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There's a book to be written about Rachid Harkouk, so many stories about him.
Like you, I was a kid when he signed and something about him made me really want him to succeed for us. He was very QPR: skilful, scruffy, cheeky, bit dirty - and ultimately not quite good enough. Part of that team that got relegated in 78/79, breaking my heart.
He was Barry Silkman's best mate, I read, and there's all kinds of tales of them, one rumour of him being nicked for something or other as Harkouk came off the field somewhere. Who knows if true. But he was sent to prison for two and half years a decade ago, a member of big speed dealing gang in Notts.
Ernie Howe, however, even as a ten-year-old I could tell he was absolute garbage.
I thought it was a cowardly performance by him. I've never seen a CF look so often to attach himself to defenders, not to hold them off, but to sort of shadow them whenever we had the ball. His closing down was so half hearted, as well. I mean, twelve touches! Very odd and uncommitted. Can't even think of a comparison in a former player.
I can see merit in all the signings. There are moments with each which are encouraging, Madsen and Santos included. I see absolutely nothing so far in Celar. I'd love to know what his teammates think.
It was absolute madness to go into this season with two senior strikers. It's just not competitive. To have lost both Dykes and Armstrong and replaced them with just Celar, who I read here now we must give six months to acclimatise...total dereliction. We will need strikers in January somehow or it will be how we're relegated. We create too much to only contribute twelve touches.
His performances for an atrocious Orient side this season suggest not. They're one point off the bottom off the bottom of L1, and their fans are even more mutinous than QPR fans (for similar reasons: an encouraging second-half of 2023-24 and new signings, like Dom Ball, about whom much was expected).
A guy on my street is Os home and away. I used to ask him how Smyth was getting on ("best winger in league": so no stranger to hyperbole), now it's Kelman (rolls his eyes) and Dom Ball. Ball, he said a little sadly, is miles and miles off the pace. I think that last injury at Ipswich was pretty ruinous, long-term.
I don't think we got the blend of signings right this summer, at all. I can see merit in all the signings individually - but it should've been Varane or Madsen; Saito or Dembele; Ashby or Santos, plus two other Championship dependables for the spine.
But I'd have all the midfielders we signed ahead of 2024 Dom Ball.
Interesting conversation between Dave McIntyre and Kevin Gallen on the WLS podcast today. Personally find it very hard to disagree with anything they say here, though am sure some will (especially on X).
Surprised Dave Mc doesn't make more of the interview he has with Marti at just under thirteen minutes, though. Finally, some questions asked of MC which aren't spoon-fed club soft-balls. And really good answers. He's great at talking about the specific, challenging football stuff: it's mad the club don't serve him up for more. (A conspiracist might wonder why they don't want this charming, eloquent, thoughtful coach out front more regularly...)
I largely agree with you. We looked decent at Luton with Colback and Field (who both had good games), Cook was good too, and we have looked bereft subsequently without that foundation and JCS. Chair for Lloyd of that starting eleven is our best possible team though, so we better hope for no more injuries as we look weak without key experienced players. Field cannot win a midfield alone, that was never the plan, and the new signings (plus Anderson) are not winning midfield alongside him. That's the big problem for me: the midfield signings were very risky and not cheap. But fair enough, you're on the hill that the new signings are gelling fine, something else is wrong. I agree with Kevin Gallen who - perhaps based on his several hundred Championship games often in absolutely batsht QPR squads - was worried about the summer signings and felt we needed one or two with Championship experience. Who knows? Maybe we're both right. Probably are to a degree.
Nothing we can do about it now anyway, until at least January. I'm sure it'll be fine eventually (I actually do).
Browne was a free transfer. Madsen/Varane were not. Celar was not. I mean, come on: we're paying fees. This is very different to last season. It's clearly a policy to look for value with younger players from abroad. No problem with that, but we look to be fundamentalists with this approach and are now witness to the risks in that.
Surely, surely you can see it's an issue right now with the players we've assembled? Nourry himself said it'll take time and we need to be patient with these players as they assimilate - I think that massively underestimates the journey the fans have been on ove the last three years.
I think there's something in both Varane and Madsen - but at once? It's clearly a huge risk that's cost several million quid and not worked yet. Sunderland looked at their young and very talented squad in the summer and decided what they need was Alan Browne with his 390 Championship appearances to help the likes of Rigg along. This is not controversial! A winning Championship squad needs a bit of Shaun Derry as well as Ali Faurlin and Adel Tarrabt.
But we didn't sign anyone with know-how in this league - that's clearly been a problem these past weeks. That's surely not a debate?
Saito, Madsen, Dembele, Varane, Celar, maybe Santos (if he ever gets that far) each with 50 Championship appearances under their belts are gonna be significantly different propositions than any of them are now with five or so appearances each, all playing together, all finding their feet at the same time. I like the look of all these players individually to varying degrees - I just don't like the look of them all at once right now. And right now, we haven't won at home this season and have just lost three in a row with barely a whimper.
This doesn't need to be a culture war issue. We're not winning games and we're playing badly. There's a reason or two that most can broadly agree on, no?
There's a lot of talk about Hayden being the magic fix. Possibly would help, but expensive and with history. Instead of signing Varane and Madsen, though, how much better would this team be if a Whiteman or Mowatt had been signed (both unlikely, but we need that know-how centrally)? We clearly spent on Madsen, Celar, Varane: maybe we could've sacrificied one for a box-ready midfielder.
Hard to disagree with any of that, though, unless you're an 18-year-old FM nerd who thinks every new European club-player we're linked with is better than the last despite never having seen (or heard) of them before, but still posts on X things like "League ain't ready for what Nourry is cooking" and so forth. QPR 1 Hull City 3.
The signings look very unbalanced. You can have one or two assimilate slowly in a Championship season, perhaps. Six or seven is asking for trouble.
Saw some very active kid on X bawling that Kevin Gallen "was some kind of legend apparently but is trashing that with the fanbase" because KG said Madsen was rubbish or something. Kevin Gallen: 96 goals in 400 appearances across three divisions, promotion winner, scored winners v Chelsea, Arsenal etc etc no longer a QPR legend because he doesn't think the summer signings have been very good.
Saw Jimmy Dunne in Soho yesterday, shook his hand. "Well done on recognising me!" Said we'll be fine. Then went to the Coach and Horses and Scott Twine and Luke McNally of Bristol City were outside having pints of Guinness and cider....
I clearly meant that over the last three seasons we've been circling the drain for long periods over each season and that it is therefore too soon in SEPTEMBER to start saying we won't go down. There are no guarantees. Anything from play-offs to a relegation battle is still available to all.
I am not pessimistic at all. I'm not pessimistic because we have an excellent and pragmatic coach. I am optimistic because of him and I trust him to pick and instruct the players above people who do not take training or look at data. But I don't think MC knows his best team yet, and I don't anyone on this board does either. Because we haven't seen any of them play together enough.
We lost 1-2, had a last minute chance almost equalise. I do not think that Dunne or Frey makes any difference to that outcome. In fact, let's see who we think are our first eleven is in April: may well be Celar at 9 and Ashby or Heverton at RB once they bed in. Nobody knows. They've been brought in for those roles though.
The main thing about this thread that I find incredible is that I do not understand how anyone can look at how the team played at Sheffield Wednesday and say, yes, that's our best team. We were appalling. And in fact, all season we have only really played well for half an hour of any game at most.
The uncomfortable fact is neither we nor the coaching staff really know at this stage what the strongest team is. Our most expensive signings for some time all started last night. They *have* to work. And to work, they must play sometimes. Varane looks like he may have benefited from this. But the only two players we know are top quality - Chair and JCS - are injured. Without those two to hold it together, we are a whole new group trying to rub along.
Also, the idea already stated thread that "we will neither go up nor down this season" is mental. How could anyone look at the last three seasons and think that? We've been circling the drain. It's mid-September. We could easily go down. There's a lot to sort out with this squad
More competitive than losing 1-2 with Lloyd almost scoring in the last minute? No. I think you may be massively overstating the powers of all those players.
Did you see how we played against a much inferior team at Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday with all those players? We looked like they'd all dropped half a valium before kick-off.
Chair and JCS may have made a bit of a difference. But I think we will have to get used to not seeing Chair for quite a while.
I did not leave disappointed by a lack of competitive intent. Neither did anyone I went with or spoke to in the pub after. What can I say? I'm not being contrary.
But...there were loads of tackles. The biggest cheer from the R Block apart from the goal was when Varane cleared out Munoz with a massive tackle. Smyth could've got a red for a tackle and we got four yellows, all for fouls...there were tackles! But also, tackling Lerma and Eze is hard because they are very good at keeping the ball. I mean, I really didn't see a lack of effort or intent. With Madsen I saw someone who doesn't know how to tackle, really, but like it or not he's our first choice number 8 now. He is full strength.
it was really close. A couple of inches to the right from Lloyd and it's pens. And I don't think we have a team that would've guaranteed a more competitive outcome than that against Palace at the moment. That's a bigger but different problem . I don't imagine anyone in the coaching staff believe they are choosing which games they'd rather win - I think it's closer to crisis than that. They're trying to remain competitive when we are still miles off.
That's how i saw it. I thought we played well second half and they were surprised by that, scored a flukey winner but we were inches from pens with Lloyd's shot at the end. It was nip and tuck against a very good PL team second half, after we were overawed in the first half and knocked by their opener. I mean, it might have been closer had JCS and Chair been playing, but they're injured.
i find the tone of this thread hysterically flouncy. We have three injured centre backs. That's a fact. Nobody knows how close to the red Dunne or Frey are, and would they have made a Chair-like difference? (No). That was a first team squad who gave it a good go. I feel we also learnt a lot about the relative merits of EDB and Varane. And the "first eleven" played a lot worse at Sheffield Weds. Were they just tossing it off, or are we just not a coherent team yet? I say the later. MC is bedding it all in. Palace have a very settled first 18, to which they've added a £30 million striker.
I really enjoyed the game and the atmosphere. Could have gone either way. Never mind.
It's not disingenuous in the slightest. And we got to a play-off final and then promoted with those prices so the football was quite good.
In Div 2 (or L1 in new money in 2004) with Frayling's lower priced tickets we averaged over 14k at Loftus Road. That went up by 2k when we did. It took Paladini (and Briatore) to comprehensively dismantle that ticketing goodwill. By 2009-2010, coming 13th in the Championship with some lovely players, we were averaging 12k. So we were fuller in L1 with cheaper tickets than in the Championship with better players.
I think £19 is decent. I've bought a ticket. But I also think Brentford charging a tenner for adults and letting juniors in for free is better, and smarter long term. The two things can be true at once.
Yes. Or...you just reward your loyal home fans who've been through three seasons of turmoil and dirge football with cheaper tickets in a nice local derby against higher placed opposition. Nice bit of fan PR, fill the ground, good vibes. Different strokes. It's the old Jim Frayling model which meant we had a packed ground in D2 even.
I bought three pints of lager in Covent Garden the other day. It cost me £24 and they lasted in total about ten minutes. And we had to stand outside the pub to drink them.
£19 + booking fee for 90 minutes of 3rd round cup football against a Prem team in a local derby featuring our former favourite son is insanely good value in comparison.
On the other hand:
Brentford are charging all adults a tenner for their game against Orient. Less attractive opposition, for sure. But still.
Disagree. It's the owners' money. If they want to overspend massively in L1 on a load of Championship level players (some of whom have failed at that level), that's on them.
It's the model Fulham used successfully first under Keegan and then under Tigana (Tigana!) and which numerous clubs - including QPR - have failed with disastrously. If (big if) they come up, they'll have a load very highly paid players on long contracts who we know are not quite good enough for anything above a lower Champ team.
They have to hope that Chris Davies is Kevin Keegan or Jean Tigana, too. (He's probably not). That's a lot of gnarly pros to manage for a 39 year-old novice when the going gets tough.
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