Is it time for a change at the top?

[Gibby]

Disclaimer: It’s an essay, sorry … not planned

Genuine question… is it time for a change at the top? At board/ director/ chairman level? Are fans happy with how the club is being run? I for one am curious to hear other people’s thoughts!

Please remember that the below is just my opinion and I am completely open minded on hearing what others have to say! No hate!

We all know by now that the club as a whole haven’t been financially healthy for some time, though this is improving. However this simply can’t continue to be the go to answer when people ask why the club is where it is… there are plenty other clubs out there financially worse off but physically better positioned… that being said, given some of the questionable transfer decisions, we are extremely fortunate for our long stay in the Championship. However the lack of improvement has me concerned that we are more likely to drop lower than climb higher.

On a personal level I feel that over the past couple of seasons there have been a few actions that just haven’t added up for me. Smaller things such as; making fans pay for a rename of a stand to honour a club legend (the total £ figure they claimed that was required for this was much higher than it should’ve been through my experience in the print/ installation industry), questionable ticket prices… surely making them slightly more affordable or offering free/ cheap concession prices would help fill the stadium again instead of the clubs poor marketing attempts to tell fans who are already getting behind the team to get behind the team… and the uncertainty and clouded information we as fans received about the clubs attempt at building a new stadium, around 10 years have passed since we were at a stage where we had artists impressions drawn up and multiple possible sites… but as time goes on it appears as though the owners just wanted some W12 real estate on the cheap, they failed so gave up whilst all other west London clubs have either build a new stadium or are having/ planning to have huge improvements on their grounds… whilst, as much as I love Loftus Road, our owners don’t even care about the roof rusting away.

Then I also question the boards commitment to the future of the club. There are definitely positives, the training facilities that have taken SO long to get where they are (but again, through help of the fans), this is hugely needed as the ratio of talent that comes through our youth system and succeeds is minimal. Another factor is to become an attractive enough club for the talent to want to stay & commit their future here, at least long enough for us to be able to sell for a healthy (and not ‘undisclosed’) fee. Then there are negatives, including how disconnected they seem to have become with the club and fans.

which leads me to the one role that I believe people should be questioning. Our Director of Football… in the job description of this role it includes such things as:

- to oversee medium and long-term strategy. They work with owners and the manager to identify a club philosophy and ensure it is implemented. The aim is to ensure that the club remains on the right path and is not forced into short-term measures.

- Recruiting players. Handling incoming transfer offers. Negotiating player contracts.

how much control do we believe our head coaches are being given with regards to the players that come & go and the players that are being selected…

I don’t believe that Ferdinand is achieving the bare minimum of the requirements of a DoF and has been able to direct his failure onto the revolving door of Head Coaches… all you have to do is look at some of the signings & deals he’s been part of Washington & Bonne to name a couple…

I definitely didn’t plan for this post to be so long, feel like I’ve just opened a rather large can of worms… sorry . But genuinely interested to hear other fans thoughts or their takes on any of the above…

I feel like, if Amazon came along to do their take on the four year plan, it would be met with similar controversy with the club as it currently is?

[dave58]

Our so called DOF has to go, believe he’s also taking 500K a year in wages . Complete waste of money’, regardless of what he’s getting seems his job is just telling new Coaches/ Managers there’s no money available

[Gibby]

I agree that we have been extremely lucky with our owners ever since the atrocity that was Briatore & Ecclestone. However, I personally don’t like how silent they as a whole (chairman, vice-chairmen, DOF, Board etc) have become, how it seems they keep information from fans (e.g. I can’t remember the last time we sold someone and they outright announced the fee, forever ‘undisclosed’… that’s if we didn’t let them go for Free after failing to keep them at the club) and their lack of presence come game days, apart from the odd social media post when we get a win. Some of them have even been linked with investing in other clubs on multiple occasions yet don’t want to put any more money in QPR (in the areas they are allowed within FFP)

As each season goes by I become more and more concerned that Les is not fulfilling his job and is able to lay the blame of his failure on those below him. I have not been a strong believer in the position of DOF and believe we should have a manager above a head coach, who has more control over the players they work with. The DOF role only exists at QPR because our board openly came out and said they wanted less involvement with the club’s operations (which isn’t the best sign in the first place), I’d like to know how they decided that Les was fit to be a DOF and hope the answer wasn’t ‘he’s a club legend who’s also good friends with the chairman so we just did it as a PR stunt for the fans’
Equally concerned that 8/10 years have passed and the club has had very little progression compared to those around us. Though, very appreciative of the long stay in the Championship, I hope we bring the right people in once our new training facility is open. As it’s obvious our current set up at youth/ development level doesn’t work.

Something that has never sat right with me are the multiple interviews in the past from 2 or 3 of our most recent Head Coaches, they have all either named players they want publicly or named the number of players in the positions they are chasing and each time, these do not happen. I believe this may be because Les is making these decisions without any input from the Head Coach and has a strong part to play in the reason as to why we lack any type of strike force. Plus the ability of the majority of the youth players we are introducing concerns me as they just don’t seem good enough for Championship yet, if at all. That being said, the likes of Lumley, who was with us for years and I think it’s safe to say… never really hit it off here… has suddenly found form away from the club… a lot like many other players have gone on to do so too.

There just seems to be a lot within the club that isn’t clicking and I wonder just how much more of it the fans will take before the majority start making their voices heard.

[72bus]

There's a lot In there , I've always thought of Les as a chancer . Should of gone long ago , not really sure what his role at the club is and I'm shocked to read he's on that wage . As for the striker situation
Week in week out we watch a striker out of his depth that keeps getting picked
Why hasn't it been a priority to get someone.in .... Goals win games

[Gibby]

There’s definitely a lot to unpack. It’s no coincidence that, during Ferdinands time as DOF our player recruitment seems to have been the same no matter the coach below him.

Completely agree regards the striker situation and it couldn’t be any more obvious than right now. I guess we’ll just have to hope that they prove us wrong and go for someone in January, but given Ferdinands previous business (buying Dykes & Bonne for around £4 mil & the likes of Connor Washington for £3 + mil… so much for lack of funds if he’s spending that sort of money on mediocre talent), he’s not got a great track record. Not to mention his treatment of Austin, I get that he may be closer to the end of his playing career, but given the lack of options we had at the time. For the club to just call him in and tell him they aren’t renewing his contract without any negotiations at all is just disrespectful, especially given the morale he bought to the squad when he came back and how dykes actually looked half decent with him around. Had Austin of had the same amount of chances on goal that Dykes has had this season, there’s no doubt Austin would have more than likely scored a lot of them, as most of them have been on a plate. It’s worrying Dykes can’t finish them and it’s not fair on him at the same time that he seems to be our only option. It also says something when a large portion of Scotland supporters prefer it when he’s not in the squad at all… there are some real weak links elsewhere in the squad too.

[Gibby]

Signing a player isn't like buying a bag of sugar. In most cases we're competing with a lot of other clubs and ultimately the player himself has to make the decision to come to us, rather than someone else. I'm sure that we've tried to sign plenty of players that haven't ended up coming to us. It can't be easy making a deal where the selling and buying clubs are both happy, so is the player, and his agent of course. And once you've tried and failed to sign the players that you wanted, do you just go and sign any old striker that would come? That wouldn't work out either I don't think.

I get the frustration and I even share in it but I don't share the need to call for Les' head based on what is mostly speculation.

Understand that there is a lot to buying a player. Though I just don’t believe the club has made that many sensible moves in the transfer market. Spent far too much money on some really mediocre players and allowed some to go for far to cheap/ free. Any passionate football fan out there is aware of how transfers often go, but it’s so frustrating to be linked with player after player but then see every single one of them go elsewhere often to sit on the bench and get no game time. We do have some gems in the squad that we’ve done well to keep hold of, but inevitably they will get frustrated as the club continues to lack progression and remain a mid table championship side as I’m sure they would’ve been promised more than that. I also think it’s time the club look to sell some of the players that are likely to be wanted elsewhere in order to free up funds. Otherwise we’ll be in this same situation 5+ years down the line.

I wouldn’t necessarily call for Les’ head immediately, however I would say it’s about time his position at the club is questioned. I believe he’s had long enough to prove his worth and that he possibly hadn’t done this. It’s been unfair on our recent Head Coaches who have taken the brunt of the blame from fans who keep incorrectly calling them Managers, two different roles. I also think there’s more to Beales exit than meets the eye. Aside from the obvious (chances with European football etc) he’s probably been given more authority which I believe our head coaches have lacked.

[SheepRanger]

I think Les is doing a great job.

He recruited Warbs and Beale and both did a solid job. You could go back and say that Hughes was a coup but it wasnt Les's fault that didnt work out. Warnock did well but shouldnt have been sacked but the rationale to upgrade to Hughes was only wrong in hindsight.

We are doing the best we can on a very small budget. Eze has made us £16m and it was unfortunate that some of this went to cover covid loses. We have Chair, Willock and Dieng which even if we're ripped off should mske us £15-20m. Yes, there have been mistakes and players tgat havent come good, but i suspect every club in the UK could give you a list of deadwood in their squads. Les is doing what he can with the budget available.

Only time will tell whether the owners are ready to cut their losses and sell. But if the alternative is the premiership and issuing £100k a week contracts again, then Im happy with a midtable championship team in W12.

[Gibby]

I think Les is doing a great job.

He recruited Warbs and Beale and both did a solid job. You could go back and say that Hughes was a coup but it wasnt Les's fault that didnt work out. Warnock did well but shouldnt have been sacked but the rationale to upgrade to Hughes was only wrong in hindsight.

We are doing the best we can on a very small budget. Eze has made us £16m and it was unfortunate that some of this went to cover covid loses. We have Chair, Willock and Dieng which even if we're ripped off should mske us £15-20m. Yes, there have been mistakes and players tgat havent come good, but i suspect every club in the UK could give you a list of deadwood in their squads. Les is doing what he can with the budget available.

Only time will tell whether the owners are ready to cut their losses and sell. But if the alternative is the premiership and issuing £100k a week contracts again, then Im happy with a midtable championship team in W12.

You make a fair point, but that is partly my concern. Why have all the Head Coaches that have come in under Les all failed? Why has no one at any point questioned Les’ part in their failure? Right now I’d feel more inclined to ask more questions of Les over Critchley, who’s already getting stick from a large group of fans. When at a club there is a position of head coach working under a DOF, there is a very high chance the DOF is calling most/all of the shots regards to transfers etc and the coach is just told to do the best with what they have been given. This structure at a club rarely works and I feel we’ve done it for a while now with very little to show for it. I get that the club had to change from their ways with the fine/ transfer ban etc and stop giving a blank cheque to the manager which didn’t end up too well for us but I don’t feel like this is either, we’ve gone too far in the opposite direction.

We will end up selling the likes of Chair, Dieng & Willock (and I’d like to think we’d get between 10-15m each for at least 2 of them) and I hope the club are able to invest some of that back into buying more players, instead of constantly saying ‘undisclosed fee’ and claiming we don’t even have up to 500,000 for a new player . Fair comment about deadwood in clubs, but when you already have a small squad, I guess the worst stand out a bit more than usual!

to be honest, genuinely really enjoy championship football and despite all of the discussions I continue to be grateful that we’ve been able to stay in the championship and not fall further down the pyramid. However I’ve never been more concerned that the club is at a stalemate on and off the pitch and moving further backwards than it is forwards.

lets be honest, we all knew it was going to be an interesting season from the first home game of the season when the club didn’t even have the safe standing, new Stan Bowles stand makeover or women’s toilets ready in time, constantly ran out of stock of shirts, carlsberg & for some reason decided to continue with the questionable streaming service recast

[WeAreQPR12]

Like others have said credit where credits due. Sir les has made some brilliant managerial appointments hence why we unfortunately lost 1 of our managers because of too much interest.
I Would say he also was brilliant in getting rid of Harry redchap when it was clear he was destroying our club. I'm happy that Amit is also running things as he gets the fan base.

[ConorQPR2000]

the problem lies with Les and his decision making.

Signing Nico Hamalainen on a four year contract is just one of the catalogue of errors that have been made from him over the past few seasons.

Hes been a DoF for 8 years now and he is on 500k a year, which is around 9500 per week.

Surely it is time to change the DoF, get someone else in who perhaps has much better experience within the recruitment side of football, I would say give Les a job elsewhere within the football club, perhaps working with the B team or the U18s?

[Shania]

Sir Les should be moved on imo. The coach should be able to bring in his own players together with Belk and his staff. Ramsey can also assist the coach in getting players in.

[Shania]

Our so called DOF has to go, believe he’s also taking 500K a year in wages . Complete waste of money’, regardless of what he’s getting seems his job is just telling new Coaches/ Managers there’s no money available

This!! It doesn`t make any sense at all.

[WeAreQPR12]

I know he loves the club Conor but Sir Les would never go from being sporting director to u18's/b team that would never be a realistic option. I think having Sir Les as the club is important, we probably do go a bit crazy on recruiting ex players but for me Sir les has done enough to warrant his position.

[Shania]

the problem lies with Les and his decision making.

Signing Nico Hamalainen on a four year contract is just one of the catalogue of errors that have been made from him over the past few seasons.

Hes been a DoF for 8 years now and he is on 500k a year, which is around 9500 per week.

Surely it is time to change the DoF, get someone else in who perhaps has much better experience within the recruitment side of football, I would say give Les a job elsewhere within the football club, perhaps working with the B team or the U18s?

Imo a job with them would be ideal because he struggled at that age and at that point in his career himself.

[KLOS]

Jim Gregory effectively played the role of DOF and liaised well with his respective managers on player purchases. If Jim did not want them they did not come. I would prefer manager responsible to the Board consulting on player purchases and coaches selected by and responsible to the manager