident from then that we would avoid relegation barring bad injuries to key players. The momentum was in our favour.
The relegation drama generated on this message board seems to be mostly stirred up by lifelong pessimists who can only ever see the worst happening and the opposition turning into world beaters. Bless them.
How many seasons is it now that they have been telling us we're doomed? | | | |
| The LFW Confession Box on 15:08 - Apr 29 with 1121 views | Northernr |
We were dead under Ainsworth. We'd have been lucky to match Rotherham's total.
The issue I had is every time I started to think we'd be fine we did something daft. I was feeling pretty good going to Sheff Wed, and I thought we'd win there. After that I was miserable about it all for another months or two, then had just started to feel pretty upbeat again and thought we'd win... at Stoke. Same thing happened at home to Sheff Wed. |  | | |
| The LFW Confession Box on 15:11 - Apr 29 with 1087 views | benhurst |
Up until Sinclair scored at Cardiff I was hoping we might maybe get a point eventually, by the start of September I thought we'd be okay and I couldn't believe how quickly it all went horribly wrong.
When Martí came in I thought we had a chance, and I've been confident about our chances since the Stoke win (although the Stoke and Hull away games came close to changing my mind). It was clear that a major issue over the Christmas break was JCS and Cook not being able to do so many games back-to-back, and everything started coming together as soon as we stopped having a game every 3 days. | | | |
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