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We could argue all day about the rights and wrongs of the past, the reality is the previous regime were responsible for getting our club back into the Premiership. It took the 4 years they promised and it took a great deal of persuading to bring in a proven manager who will always be viewed a legend by the QPR faithful.
Now we open a new chapter, which promises to be both exciting and challenging. We have owners who feel passion for the club and more importantly are treating the fans with the respect we deserve. What the future holds is anyone's guess, but it promises to be exciting.
The first objective will be to ensure premiership survival and what better way to do that, than bring in some quality players? Okay, we reportedly missed out on Crouch and Bellamy, the sheer fact we were after them in the first place, gives a good indication on where this club intends to be in years to come.
Who could have dreamed on deadline day we would be in for Shaun Wright Phillips, let alone sign him!! The real intent of this board was shown clearly when we captured the signing of Joey Barton. Those two names SWP and Barton will take the limelight, though it must be remembered that Luke Young was a regular at the Villa and was only replaced on loan by Kyle Walker due to injury. If we had brought in those 3 than I'm guessing most of us would have been extremely happy, the fact we brought in a few more adds only to the excitement on watching our club match strides with the majority of clubs in this division. I suspect for example Warnock sees something in Puncheon that is untapped and he could well get the best out of him. Of all the players, I'm guessing Jason Puncheon has it all to prove and I suspect he will be a canny signing by Warnock.
I think we were taken by surprise by the open nature of the board and that can only be a good thing. The first steps were refunding season ticket prices and reducing Matchday prices, which I am sure we will hear more about over the coming days/week. They could have taken the easy route and simply blamed the previous board and told us things would get better on the pitch, not even referring to any reduction. The owners have managed to provide a good factor not experienced since our promotion to the Championship. All fans are simply buzzing and cannot wait for the next game. They have over-turned the sombre feeling of most fans within a matter of a few weeks and that takes some doing!!
I am sure we will be in for some rocky rides. No reason whatsover why we cannot match or better the likes of Stoke or Bolton in the years to come. The problem with modern day football is that any dreams of silverware often go out the window, because ove recent years the bigger clubs have just got bigger though I suspect we will have many celebratory wins over the coming seasons, which in many ways make up for all that.
If we do manage to stay up this season, the next challenging step will be to see how we develop the club support base, which could lead to moving to a different ground. I see it as inevitable that at some stage a new stadium beckons. The council have so often dug there heels about developing Loftus Road and despite the passion around the club from the board, I cannot see that position changing. I just hope when any decisions are made the fans are consulted on the nature of a new ground, we cannot end up being a soul-less place like the Ricoh Arena, we need to make sure the volume noise we generate can be heard by the players.
The fast task will be to get bums on seats for this season and the prospects of that are already looking good. Despite some concern on the low attendance agaisnt Bolton, I would be amazed if it now happened again after the clear statements that have been made at board level.
Like most supporters that support QPR, I started this journey when I was a youngster. It was 75-76 season for me and I kept seeing this team in blue and white hooped shirts winning game after game. For many it was before those years and for many it came after, right now we all proud to be supporters at this point of our history.
The great thing for many parents/grandparents who support the club, it now takes much less convincing then it did before, for our siblings to follow the path of supporting Queens Park rangers Football Club.
The last few years have been difficult. We have gone from a club in administration, followed by a period in the 3rd tier of English football, followed by Promotion to the Championship. We then struggled to maintain our championship status, but quite incredibily did so, amid financial difficulties which saw us almost go into administration for a second time. I know, I will get stick for backing the man who did this, but in my opinion and it will never change, we are here in a great part to him. Without the investment in the first place, we would not now be deciding who to put in our own fanstasy league team Joey Barton or Dj Campbell.
Like with everything in life times move on and now its very much a new chapter. The people we have at the helm certainly have earned all our respect in a very short space of time and you can see from the glint in ther eyes, they are genuinely excited about taking this club forward. Just watch the first Amit interview when he came back. A man used to speaking in public forums, he was like a kid in a sweet shop due to the sheer excitement of being back. We also have Tony Fernandes who seems to be just as excited and the constant twitters are a reminder that he too, is keen on taking this club to the next level.
We are now facing the prospect of playing the very best clubs in the world and I suspect some of them will be in for a nasty shock in the coming months
Now we open a new chapter, which promises to be both exciting and challenging. We have owners who feel passion for the club and more importantly are treating the fans with the respect we deserve. What the future holds is anyone's guess, but it promises to be exciting.
The first objective will be to ensure premiership survival and what better way to do that, than bring in some quality players? Okay, we reportedly missed out on Crouch and Bellamy, the sheer fact we were after them in the first place, gives a good indication on where this club intends to be in years to come.
Who could have dreamed on deadline day we would be in for Shaun Wright Phillips, let alone sign him!! The real intent of this board was shown clearly when we captured the signing of Joey Barton. Those two names SWP and Barton will take the limelight, though it must be remembered that Luke Young was a regular at the Villa and was only replaced on loan by Kyle Walker due to injury. If we had brought in those 3 than I'm guessing most of us would have been extremely happy, the fact we brought in a few more adds only to the excitement on watching our club match strides with the majority of clubs in this division. I suspect for example Warnock sees something in Puncheon that is untapped and he could well get the best out of him. Of all the players, I'm guessing Jason Puncheon has it all to prove and I suspect he will be a canny signing by Warnock.
I think we were taken by surprise by the open nature of the board and that can only be a good thing. The first steps were refunding season ticket prices and reducing Matchday prices, which I am sure we will hear more about over the coming days/week. They could have taken the easy route and simply blamed the previous board and told us things would get better on the pitch, not even referring to any reduction. The owners have managed to provide a good factor not experienced since our promotion to the Championship. All fans are simply buzzing and cannot wait for the next game. They have over-turned the sombre feeling of most fans within a matter of a few weeks and that takes some doing!!
I am sure we will be in for some rocky rides. No reason whatsover why we cannot match or better the likes of Stoke or Bolton in the years to come. The problem with modern day football is that any dreams of silverware often go out the window, because ove recent years the bigger clubs have just got bigger though I suspect we will have many celebratory wins over the coming seasons, which in many ways make up for all that.
If we do manage to stay up this season, the next challenging step will be to see how we develop the club support base, which could lead to moving to a different ground. I see it as inevitable that at some stage a new stadium beckons. The council have so often dug there heels about developing Loftus Road and despite the passion around the club from the board, I cannot see that position changing. I just hope when any decisions are made the fans are consulted on the nature of a new ground, we cannot end up being a soul-less place like the Ricoh Arena, we need to make sure the volume noise we generate can be heard by the players.
The fast task will be to get bums on seats for this season and the prospects of that are already looking good. Despite some concern on the low attendance agaisnt Bolton, I would be amazed if it now happened again after the clear statements that have been made at board level.
Like most supporters that support QPR, I started this journey when I was a youngster. It was 75-76 season for me and I kept seeing this team in blue and white hooped shirts winning game after game. For many it was before those years and for many it came after, right now we all proud to be supporters at this point of our history.
The great thing for many parents/grandparents who support the club, it now takes much less convincing then it did before, for our siblings to follow the path of supporting Queens Park rangers Football Club.
The last few years have been difficult. We have gone from a club in administration, followed by a period in the 3rd tier of English football, followed by Promotion to the Championship. We then struggled to maintain our championship status, but quite incredibily did so, amid financial difficulties which saw us almost go into administration for a second time. I know, I will get stick for backing the man who did this, but in my opinion and it will never change, we are here in a great part to him. Without the investment in the first place, we would not now be deciding who to put in our own fanstasy league team Joey Barton or Dj Campbell.
Like with everything in life times move on and now its very much a new chapter. The people we have at the helm certainly have earned all our respect in a very short space of time and you can see from the glint in ther eyes, they are genuinely excited about taking this club forward. Just watch the first Amit interview when he came back. A man used to speaking in public forums, he was like a kid in a sweet shop due to the sheer excitement of being back. We also have Tony Fernandes who seems to be just as excited and the constant twitters are a reminder that he too, is keen on taking this club to the next level.
We are now facing the prospect of playing the very best clubs in the world and I suspect some of them will be in for a nasty shock in the coming months
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