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Reply | Madsen
at 14:09 6 Feb 2025
I thought Madsen was good (quick and brave, allied to his obvious technical ability) when he went out on the left wing away to Luton, and after his goal, I really thought he would kick on. Sadly, we never saw anything close to that level of commitment again. I don't like giving up on player's but it seems a summer transfer with hopefully our money re-couped, might be the best scenario for all involved.
Celar is a different situation; he was playing at a time when we were absolute shite and he was only one of many contributing to that. Playing as a striker in a team not creating chances is really difficult. He was definitely showing signs of improvement and maybe when he gets back to full fitness and can train away without the glare of publicity and with the general mood around the club much more positive, hopefully he can kick on. His goals against Cardiff, were both great striker goals (albeit completely different) so he could become a valuable asset.
Dembele I am not sure about. He had regressed significantly before his injury from his flying start. Again though, there is the caveat that he was playing in a team bereft of confidence and any kind of form. I am not too concerned about him. Hopefully he comes good and adds another layer of dynamism and unpredictability in the final third. But if not, we are well equipped in this department already and would surely get our money back form a lower (not us, yaay) Championship club or upper League One outfit.
What we really need next summer is two full-backs. |
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Reply | penalty in the lead-up to Colback's goal?
at 16:04 5 Feb 2025
If he had given a pen, I wonder who was have taken it? Chair, Field? Maybe even Colback himself. Made me consider that without Frey, we have a very inexperienced (but talented) bunch of attacking players. |
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Reply | Dunne off?
at 14:35 5 Feb 2025
Yeah the Paal point is a fair one. I actually think he had shown great integrity considering the club clearly tried to move him on. I suppose no 'rule' is foolproof. But I do feel that we need to be more proactive in ensuring we get better deals for our better players. The next wave of talent coming along - Morgan, Kelly and Lloyd- it'll be interesting to see the club's (and the fans) stance on them in 2 years time |
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Reply | Dunne off?
at 12:33 5 Feb 2025
Hi Eastside, I don't think you can really mis-represent (and I'm summarising here) that you are thrilled that he is staying even if he leaves for free in the summer. As I said many fans feel the same way, but it is short-termism and does not benefit the club in any way. Whether Dunne stayed or went will have very little bearing on where we finish this season - which will probably be somewhere between 10th and 16th - but the 2M we (apparently) could have bagged for him, could, incrementally at least, have contributed to us being more financially competitive in this league. Whether Dunne leaves for free in the summer, or whether he stays for another 2/3 years he will never be as financially valuable to us again as he is now. He is a decent Championship player, no more, no less ( a thoroughly likeable and honest person, don't get me wrong), but the only reason, SU were even testing the water was because he was out of contract in the summer and they thought they could get him on the cheap. If they were really 'desperate' for a CB, their own John Egan was available on a free and surely a safe bet until the end of the season.
Of course, you are right when you say the player will ultimately decide when and where he will go, but that is not what I meant by saying we have to think about the club and not the player. The situation with Dunne and Paal, simply should not be allowed to happen. Sign an extension or be sold, with 2 years still on a contract should be the CLUB policy and I believe Nourry is edging towards that scenario. That is the only way the club can take back control. Think of all the great QPR players we have watched over the years, but once they leave - for whatever reason- we move onto the next one. Some players are always going to be more popular than others - Dunne and Paal are classic examples of that - but ultimately none of them are more important than moving the club forward. |
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Reply | Dunne off?
at 20:47 4 Feb 2025
This is in no way personally aimed at you Eastside R and I know you are in no way alone on this. But it is this short term vision that has us - and will keep us - a mid-table (at best) Championship club for the foreseeable future. It can never be about the player, it has to be about the club, if we are serious about moving forward. I have some faith in our CEO that he won't allow Jimmy to leave for free and a new contract will be announced in due course. I hope so, or this is a very bad deal for the club. |
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Reply | Dunne off?
at 22:52 3 Feb 2025
Agree - in fact I raised very similar points 7 pages ago. We need to follow the 'model' at ALL times even (especially) with popular players. It's has to be about the club not the player. |
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Reply | Dunne off?
at 10:30 3 Feb 2025
But I am not suggesting we 'cheer on a balance sheet'. I am saying enjoy Morgan, Lloyd, Kolli, etc now, and over the next couple of seasons as they develop and THEN sell them for a hefty profit. Re-invest and do it again. If the 'model' works then we should always be watching exciting young talent develop, before moving them on.
Of course you are also correct, at some point we have to 'go for it', but that should happen automatically when we are competing regularly at the top end of the table. Not when we put an unbeaten run of 12-14 games together and throw the kitchen sink at the 'holy grail', thereby undermining any good work over the previous year or two and finding ourselves back to square one. |
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Reply | Dunne off?
at 08:53 3 Feb 2025
Of course you are correct, but you are also missing the point. As QPR supporters we should be looking at what is best for the club holistically and long (or at least medium) term, rather than about individual players. Players come and players go, but our club is our club. If we are serious about the 'model' of buying cheap, developing and selling for a profit, then now is the optimum time to sell Dunne. We should accept 2M and not be holding out unrealistically for 3M.
We have missed the boat doing this so many times in the past, that we really should have learned our lesson by now. JCS should have been sold last summer. The way things have turned out, we have had to replace him anyway and yet we are still paying him a significant wage to sit in the treatment room. Selling him for 5m and bringing in Morrison for much less is exactly what we are supposed to be doing, but we still have a scatter-gun approach to it. Paal is in in exactly the same boat as Dunne, but not the subject of angst on here because he is not as popular as Dunne or playing as well currently. A year ago Dunne could have been sold without a murmur. To move the club forward to financial competitiveness with other clubs in this division, we have to move on our best players when they are at their most valuable. Otherwise you continue to get 1M for Dykes or Dickie et al, or worse still, nothing for the likes of BOS/Manning etc.
We can't just get it right for outstanding talents like Eze, we need to get it right ALL the time; 2M for Dunne, 4M for JCS (last summer) and so on. People celebrated Chair's new contract, I see it as another missed opportunity to sell a saleable asset. As supporters, we have to stop jumping up and down when a 'bigger' club gets linked with some of our better players, and instead view it as a stepping stone to financial competitiveness, with these so called bigger clubs. If Brentford, Fulham, Bournemouth and Crystal Palace can compete in the Premier league, so can we - but it takes time and short term pain along the way. |
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Reply | Dunne off?
at 21:44 2 Feb 2025
If we keep Dunne until the end of the season and then he leaves for free, that is a very bad idea. He should only be kept if he signs a minimum 2 year contract. |
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Reply | Yang Minh-Hyeok
at 22:45 30 Jan 2025
Fair enough, I didn't say I'd READ all 5 pages.  Don't think there was this much furore when Keegan signed for Southampton |
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Reply | Yang Minh-Hyeok
at 13:45 30 Jan 2025
Five pages on a potential loan signing of an unknown player - my word. |
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Reply | Rest of the Championship thread
at 20:54 22 Jan 2025
0-5 at half time - my word. Shame we didn't give them a tonking, would have done wonders for our g/d. But imagine if it had finished 0-0, so happy out. Other results going as well as could be expected tonight. |
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Reply | Chair
at 20:35 22 Jan 2025
Would prefer to take the positive from Chair's below par performance and relish the fact that we won without him, something that would not have happened a year ago. We obviously really struggled at the beginning of the season, and Chair's absence was a part of that. But while he has contributed to our up-turn with a couple of superb assists (by providing early crosses - who'd have thunk it) and only for poor finishing by Frey would have at least 2 more. However, we are much more the sum of the parts now, rather than reliant on one player.
But last night he was a little off (as was Morgan and Kolli imo) so we adjusted and won without him (and Cook/JCS - the mainstay of our central defence). I am actually very excited by what Saito may provide now that he he has finally broken his duck - and how! |
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Reply | Hull
at 22:43 20 Jan 2025
Gotta love the way some of our threads completely change direction from the initial points made. I'm with GaryBannister on this though. Think any 18-year-old kid should easily handle 3 games in a week. Although if I have one criticism of Morgan, it is his lack of stamina. His influence wanes in most games, so that is something to be worked on.
On the subject of 'modern kids' (yes I'm officially a boring old fart) inability to play more than the minimum requirement. My nephew had a match at 3pm last Saturday. At 10am many of his colleagues had 'county' (Gaelic training with the Sligo U16 development squad)training, for ONE HOUR. At the football match, many of his team-mates were dropping like flies with cramp! And the mammies were giving out at how OUTRAGEOUS it was that they were 'forced' to do both on the same day. |
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Reply | No other team in the Championship...
at 23:06 19 Jan 2025
Just digging a bit deeper into our transformation: In the 11 games between Sheffield Wed at home (where we got a very fortuitous point) on 14th Sept and Leeds away on Nov 9th we scored 6 goals and earned 7 points. I excluded the next game v Stoke (possibly a watershed moment) in order to include the last 11 games. In that period, starting with Cardiff on Nov 27th and concluding with Plymouth yesterday, we scored 17 goals and accrued 24 points. The only defeat in that run was the 3-0 reverse at Swansea.
It really shows the importance of confidence and momentum. In the games against Cardiff, Oxford and especially Bristol City, we rode our luck. If those games - as they easily could have - had yielded different results, we wouldn't be close to where we are now and probably Marti would be gone. Even though we had put in a couple of decent performances (Watford away and Norwich at home) prior to Oxford, it is only since Preston at home that we have played consistently well (with the obvious exception of Swansea) and are getting the results to match. It has been debated on other threads the key to our turnaround and I wont regurgitate that here, except to say that I believe hard work, confidence and good fortune are the reasons for our upturn in fortunes. |
| | Myke
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