Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 09:23 - Jul 22 with 3050 views | Antti_Heinola |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 23:33 - Jul 21 by Match82 | 1. Thanks Clive, appreciate the time you continue to put in 2. The most interesting thing there for me was the comment about Paal. I hadn't heard, or thought, of him playing in a different position. If he does have the ability to do that, in centre mid for instance, it does start to open up some possibilities. Will be interesting to see if Ainsworth tries that out in any of the pre season games. |
Beale said at the time of signing him he could 'play as an 8' - but seeing as he was our only left back, there was never a. chance to experiment with that! Could happen this year if Larkeche develops well. | ![](/images/avatars/5743.gif) |
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Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 09:35 - Jul 22 with 3011 views | 1JD | The words that come out of the managers mouth is not something that would motivate me. It would have the opposite effect. And from someone who says they are big on leadership, big on culture, and big on psychological impact, i find it all a bit perplexing. Don’t put me down, raise me up. I’d much prefer and value leadership along the lines of “this division has proven time and again it’s so open, bar the top two, so we’ve got as good a chance as any with a bit of luck with injuries and upwards momentum. No promises, as we know the division is unpredictable. But Luton showed us what is possible on a low budget. So get behind us and let’s see how far we can go”. As opposed to the fearful tiny fish in a big pond, bygone league 1 QPR days 20-odd years ago, surviving relegation is an epic personal achievement, stuff. It’s small club syndrome. And I’d seriously question whether the players can buy into that kind of inferiority mentality. This isn’t Wycombe and he has an entirely different profile of player and club. The question remains whether his management style is going to be effective at a higher up level. He is used to working with a group low on overall quality but high on work ethic. That group at Wycombe responded to being told they were “underdogs” because they were exactly that. Fine if you are a Josh Scowen, Bayo Akinfenwa, Dominic Gape type. But is an ilias chair, Chris Willock or a Kenneth Paal going to respond to being told they are essentially second best? I’m really not sure. For me the jury is still out! | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 10:18 - Jul 22 with 2886 views | E15Hoop |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 09:35 - Jul 22 by 1JD | The words that come out of the managers mouth is not something that would motivate me. It would have the opposite effect. And from someone who says they are big on leadership, big on culture, and big on psychological impact, i find it all a bit perplexing. Don’t put me down, raise me up. I’d much prefer and value leadership along the lines of “this division has proven time and again it’s so open, bar the top two, so we’ve got as good a chance as any with a bit of luck with injuries and upwards momentum. No promises, as we know the division is unpredictable. But Luton showed us what is possible on a low budget. So get behind us and let’s see how far we can go”. As opposed to the fearful tiny fish in a big pond, bygone league 1 QPR days 20-odd years ago, surviving relegation is an epic personal achievement, stuff. It’s small club syndrome. And I’d seriously question whether the players can buy into that kind of inferiority mentality. This isn’t Wycombe and he has an entirely different profile of player and club. The question remains whether his management style is going to be effective at a higher up level. He is used to working with a group low on overall quality but high on work ethic. That group at Wycombe responded to being told they were “underdogs” because they were exactly that. Fine if you are a Josh Scowen, Bayo Akinfenwa, Dominic Gape type. But is an ilias chair, Chris Willock or a Kenneth Paal going to respond to being told they are essentially second best? I’m really not sure. For me the jury is still out! |
If you watch the Mic'd Up piece on him on the official channel from a few days ago, you'll hear him going quite hard on all the attacking players, criticising them for not hurting the opposition enough, particularly not getting in behind the defenders. I wouLdn't confuse the "umbrella" message around culture. ethos etc, with howe the individual training sessions are being conducted. It seems pretty clear that the Chairs and Willocks are being worked very hard and made to realise the responsibility they have to perform consistently. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 10:52 - Jul 22 with 2779 views | E15Hoop |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 10:18 - Jul 22 by E15Hoop | If you watch the Mic'd Up piece on him on the official channel from a few days ago, you'll hear him going quite hard on all the attacking players, criticising them for not hurting the opposition enough, particularly not getting in behind the defenders. I wouLdn't confuse the "umbrella" message around culture. ethos etc, with howe the individual training sessions are being conducted. It seems pretty clear that the Chairs and Willocks are being worked very hard and made to realise the responsibility they have to perform consistently. |
It also seemed pretty clear to me that he was drawing a very clear line in the sand between last season and this. The point he was making was that it was a major achievement to stay up last season considering the chaos. Also, let's be brutally honest about this, how much of this whole thing about "different club", "different player profile" is actually true of QPR at the moment? Aren't we maybe guilty of letting our own preconceptions cloud the objective reality of where we're currently at? Ainsworth spent a lot of this interview talking about "building". You can only do that if you ensure that the foundations are solid. A clear, realistic view of where the club currently stands in the football pyramid has to surely be part of that process. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 10:59 - Jul 22 with 2751 views | Blue_Castello |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 21:18 - Jul 21 by DejR_vu | You can’t but love him can you? If the sharks are circling and there’s blood in the water, no amount of ‘we’ll out-swim them’ is going to make it happen. I get that he’s not going shuffle around Heston looking at the floor shouting ‘this is shit’, but equally, blind optimism can be just as dangerous as pessimism. I think it’s 9 players who’ve gone, and 3 in since last season, s season that we survived by the skin of our teeth. No matter what you think of those that left, we, literally, can’t hang 6 shirts on hangers and hang them on the crossbar. We’re woefully short of bodies, and even shorter on quality. It sounds like Illy might be on his way, if not him, one of the better players that we can actually command a fee for, so that weakens us further. I suspect that’s why it’s been relatively slow so far, despite the situation. Maybe he’s got some real aces up his sleeve and he can bring 4 or 5 in for 1 out but, if not, I just can’t see how making the 7 or 8 Championship quality players we’ve got left, fitter, and tighter as a group, is going to compensate and get us to even where we were last season. Who knows, maybe whilst we’re fixating on our problems, there are other clubs (Sheff Weds?) whose issues are just as big as ours and it really is, this year more than any other, ‘find 3 worse and we got through this in one piece’ |
Well I've not tried to do a full list of players who have left but I'm sure it must be more than 9, there were I think 5/6 payers whose contracts were not renewed, 4 loan players, we have terminated the contracts of Johansen and Travelman and there's Martin and Balogun who may have been included in the players released, so I'm thinking its at least 12, maybe somebody has an accurate figure. The players we have lost did not make a good squad for various reasons but the point is we desperately need some more Championship quality if we are going to compete. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 11:08 - Jul 22 with 2724 views | Hunterhoop |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 09:35 - Jul 22 by 1JD | The words that come out of the managers mouth is not something that would motivate me. It would have the opposite effect. And from someone who says they are big on leadership, big on culture, and big on psychological impact, i find it all a bit perplexing. Don’t put me down, raise me up. I’d much prefer and value leadership along the lines of “this division has proven time and again it’s so open, bar the top two, so we’ve got as good a chance as any with a bit of luck with injuries and upwards momentum. No promises, as we know the division is unpredictable. But Luton showed us what is possible on a low budget. So get behind us and let’s see how far we can go”. As opposed to the fearful tiny fish in a big pond, bygone league 1 QPR days 20-odd years ago, surviving relegation is an epic personal achievement, stuff. It’s small club syndrome. And I’d seriously question whether the players can buy into that kind of inferiority mentality. This isn’t Wycombe and he has an entirely different profile of player and club. The question remains whether his management style is going to be effective at a higher up level. He is used to working with a group low on overall quality but high on work ethic. That group at Wycombe responded to being told they were “underdogs” because they were exactly that. Fine if you are a Josh Scowen, Bayo Akinfenwa, Dominic Gape type. But is an ilias chair, Chris Willock or a Kenneth Paal going to respond to being told they are essentially second best? I’m really not sure. For me the jury is still out! |
JD, I think that’s a bit of straw man argument and being very selection over what you quote. He also waxed lyrical about the quality of some of the players we have! Our squad is lacking depth. It is weak compared to most in this league. We may not like that, want that, but it is reality. We also have one of the lowest budgets to work to this season. Again, not what we want but true. He also didn’t say survival would be a massive achievement. He said that last season about last season and did so because of the mess behind the scenes, which he’s just said to Clive shocked him. I think there is a hell of a lot that has gone on behind the scenes which will come out in years, that will give that comment from Ainsworth more credence. Also, I don’t think his message to the players will be widely different to what you’re asking. He spoke about wanting to shove predictions of relegation up people’s arsed. He’ll be telling the players they are better than other people think and can prove people wrong. Psychologically it’s a proven technique. I think the issue is the fans. I grant you his messaging to the fans is much for cautious. To me, he is clearly managing expectations. You, me, most on this MB aren’t thick. But there are an awful lot of moronic people of the socials who just don’t get it. If he raises expectations of the fans and in the first few games we don’t get results or we begin games badly, someone miscues it out of touch, etc, the fans will get on the players’ backs much quicker. At LR, that has a much greater impact than most other grounds because of how tight it is and it could have some really negative impacts, as happened last year. If he manages/reduces fan expectation, he knows there will be more patience for the players, but also, more importantly, if we overperform those expectations, the LR crowd will really react and lift the players. Watford at home was a great example. Said before hand a draw would be a great result. Everyone expected us to get hammered. Sarr, Pedro, et al. But when we snapped into a few tackles and got in their faces, the crowd really came to life. Norwich wasn’t dissimilar and we really deserved to win that. He’s being smart, IMO. He’s managing the reality of the situation, not what you wish the situation to be. | ![](/images/avatars/2027.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 11:52 - Jul 22 with 2598 views | sprocket |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 09:19 - Jul 22 by Antti_Heinola | Warnock never calls out players publically. You will get nothing from doing that, that's why weak managers do it (to deflect blame) and strong managers don't, because they are willing to take the heat in order to build trust. I've heard all the 'diddums' comments from the old school legends on here, but Critchley was embarrassingly naive last season, and paid the price for it. |
Warnock didn't shy away from calling out his players when he needed to, Taarabt for example. I get that you don't get far doing it but GA taking all the blame and heat for his players to the extent he is when it's obvious that a good proportion of them were taking the piss last season goes against the grain for me. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 12:35 - Jul 22 with 2455 views | Antti_Heinola |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 11:52 - Jul 22 by sprocket | Warnock didn't shy away from calling out his players when he needed to, Taarabt for example. I get that you don't get far doing it but GA taking all the blame and heat for his players to the extent he is when it's obvious that a good proportion of them were taking the piss last season goes against the grain for me. |
He never even called out Taarabt when he left the ground at Fulham. His whole method of managing him was praise and reassurance and telling him he was the best. He never did it. | ![](/images/avatars/5743.gif) |
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Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 12:39 - Jul 22 with 2447 views | E15Hoop |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 11:52 - Jul 22 by sprocket | Warnock didn't shy away from calling out his players when he needed to, Taarabt for example. I get that you don't get far doing it but GA taking all the blame and heat for his players to the extent he is when it's obvious that a good proportion of them were taking the piss last season goes against the grain for me. |
I don't believe for one moment that players will get away with taking the p*ss this season, and he pretty much said that in the interview anyway. He's clearly a believer in "what goes on behind closed doors stays behind closed doors", but I suspect he'll be making the point quite forcefully that "if I'm taking the sh*t for you, you'd better make sure you're giving me everything on the pitch". Its so much easier for him to set that marker down in pre-season than it would have been last season, as he said quite a few times to Clive. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 13:15 - Jul 22 with 2343 views | The_Beast1976 | I played semi-professional football, not because I was the most gifted or talented but because I played for some managers who were very, very passionate. This then made me work extra hard for them and brought out the best in me. Consequently, nearly every team I ever played in worked very hard and was largely successful because of that (coupled with a couple of very talented players who always played out of their skin because of the aforesaid managers). I would have loved to have played for Gareth. I would have run through a brick wall for a manager like him. Let's hope our lot do the same this season. It's amazing what can be achieved through hard work (even with limited ability), a team ethic, and professionalism. I think we are going to surprise a few people this year if the team get on board with Gareth. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 13:16 - Jul 22 with 2326 views | Wegerles_Stairs |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 12:39 - Jul 22 by E15Hoop | I don't believe for one moment that players will get away with taking the p*ss this season, and he pretty much said that in the interview anyway. He's clearly a believer in "what goes on behind closed doors stays behind closed doors", but I suspect he'll be making the point quite forcefully that "if I'm taking the sh*t for you, you'd better make sure you're giving me everything on the pitch". Its so much easier for him to set that marker down in pre-season than it would have been last season, as he said quite a few times to Clive. |
One of the main problems we have is that players are not coming through the ranks. That oft-quoted statistic about how many players have made appearances for the first team has rightly been criticised for painting a false picture of how many decent regulars have come through. I get that the development side was starting from a low baseline and there have been successes who we've brought in from elsewhere like Eze, Chair and Dieng, but our model needs to be producing players capable of playing Championship football to make up for our lack of money. If the likes of Drewe and Gubbins are capable of playing well regularly then we'll be okay. I think the jury's still out on that though... [Post edited 22 Jul 2023 13:17]
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Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 13:25 - Jul 22 with 2319 views | terryb |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 12:35 - Jul 22 by Antti_Heinola | He never even called out Taarabt when he left the ground at Fulham. His whole method of managing him was praise and reassurance and telling him he was the best. He never did it. |
He certainly publically called out Ale Faurlin after the draw at home to West Brom. He was still apologising about doing so at the Faurlin evening last season. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 13:50 - Jul 22 with 2240 views | numptydumpty | Not sure sometimes by the way Ainsworth speaks. The "we are all mates" at this football club and the "we are way down the ladder in this division", neither for me, would be how I personally would consider approaching this season. Currently we still have players that have potential greater skill sets than they have so far been able to emulate in their careers. Effectively being sold a line that almost says one position above the bottom three would be a superb achievement. I know he has not said that but it's how to me, the speeches come across. And the line everyone is mucking in, again, hard to see this until the first game of the season. There are a few concerns but he will always give his all, but whether it's this season, or three years time that he leaves us, cant help thinking that after this little adventure, he will end up back at Wycombe for another decade to come, once more. I hope am wrong and there is no logical true explanation for this kind of thinking but it's just an intuitive thought that wont go away !!! | ![](/images/avatars/9720.gif) |
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Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 14:28 - Jul 22 with 2153 views | Third_Division_South | My impression is that Gaz has been told that if he keeps us safe this season with an almost nonexistent budget then his job is secure and next season when we’ve got more FFP headroom he’ll be given a budget that allows him to spend a bit. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 14:48 - Jul 22 with 2079 views | ngbqpr | Interesting that he's been playing 4231 in Austria. Here's how that might look with who we have 'in the building' at the moment (whether we can keep them all 'out on the grass', esp JCS, remains to be seen of course)... Begovic (Archer, Walsh) Kakay (Drewe) Dunne & JCS (Gubbins) Paal (Larkeche) Field, Dozzell (Dixon Bonner, Duke Mckenna) Richards, Chair, Willock (Adomah, Smyth) Dykes (Armstrong, Kelman) ...I've not included youngsters who, Austria aside, have been nowhere near the first team. As Clive says above, clearly we're crying out for a CB and CM. If he plans to play one upfront, or 433 with two of the 'flair players' or wingers either side of Dykes, maybe given the finances we won't be looking at another striker, instead hoping that one of Kelman or Armstrong comes good, or Smyth can do a job there. 433 more likely if Chair and Willock go, eg: Begovic Kakay / Dunne / JCS / Larkeche Dozzell / Field / Paal Smyth / Dykes / Richards I'm torn between thinking, well actually it's not too bad, and fck me it's paper thin. A lot rests on the (hopefully) incoming CB and CM. | ![](/images/avatars/7941.gif) |
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Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 16:10 - Jul 22 with 1958 views | PunteR |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 20:53 - Jul 21 by Hunterhoop | I’ve read this naive comment a few times. I don’t think that’s the case at all. I think things were a hell of a lot worse behind the scenes than people think and it had been building for 18 months. We all know the FFP constraints this year. I think he’s simply managing expectations. And he’s also focusing on the inputs (culture, work rate, etc) more than the outputs (where we finish). This is entirely right. If you look after the input the output looks after itself. There is a lot about his words and actions that are straight out of leadership books. I don’t think he’s naive at all. I think he is realistic (and honest) about the situation. I think some fans are maybe the ones who are being a little naive about the situation. We didn’t just a bad spell last year. We’ve been sh*t for 18 months with major dressing rooms issues for over 18 months. This isn’t a quick or easy fix, especially with such financial constraints. Whatever you think, Ainsworth deserves our support. Everything he does will be in QPR’s best interest. |
Clive - Give us some reasons for posivitiy then. I’ve read two season previews today, both of them have us bottom. "Great. For me that’s positive already." This sums him up for me. Maybe not naive but talks a lot bullshit , and so what?. What football manager doesnt.? We'll soon find out what he's really made of when the season kicks off. | ![](/images/avatars/11748.gif) |
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Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 16:59 - Jul 22 with 1868 views | vanrrrr |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 14:48 - Jul 22 by ngbqpr | Interesting that he's been playing 4231 in Austria. Here's how that might look with who we have 'in the building' at the moment (whether we can keep them all 'out on the grass', esp JCS, remains to be seen of course)... Begovic (Archer, Walsh) Kakay (Drewe) Dunne & JCS (Gubbins) Paal (Larkeche) Field, Dozzell (Dixon Bonner, Duke Mckenna) Richards, Chair, Willock (Adomah, Smyth) Dykes (Armstrong, Kelman) ...I've not included youngsters who, Austria aside, have been nowhere near the first team. As Clive says above, clearly we're crying out for a CB and CM. If he plans to play one upfront, or 433 with two of the 'flair players' or wingers either side of Dykes, maybe given the finances we won't be looking at another striker, instead hoping that one of Kelman or Armstrong comes good, or Smyth can do a job there. 433 more likely if Chair and Willock go, eg: Begovic Kakay / Dunne / JCS / Larkeche Dozzell / Field / Paal Smyth / Dykes / Richards I'm torn between thinking, well actually it's not too bad, and fck me it's paper thin. A lot rests on the (hopefully) incoming CB and CM. |
When you write the starting XI down like that GA will need to be the second coming of Cloughie to keep us up! Was a bit perturbed that he was not so pro loans in the interview as without 2 or 3 we will conceded too many and score not enough. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 17:24 - Jul 22 with 1795 views | BklynRanger | Good interview Clive - thanks. I take all the points made above but was glad you made the point of how often he'd said it wasn't the players' fault, and even better steered him away from it. I haven't been to the last 67 games by any means but it was doing my head in, regardless of the logic. And he can get in the sea with any credit towards that pock faced Bromley kunt - that sounded like 'Managers Club' shyte which none of us are interested in. One thing I felt by the end of it was Ainsworth is sharper than I feel he gets credit for. I know he says things that are a bit 'open' but I think he'll grow out of that if he gets the chance - he will learn and sounds very open to that. | ![](/images/avatars/2096.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 17:27 - Jul 22 with 1792 views | 1JD |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 11:08 - Jul 22 by Hunterhoop | JD, I think that’s a bit of straw man argument and being very selection over what you quote. He also waxed lyrical about the quality of some of the players we have! Our squad is lacking depth. It is weak compared to most in this league. We may not like that, want that, but it is reality. We also have one of the lowest budgets to work to this season. Again, not what we want but true. He also didn’t say survival would be a massive achievement. He said that last season about last season and did so because of the mess behind the scenes, which he’s just said to Clive shocked him. I think there is a hell of a lot that has gone on behind the scenes which will come out in years, that will give that comment from Ainsworth more credence. Also, I don’t think his message to the players will be widely different to what you’re asking. He spoke about wanting to shove predictions of relegation up people’s arsed. He’ll be telling the players they are better than other people think and can prove people wrong. Psychologically it’s a proven technique. I think the issue is the fans. I grant you his messaging to the fans is much for cautious. To me, he is clearly managing expectations. You, me, most on this MB aren’t thick. But there are an awful lot of moronic people of the socials who just don’t get it. If he raises expectations of the fans and in the first few games we don’t get results or we begin games badly, someone miscues it out of touch, etc, the fans will get on the players’ backs much quicker. At LR, that has a much greater impact than most other grounds because of how tight it is and it could have some really negative impacts, as happened last year. If he manages/reduces fan expectation, he knows there will be more patience for the players, but also, more importantly, if we overperform those expectations, the LR crowd will really react and lift the players. Watford at home was a great example. Said before hand a draw would be a great result. Everyone expected us to get hammered. Sarr, Pedro, et al. But when we snapped into a few tackles and got in their faces, the crowd really came to life. Norwich wasn’t dissimilar and we really deserved to win that. He’s being smart, IMO. He’s managing the reality of the situation, not what you wish the situation to be. |
Whilst I agree he has said some positive things at times re certain players, what he gains in one hand, he often takes away with the other. For me, he’s full of mixed messages, sometimes even in the same sentence - both positive, and negative. I find him to be an enigma. Some of his comments last year were particularly baffling and they set the tone. Of particular note, the “our first 6 games I thought we were underdogs, even against bottom of the table Wigan”. Clubs that included Brum, Blackpool, Hudds, Rham, and Wigan. That’s a comment that fits at Wycombe. Not QPR. There’s nothing strawman about that. I still find that alarming. And the overriding messaging since he joined has been one of an inferior undertone for me. As much as I’d like to think he is communicating differently with the players, ultimately that’s just a theory of yours. Although I’d love it to be true. There’s managing expectations, and then there’s going too far, and whilst I appreciate we could indeed be in for a tough season, there is are different ways of getting the best out of the situation. As I said before, raise me up, don’t pull me down. So I still stand by my original point of view, whether you think it’s a “strawman” or not. One might think your own argument is a bit of strawman, which is somewhat ironic, but there we go. We all have different opinions. And we’d be here all evening. And I’ve got beer to drink! | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 18:24 - Jul 22 with 1676 views | Hunterhoop |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 17:27 - Jul 22 by 1JD | Whilst I agree he has said some positive things at times re certain players, what he gains in one hand, he often takes away with the other. For me, he’s full of mixed messages, sometimes even in the same sentence - both positive, and negative. I find him to be an enigma. Some of his comments last year were particularly baffling and they set the tone. Of particular note, the “our first 6 games I thought we were underdogs, even against bottom of the table Wigan”. Clubs that included Brum, Blackpool, Hudds, Rham, and Wigan. That’s a comment that fits at Wycombe. Not QPR. There’s nothing strawman about that. I still find that alarming. And the overriding messaging since he joined has been one of an inferior undertone for me. As much as I’d like to think he is communicating differently with the players, ultimately that’s just a theory of yours. Although I’d love it to be true. There’s managing expectations, and then there’s going too far, and whilst I appreciate we could indeed be in for a tough season, there is are different ways of getting the best out of the situation. As I said before, raise me up, don’t pull me down. So I still stand by my original point of view, whether you think it’s a “strawman” or not. One might think your own argument is a bit of strawman, which is somewhat ironic, but there we go. We all have different opinions. And we’d be here all evening. And I’ve got beer to drink! |
I’m not making up things he’s said (this pre season), nor ignoring things he’s said, so it’s hardly a straw man. I’m not creating something to argue against. I’m just highlighting what he’s said wasn’t as you first represented. Completely agree we can have different opinions as to the approach. That’s fine. I’m not conveniently ignoring things he’s said though. I accept he’s being very cautious with the fans. I understand you and others who think it’s too much. I just think he’s doing it for a reason with some sound logic, as opposed to being naive or negative. I’ve my doubts about his ability to coach incisive attacking football, don’t get me wrong. I want it to work, but have concerns whether it will. I do however think he’s much better at the psychological side of things at a club, and displaying pretty decent leadership straits. My only criticism, as it is of Hoos, was of Ferdinand, which I’ve espoused at length on here, was the lack of long term vision being sold to excite and motivate. I fear it’s because they know such a vision is miles off, 10 years off. We gambled so much on that last Warburton season. | ![](/images/avatars/2027.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 18:28 - Jul 22 with 1673 views | traininvain | I know a lot has changed over the last year but I find the messaging coming out of the club hard to understand. It seems to have become widely accepted that we’ll be in a relegation battle whereas last summer there was talk of a run at the playoffs and perhaps promotion. It’s worrying how quickly we’ve accepted mediocrity as a club and fan base and there’s a real danger all this talk of relegation will become a self fulfilling prophecy. | ![](/images/avatars/8501.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 18:32 - Jul 22 with 1659 views | BrianMcCarthy |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 18:28 - Jul 22 by traininvain | I know a lot has changed over the last year but I find the messaging coming out of the club hard to understand. It seems to have become widely accepted that we’ll be in a relegation battle whereas last summer there was talk of a run at the playoffs and perhaps promotion. It’s worrying how quickly we’ve accepted mediocrity as a club and fan base and there’s a real danger all this talk of relegation will become a self fulfilling prophecy. |
Agreed. | ![](/images/avatars/1570.gif) |
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Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 18:43 - Jul 22 with 1641 views | Hunterhoop |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 18:28 - Jul 22 by traininvain | I know a lot has changed over the last year but I find the messaging coming out of the club hard to understand. It seems to have become widely accepted that we’ll be in a relegation battle whereas last summer there was talk of a run at the playoffs and perhaps promotion. It’s worrying how quickly we’ve accepted mediocrity as a club and fan base and there’s a real danger all this talk of relegation will become a self fulfilling prophecy. |
But that isn’t true. Go back to last summer and Beale’s appointment and his first few interviews, including that with Clive. The all focused on whether he understood the financial reality at QPR, about how hard it would be, about what his objective was (to improve on the season before 11th). The club wasn’t pushing a play off/promotion message. Beale gave it the big Bertie over not being here to finish 16th but there was trepidation about how the season would unfold, including on here. Now, it wasn’t as much as this season, granted. But it wasn’t all roses 12 months ago. Far from it. As I keep saying, this is the nadir season financially. It’s the 3rd with Warburton’s massive 25m loss in it. After this season, that drops out. Then we’ll have a little wiggle room and likely be on an even keel of losses each season which makes planning easier. The Sky Tv deal comes in next season too and although it’ll benefit everyone it will give more flex to those not already ignoring FFP. This season was going to be tough as soon as Warburton didn’t get us up that season, whoever was in charge. | ![](/images/avatars/2027.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 18:53 - Jul 22 with 1575 views | CateLeBonR |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 18:43 - Jul 22 by Hunterhoop | But that isn’t true. Go back to last summer and Beale’s appointment and his first few interviews, including that with Clive. The all focused on whether he understood the financial reality at QPR, about how hard it would be, about what his objective was (to improve on the season before 11th). The club wasn’t pushing a play off/promotion message. Beale gave it the big Bertie over not being here to finish 16th but there was trepidation about how the season would unfold, including on here. Now, it wasn’t as much as this season, granted. But it wasn’t all roses 12 months ago. Far from it. As I keep saying, this is the nadir season financially. It’s the 3rd with Warburton’s massive 25m loss in it. After this season, that drops out. Then we’ll have a little wiggle room and likely be on an even keel of losses each season which makes planning easier. The Sky Tv deal comes in next season too and although it’ll benefit everyone it will give more flex to those not already ignoring FFP. This season was going to be tough as soon as Warburton didn’t get us up that season, whoever was in charge. |
Funny enough I think the TV money (if it happens) will have a bigger impact at clubs like ours. Will it make much difference to a club with £10m to spend this season having £15m next? Probably not. A club with £1m to spend will have 6 times that next season. Or am I dreaming? | ![](/images/avatars/30034.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 19:05 - Jul 22 with 1537 views | Hunterhoop |
Gareth Ainsworth – Patreon on 18:53 - Jul 22 by CateLeBonR | Funny enough I think the TV money (if it happens) will have a bigger impact at clubs like ours. Will it make much difference to a club with £10m to spend this season having £15m next? Probably not. A club with £1m to spend will have 6 times that next season. Or am I dreaming? |
Agree. That’s the point I was making at the end. | ![](/images/avatars/2027.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
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