QPR maintained their Premiership status by the skin of their teeth in 2011/12, but must learn from their mistakes if they’re to avoid similar terror next term.

It was mighty close, but QPR have completed an important second phase of a three step programme towards Premiership consolidation by avoiding relegation this year. Promotion was part one, staying up in the first season is part two, staying up next season is part three and thereafter, by and large, we’d only have ourselves to blame for letting our top flight status slip.

You see while we’ve been gone, the turkeys downstairs have voted for Christmas. The Championship clubs we left behind have, very nobly, approved stringent financial fair play rules that will come into effect next season. They will, as I understand them, place heavy financial penalties on any team winning promotion from the Championship while spending above their annual turnover. Fines will only be levied against sides that break the rules and win promotion, so as not to financially cripple clubs that gamble on reaching the big time and lose, and The Telegraph reports that our club would have been fined £15m for recording a £25.3m loss in our title winning season. Any money accumulated through fines will be redistributed to compliant clubs to spend on youth academies and such like.

This is all very worthy indeed, and long overdue. The problem it creates though is a fairly obvious one: it’s going to severely hamper the promoted clubs until you can get the Premiership to agree to a similar system.

QPR, according to Sporting Intelligence, took home £43m last season in television money alone. Prize money, sponsorships, ticket sales, merchandising etc etc etc all goes on top of that. To go from competing in a Championship league on a Championship turnover, even if you are overspending on it, into one where teams are earning this sort of money is difficult enough as it is – although given all three teams survived this season not as difficult as some would have you believe. To go from being forced to spend within a Championship turnover into a league where teams are given up to £90m a season and can spend over and above that as they wish will be nigh on impossible for most. Teams will either have to budget in the enormous fine and ignore the rules, or yo-yo between the divisions multiple times and accumulate money for a concerted push years down the line.

These rules, if applied strictly, will, in my opinion, create a situation within three years where the three newly promoted teams are almost certain to be relegated immediately each season and within six years people will be seriously discussing abolishing promotion and relegation altogether. This year’s trio – Southampton, Reading and West Ham – will represent the last of the genuinely competitive promoted clubs and Sam Allardyce said as much after the Hammers’ victory at Wembley last week.

Therefore QPR must remain above the dotted line for one more season. They can help themselves in this aim by taking on board the following lessons from the season just gone…

Remember who got you here

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. This time last year I can recall happily tapping away that QPR had built a Championship team to win the Championship and would now need to completely dismantle it and start all over again with a new set of players for the Premiership. People like Shaun Derry, Clint Hill and Jamie Mackie had surprised me the previous season, contributing to a wonderful success despite few fans being overly enamoured with their signings initially, but I believed the Premiership would definitely be beyond them.

It seemed Neil Warnock agreed. If anybody was going to support the cause of those players - particularly people like Hill, Derry and Paddy Kenny - it was surely Warnock who had signed them on more than one occasion before and knew them inside out. He believed that Kieron Dyer, Danny Gabbidon, Jay Bothroyd, DJ Campbell and Bruno Perone were better bets and then, when new money arrived, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Joey Barton, Anton Ferdinand, Jason Puncheon and others. Initially it seemed he was right, and Rangers quickly recovered from poor defeats against Wigan and Bolton with the old guard in place to record impressive performances and results against Wolves and Newcastle with only really Ale Faurlin and Paddy Kenny holding down regular places. But as the going got tough, the new boys stopped performing and started acting up.

Heidar Helguson was first to come back into the picture. Unbelievably behind even Patrick Agyemang in the pecking order in August, he returned with a goal against Blackburn and quickly notched nine by January when sadly injury curtailed his impact. Clint Hill was loaned out to Nottingham Forest by Warnock and finished up as the QPR Player of the Year. Warnock, in fairness, did have enough faith in Jamie Mackie to include him in the 25-man squad while injured but picked Wright-Phillips ahead of him most of the time. Slowly as the season went on Warnock, and then later Hughes, returned to the old guard that had won the Championship the previous season – Hill, Derry, Mackie, Helguson, Adel Taarabt – and they were the star performers in an unlikely escape bid.

We’d do well to remember that this summer. There is no need for another six or seven new signings, the basis of a very good starting 11 is here already and extremely committed to the cause.

Get street smart

QPR had a league record equalling nine red cards this season, two of them going to our captain Joey Barton who also picked up ten yellows along the way. Yet according to Opta QPR were also the most fouled team in the Premiership, and only Newcastle’s Jonas Guttierez (86) was sinned against more than Barton (60). This tells me something I already knew; QPR are a naïve team, rather than a dirty one.

The incident that sticks in my mind on this topic comes from the Manchester City home match when Jamie Mackie burst forwards into the Loft End penalty area past Stefan Savic who was enduring a torrid afternoon at the hands of a high tempo, hard working Rangers attack. Savic lunged out his leg as Mackie skirted past him right under the nose of referee Martin Atkinson. Was it a foul? No. Would it have been given as a penalty had Mackie gone down? Almost certainly. We’d have drawn that game had Helguson converted the spot kick.

Now, personally, this makes me love Jamie Mackie even more than I already do. After the match Warnock told him he should have gone down and Mackie told him “I don’t really know how to boss.” It also makes me proud of our little club, that it stuck it to the big boys and stayed in the league while refusing to engage in the flagrant cheating that blights our top division.

However, I’m getting rather tired of watching our honest team play within the spirit of the game while others flout it to our disadvantage. The circle jerk around Norwich City this season never once stopped spunking for a moment to recognise that people like Grant Holt and Bradley Johnson persistently engage in gamesmanship to win free kicks, penalties and sendings off for the other team. This is something nobody at QPR apart from Taarabt and Helguson seem capable of doing, and even they don’t do it very well.

Let’s take Joey Barton’s two reds for instance. Imagine how different life might have been for QPR, and Barton in particular, had he collapsed to the ground clutching the back of his leg when Johnson ran behind him and deliberately kicked him in the calf muscle during the January meeting between QPR and Norwich at Loftus Road. QPR were on the attack and might have gone onto score, or referee Neil Swarbrick and linesman Dave Richardson may actually have seen it and sent Johnson off. Likewise at Man City on the final day, where Barton could easily have collapsed to the floor holding his head when Carlos Tevez struck him off the ball. QPR could have found themselves 1-0 up and playing ten men against Norwich, and level at 1-1 playing ten very nervous City players at Eastlands. Instead Barton stayed on his feet and retaliated and was sent off himself on both occasions.

Djibril Cisse was sent off against Wolves for getting straight up after a horrendous tackle and grabbing the perpetrator by the throat. Had he stayed down clutching his leg and screaming perhaps Roger Johnson would have been sampling the early bath water instead. We’d have been 1-0 up and dominating against either ten men or 11 men with a notoriously rash centre half on a booking. Instead we were the ones punished and went on to lose to a relegation rival.

Aston Villa and Chelsea have both taken positive results from Loftus Road this season thanks to players diving in our penalty area to win spot kicks. I can only recall Helguson falling theatrically in similar circumstances against Chelsea in the league game and even then he was fouled, whereas Barry Bannan and Daniel Sturridge certainly weren’t.

I’m not, quite, advocating cheating here. Merely suggesting we could do with being a little bit wiser to the darker arts of the Premier League.

Get ruthless

Along similar lines, for every lousy penalty decision or Bob Pollock nightmare that went against us this season I can recall at least two gilt edged chances missed by our players. West Brom, Aston Villa and Newcastle at home should all have been comfortable wins and in the away game at Villa Park Rangers were soft in conceding a two goal lead and far too happy with a point having been in such a position against a poor team. That could have been eight extra points which could have had us as high as thirteenth above Sunderland and Stoke and safe long before the last day at any rate.

By contrast I don’t recall too many opponents missing too many sitters against us (lovely, lovely Peter Crouch not included). Extra shooting practice for all, every half chance must be seized and cherished.

Success is grown in the summer

The January transfer window is a highway to hell for the terminally stupid. By all means if that game changing player becomes available, or the parent club of your long term target in a position you need to fill suddenly hankers after a bit of extra cash, then write a cheque or two and add a new face. But do not try and rebuild your team in January, and do not base survival hopes on business you can do in that four weeks. QPR did both this season and had they started performing even 15 minutes later than they did (against Liverpool) they’d have paid for it with their Premiership status.

Everything is about the summer; it sets the entire tone and ethos for the season. By the end of August you need to have a strong starting 11 that has, by and large, done a full pre-season together and is fully in tune with each other’s game, the manager and his wishes, the system and style of play and the spirit of the club. Major additions to the team or changes to management thereafter are highly risky and, as we’ve seen with Wigan this season, you’re just as likely to survive by sticking with what you have no matter how bleak things get than tearing everything up and starting again.

Last season Neil Warnock wasted far too many point winning opportunities in November and December and then wrote it off as “wait until I get more players in January” which undermined confidence in the squad and turned key players against him. Then when Rangers went for a complete overhaul of the squad and management in January it took until March for things to begin to click and even then, as I say, they only clicked with about 15 minutes to spare against Liverpool. Any later and we’d have been down.

Last summer was beset with takeover talk, differing budgets and ultimately panic buying of some players we didn’t need and others who didn’t fit well with the club. In amongst it all we lost crucial games to Bolton and Wigan. This summer has to be meticulously planned and executed.

Buy on scout reports, not reputation

Alan Pardew, deservedly, took the League Manager’s Association award for the Premiership Manager of the Season after leading unfancied Newcastle into fifth place this season. Back in September when they came to Loftus Road I asked regular guest columnist and Magpies fan James Harrison whether his club were deliberately trying to get relegated, placing their faith in unheard of foreign players and allowing the backbone of the side – Kevin Nolan, Andy Carroll, Joey Barton – to leave. He told me to wait and see, and that people in the north east were confident of a top half finish, and he was dead right.

Newcastle, and chief scout Graham Carr, unearthed absolute gems like Yohann Cabaye, Hatem Ben Arfa, Papiss Cisse and Cheik Tiote on the continent while Carroll, Nolan, Barton and others struggled elsewhere.

Pardew’s closest competition for the top LMA prize came from Brendan Rodgers at Swansea and Paul Lambert at Norwich. Both showed the value of sticking with the nucleus of the squad that achieved the promotion in the first place, as discussed already, but also added intelligently to this squad with unheralded names. Lambert took Anthony Pilkington from League One Huddersfield, Steve Morrison and Jonny Howson from Championship sides Millwall and Leeds, and excelled. Rodgers meanwhile replaced influential departing goalkeeper Dorus De Vries with Dutchman Michel Vorm who was many pundits’ pick as the keeper of the season in the top flight while De Vries was relegated as second choice at Wolves.

QPR, in a mad post-takeover panic and in an attempt to conduct a summer of transfer activity in ten days, plumped for players everybody had heard of who ultimately cost the club millions and delivered next to nothing in return; of the summer transfers only Armand Traore and, possibly, Anton Ferdinand look like reasonable investments. The rest – Dyer, Gabbidon, Wright-Phillips, Barton, Young, Bothroyd, Campbell – have made very little positive contribution.

The signing of the season was, arguably, Samba Diakite who nobody had heard of prior to his arrival once again showing the value of good scouting over and above reputations and favoured agents. Thankfully Diakite is by no means a one off for Mark Hughes who previously picked up Chris Samba at Blackburn and Moussa Dembele at Fulham in similar circumstances.

Settle down

QPR used 35 players this season, two shy of Middlesbrough’s league record of 37. This clearly cannot happen again but just to reemphasise that point let’s consider this. Between October 24 and April 11 QPR played 23 times with a variety of back fours and two different goalkeepers without keeping a clean sheet in the league. When Mark Hughes then settled on a back four of Taye Taiwo, Clint Hill, Anton Ferdinand and Nedum Onuoha in front of Paddy Kenny the R’s recorded shut outs in three of their final six games.

Hughes clearly bought Onuoha as a centre half - and he may well end up there - and probably intended to use Luke Young and Armand Traore far more than he did. But the value of keeping a settled team, particularly at the back, was there for all to see in those closing home games. Understandings were built, partnerships formed, and QPR looked like a team rather than a rabble just thrown together at the last minute.

Stick together

The atmosphere at Loftus Road for the final four home games after the Liverpool victory was outstanding – probably the best I’ve ever known over a prolonged period of time. I have loved seeing the molly coddled Premiership darlings out of their comfort zone in our cave, but for too many games through the winter the place was flat and quiet. We’ve seen the impact we can have from the stands so let’s keep up the good work.

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Pictures – Action Images

Photo: Action Images

JB007007 added 21:03 - May 28 I agree with a lot of that Clive. We won the Championship because NW got the players in early and had that wonderful pre season where everyone was settled and bonded. Last summer he was unlucky with all the upheaval, but then bought badly with players that no one else wanted - costing too much as well. Only today, I said to someone it wouldn't be disasterous if we didn't sign anyone this summer, with the exception of Diakite and Taiwo. I believe the same squad would have a far better season next time. Having said that, I think we could do with another GK, CB and MF.

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SheffieldSteve added 21:10 - May 28 Nice one, Clive, and now we have to trust that Hughes will fashion a team that doesn't falter next season, and, taking into account what you have written, and how the nucleus of the team he has been developing played at the end of the season, I think he will succeed... WE ARE QPR!
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TacticalR added 21:32 - May 28 Thanks Clive. I think we're all a lot wiser now than we were a year ago. As for 'settling down' perhaps we can finally do this under Hughes. He is a hard man to warm to, and seems almost bland at times, but hopefully his calmness will see us through the coming storms and his scouting team will unearth some decent players. At least with the Mike Rigg appointment we won't be completely dependent on Joorabchian. 'These rules, if applied strictly, will, in my opinion, create a situation within three years where the three newly promoted teams are almost certain to be relegated immediately each season and within six years people will be seriously discussing abolishing promotion and relegation altogether.' One thing that has bothered me since the foundation of the Premier League is that there didn't seem to be much choice about spending a lot of money when you got promoted. It was actually 'sensible' to spend money because if you didn't spend enough then you would get relegated. If you still got relegated after spending that money everyone would denounce you as foolish, but there was actually a good reason for this 'foolishness'. Perhaps a few yoyo clubs such as West Brom have mastered the art of not going too high or too low in the league, and not spending too much or too little, but most haven't. Instead established clubs like QPR, Coventry, Manchester City, Nottingham Forest, Charlton and Southampton have taken a voyage to the third tier for the first time in decades. But these FA rules sound like a cure that is worse than the disease. Get ruthless I think some players just aren't into the dark arts. Taarabt is pretty good at dropping like a stone when fouled in the penalty box, but I do not believe a player like Faurlin is either or willing or capable of peforming the kind of professional foul that Warnock lambasted him for not executing (in fact it was his well-timed tackle on Drogba that led to Drogba being sent off at Loftus Road).

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DesertBoot added 21:32 - May 28 Great reading again Clive. We do seem to be the "nice guys". Bar some glaringly obvious blunders do we seem to query officials. I love Mackie for not going down against Arsenal. Instead staying on his feet to tee up Samba for the winner. On the other foot, WBA strolled through our midfield to snatch an equaliser in a game we (with Cisse might have done so) should gave won three or four nil. Exciting pre-season ahead of us regardless.

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jamois added 21:38 - May 28 If we're looking to build on staying in the league and progressing then I wouldn't expect too many Howsons or Pilkingtons et al for next season. They're fine if you're coming up from the Championship and as Naarwich and Swansea have shown, can work out very well. I would expect us to follow the geordie model and look abroad which incidentally is where the value lies in top talent, as Stewart Downing will testify. If Diakite is anything to go by, then I'm mightily encouraged that Hughes and co have a decent overseas scouting network. I am very excited at the prospect of surprising and quality additions like Samba.

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Northernr added 22:21 - May 28 Jamois - agree with you about the value laying abroad, but I think there's a Big Time Charlie attitude about people in the Premiership that believe people like Mackie, Pilkington, Howson etc won't ever be able to cut it nearly as well as Youri Tuckmenkachav from some Eastern European backwater. There are some seriously good players in our lower divisions - Jack Hunt at Huddersfield and Nick Powell at Crewe to name two straight away.

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Kiwi76 added 23:00 - May 28 Good thought provoking stuff Clive. Do feel confident in Hughes and Board laying down the right plan/players pre kick off. Lot of non-players being released already and will require some gaps to be filled but first X1 (or XV) isn't far away from being a better than average Prem side. Those last 5-6 home games showed how important Loftus Rd can be. Need to be able to replicate that intensity against everyone not just Top4-6 sides - our record against those around us was awful. Still so thankful we survived!!! Can look forward to plenty of nonsense rumours and only a few weeks till fixture list...

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baz_qpr added 23:13 - May 28 I think one thing you have not mentioned which is absolutely key is the age of the squad. We fielded the oldest team ever to play in the Premiership in January. That is not sustainable and as much as we would rather not go on a recruitment spree I dont see that we have much of a choice given the central midfield (and what a difference the youthful pacy Diakete made). We lost key players at key times. Young was lost for a 1/3rd of the season. Kenny was severely hampered with a hip injury and the other two keepers also injured. DJ campbell injured all season. Helgusson half a season. Lets not even mention Dyer. Can Derry's legs take him through another season? This is the problem, in order to build for the future and give ourselves a start we are still going to need 6 - 8 new players

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ozexile added 23:13 - May 28 And perform away or at least look like we have a game plan! Our away performances were on the whole awful.
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jamois added 00:56 - May 29 Fair do's, point taken. I don't know these players well enough. Sign 'em up!
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qprmick added 01:31 - May 29 Good article. As for the diving, Marsh was the king of the divers. He taught Stan Bowles how to trip himself up. Not nice but it has been part of our game for a long time. Until the useless tossers of the administrators do something about it, we have to go with the flow. With a good preparation this season and one or two additions we should have a good season in front of us. I am really looking forward to it. All the Paladini signings gone it is like having a huge weight lifted from us.

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R_in_Sweden added 08:00 - May 29 A good read as usual, thanks. I find it a little sad that in order to wise up to the premiership players need "go down" more often, a phrase that can indeed be interpreted in several ways. I've always found the nagging for goal line technology (despite Clint's goal) a little hard to understand and have always advocated that video evidence after games with extended bans to stamp out the Ashley Young style behaviour should take precendence. I also think that the club were far more worried about getting relegated than they let on and this new ruling in the Championship does unfortunately seem to be the beginnings of a "closed" premiership. I for one am very relieved that we managed to survive, being a pessimist I could see things falling apart QPR style in the Championship. We should have ultimate faith in Hughes, looking forward to next season. Not too much hype about us being a "surprise package" (it's beginning to sound like Viz) though.

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Jamie added 09:26 - May 29 More confident ahead of a transfer window than ever before. Kia has a little black book thicker than your average Jeremy Kyle viewer, Rigg has worked with Kia in bringing in his targets and Sparky will know what type of player he is after. I wouldnt expect any targets from the lower leagues, rather a couple of Prem players and a couple from left field.
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bugsy68 added 10:14 - May 29 I have to say an excellent article and spot on in most cases. The only small point I would disagree with is on your assessment of Luke Young as having "made very little positive contribution". I thought he was one of our better players in the first half of the season and often bailed out what was a shaky centre back duo. I would agree that his performance did fall away after getting injured. A real old fashioned right back and I would certainly trust him far more than Onuoha who I still have real doubts over. I personally feel we need a new keeper that is more imposing. I would certainly go after experience above youth.

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andygg added 10:22 - May 29 Another good read Clive, keep up the good work.
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francisbowles added 11:27 - May 29 Unfortunately, it isn't looking very positive with Diakite and Taiwo at the moment, so there is two we need to replace for starters. We also may need to change the GK add a central defender and possibly a second central midfielder with pace and strength. We already have about 24 pro's, plus the younger players, so not too much room in the squad unless we offload some more first. With contracts already given to Ephraim and Dyer maybe 4 to 5 would be the maximum additions.

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SterlingArcher added 22:51 - May 29 The most important point out of everything you've written is the last one. We can all give an example of a specific incident, goal, sending off etc, but every game we won at Home, Our Cave, was down to QPR getting behind the team and booing the opposition from the off. Chelsea players shat themselves. Wigan lost out to one of their relegation rivals. Pool, Arse and Spurts crumbled. Swansea and Stoke were caught out. For years I've been constantly annoyed at other QPR supporters just turning up to a game and just cheering on the odd occasion and goals. Footballs an emotional game. I admit I 'boo', but I still get behind the team and it appears that a lot of other supporters are doing this too ... and it works ! Lets do it again and the rest will follow.

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silky added 10:29 - May 30 Brill article, I would also agree that Luke Young deserves more credit, he also chipped in with 2 goals this season, but agree with him being shakey after his injury, Nice to be able to enjoy a summer not worrying so much about which direction our club is going in....
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