The return — Preview Friday, 18th Nov 2016 17:50 by Clive Whittingham Ian Holloway's second stint in charge of QPR begins amidst a typical barrage of quotes with the visit of Norwich City to Loftus Road in Rangers' last home, Saturday 15.00 game until February. Queens Park Rangers (17th 5-5-6) v Norwich City (5th 8-3-5)Mercantile Credit Trophy >>> Saturday !!! November 19, 2016 >>> Kick Off 15.00 !!! >>> Weather — Cold but dry until evening >>> Loftus Road, London, W12 There was a tattoo parlour on fire, a horse and cart metaphor, a prolonged comparison with styles of trousers, a bollocking for the poor sod covering the appointment for ITN, a ten minute shout about the Football Association and some singing. At one point he seemed to suggest that Gareth Southgate should already be the England manager, then at another he said he should stay with the Under 21s. There was a moment he seemed to be comparing himself to Barrack Obama. Ian Holloway is back, "crashing in through the front door" of Wednesday's opening press conference in typical style - mad as a sack of frogs, twenty thousand thoughts ready to spill out of his mouth, every conversation a roller coaster of extreme emotions. It made a pleasant change from "it is what it is" anyway. Holloway's return to QPR for a second spell in charge is an appointment that could, perhaps unkindly, be called a sop to an increasingly frustrated and disconnected support base. An appointment no other team in the Championship would have made. Another example of why the club and its owners paying such close attention to the often unreasonable, frequently aggressive, and almost always over-the-top messages they receive on various social media platforms isn't helpful. It could, however, turn out to be a stroke of genius. QPR thrive under big characters; the old 'you don't have to be mad to work here but it helps…' mantra. The team doesn't feel like it's too far off, and perhaps just an extra bit of attacking intent as well as Ian Holloway's injection of enthusiasm will give it the couple of nudges to the left it needs to get it right. He knows the Championship better than most, he's achieved two unlikely promotions from this league and one from the one below, and he's a far better manager than people give him credit for when focusing too much on the one-liners or one poor stint at Millwall. Some will tell you he can't lose here. I guarantee you'll hear "well he couldn't possibly be any worse than the last bloke" from somebody in the pub before tomorrow afternoon's game with Norwich. People will tell you they "just want to be entertained" and "just want to see two up front" and "just want to see people who care and try" and so on. This is all bollocks. If QPR, with two up front, trying their hearts out, keep losing wildly entertaining games 3-2 and 4-3 Holloway will be branded "tactically naïve" by the Football Manager and FIFA veterans and driven from his position just as Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Chris Ramsey were before him. Don't think the QPR public won't turn on one of their own — look at the grief Les Ferdinand keeps getting for no good reason whatsoever. If that happens to Holloway it will be a football and personal tragedy. It is impossible not to be excited about his return, and that of Marc Bircham alongside him. He's achieved one thing already — we're all looking forward to going to a QPR game again tomorrow for the first time in God know's when. The enthusiasm, the love for the club and all of that shines through clearly, along with some very astute observations already about how the team could function a little better. But at the back everybody's mind, as he lays bare just how much he wants this, must surely be the concern that we're about to kill him as well, sacking an emotionally spent wreck a year from now. For those of us increasingly looking at QPR games and thinking "can I be bothered with this?" that might be one gutting too many. Could you bear to sit through it? Could you pick yourself up and "go again" again? Holloway can easily lose here. Let's not forget, that QPR have just sacked a manager for doing exactly what they asked him to do. Wage bill down, average age of squad down, lower league players given a chance, youth teamers promoted, consolidate in the Championship — check, check, check again. Turns out you weren't allowed to be a bit dull with it. I'm not arguing that Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was particularly good, nor saying I haven't been bored stupid at most of his matches in charge, because I don't think he was and I certainly have been. But by every measure you want to judge it by — historic performance, training facilities, stadium, average attendance, season ticket sales, income, cost of squad, quality of squad — QPR are a midtable Championship side that will occasionally visit the division above and below. That's exactly where we are now and we've sacked the manager for it. Tis the way of the Championship. Tomorrow we face Norwich who, by all those metrics, are a team that should kick around at the upper end of this division or the lower half of the one above. They've done exactly that throughout Alex Neil's reign as manager, and there's now talk of him being sacked as well. We're rapidly approaching a dozen sackings already this season in a 24 team league and really only Cardiff were underperforming when they dismissed theirs. Rotherham are bottom because that's where they're meant to be, particularly in this FFP era. Presumably what we're hoping for is the sort of over-performance we saw under Holloway last time and Neil Warnock more recently. One of the key factors in Ollie's success here a decade ago was how he brought the whole club together, standing with the supporters on key issues, talking about "our cave" and so on. Just two home wins this season, crowds down, atmosphere non-existent, boredom and apathy infecting every pore - God knows we need a bit of that Oldham home game, Shepherd's Bush parade pride injecting back into the club now. For West London to truly be ours again. You just know the place is going to be jumping tomorrow. I can't remember the last time I looked forward to the actual game as much as I am doing this one — increasingly Saturday has been about the pub and the friends with the awful, attritional football serving as an annoying distraction/useful break in drinking. Tomorrow should be different, and I expect us to try and tear into a nervous, defensively suspect (but, beware, still very talented) Norwich team right from the off which, if successful, will only build it further. But we, as supporters, have to maintain that into the games to come. We have to come together and heal. Check out the examples I've Tweeted below. A nothing story about Ben Gladwin looking forward to Saturday posted by the club's Instagram account — first few replies "not good enough", "fucking useless", "rubbish player rather have Sandro", "shit" and so on. Another a Facebook post talking about "putting a bullet in" Les Ferdinand and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink — with scores of replies, none of them denouncing it.
I mean quite apart from this being the worst kind of scumbag behaviour we more readily associate, perhaps wishfully, with that lot down the road and surely don't want associated with our club, it's completely counter productive. It would be counter productive whoever was in charge, going out of our way to slate young and inexperienced players like Ben Gladwin isn't going to help them relax and play well for our team is it? But it's particularly so now Holloway is here. For this high-risk, heart-over-head, emotional appointment to work it's going to need us all to stop being such nasty pricks to each other and our own players. There are enough enemies and challenges out there as it is, without us being that to ourselves. Holloway's success here before was all based around bringing the whole thing together, making us feel proud of our club and players again, making going to Loftus Road fun again. Our club. Our cave. And if that's what we're going for again with this appointment, then we've got a really important role to play in it. Not a role we're playing particularly well at the moment. Links >>> My winter with Ollie — Column >>> Familiar foe — History >>> Gloss rubbing off Neil reign — Interview >>> Duncan back — Referee >>> Holloway's highs and lows — Column >>> Emergency podcast system — Podcast >>> Heart over head? Column >>> Mixed metaphor central — Presser A little tap in from Les Ferdinand here making it 2-0 to QPR against high flying Norwich at Loftus Road in March 1993. The R's, who finished fifth in the Premier League that season, went on to win 3-1 with a brace from Ferdinand and one from Clive Wilson. SaturdayTeam News: The natives will be delighted by Karl Henry's one match suspension for his mindless sending off at Nottingham Trees last week. Steven Caulker is out with back knack but a host of previous absentees return, which will no doubt have Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink rolling his eyes and muttering into those little cups of tea he carries around with him. Ariel Borysiuk had a family emergency on the morning of this year's failure to win at the City Ground but is available again, as is winger Yeni Ngbakoto for the first time since the defeat at Huddersfield in September. Massimo Luongo was also absent in Nottingham but is fit here while Conor Washington has overcome a knock knack and is likely to start up front with Seb Polter. Jake Bidwell and Jamie Mackie are your long term absentees. Norwich are without defender Ivo Pinto who has fallen down a well. Elsewhere: Like an enthusiastic gang of Jehovah's Witnesses blanketing your estate just as you've got the dinner on, round 782 of this season's Championship sweeps across us this weekend whether we like it or not. It starts tonight, with the Aston Villa Train Wreck looking a little less train wrecky as they prepare to travel to high flying Brighton unbeaten in five since acclaimed crime novelist Steve Bruce took charge. Then there are nine matches at 15.00 tomorrow, including such unmissable drudge as Reading v Nigel Clough's Burton Albion, Barnsley v Wigan Warriors and Brum v The Wurzels. Mild interest in the Second Coming of Shteve v Relegated Rotherham, where Kenny Jackett must surely be wondering exactly what he's walked into. And why. The Seventh Annual Neil Warnock Farewell Tour welcomes Borussia Huddersfield to South Wales while Tarquin and Rupert are hosting their friends from the north at this week's festival of clapper boards with Sheffield Owls in town. The Mad Indian Chicken Farmers welcome Brentford to Ewood Park. The old lady who lives down the road from Simon Grayson's daughter hasn't seen her cat, Buttons, for more than a week now. A candlelit vigil will be held in the eighth minute of Preston's home match with Wolves to mark the number of days the absent moggy has been missing. Ipswich v Nottingham Trees is, for some reason, the televised match on Saturday evening, so if you've been putting off cleaning the oven or defrosting the fridge or something that might be the ideal time to get on with that. The weekend concludes with a titanic battle between Champions of Europe and Champions Newcastle at Elland Road on Sunday lunchtime, live on the tellybox for your weary eyes. Forwards together men, only another 7,264 rounds of this season to go. Referee: Northumberland official Scott Duncan journeys south to take charge of this game, having been an annoying and niggly presence in a 1-1 draw at Burton Albion back in September. Full details of that, his other QPR appointments and recent stats available here. FormQPR: Rangers have only lost one more match (six) than opponents Norwich (five) and yet the R's are seventeenth and the Canaries fifth. That's largely down to the format Loftus Road, where there have only been two home wins this season (Leeds 3-0 and Bristol City 1-0). Newcastle (6-0), Brentford (2-0) and Preston (2-0) have all won here without conceding this season while Blackburn, Reading and Birmingham (all 1-1) have left with draws. Only three second tier sides have scored fewer than QPR's seven goals at home so far (Derby 16th, four; Cardiff 21st, five; Wigan 22nd, six) — even bottom-placed Rotherham have bagged nine. Norwich: City started the season in flying form with only two defeats, including a last-minute 4-3 heartbreak at league leaders Newcastle, in the first 14 matches in all competitions. But they've gone into something of a slump of late with no wins in the last five and a whole load of goals conceded. Three defeats and two draws (one of which was lost on penalties) with 13 goals conceded in five games has heaped pressure on manager Alex Neil for the first time in his Carrow Road reign. They've shipped eight goals in the last two games, losing 5-0 at Brighton and 3-2 at home to Leeds. Only two teams in the league (Forest 20th, 30; Rotherham 24th, 38) have conceded more goals than Norwich's 27 but similarly only champions-elect Newcastle have scored more than their 28. Predictions: Holloway's outlook and quotes this week suggest he's going to go for this. Norwich's record suggest they're a danger to themselves in defence and others in attack. At the risk of inducing a 0-0 draw, I'm going for goals. LFW's Prediction: QPR 3-2 Norwich. Scorer — Conor Washington The Twitter @loftforwords Pictures — Action Images Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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