Forum | 9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! by FredManRave

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9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! 03:27 - Nov 6 with 7325 views

Les Ferdinand: QPR director of football stresses club must be patient

Queens Park Rangers must be patient as they seek a return to the Premier League, according to director of football Les Ferdinand.

The R's, relegated from the top flight in 2015, are 13th in the Championship, four points off the play-off places.

"We know what we are trying to achieve and where we are trying to go," Ferdinand, 49, told BBC Radio London.

"We are in a society where everybody wants everything overnight. Sometimes that doesn't happen."

QPR finished 12th last season, having sacked Chris Ramsey in November and replaced him with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.

Rangers were in the play-off places at the start of September but have slipped to mid-table following a run of two wins in nine league games.

"We started the season well and everyone was optimistic and enthused by that, but unfortunately there has been a downturn in performances," Ferdinand added.

"If you are going to gain stability or continuity at your club, you need a bit of patience.

"I know that is difficult for supporters at times but it is vitally important we keep a level head about it all."

Hasselbaink 'the right man' for R's

Rangers' previous spell in the Premier League, from 2011 to 2013, was characterised by big spending on transfer fees and player wages - such as the £12.5m signing of defender Christopher Samba on a reported £100,000 a week.

Following relegation in 2015 Ferdinand said the club's strategy was "badly wrong" and he is keen to stress the R's - and Hasselbaink - are now working under tighter financial constraints.

"At this moment we are not in a position to throw that sort of money at players," Ferdinand said.

"There has to be a period of stabilisation at the club. That is the period we are in right now, frustrating as it may be.

"We'd love to be in the position where we could throw the money that was thrown before, but we are not.

"We brought a young manager in from League One who we felt was the right man to take the club forward. We still believe he is the right man and everyone is backing him."

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/37788119

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9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 07:14 - Nov 6 with 4329 views

PlanetHonneywood

He's not coming out of this looking any good, much less competent. Two managers appointed, blah-blah rhetoric, soon followed by two sackings and on each occasion, we've been worse off than before the manager arrived.

It merely reflotes the valid questions about appointing him in the first place: what was the selection criteria? what skills/experience did he have? who else was considered and, at the end of the day, why was a totally inexperienced man appointed to the role of DoF?

Eacb and every problem currently at QPR can be traced back to one man, and while we can rightly moan about the inputs of Messrs Blackburn, Wright, F1 Boys and Paladini, it's the five years of Tony Pony that are going to take years to overcome.

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-4

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 08:36 - Nov 6 with 4230 views

daveB

The Brentford game changed everything. You can't put out a team like he did last week and have that sort of performance and expect the board to back you.

The knives are out for Ferdinand now which is a real shame as he is doing a very good job, JFH looked on paper a good up and coming manager and a lot of people on here were saying they wanted him as manager at the time but for various reasons it hasn't really worked. Everything is easy with hindsight

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 09:11 - Nov 6 with 4150 views

LythamR

To sack one manager you have just given solid backing to might be seen as unfortunate. to do exactly the same thing exactly a year later starts to look like a habit

If i was ever a coach at QPR i think i would spend a lot of time with my back to the wall

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 09:22 - Nov 6 with 4105 views

themodfather

for me, les is part of the problem..what is his DOF based on, winning cups at spurs?? what club did he lead to success...???
qpr fans stayed , in the games, quite loyal and few chants for sackings.

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 10:10 - Nov 6 with 4025 views

Northolt_Rs

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 08:36 - Nov 6 by daveB

How is Tottenham Les doing a good job? Two pizz poor manager appointments to end up with a worse team than when he came in plus woeful performances on the pitch to boot. Also I don't remember too many of us being overjoyed with either the Ramsey or JFH appointments. In fact a fair few raised the alarm over Ramsey and highlighted Jimmy's inexperience and his good fortune to take over a good setup at Burton Albion. So for me our DOF isn't doing a good job - far from it in fact.

Scooters, Tunes, Trainers and QPR.

-2

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 10:13 - Nov 6 with 4013 views

macclesfieldman

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 08:36 - Nov 6 by daveB

100% agree Dave. Les is doing ok, in many ways the club has improved, just need the right coach to improve the teams performances. Paul Clement for me.

Wild horses couldn't drag me away...

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 12:23 - Nov 6 with 3842 views

BrianMcCarthy

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 10:13 - Nov 6 by macclesfieldman
100% agree Dave. Les is doing ok, in many ways the club has improved, just need the right coach to improve the teams performances. Paul Clement for me.

I agree as well. I'm very optimistic about the job Hoos and Ferdinand are doing and I feel that this is my club again after so many years of being disenchanted. I find myself very calm about the next managerial appointment as well. I hope and believe that Hoos will have a huge say in this and I trust him.

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9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 12:49 - Nov 6 with 3817 views

PinnerPaul

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 08:36 - Nov 6 by daveB

That's the problem Dave, and not just here.

How one game (from 46) "changes everything" baffles/infuriates/angers me.

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 12:52 - Nov 6 with 3813 views

isawqpratwcity

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 12:23 - Nov 6 by BrianMcCarthy
I agree as well. I'm very optimistic about the job Hoos and Ferdinand are doing and I feel that this is my club again after so many years of being disenchanted. I find myself very calm about the next managerial appointment as well. I hope and believe that Hoos will have a huge say in this and I trust him.

For me it's wearing a bit thin.

I agree about Ferdinand and Hoos, particularly in returning an appropriate budget to our operation, but I thought that both Ramsay and Hasselbaink were sacked prematurely, especially since they also had to cope with making the squad's severe belt-tightening work.

The worst part is that, while the team moves to a welcome, more realistic, business model, the change of managers doesn't improve our form.

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9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 13:00 - Nov 6 with 3793 views

Benny_the_Ball

The credit for restructuring the operational side to a more sustainable model goes to Hoos, not Ferdinand. Les is accountable for the footballing side. Other than pushing a couple of youngsters through, this has seen little improvement at all levels.

-3

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 13:06 - Nov 6 with 3770 views

isawqpratwcity

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 13:00 - Nov 6 by Benny_the_Ball
The credit for restructuring the operational side to a more sustainable model goes to Hoos, not Ferdinand. Les is accountable for the footballing side. Other than pushing a couple of youngsters through, this has seen little improvement at all levels.

I think Ferdinand deserves a lot more credit than that.

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9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 13:08 - Nov 6 with 3763 views

QPR_John

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 12:49 - Nov 6 by PinnerPaul
That's the problem Dave, and not just here. How one game (from 46) "changes everything" baffles/infuriates/angers me.

The Brentford game did not change everything it was simply the straw that broke the camels back

[Post edited 6 Nov 2016 13:09]

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 13:10 - Nov 6 with 3758 views

BrianMcCarthy

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 12:52 - Nov 6 by isawqpratwcity

Isaw, you bring up the one concern I have at the moment - that it's the owners who are pulling the plug on the managers regardless of what Hoos and Ferdinand might feel. I realise that it is their call but while Ferdinand's support for JFH last week was an appropriate action for a DoF it's meaningless IF (and it's a big IF) it can be countermanded by the Board one week later.

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9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 13:12 - Nov 6 with 3751 views

Benny_the_Ball

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 13:06 - Nov 6 by isawqpratwcity
I think Ferdinand deserves a lot more credit than that.

Really? Then please enlighten me.

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 13:20 - Nov 6 with 3722 views

isawqpratwcity

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 13:10 - Nov 6 by BrianMcCarthy
Isaw, you bring up the one concern I have at the moment - that it's the owners who are pulling the plug on the managers regardless of what Hoos and Ferdinand might feel. I realise that it is their call but while Ferdinand's support for JFH last week was an appropriate action for a DoF it's meaningless IF (and it's a big IF) it can be countermanded by the Board one week later.

I'm of the opinion that Les might not be a solid rock in defence of his managers.

To me it is a less creditable aspect of Les' performance that he turned quickly on Ramsay and might have done the same here.

But you might be right and it might have been Fernandes/Board saying "It's our money; he's out!"

Poll:

Deaths of Thatcher and Mandela this year: Sad or Glad?

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 13:21 - Nov 6 with 3714 views

SomersetHoops

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 10:10 - Nov 6 by Northolt_Rs

I think to call him Tottenham Les is an insult that I can't accept.Were you not involved with QPR when he was playing for us? Do you really think he decides who the manager is, or when he is sacked? Lay the blame where it lies.

Who's Next?

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 13:23 - Nov 6 with 3707 views

BrianMcCarthy

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 13:20 - Nov 6 by isawqpratwcity
I'm of the opinion that Les might not be a solid rock in defence of his managers. To me it is a less creditable aspect of Les' performance that he turned quickly on Ramsay and might have done the same here. But you might be right and it might have been Fernandes/Board saying "It's our money; he's out!"

Maybe you're right too. I suppose we'll never know and I'm glad of that. Used to hate when the club was as leaky as an oul' boat.

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9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 14:16 - Nov 6 with 3649 views

PlanetHonneywood

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 13:12 - Nov 6 by Benny_the_Ball
Really? Then please enlighten me.

Yup, and I'd also like to know; why and on what basis he got the job in the first place?

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9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 15:02 - Nov 6 with 3574 views

RangersDave

Les Ferdinand......a god at HQ because of his football, and.....
A knob at HQ because he and his boss seems to think a qualification makes you an expert!

I wonder if Tony knows that his pilots have many hours on the clock and are therefore experienced and know what their doing before Air Asia hires them?

Les was and is not the right man for the job and I have said so since day 1, but there are some here with blinkers on.
He doesn't know what he's talking about half the time, has cost us shed loads of money in transfers on a mediocre team and 2 crap managers, and even kept one of those last 2 muppets on the payroll.

My god, he's a tool that is imperial in a metric age!

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9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 15:16 - Nov 6 with 3555 views

TGRRRSSS

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 12:49 - Nov 6 by PinnerPaul
That's the problem Dave, and not just here. How one game (from 46) "changes everything" baffles/infuriates/angers me.

It wasn't just one game but I think it was the straw that broke the camels back, despite the myriad concerns we have going forward does anyone really believe JFH was really building a squad/team that was going to develop and become the unit you would hope it would? My belief is 99% no he wasnt going to.

It is a shame but hiw record is worse than Ramsay

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 15:55 - Nov 6 with 3501 views

bosh67

Perhaps it is time for Les to step forward as manager?

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9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 16:09 - Nov 6 with 3476 views

daveB

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 12:49 - Nov 6 by PinnerPaul
That's the problem Dave, and not just here. How one game (from 46) "changes everything" baffles/infuriates/angers me.

I don't think he was safe going into that Brentford game, a lot was wrong but he was being given the benefit of the doubt by Ferdinand and the owners but we were so bad that night and JFH got so much wrong I think that was the last straw for him, how that game went not just the result changed things rapidly against him

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 16:18 - Nov 6 with 3447 views

DannytheR

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 07:14 - Nov 6 by PlanetHonneywood

Fernandes has been a disaster area, obviously, but the single biggest problem we have is that the fans are hopelessly divided among themselves about what sort of club they even want.

And it's Paladini who poisoned that particular well. I stopped liking us much as a club, or respecting a chunk of our support, while he was strutting around the place, and I still don't think we've recovered from him.

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 16:26 - Nov 6 with 3427 views

YorkRanger

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 12:52 - Nov 6 by isawqpratwcity

Personally I think Hoos and Ferdinand are making a decent fist of a tough job. Trying to set the club up in a different way and making the economics work is very difficult and nobody really knows what goes on behind the scene.

Whilst my original thinking was to give JFH the whole season, nobody can deny the football has been very poor and at times without any kind of direction/plan. LF is not running things on the pitch. JFH was, on paper, a decent appointment but it hasn't worked out so we move on.

The interest in the romantics of former players like Ainswirth and Derry is in my view a mistake. I like the job Ardley has done at Wimbledon but again his experience is at a lower level.

I would probably take Pearson right now, but equally I don't think Sherwood is the anti-Christ some have him marked down as. I'm fairly philosophical about the whole thing, the team is a mile away from being good enough for the play offs in my view and my expectations are quite low, but the season is young and there is still a lot to play for.

I also think part of the mistake JFH was not to have a more experienced number 2.

Ramble over....

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 18:22 - Nov 6 with 3347 views

daveB

9 Days Is A Long Time In Football! on 10:10 - Nov 6 by Northolt_Rs

I’ll try and ignore the Tottenham Les nonsense. You don’t think he’s doing a good job that is fine but he deserves a lot more respect than many are giving him

Apologies for the length of this but I think to assess the job Ferdinand is doing you need to look at why this role was needed and what happened before he came in.

I think our problems as a club go back to 2006 when Holloway went and Paladini started to get rid of QPR people from the club and start an era of fixing problems with more signings which just created more problems leaving us with no foundations at all to build on.

For years after that every injury to a player meant new signings either on loan or permanent, Every poor signing was quickly replaced with another new one. It started on a small scale with players not worth a lot but in the summer of 06 we signed the likes of Oliseh, Tchanoute, Zesh Rehmann, Nick Ward and many others, by January they were all out of the first team and replaced by the likes of Bolder, Cullip, Idiakez, Timoska etc

That continued every year, we never looked for players who might be able to grow with the club, it was always short term fixes who would get us through the next month. We never looked at giving kids from the youth team a chance or investing in coaches and scouts at that level to improve kind of young players we had, instead more loans, more signings.

That got worse and more expensive in the Flavio years, the number of players we signed was incredible, so many loan players that we couldn’t fit them all in a match day squad. Players signed and replaced within a few months who would then go on to do well elsewhere and we’d wonder why. Managers brought in and gone within months. I won’t go through all the players but we signed a new squad in summer 07, replaced most of them in January 08, replaced them in summer of 08 and then another new squad in January 09. This continued every window with managers coming and going.

I’d sum up the QPR way in that decade as a gambler in a casino who keeps losing money but continues to spin the roulette wheel, trying different ways of doing it but keep spinning it and eventually the law of averages says you’ll win and we did when Warnock came in and he was a manager who knew what he wanted and how to get promoted. Yet still when we won the jackpot and went up we continued with the same thing, more signings, more managers, keep spinning that wheel rather than walk out of the casino a winner.

Even under Warnock we still needed 4/5 new signings in January to get us promoted and the following summer he signed a load of new players before the takeover, then another load in August and then in January Hughes came in and signed another load. So many changes and it just carried on. A minimum of six or seven new players every transfer window, usually all replaced within months. It was pure insanity and was never going to being long term success.

It all came to a head under Redknapp when many on here lost the plot over his transfer policy of new signings every five minutes and no youth players given a chance. In truth it was no different to what had gone on in the years before but under Redknapp it was a lot more obvious and the calls were for it to change. A return to what we used to be in bringing through our own players, signing hungry players who want to be here and building a team which can be added to but doesn’t need replacing every 12 weeks.

At the time I backed Redknapp mainly because we were a club with no self respect, the club we were just signed players after players with no real plan and no real idea how to use them and then we’d replace them all at the next opportunity. For that club Redknapp was perfect and if he’s gone in that promotion year he’d have just been replaced and we’d have continued with the same policy of spinning the roulette wheel and hoping to get lucky.

It’s not really what I wanted, I wanted a club who signed players with a plan, I wanted a club who would invest in the scouting and youth side of the club so that when we needed new players we had an idea of who to sign, when we got injuries we could dip into the youth team and give our own a chance, I wanted the club I grew up with and the club we had become was a very different and unlikeable one.

But to change to the old way was going to be hard, it required a Director of football to come in and give time and energy to the youth set up invest in coaches, look to add new players at those levels and care about the development of those players so move them up age groups, loan out players to get them some actual football and have players ready to come into the first team when needed. The Academy at QPR had been ignored for over 10 years and closed down under Gerry Francis so to fix it was always going to take years rather than months.

To be the club I wanted it also required at first team level to sacrifice short term results to bring in raw players who needed to be improved, players who wanted to play for QPR as it was a step up for them, not somewhere to come to make a few quid. If we have a game on Saturday and the left winger is injured for a few weeks throw in a kid and give them experience to get through those few weeks rather than sign Yossi Benayhoun.

We needed a director of football to take us out of the casino and start putting things right. When Redknapp went and Ferdinand looked to put this kind of dream into action it was for me the last chance we have to return to a football club to be proud of.

So that what was required from Ferdinand and all this needed to be done with a massive FFP fine over our head, half a squad of big money tosspots we couldn’t get rid of and an expectation that we still need to be good and competitive in a tough league every match. It was never going to be easy and in all likelihood the fans who screamed for this to happen were never going to have the patience to see it through.

So how has he done in the 1 year and 10 months he's been in the role?

On the academy I think he’s made good changes, for a start there is now a pathway to the first team, several kids have got into the first team in the last year, several others have gone on to play league one football on loan and the younger groups have moved up age levels to aide their development. Results at those levels have been dire but the success of an academy should not be about results, it’s about how many first team players are produced and so far the improvement in this area is there for all to see with Shodipo, Kakay and The Finnish fella whose name I can’t spell all getting a go this season.

On the transfer front we have signed players who see us as a step up, who want to play for us and all have ability to do well at this club and go on to do bigger things. Not all signings have worked but I’d rather see us sign the likes of Smithies, Luongo, Sylla, Bourisek, Cousins, Polter etc than the turds we were signing under Redknapp. We also have a squad that won't need major surgery in the next two windows, it won't need new players in every position, we'll just need to add some quality to what is a decent group. It’s not perfect but it’s a bloody good start and that’s why I think he’s doing a good job. Really I don't know what more he was expected to do in such a short space of time.

Ferdinand hasn’t got everything right. The two managerial appointments haven’t worked but neither were his sole decision, Ramsey was a typical whim from Fernandes after a good win but he fitted in with what Ferdinand wanted to do, sadly it didn’t work out. Same with JFH, we wanted an interview process, we wanted an up and coming manager and we got one of the best prospects who had done well in two jobs but for various reasons it hasn’t worked and in both cases Ferdinand has acted pretty quickly to make the change, he could easily have waited another month with this one but has stuck his neck on the line and made the change when many said he wouldn't.

Managerial appointments can always go wrong, there is no perfect way to do it and this one was done with Lee Hoos who has a very strong reputation for getting this kind of thing right. I’ve no idea who will be next but you can be sure some fans will slaughter the club whoever it is and spend the next few months desperate to be proved right.

Overall though I just hope Ferdinand stays and continues the excellent work he is doing, a lot of fans want him gone and will no doubt get their wish eventually but he's at least tried to end the insanity at the club.

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