Tweet
If not already posted, here (below) is the Guardian interview with Warnock that the journalist, Paul Haywood, tweeted about yesterday. Its pretty clear from the interview that a) Neil Warnock doesn't feel he is being sufficiently backed by the board and b) is having to rely on bringing in loans because there is no budget being made available to him to buy players. Quite depressing reading but at least we can now put the spin aside and assess the truth:
Neil Warnock has a simple message for QPR's owners – show me the moneyThe much-travelled and highly voluble manager has his eyes on promotion, not the FA Cup
Share Paul Hayward The Guardian, Saturday 8 January 2011 Article history
Neil Warnock has guided QPR to the top of the Championship. Photograph: Chris Radburn/PA
Queens Park Rangers are Manchester City without the spending. "Yeah, without the money," Neil Warnock, their manager, laughs. "If you went on reputations we should already be promoted, but it doesn't work like that. The team who played last week cost about £2m. That's about half a Michael Chopra [the Cardiff City forward]." The most enviable job in the Championship turns out to be more tricky than the brochure said.
At Chelsea's old training ground near Heathrow airport a club who could supplant the reigning Premier League champions as west London's biggest if Roman Abramovich lost interest and QPR's super-wealthy owners splashed their cash were about to head north to Blackburn Rovers for an FA Cup third-round tie. Rangers and Rovers have rich proprietors, but while the new owners of Ewood Park flirt with Ronaldinho and David Beckham, Warnock seeks support from Bernie Ecclestone, Flavio Briatore and the Lakshmi Mittal family to mount a big push to the top division.
Promotion is the only game in town at Loftus Road. The FA Cup, bless it, could add new obstacles and deplete Warnock's already "thin" squad. As the players skip off the practice field QPR's ninth manager in four years is plainly stressed by injuries and transfer complications. "Ronaldinho's just signed for Blackburn and plays tomorrow" is a joke intended to lighten his mood. "Ronaldinho would be the least of my problems," Warnock says. For managers in his position – five points clear at the top of the Championship – this is the time for sending coded messages to the owners without sounding disruptive.
Or maybe not so coded. "If they ever got there [to the Premier League], they could establish themselves, with the support of the backers, because I think they would get more involved then, or get more supportive."
Warnock says of the promotion drive: "At the moment we've got to show them what we can do. They've had a few goes over the past few years, with managers. Up to a point I'm managing how I want to manage and if they can continue to support the requests I have we'll have a great chance."
Translation: show me the money and I'll get you up. QPR's image problem is that people outside the second tier assume money is on tap. They see the plutocratic cluster of pals who own the "Rs" and assume they have a masterplan to hunt down Chelsea and Manchester United. It's all a lot more off the cuff than that.
"We haven't spent a lot of money," Warnock says. "We've got three or four Bosmans [free transfers]. We're very thin now that Kyle Walker's gone back to Spurs – or on to Aston Villa. When I came [in March last year] they had nine loan players, but I've always said you're not going to get a successful club with a lot of loan players. That's why we've got the Clint Hills and Paddy Kennys because I know what they bring to the dressing room.
"We've got people like Jamie Mackie who's got so much to prove at the other end of the scale. And you've got Shaun Derry and Hill who've got such a lot to prove in a different way because I bought them to make up the numbers, not to play every week. They've astounded me with their condition.
"Matthew Connolly was let go by Arsenal and is blossoming. It's good how they've come together. We're hard working. [Adel] Taarabt gives us something. Alejandro Faurlín in midfield is quality. And young Mackie and Tommy Smith have that vibrancy up front."
Around two-thirds of Warnock's Wikipedia entry is taken up with disputes, with referees, players, chairmen and other managers. He looks surprised. "Two or three managers: that's not bad out of 30 years managing. Three managers I can't stand. Or two managers and a coaching member." An educated guess for the "coaching member" is West Ham's Wally Downes. But the caricature of Warnock is a hothead and tub-thumper who lives by the feud.
Behind this abrasive exterior is a desperate urge to prove himself back in the Premier League, where he managed Sheffield United before being relegated in 2007: "I love the top flight because I love to give Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger a run for their money. QPR is a special type of club. The razzmatazz. The name itself. Queens Park Rangers. And the ground.
"Loftus Road has that bit of nostalgia. It's a lovely place when there are 15,000.
"It's 15 years since they were in the top league and a whole generation haven't seen Chelsea and Man Utd. That's what we're striving for: to let the little junior Hoops see what the top teams are all about, on our patch.
"But everybody's trying to do that. There are about eight clubs in the Championship who could yet get automatic promotion. And as Blackpool showed last time it doesn't have to be the favourites."
Warnock is one of those high ranking managers who serves also as a throwback to long apprenticeships and provincial toil. He says: "I consider my first big job to have been Burton Albion. I'd played there and they were the Chelsea of non-league football to me. On the other side of the Pennines were Mossley, who were the Man Utd. A bit more physical, but top dogs. I wanted to build a southern-softie side, Burton Albion, to compete with Mossley. That took me five years.
"I thought Scarborough [where he managed from 1986-89] were enormous. I remember changing behind an RAC cabin for the interview. As I was changing from my old tracksuit into a suit I was thinking – this is my Man Utd.
"Then to get the Notts County job: the oldest club in the league. Working opposite Old Big 'Ead was fabulous. He was my idol. We had a couple of lunches which were unforgettable. A little room in his local pub.
"He admired what we did. Our training ground was like a postage stamp. And it was a quagmire. He used to walk across it to their 15-acre Wembley-style training ground with his black Labrador, and he would look at us on this mudheap. He would shake his head. We had nothing to compete with his European Cup winners."
Another Cup, the FA's battered pot, will have to accept a lower spot on Warnock's target list: "I wanted to leave quite a few lads out but I've got no option really. We're going to have to have at least three young kids on the bench. We've got a number of injuries from this morning, a few from this week and a number of lads who've been carrying injuries – so it's really whoever's fit is playing."
The biggest setback is a leg stress fracture to Patrick Agyemang, who will be out for three months. "We are going to need recruitment. There aren't the funds there to buy players at the moment. I'm trying to bring loan players in. I know we've got a reputation for being moneybags but we haven't got the facility to buy players at the minute."
Sensibly, this time, QPR hired a Championship promotion specialist. "I've done it twice. It's a dog eat dog league." He has the teeth.
Neil Warnock has a simple message for QPR's owners – show me the moneyThe much-travelled and highly voluble manager has his eyes on promotion, not the FA Cup
Share Paul Hayward The Guardian, Saturday 8 January 2011 Article history
Neil Warnock has guided QPR to the top of the Championship. Photograph: Chris Radburn/PA
Queens Park Rangers are Manchester City without the spending. "Yeah, without the money," Neil Warnock, their manager, laughs. "If you went on reputations we should already be promoted, but it doesn't work like that. The team who played last week cost about £2m. That's about half a Michael Chopra [the Cardiff City forward]." The most enviable job in the Championship turns out to be more tricky than the brochure said.
At Chelsea's old training ground near Heathrow airport a club who could supplant the reigning Premier League champions as west London's biggest if Roman Abramovich lost interest and QPR's super-wealthy owners splashed their cash were about to head north to Blackburn Rovers for an FA Cup third-round tie. Rangers and Rovers have rich proprietors, but while the new owners of Ewood Park flirt with Ronaldinho and David Beckham, Warnock seeks support from Bernie Ecclestone, Flavio Briatore and the Lakshmi Mittal family to mount a big push to the top division.
Promotion is the only game in town at Loftus Road. The FA Cup, bless it, could add new obstacles and deplete Warnock's already "thin" squad. As the players skip off the practice field QPR's ninth manager in four years is plainly stressed by injuries and transfer complications. "Ronaldinho's just signed for Blackburn and plays tomorrow" is a joke intended to lighten his mood. "Ronaldinho would be the least of my problems," Warnock says. For managers in his position – five points clear at the top of the Championship – this is the time for sending coded messages to the owners without sounding disruptive.
Or maybe not so coded. "If they ever got there [to the Premier League], they could establish themselves, with the support of the backers, because I think they would get more involved then, or get more supportive."
Warnock says of the promotion drive: "At the moment we've got to show them what we can do. They've had a few goes over the past few years, with managers. Up to a point I'm managing how I want to manage and if they can continue to support the requests I have we'll have a great chance."
Translation: show me the money and I'll get you up. QPR's image problem is that people outside the second tier assume money is on tap. They see the plutocratic cluster of pals who own the "Rs" and assume they have a masterplan to hunt down Chelsea and Manchester United. It's all a lot more off the cuff than that.
"We haven't spent a lot of money," Warnock says. "We've got three or four Bosmans [free transfers]. We're very thin now that Kyle Walker's gone back to Spurs – or on to Aston Villa. When I came [in March last year] they had nine loan players, but I've always said you're not going to get a successful club with a lot of loan players. That's why we've got the Clint Hills and Paddy Kennys because I know what they bring to the dressing room.
"We've got people like Jamie Mackie who's got so much to prove at the other end of the scale. And you've got Shaun Derry and Hill who've got such a lot to prove in a different way because I bought them to make up the numbers, not to play every week. They've astounded me with their condition.
"Matthew Connolly was let go by Arsenal and is blossoming. It's good how they've come together. We're hard working. [Adel] Taarabt gives us something. Alejandro Faurlín in midfield is quality. And young Mackie and Tommy Smith have that vibrancy up front."
Around two-thirds of Warnock's Wikipedia entry is taken up with disputes, with referees, players, chairmen and other managers. He looks surprised. "Two or three managers: that's not bad out of 30 years managing. Three managers I can't stand. Or two managers and a coaching member." An educated guess for the "coaching member" is West Ham's Wally Downes. But the caricature of Warnock is a hothead and tub-thumper who lives by the feud.
Behind this abrasive exterior is a desperate urge to prove himself back in the Premier League, where he managed Sheffield United before being relegated in 2007: "I love the top flight because I love to give Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger a run for their money. QPR is a special type of club. The razzmatazz. The name itself. Queens Park Rangers. And the ground.
"Loftus Road has that bit of nostalgia. It's a lovely place when there are 15,000.
"It's 15 years since they were in the top league and a whole generation haven't seen Chelsea and Man Utd. That's what we're striving for: to let the little junior Hoops see what the top teams are all about, on our patch.
"But everybody's trying to do that. There are about eight clubs in the Championship who could yet get automatic promotion. And as Blackpool showed last time it doesn't have to be the favourites."
Warnock is one of those high ranking managers who serves also as a throwback to long apprenticeships and provincial toil. He says: "I consider my first big job to have been Burton Albion. I'd played there and they were the Chelsea of non-league football to me. On the other side of the Pennines were Mossley, who were the Man Utd. A bit more physical, but top dogs. I wanted to build a southern-softie side, Burton Albion, to compete with Mossley. That took me five years.
"I thought Scarborough [where he managed from 1986-89] were enormous. I remember changing behind an RAC cabin for the interview. As I was changing from my old tracksuit into a suit I was thinking – this is my Man Utd.
"Then to get the Notts County job: the oldest club in the league. Working opposite Old Big 'Ead was fabulous. He was my idol. We had a couple of lunches which were unforgettable. A little room in his local pub.
"He admired what we did. Our training ground was like a postage stamp. And it was a quagmire. He used to walk across it to their 15-acre Wembley-style training ground with his black Labrador, and he would look at us on this mudheap. He would shake his head. We had nothing to compete with his European Cup winners."
Another Cup, the FA's battered pot, will have to accept a lower spot on Warnock's target list: "I wanted to leave quite a few lads out but I've got no option really. We're going to have to have at least three young kids on the bench. We've got a number of injuries from this morning, a few from this week and a number of lads who've been carrying injuries – so it's really whoever's fit is playing."
The biggest setback is a leg stress fracture to Patrick Agyemang, who will be out for three months. "We are going to need recruitment. There aren't the funds there to buy players at the moment. I'm trying to bring loan players in. I know we've got a reputation for being moneybags but we haven't got the facility to buy players at the minute."
Sensibly, this time, QPR hired a Championship promotion specialist. "I've done it twice. It's a dog eat dog league." He has the teeth.
Comment