Adel Taarabt IMO is the one of the most exciting players I have seen at QPR in my lifetime and his signing to me could prove to be the difference between Automatic Promotion and the Play Offs next season. It is my opinion that we should be doing everything to sign the lad and build a team around him, I do believe Warnock is the right manager to develop Adel’s game turning him into a team player and goal scorer. Many of our supporters seem to find Adel a frustrating player but what I find more frustrating are the attitudes of a section of our support that refuse to get behind him and want him at the club.
The Investment: I can’t believe that we have a section of our support that isn’t able to appreciate the investment opportunity in a player such as Taarabt. Is it beyond belief that the Board have set aside additional funds on top of funds available for the signing of other players this summer? Regardless of the outlay on a transfer fee of anything between £2-5 million from reading various speculations do these fans not believe we can recoup that money at a minimum if he was sold in the future? Bringing the likes of Taarabt to the club will also demonstrate that we have the ability to attract higher profile players to the club and hopefully more will follow suit.
I am astounded that all we have had heard since the takeover is when is the Board going to break the bank to sign a player and the moment it looks like we are going to make a statement of intent we have a section of our support who have to scrutinise it. Let one of the richest men in the world worry about the finances and just enjoy your football FFS.
The Potential: I think it goes without saying that Taarabt has the potential to be a great player; it’s the harnessing of that potential which is key to the lad’s success in his career. There are areas of his game which he needs to work on like his team play and shooting but that’s what The Manager and Coaching Staff are for and it’s something we have only really just established at the club.
The Manager: Warnock loves Taarabt and wants him at the club as his marquee signing I think we can all agree on that. When Warnock took over many couldn’t wait to dig the knife in and suggest Warnock wouldn’t stand for ‘Tarbs’ nonsense and he wasn’t his sort of player etc. What then happened was the complete opposite; Warnock took to Adel straight away, give him the freedom to express himself in the oppositions half and laid on the plaudits to the Media at every given opportunity whilst assuming a father figure role for the lad. Whatever you think of Taarabt as a player I think there are few who would disagree that Warnock could be detrimental to the positive development of Adel’s career. In the month of March Warnock’s arrival at the club demonstrated what a positive impact the right manager could have on the players game reinstating him in the side and seeing him narrowly miss out on the Player of the Month (2nd time this season).
The Attitude: Now this is the thing which really annoys me when I hear fans target Adel’s attitude as a reason for not wanting to bring him to the club. There is no denying his petulance which is something he needs to sort out but I don’t think the lad has a massive attitude problem as some seem to suggest he has. What I see is a demonstration of his passion to win, he is an emotional player and to be fair it is something we don’t often see on the field of play nowadays in the professional game. Adel always wants the ball, never hides and is never frightened to have a go that to me is a very positive attitude. When I read about England Internationals taking cocaine, sleeping with team mate’s wives, prostitutes, having affairs, major gambling addictions, I wonder what criteria fans use to define an attitude problem. Anyone who has met Adel says he is a lovely fella, I never heard about anyone say he is an ignorant person in real life etc.
The way I see it is Adel wants to entertain, he doesn’t set out to frustrate us supporters, he wants to play with skill and flair and score spectacular goals. Ok he doesn’t follow the rule book all the time on the pitch but up until the point before we were safe under Warnock his attitude was spot on when it mattered most. It doesn’t appear Adel has had the right stability in his career (certainly not at QPR or Spurs) and to have a father figure like Warnock watching over him and a leader on the pitch like Shaun Derry for example doing the same the lad will mature he has only just turned 21 after all.
The Enigma: I touch upon this in another thread that my favourite player of all time from another team was Faustino Asprilla, who in Newcastle is a legend make no mistake. Asprilla was petulant, did have a poor attitude, he was controversial off the pitch, but on his day he was absolutely phenomenal. Must every player be a work horse, be the big team player as some like to put it or can’t we accommodate enigmatic match winner with more skill in his little toe than some CCC squads put together. Adel will frustrate but for every miss placed shot or taking on one man too many there are flashes of brilliance in equal measure. Adel does have an end product I am appalled when people say he doesn’t, what needs to happen is he needs to deliver more consistently and with the right coaching he will.
When Ronaldo first signed for Man Utd he had the same sort of fans as ours calling him a ‘one trick pony’, accusing him of having an attitude problem, not being a team player but Sir Alex was able to harness his talent and turn him into the best player in the world. I’m not comparing Taarabts ability to Ronaldo but I do think it’s a good example to use on a scaled down CCC version.
The Fans: I really think some of our supporters need to take a long hard look at themselves and ask the question what we really want. The general consensus is that we want a team to have skill and flair and play football the QPR way (whatever that means) who entertain every match, yet potentially in Taarabt we have player who only knows how to play this way and if we build a team around him that is certainly achievable.
It is 1 recently turned 21 year old foreign player against 13000 of the hardest fans to please in football, do you think we are capable of giving the lad a bit more encouragement, singing his name even and maybe just maybe he will respond back to us in a positive way instead of feeling the need to throw us the V Sign which was fully justified IMO. As fans we have a responsibility to nurture these young players as much as the Coaching staff and the fact that he was a loan player last season shouldn’t have mattered. If Adel signs permanent I hope that this is a clear enough sign that he is committed to our club and the fans, so let’s try to embrace him as much as possible if it happens.
I started a thread last week asking older fans whether a talent like Taarabt would have been appreciated more by in the days of Marsh and Bowles, yet typically posters started to respond with ‘you can’t compare him to them’ dialogue when I wasn’t asking for a comparison but trying assess the changing attitudes of football fans. Choosing to go straight for the jugular instead of responding constructively...
To quote one poster who got the right end of the stick
I think that Adel Taraabt would have been appreciated more had he played in the Bowles era. Our younger supporters are what they are, a product of a nation that about 30 years ago pronounced that it's new ideals to strive towards would be selfishness, greed, and impatience.
What we witness when we see certain sections of our supporters jeering Adel, is the impatient aspect of the new national British character kicking in.
Bowles wasn't outstanding in every game he played, nor Marsh, who had just vacated the club before I saw my first live match, but when Stan the man was on song, he was ours, and ours alone, and we were proud of that fact.
There's no doubt in my mind though, the post-Thatcher modern day Brits would have given Stan the same treatment meted out to Taraabt, whenever the great man had an off-day.
Bushranger1982
The Rest of the Squad: I’ve seen it mentioned a few times that Adel’s presence would have a negative impact on the squad. Don’t quite understand where posters come up with this crap, but here we have a player who we are looking to build a team around, a match winner, a talent the rest of the team will turn to for a moment of inspiration. I heard Legiertwood at the Platinum Evening say in his own words that the squad except Adel for the player he is and that he is an exceptional talent and is regarded by the squad as a massive player.
The Opposition: It says a lot when every team we play against highlights Taarabt as the danger man and chooses to man mark or even put 2 men on him. I’m sorry but I don’t see the opposition bending over backwards to do that for any other players. The message was clear to me last season at times from the opposition’s tactics in certain games which was if you stop Taarabt you stop QPR from playing. When you have an individual in your team which the opposition set out first and foremost to stop from playing then you know you are onto a winner.
The Oppositions Fans: For any of you doubters out there please take time to scan through our opponents messagboards before/after games, it’s an absolute privilege to read some of the comments written about him, obviously all are not great but when he has been on song there is little doubt from our opponents that he was the best player they had seen in the CCC all season. I very much doubt there isn’t a set of supporters in our division who wouldn’t be jumping for joy if they were lining up a bid for Taarabt. I’m sure I am not alone when I say I would love to have a player who all opponents love to hate because he is so good. Taarabt will thrive on that sort of abuse throughout his career as he aims to put one over on the not only the opposition but also their fans week in week out.
Anyway feel free to pull this apart all you negative Taarabt posters, I have said my bit I think the player is s.hit hot!
The Investment: I can’t believe that we have a section of our support that isn’t able to appreciate the investment opportunity in a player such as Taarabt. Is it beyond belief that the Board have set aside additional funds on top of funds available for the signing of other players this summer? Regardless of the outlay on a transfer fee of anything between £2-5 million from reading various speculations do these fans not believe we can recoup that money at a minimum if he was sold in the future? Bringing the likes of Taarabt to the club will also demonstrate that we have the ability to attract higher profile players to the club and hopefully more will follow suit.
I am astounded that all we have had heard since the takeover is when is the Board going to break the bank to sign a player and the moment it looks like we are going to make a statement of intent we have a section of our support who have to scrutinise it. Let one of the richest men in the world worry about the finances and just enjoy your football FFS.
The Potential: I think it goes without saying that Taarabt has the potential to be a great player; it’s the harnessing of that potential which is key to the lad’s success in his career. There are areas of his game which he needs to work on like his team play and shooting but that’s what The Manager and Coaching Staff are for and it’s something we have only really just established at the club.
The Manager: Warnock loves Taarabt and wants him at the club as his marquee signing I think we can all agree on that. When Warnock took over many couldn’t wait to dig the knife in and suggest Warnock wouldn’t stand for ‘Tarbs’ nonsense and he wasn’t his sort of player etc. What then happened was the complete opposite; Warnock took to Adel straight away, give him the freedom to express himself in the oppositions half and laid on the plaudits to the Media at every given opportunity whilst assuming a father figure role for the lad. Whatever you think of Taarabt as a player I think there are few who would disagree that Warnock could be detrimental to the positive development of Adel’s career. In the month of March Warnock’s arrival at the club demonstrated what a positive impact the right manager could have on the players game reinstating him in the side and seeing him narrowly miss out on the Player of the Month (2nd time this season).
The Attitude: Now this is the thing which really annoys me when I hear fans target Adel’s attitude as a reason for not wanting to bring him to the club. There is no denying his petulance which is something he needs to sort out but I don’t think the lad has a massive attitude problem as some seem to suggest he has. What I see is a demonstration of his passion to win, he is an emotional player and to be fair it is something we don’t often see on the field of play nowadays in the professional game. Adel always wants the ball, never hides and is never frightened to have a go that to me is a very positive attitude. When I read about England Internationals taking cocaine, sleeping with team mate’s wives, prostitutes, having affairs, major gambling addictions, I wonder what criteria fans use to define an attitude problem. Anyone who has met Adel says he is a lovely fella, I never heard about anyone say he is an ignorant person in real life etc.
The way I see it is Adel wants to entertain, he doesn’t set out to frustrate us supporters, he wants to play with skill and flair and score spectacular goals. Ok he doesn’t follow the rule book all the time on the pitch but up until the point before we were safe under Warnock his attitude was spot on when it mattered most. It doesn’t appear Adel has had the right stability in his career (certainly not at QPR or Spurs) and to have a father figure like Warnock watching over him and a leader on the pitch like Shaun Derry for example doing the same the lad will mature he has only just turned 21 after all.
The Enigma: I touch upon this in another thread that my favourite player of all time from another team was Faustino Asprilla, who in Newcastle is a legend make no mistake. Asprilla was petulant, did have a poor attitude, he was controversial off the pitch, but on his day he was absolutely phenomenal. Must every player be a work horse, be the big team player as some like to put it or can’t we accommodate enigmatic match winner with more skill in his little toe than some CCC squads put together. Adel will frustrate but for every miss placed shot or taking on one man too many there are flashes of brilliance in equal measure. Adel does have an end product I am appalled when people say he doesn’t, what needs to happen is he needs to deliver more consistently and with the right coaching he will.
When Ronaldo first signed for Man Utd he had the same sort of fans as ours calling him a ‘one trick pony’, accusing him of having an attitude problem, not being a team player but Sir Alex was able to harness his talent and turn him into the best player in the world. I’m not comparing Taarabts ability to Ronaldo but I do think it’s a good example to use on a scaled down CCC version.
The Fans: I really think some of our supporters need to take a long hard look at themselves and ask the question what we really want. The general consensus is that we want a team to have skill and flair and play football the QPR way (whatever that means) who entertain every match, yet potentially in Taarabt we have player who only knows how to play this way and if we build a team around him that is certainly achievable.
It is 1 recently turned 21 year old foreign player against 13000 of the hardest fans to please in football, do you think we are capable of giving the lad a bit more encouragement, singing his name even and maybe just maybe he will respond back to us in a positive way instead of feeling the need to throw us the V Sign which was fully justified IMO. As fans we have a responsibility to nurture these young players as much as the Coaching staff and the fact that he was a loan player last season shouldn’t have mattered. If Adel signs permanent I hope that this is a clear enough sign that he is committed to our club and the fans, so let’s try to embrace him as much as possible if it happens.
I started a thread last week asking older fans whether a talent like Taarabt would have been appreciated more by in the days of Marsh and Bowles, yet typically posters started to respond with ‘you can’t compare him to them’ dialogue when I wasn’t asking for a comparison but trying assess the changing attitudes of football fans. Choosing to go straight for the jugular instead of responding constructively...
To quote one poster who got the right end of the stick
I think that Adel Taraabt would have been appreciated more had he played in the Bowles era. Our younger supporters are what they are, a product of a nation that about 30 years ago pronounced that it's new ideals to strive towards would be selfishness, greed, and impatience.
What we witness when we see certain sections of our supporters jeering Adel, is the impatient aspect of the new national British character kicking in.
Bowles wasn't outstanding in every game he played, nor Marsh, who had just vacated the club before I saw my first live match, but when Stan the man was on song, he was ours, and ours alone, and we were proud of that fact.
There's no doubt in my mind though, the post-Thatcher modern day Brits would have given Stan the same treatment meted out to Taraabt, whenever the great man had an off-day.
Bushranger1982
The Rest of the Squad: I’ve seen it mentioned a few times that Adel’s presence would have a negative impact on the squad. Don’t quite understand where posters come up with this crap, but here we have a player who we are looking to build a team around, a match winner, a talent the rest of the team will turn to for a moment of inspiration. I heard Legiertwood at the Platinum Evening say in his own words that the squad except Adel for the player he is and that he is an exceptional talent and is regarded by the squad as a massive player.
The Opposition: It says a lot when every team we play against highlights Taarabt as the danger man and chooses to man mark or even put 2 men on him. I’m sorry but I don’t see the opposition bending over backwards to do that for any other players. The message was clear to me last season at times from the opposition’s tactics in certain games which was if you stop Taarabt you stop QPR from playing. When you have an individual in your team which the opposition set out first and foremost to stop from playing then you know you are onto a winner.
The Oppositions Fans: For any of you doubters out there please take time to scan through our opponents messagboards before/after games, it’s an absolute privilege to read some of the comments written about him, obviously all are not great but when he has been on song there is little doubt from our opponents that he was the best player they had seen in the CCC all season. I very much doubt there isn’t a set of supporters in our division who wouldn’t be jumping for joy if they were lining up a bid for Taarabt. I’m sure I am not alone when I say I would love to have a player who all opponents love to hate because he is so good. Taarabt will thrive on that sort of abuse throughout his career as he aims to put one over on the not only the opposition but also their fans week in week out.
Anyway feel free to pull this apart all you negative Taarabt posters, I have said my bit I think the player is s.hit hot!
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