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I believe I am one of a few supporters who are not looking forward to see the back of Ian Holloway. He is far from the greatest manager we have had in recent time, but I just don't agree with all these negative posts about the immediate need of replacing him.
Before the season started the vast majority here predicted a relegation battle, as we had hardly strengthen the squad during the transfer window. Now we are sitting pretty in 14th place, 10 points from the play-off and 9 points from the relegation zone. Judging Ollie, we need to bear in mind:
* The first he had to do was to part with two of our most pricey assets, Chery and Polter. We probably got £3-4m for the two of them, but the money wasn't made available to Ollie for replacements. However, he has slowly added to the squad with shrewd free signings, such as Freeman, Smith, Baptiste and Scowen. I think it is a good achievement to identify four such good players on the free. He has got a few signings wrong, like Goss and Wheeler, but who hasn't? None of these were big investments and both might come ok eventually.
* Under Holloway his staff has identified and signed several good young prospects. These include Smyth, Oteh, Chair, Osayi-Samuel and others. I feel we have more promising young players than we have had for a very long time. I know this is probably more down to Ramsey and Penrice than Ollie, but the manager is responsible for anything his team/staff delivers and cannot just take the blame for what goes wrong, but also has to get the credit for what goes well.
* A number of players have stepped up under Holloway, such as Luongo, Robinson, Bidwell, Manning (last season) and Perch (when he was moved to central defence). Admittedly a few have not, such as Furlong, Washington and Sylla, but this will always be the case in a big squad
* We have been hit by a defensive injury crisis that is pretty extreme. Onuoha, Perch, Lynch, Hall and Caulker were out at the same time. Any team losing five central defenders for a month or more would go through a difficult period.
* The enthusiasm and spirit is back, including fighting spirit. This means as much to me as anything. There seems to be a togetherness going all the way through the club. This is vital.
Holloway has gained promotion from the Championship twice, including taking Blackpool into the Premier league. He has surely had his share of failure, with Millwall springing to mind, but his record is matching or beating most other Championship managers.
Right now we are sitting in mid table with clubs like Fulham, Norwich, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday and Reading just ahead or just behind us. If Holloway should be sacked, the managers of all these other clubs should be sacked as well, as they are probably having bigger financial resources than us, and therefore underachieve relative to QPR.
If there is anything I would like to do it would be to strengthen the coaching staff. We would probably benefit greatly from a good coach ala McLaren. Ollie's tactics are better than he gets credit for, but he would benefit from an assistant manager with a good tactical nose.
I have seen a few posts asking whether there any any fans that won't like to see Ollie go, and I am happy to be counted as one. I am very happy if we would stop being a managerial rotating door for a change, and rather get in place some stability and long term thinking.
I predict mid table safety under Ollie and that is pretty decent with what he has at his disposal and the transfer budget he has been given.
Before the season started the vast majority here predicted a relegation battle, as we had hardly strengthen the squad during the transfer window. Now we are sitting pretty in 14th place, 10 points from the play-off and 9 points from the relegation zone. Judging Ollie, we need to bear in mind:
* The first he had to do was to part with two of our most pricey assets, Chery and Polter. We probably got £3-4m for the two of them, but the money wasn't made available to Ollie for replacements. However, he has slowly added to the squad with shrewd free signings, such as Freeman, Smith, Baptiste and Scowen. I think it is a good achievement to identify four such good players on the free. He has got a few signings wrong, like Goss and Wheeler, but who hasn't? None of these were big investments and both might come ok eventually.
* Under Holloway his staff has identified and signed several good young prospects. These include Smyth, Oteh, Chair, Osayi-Samuel and others. I feel we have more promising young players than we have had for a very long time. I know this is probably more down to Ramsey and Penrice than Ollie, but the manager is responsible for anything his team/staff delivers and cannot just take the blame for what goes wrong, but also has to get the credit for what goes well.
* A number of players have stepped up under Holloway, such as Luongo, Robinson, Bidwell, Manning (last season) and Perch (when he was moved to central defence). Admittedly a few have not, such as Furlong, Washington and Sylla, but this will always be the case in a big squad
* We have been hit by a defensive injury crisis that is pretty extreme. Onuoha, Perch, Lynch, Hall and Caulker were out at the same time. Any team losing five central defenders for a month or more would go through a difficult period.
* The enthusiasm and spirit is back, including fighting spirit. This means as much to me as anything. There seems to be a togetherness going all the way through the club. This is vital.
Holloway has gained promotion from the Championship twice, including taking Blackpool into the Premier league. He has surely had his share of failure, with Millwall springing to mind, but his record is matching or beating most other Championship managers.
Right now we are sitting in mid table with clubs like Fulham, Norwich, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday and Reading just ahead or just behind us. If Holloway should be sacked, the managers of all these other clubs should be sacked as well, as they are probably having bigger financial resources than us, and therefore underachieve relative to QPR.
If there is anything I would like to do it would be to strengthen the coaching staff. We would probably benefit greatly from a good coach ala McLaren. Ollie's tactics are better than he gets credit for, but he would benefit from an assistant manager with a good tactical nose.
I have seen a few posts asking whether there any any fans that won't like to see Ollie go, and I am happy to be counted as one. I am very happy if we would stop being a managerial rotating door for a change, and rather get in place some stability and long term thinking.
I predict mid table safety under Ollie and that is pretty decent with what he has at his disposal and the transfer budget he has been given.
what i meant by my comment about the prem is i prefer the game giving more of our english players the chances instead of the influx of foreigners which i dont agree with thanks mate, prefer how it used to be when teams could only field a couple at the most at one time! i dont get a buzz or cream watching teams like city or chelsea etc who have monopoly money to spend at will, a complete unlevel playing field! thats why i cant be doing with it & prefer how it used to be before the prem.
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