A history lesson 94-96

[stanistheman]

QPR had an exciting team in 94/95 that had a player capable of winning matches known to fans as Sir Les. The club then sold him for a then club record of more than £6m.
The manager went on a summer spending spree on players who turned out to be flops, these included Zelic, Hateley, Somner and Osborne (who wasn't really given a chance).

The team that season played some good football but just didn't have enough to win games. They lost 15 games by the odd goal and the manager defended his team to the hilt citing missed chances and defensive errors made by the team as a whole. is any of this sounding familiar?

The club stood by the manager and failed to make further signings and at the end of the season the club got relegated from the Premier League.

Now to this season. We sold and got a new up record fee for Eze, who to a large extent helped QPR to a 13th place finish last season. So far it looks like some of the fee has been wasted on players (either not good enough or not being selected). This team is playing some , not a lot, good football but is losing games narrowly because of missed chances,defensive errors blah blah blah.

Now both Wilkins and Warburton were/ are decent nice guys but just not good enough in my humble opinion.

If the club don't act soon, my fear is that this team will suffer a similar fate and drop out of the Championship (League 1 will not be easy nor comfortable for this club).

We are game away from halfway through the season with just 4 wins from 22 games.
Carry on like this in 2021 and there will be a lot more defeats against the likes of Norwich, Bournemouth, Brentford, Watford, Forest , Preston, Reading and no doubt a host of other close games with fine margins.

[Stainrod]

QPR had an exciting team in 94/95 that had a player capable of winning matches known to fans as Sir Les. The club then sold him for a then club record of more than £6m.
The manager went on a summer spending spree on players who turned out to be flops, these included Zelic, Hateley, Somner and Osborne (who wasn't really given a chance).

The team that season played some good football but just didn't have enough to win games. They lost 15 games by the odd goal and the manager defended his team to the hilt citing missed chances and defensive errors made by the team as a whole. is any of this sounding familiar?

The club stood by the manager and failed to make further signings and at the end of the season the club got relegated from the Premier League.

Now to this season. We sold and got a new up record fee for Eze, who to a large extent helped QPR to a 13th place finish last season. So far it looks like some of the fee has been wasted on players (either not good enough or not being selected). This team is playing some , not a lot, good football but is losing games narrowly because of missed chances,defensive errors blah blah blah.

Now both Wilkins and Warburton were/ are decent nice guys but just not good enough in my humble opinion.

If the club don't act soon, my fear is that this team will suffer a similar fate and drop out of the Championship (League 1 will not be easy nor comfortable for this club).

We are game away from halfway through the season with just 4 wins from 22 games.
Carry on like this in 2021 and there will be a lot more defeats against the likes of Norwich, Bournemouth, Brentford, Watford, Forest , Preston, Reading and no doubt a host of other close games with fine margins.

Lots of similarities indeed, we sold our star player which was irreplaceable on our budget . Wilkins also persisted with youth like Challis , Brazier , Quashie , Gallen , Dichio which was a big ask at that level .A big thing about that season was the loss of Clive Wilson which doesn’t get mentioned much . I still feel we are a couple of loans away from being ok though , time will tell .

[Darkranger]

Have been thinking exactly the same thing. Although there are similarities I feel it's not quite as bad as last time. Back in 96 the new signings were nothing short of abysmal completely overpriced and almost non existent on the playing field.
This time around I feel they need more time and perhaps a change in our playing style (but clearly some are not performing as expected). The big difference this time is the manager. As much as Wilkins was a nice guy and legendary player, he was an inexperienced manager and never managed another team. Warburton has been around a while and has experience, though never in a relegation scrap. Hopefully we can get a couple of players in January and grind out some results.

[stanistheman]

Lots of similarities indeed, we sold our star player which was irreplaceable on our budget . Wilkins also persisted with youth like Challis , Brazier , Quashie , Gallen , Dichio which was a big ask at that level .A big thing about that season was the loss of Clive Wilson which doesn’t get mentioned much . I still feel we are a couple of loans away from being ok though , time will tell .

I was going to mention Wilson (Manning), but omitted that.

[stanistheman]

Have been thinking exactly the same thing. Although there are similarities I feel it's not quite as bad as last time. Back in 96 the new signings were nothing short of abysmal completely overpriced and almost non existent on the playing field.
This time around I feel they need more time and perhaps a change in our playing style (but clearly some are not performing as expected). The big difference this time is the manager. As much as Wilkins was a nice guy and legendary player, he was an inexperienced manager and never managed another team. Warburton has been around a while and has experience, though never in a relegation scrap. Hopefully we can get a couple of players in January and grind out some results.

Warburton was in a relegation scrap at Forest and just about survived.

you can argue about the players then and now, but the similarities are there and if ignored we will pay the price. Something needs to change , be it the manager, his tactics or new players because this is just not working out.

[QPROslo]

Good point, Stan, but there are some differences worth mentioning. This time we have not just sold our most prizy asset. We have got rid of almost ALL high earners - Hugill, Wells, Pugh, Scowen, Leinstner, Hall and Rangel. On top of that we have lost Manning and Amos. We have parted with so much more than Eze. High earners have been replaced by players earning £2500 a week (Kakay, Hamalainen). In 94/95 we spent all of the fee received from the sale of Les. This time we have spent 25% and we have cut salary budget in half. I think we have gambled too much. The poor performances are down to the poor squad the way I see it. Hopefully Ruben understands it and provide money for some serious reinforcements in January.

[stanistheman]

[QUOTE=QPROslo;n2551065]Good point, Stan, but there are some differences worth mentioning. This time we have not just sold our most prizy asset. We have got rid of almost ALL high earners - Hugill, Wells, Pugh, Scowen, Leinstner, Hall and Rangel. On top of that we have lost Manning and Amos. We have parted with so much more than Eze. High earners have been replaced by players earning £2500 a week (Kakay, Hamalainen). In 94/95 we spent all of the fee received from the sale of Les. This time we have spent 25% and we have cut salary budget in half. I think we have gambled too much. The poor performances are down to the poor squad the way I see it. Hopefully Ruben understands it and provide money for some serious reinforcements in January.[/QUthings

Yes we spent all our funds in 95 and yes this squad is a lot worse , but the standard at this level is not that good. Also your last point is one of the issues I raised. The board in 95 didnt do anything to change thing, hopefully this one will take action whether that is with more funding or changing the manager, but to do next to nothing could prove very costly indeed.