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So do I morgan! I think it performs a far healthier role rather than pretending Fan consultation is a realistic process. There seems a lot of repressed anger amongst people on here, it comes out as aggressive and simply argumentative, that's not a very creative and informative culture with which to improve the fans lot. This is, afterall, not a matter of democracy, it's a matter of product and customer. In any other market place our rights would be to no longer buy QPR and give our loyalty to another Club. At least Tony Fernandes has recognised that there is rather more than brand loyalty to being a QPR fan. I'd suggest that he is buying into that frame of mind and is using his informal consultation process as it seems to be more realistic than listening to many of the Fan Associations who do not represent me or many others on here. I'm thankful for that!
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Fernandes on London Calling on 08:38 - Jan 27 with 1142 views
Just wanted to say this is a great thread - things are starting to be discussed which have been a bit taboo or shouted down in the past. I think a lot of the discussions on here need to be had while there is time to maybe influence these things- the central question seems to be - what sort of club do we want to be.
Well done all,
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Fernandes on London Calling on 09:31 - Jan 27 with 1113 views
Fernandes on London Calling on 12:55 - Jan 24 by Neil_SI
Grifter/Antti —
The reason I said that is because it just confirms things for me, that I suspected at the time, but hoped wasn't the case.
For example, he has been in charge of Rangers since August 2011, so we're fast approaching nearly three-years this summer and it's taken him until now to start learning about our history. For someone who spent around £35m on buying the club — that's naive.
Would you have spent that much without knowing?
For me, that shows a lack of due diligence or "homework" and even a lack of respect or care for QPR, as it's more obvious that buying the club was nothing to do with football but another agenda completely (maybe I'm just an old romantic in this sense). That lack of homework filtered through to how the club was run in the early part of his reign, which was disastrous and culminated with a horrific transfer policy and then the appointment of Mark Hughes — a man, based on our history and being a community club — who clearly wasn't the right fit from the outset.
He's said that for previous transfers, they just thought a good salary would automatically mean players would work their socks off. Sure, they've learnt some very hard lessons, but if your naivety is that basic from the outset, then you're way short of what you need in this environment and you're not going to catch up in just three-years time without some serious help from people who know the game inside out. The only advice they can really take is from Harry Redknapp and his team (not the best idea in the world), or maybe some friends they have in football circles, but you can't be sure it's the right type of advice that really has the clubs interest at heart.
Of course, he has started looking at DVDs for which players worked in the past, what systems we played, where those players came from, what the crowd were used to, etc. He's trying to figure out what QPR were and what they should be in the future. If you need to do that sort of stuff, then you're an awful long way from knowing what you're doing in terms of football. That's not to say it's not a good idea to do, it is, because he badly needs it, but to be this far down the line and still that far away with his knowledge, is dangerous, and a shame.
The minute he walked through the door, he spoke about potential new stadium plans. That's before knowing anything about our history or culture. Now he is trying to get out there to "go and see what this atmosphere is like outside of the C Club" and experience it.
But, the atmosphere right now is pretty flat and dire, possibly the worst it's been in years. It's not the right kind of atmosphere to be sampling with a view to taking it to a new stadium, is it? I'm not sure the owners have ever really experienced Loftus Road in its full glory. For me, I'd be more concerned about trying to restore and improve the atmosphere at Loftus Road first. But irrespective of that, I do think it's a good thing he is doing this and getting out there.
He has stated numerous times in previous interviews that he doesn't want to become a yo-yo club, but that misses the point of natural development for club's in these situations. There should be a considered plan that incorporates this possibility — but I don't think there is. That is a lack of experience and understanding of football. Sure, you can skip over this, but you need to know what you're doing and how to do it, rather than just blast your way through with money and hope it all falls into place. It's high risk and also skipping over important development of a club can affect its soul — it breeds a level of expectancy amongst supporters that's unfair and unrealistic and creates the wrong type of culture.
Then there's the contradictory messages — where he says he has no expectations and was happy to reach 50 points and in the next breath, says he doesn't care if we don't go up as Champions so long as we go up.
For me that's naive — it sends the wrong message out to the players and the fans, even if we know that might be the case and we'd be satisfied if it ended that way. It's not something you should say publicly. You're supposed to build a football club around the idea and belief that they can win, that they can develop into something better, and that everything is designed and driven to be the best it can be. That message to me, is saying that second best is acceptable, so long as we're in with all the glitz and glamour of the Premier League.
There will be hungry ambitious players who want more than that.
It sounds like I've had a moan there, it's not really that at all, I like Tony Fernandes (and he has plenty of plus points), but I just worry that the gap of knowledge has been so vast, that it's hard for him to make it up in time before he makes decisions that will affect us forever.
Every time I hear him talk about certain matters, I keep coming back to the same points I've raised in the past. Is he really good enough? If he didn't have any money at all, would his leadership satisfy you if he had to operate within the clubs means?
That's not something I have an answer for, it's something I am curious about. I like to see people who believe in their skills and using them... and as they say, skills pay the bills.
People will say he has learned from his mistakes, or so long as he learns from his mistakes, but the point is, nobody in that position should ever be making mistakes to that extreme, and a club like QPR should not be used as test bed for it. It's players and staff who need the time to develop and learn, not the person at the very top, and if the person at the top still needs to do a lot of learning then it impacts on everything beneath in a big way.
Sometimes I wonder, maybe there are other clubs and owners out there who also have this problem, but because they don't speak as often publicly, and about matters that the football people tend to take care of, in terms of the management, CEO, etc... then maybe it's also a halfway house between these issues. Football is of course changing, there are more and more owners and people involved with loads of money and little expertise... it's just not a future I think is great for football on the whole, or community clubs like ours.
Bhatia and Mittal certainly have experienced LR at its best and Chelsea, Arsenal, Stoke, Tottenham, Liverpool home victories were pretty special LR days/nights under this regime IMHO.
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Fernandes on London Calling on 15:46 - Jan 27 with 1035 views
Fernandes on London Calling on 12:48 - Jan 24 by Vish
the only thing that will 100% convince me he has fully learnt from mistake will be the recruitment approach/process undertaken when HR leaves his role - they key being the type of manager we will look for next.
How can you say he's done a pretty piss poor job so far ?
Are you forgetting the fact, that he bought the club, with his investors on board, all of whom have demonstrated great business acumen in their chosen fields.
He's cleared debt, and put in place a new academy system.
Yes he's made recruitment mistakes, however, this looks like it is being rectified...
In all honestly if you took over a business that you were not familiar with, do you not think that you may well seek advice from those "supposedly" in the know ?
Of course you would.
I believe the plans for the academy, the new ground, and our progression, would only have happened under this chairman and his team, not through any other individuals.
Its time Rangers fans should remember when the buckets were being passed round LR and Tony Scully was on the wing ....?
What do you want from a small/mid level yo yo club that I love !
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