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I came to LFW to read about football yet the opening of this stopped me in my tracks. It is brilliantly written, moving and harrowing and so raw and confessional that it is hard to read, Northern's hurt and fury still palpable. No-one should have that much sh*t to deal with growing up Clive, and I hope you have managed to leave it well behind, at least most of the time. Reading it made me feel like giving you a hug, though if I ever bump into you, I guess you'd prefer a Peroni.
Wow, what a read! Deeply moving, funny, insightful and a magnificent tribute to your dad. Your love shines through and you have done him proud. If I see you in the Loft I might demand a hug, so be prepared.
I've been trawling through Clive bits all evening, reading bits out loud to my partner, who keeps asking for more- seriously, you need to turn all this into a book. You're writing is funny and moving and goes down like a cold bottle of your favourite nectar on a hot day. A Fever Pitch type thing, but Rangers rather than boring boring Arsenal. Do it, please.
I'm totally behind Hoos on the behaviour issue and wish him every success. While I agree with Clive that swearing and a bit of panto verbal aggression is part of the culture, we all recognise when behaviour turns into something more threatening and serious. Indulging that sort of thing ( and spouting Kray style drivel about not grassing your your own) ends up with behaviour like that at the Euros final and incidents like the Luton game. Really threatening language and actual violence is vile and if I wanted to be associated with that I'd change my season ticket at the Den.
Great report. One extra point - I'll be sorry to see Griffin Park go. I know it's progress and we hope to follow one day, but I expect Brentford supporters will miss their atmospheric, rackety old ground - especially their home terrace. As Nick Hornby said somewhere, referrring to Highbury v The Emirates - "Everything's better now, but nothing's as good."
Great report, as always. Starting to get very excited now. Even thinking about how I'll cope this time next year when we're bottom of the Prem getting tonked every week, looking for a new manager.
I bow to Clive's greater knowledge and understanding of the game (and I'm NOT being sarky) , but would just like to register that (with Mungojezza above), I thought (obvious defensive frailties aside) we were all right yesterday, and really good at times. Everyone seems to know their job and we seem to be playing with real width, so there was always a range of postive passing options and there was very little hit and run. McClaren has turned us into a team that's great to watch, as he did at teh start of our last promotion season. We kept possession really well for large periods and it was no surprize to see the stats at the end; I did feel confident that we would get back into it and we nearly did - if only a few more of those 22 shots were on target.
Took me so long enough to read this and the other one, I don't even want to think about how long they took to write. So informative and enjoyable - Clive, you're astonishing. Thanks yet again.
Brilliant summary, as expected; I share your nuanced view and wish he had stayed, but mostly because I am a sentimental fool. Football supporting is all about sentiment, after all, and I would prefer someone so attached to our club not to have been fired fresh from the shock of losing an old mate and his mother. Where's the humanity? I hope the next guy will be a roaring success, but will not hold my breath. No expect Colin will be fired by Cardiff when they struggle next season and there'll be calls for him to return...
Obviously it won't happen, but I agree totally with Clive: I wish we'd go all out to win cup games. In fact, I'm not sure I'd rest anyone completely - those who need it (like Luongo) should at least be on the bench, or ideally on the pitch to come off when we're ahead. But then, I'm 49: some of my best memories of QPR are from 1982. Then (and I admit I had to check!), we only had to beat Middlesborough (after replay), Blackpool (after replay) and Grimsby to set up those unforgettable matches against Palace, West Brom and Spurs.
Agree totally about Loftus Road. I would still go if we moved...at first. But unless they got an awful lot right in planning it, I am not sure I would still feel it. What is a football club anyway? Certainly not the staff (who come and go). Is it just colours and a name? Is the club actually the supporters? I reckon place is a massive part of it, and the personal histories and memories of fans (which is why I think recent work like like the Forever Rs Club is so valuable). So I can imagine being in a new stadium watching "Queens Park Rangers" and feeling no connection. And if it was in some windswept, out-of-town industrial estate - forget it, thanks for the memories, but I'd rather watch my local non-league outfit. PS It's actually a bit depressing how brilliant you are at this writing lark, Clive.
If managers are bad, PinnerPaul, what about fans? The "Sh*t ref..." song is often the loudest all match. Football supporters' lack of objectivity with regard to officials is a bit embarrassing really. Once upon a time it was "Get some glasses ref!", but these days it's more Tyburn mobbish and really not that pleasant. Clive's fairness and cool-eyed objectivity (as well as all his other great qualities and talents) is so refreshing. The main positive for me was that both new signings looked great. I noticed how Smith's many knockdown headers were generally well-aimed, potentially lethal.
I was just about to leap to Clive's defence, but he just fessed up! Subtle difference, but criticising Perch (for example) for repeating the same idiotic mistakes is not quite the same as saying he is irredeemably useless and needs to go. Great writing as ever, and I couldn't agree more about some of our supporters. Maybe the rest of us should do more to call out the aggressively negative - easier said than done at matches. Perhaps the best we can do is to try and drown them out with more constructive yelling.
I always love your reports and totally agree about the negativity. Going to football is so much more enjoyable when everyone just gets behind their team, ESPECIALLY when they are losing or playing badly - it`s not hard. It`s a shame so many "supporters" expect the players to make a good atmosphere - isn`t that our job?
Seeing the highlights, I also reckon we got lucky with that penalty appeal for Wednesday. It`s always been my contention that dodgy decisions probably even out over time - why wouldn`t they? Fans tend to ignore or downplay ones that go in their team`s favour, however, so supporters of every single club seem to feel a grievance and sense of conspiracy- all refs hate us, the swines.
You see more matches than most, NorthernR - have you ever done a tally of decisions for/against over a season?
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